Days 7, 8 and 9

We left Columbia, MO early Friday morning. I noticed lots of signs for places selling fireworks in the area, so if you're in the market for some fireworks, Columbia MO might be just the place for you.
Our first stop of the day was St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch. There's a lovely park leading to the arch and it was a good place to walk Mr Ripley. The Arch was shinier than I expected. We also did a short walk along the riverfront and brief drive around the downtown.
Around lunchtime we could not find anything in the area listed in the Roadfood book and we were determined not to eat chain fast food so we got off at an exit around Evansville IN and started searching for something. We saw a sign for an Amish buffet which advertised authentic Amish food. There was not an Amish person in sight and unless the Amish eat only canned and/or frozen food this was not authentic. The only positive thing about it was that is was not a chain fast food place although Dwyne said MacDonald's might have been better. Then later that day we talked to our friend Melissa who lives in Indiana and she said there's a good barbeque place in that area. Damn.
Once we started getting close to Lexington KY the scenery became very pretty. The horse farms and the green grass and trees are quite spectacular. We were headed to the home of a friend of Dwyne's named Trudy who he knew in Knoxville. She is orginally from the Lexington area and fairly recently she and her husband John moved back to be nearer her aging mother. They purchased a charming old farmhouse adjacent to some property Trudy's family has owned for years. Her mother lives in a really cute log cabin on the property. Two other Knoxville friends of Dwyne's, Kelly and Sharon also came to visit. Trudy made dinner for everyone and Kelly brought a cake from her restaurant. We had a great evening just talking and laughing.
Sunday we all went for lunch at a local's place in Lexington called Winchell's. There was a farmers' market going on in the parking lot and I had to check that out. They didn't have a huge variety of produce but I lusted after the country ham at one booth. Lunch was good and I had a Kentucky Hot Brown which is a piece of toast topped with turkey and ham with a cheese sauce over it then topped with a tomato and bacon. Very rich!
The highlight of our day was going to Keeneland to watch the horse races. It is a very beautiful setting and it was a gorgeous day. About half the people were dressed to the nines with the women in big hats and fancy dresses and the men in khaki suits, blue blazers or seersucker. The other half were much less fancy but appeared to be having an equally good time. We just bet on one race and our horse came in dead last. Luckily, we only made a $5 bet. After Keeneland we went to see the Kentucky Horse Park which is a park devoted to all things horse. We weren't able to see everything because we arrived near closing time but it was fun to see some of the horses and the setting. We left there and drove to the charming village of Midway and then past some of the amazing horse farms near there and the town of Versailles (pronounced Ver-sales).
This morning (Monday) we left the farm early and headed to Raleigh NC where we are visiting Dwyne's cousin Carolyn and her dog Teddy. We went to a cool restaurant for dinner called The Angus Barn. It's in a big barn (surprise) and is totally charming. Carolyn knows the owners and after dinner we were given a tour of the place including the wine cellar which contains over 30,000 bottles (almost as many as I have in my basement). The chef won the Iron Chef competion several years ago.
Tomorrow we head for the Alexandria VA/Washington DC area.