June 12, 2016 - Belmont Stakes & Huntington Gardens Re-Cap

Elisa's Daily Scoop

Sunny Sunday

Happy Sunday!!  Woke up to the sunshine peering through my window!

Today, I've got a fun day planned with the girls - having a number of their barn friends to our community pool.  

It felt like touch and go yesterday with all the sudden downpours and sun showers and so we decided to wait till the morning to see what it actually looked like outside, rather than rely on the ever-changing weather report.

Everyone confirmed that the plans are a go!

Gianna and Kelsey are so stoked!

​Did you catch the Belmont Stakes yesterday??

I love watching the race each year with my girls.  It was truly and exciting one.

The 148th Belmont Stakes certainly took everyone by surprise as Creator came in first.  But, it wasn't so cut and dry.

If you were following the coverage, you would have heard that the two top horses constantly being talked about were Exaggerator and Suddenbreakingnews. 

As the race took off, Destin maintained a good position at the front and Exaggerator, the much-anticipated favorite, didn't really make it beyond 5th place.

But, what was completely exciting was how Creator just creeped up and edged up neck in neck with Destin. ​

Destin and Creator, neck in neck at the finish line - photo finish win called for Creator (credit: 6abc.com)

Watching the race, I was on the edge of my seat because at the finish line, it was so close that the winner was not able to be called!  Folks, it was a photo finish!! This was the fourth time the Belmont was decided by a nose — the closest possible margin of victory.

Victory! featuring Irad Ortiz Jr.(credit: gettyimages)

In the end, Creator was declared the winer.  The jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr. was convinced from the moment he passed the finish line that Creator had won - and he was right!

Creator, the 3-year-old gray colt trained by Steve Asmussen, finished 13th in the Derby and skipped the Preakness, and won the 2016 Belmont Stakes and the $1.5 million!!
Boy was it exciting!

Well, here's a big Congrats to Team Creator!!!

Have a great day!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 20 DAYS

Have Rain Gear will Travel

HIYA everyone!

So as plans go, we set out for our day at the gardens and try out 2 new eateries.

Breakfast at One Veg World

When I stepped out the front door I had noticed that it was rather misty, so any other level headed individual would probably have walked right back inside and grabbed their umbrella, rain jacket or both...
          But is that what I did? 
                                           NOPE
​
So perhaps I am being a bit presumptuous to consider myself a lever headed individual...because quite honestly I can be kinda dopy at times!

Let me share with you a handful of ridiculous events that took place over the past few weeks - all rain related:

Now of course (almost) no matter where I'm packing to go do I remember to bring my rain gear (umbrella and packable rain jacket) along with me...just in case!

So let me give you just a few recent examples - 

A) In lovely Barcelona, we were nearing the end of a day that was absolutely fabulous!
A day that went so perfectly according to schedule. One of the last things on the itinerary was to catch the Fountain Show at Font Màgica de Montjuïc and then head over to our reservations for dinner.

The show was fun and packed full of people having a good time, when all of a sudden the skies had opened and the massive crowd began to run for cover. And there was dopy Tanya empty handed and running for cover herself (with the gang of course) all because I left our rain gear in the hotel room!

What exactly is the point of traveling across the globe with your rain gear if you are going to leave it in your room?!

Taking shelter from the rain in Barcelona

B) Same trip - strolling, sightseeing, exploring Angra Do Heroísmo on a lovely day with no precipitation on the forecast, when all of a sudden we start to feel droplets falling from the sky!

​And guess what - we left all of our rain gear in our hotel room yet again!

It's starting to rain in Angra Do Heroìsmo

C) In Boston only a week+ after "learning" the lesson about carrying our rain gear even if the weather is lovely...
​And walking out of the diner after dinner to a full on summer storm where it was raining cats and dogs - and where was our rain gear? Yup - in our hotel room...

This was definitely an on going trend in which we were left all wet!

Which brings me back to yesterday, I walked out our front door to see the misty weather and rather than turn around and walk right back inside to fetch our "rain gear", I decided that the weather is suppose to clear up and I'm sure that the skies will be clear after breakfast...
​                   Famous Last Words!  
​
(and of course on a day that I "did" my hair!)

So we decided to head inside for a bit and check out the library...

The Canterbury Tales - published in 1478 (c)travelincousins.com

The Canterbury Tales - (c)travelincousins.com

In a wide-ranging examination of the evolving role of the national parks in American life, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens are commemorating the centennial of the U.S. National Park Service in exhibitions that run consecutively from May 2016 through February 2017.
The exhibitions will touch on a variety of roles the National Parks have played over time.

Geographies of Wonder (c)travelincousins.com

1910 LIFE magazine publication (c)travelincousins.com

After marveling at the literary wonders or the library with 7 million manuscripts and over 420,000 rare books dating back to 1455 with Gutenberg’s Bible; we decided to venture back outdoors to get some fresh air and to check out the flowers!

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

It's the "I toppled over while taking a photo!"photo lol (c)travelincousins.com

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

Into the Japanese Gardens we go! Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

Huntington Library and Gardens (c)travelincousins.com

And boy how the day flew by.
Before we knew it it was closing time.
We had then made our way to the lovely gift shop (I really love this store), decided on our purchases, and left en route to By-Chloe.

Of course by this time arriving at By-Chloe much later than lunch time and opting to order dinner instead!

At the new Hot Spot By-Chloe (c)travelincousins.com

At the end of the day it was time to go home.

Overall I had a great day!

I do think that perhaps I asked too much out of my gang, since we are barely adjusted to being back home and it appears that each of them felt like this was yet another day of being on one of my grueling vacations!

Well, today we are off to an IPC performance for the kids. And then maybe if we are all up to it, we can go catch a movie later on???

I'll let you know how it all goes in tomorrows Daily Scoop.

See ya then,
​-T