Let's talk about Lexington

It is an interesting town there in Kentucky. I had been to Louisville and came to find for myself and from others that Lexington is very different. The city consists of a large number of wealthy people or at least people that think they are very wealthy (I didn’t stop and ask them for their stock portfolios). I’m sure that it was old horse farm money. You know, horse trading is the second oldest profession behind prostitution.

My biggest dip into the culture was eating something called a Hot Brown. I had seen them on menus and heard a little about them in reviews, but wasn’t sure what it was. I read some information and decided that a place called Ramsey’s. The restaurant was VERY crowded when I arrived at 6:30ish on a Wednesday night. I finally got someone's attention that appeared to be seating people (it was very hard to tell where the line to be seated was), I sat at the almost full bar. It seemed that locals were having a great time at the end of the bar. Many signs pointed that I was going to have a great meal. I asked the bartender what a hot brown was and she described it to me. Another patron told me I had to try one.

When my food arrived I was beyond shocked. I should also say that I am not a super healthy eater, but this was ridiculous! I couldn't see anything but cheese and two bacon strips on the very top of this supposed sandwich. For those who don't know what I was eating, I will describe. It is an open faced sandwich starting at the bottom with wheat bread, ham, turkey, cream gravy, a tomato slice, COMPLETELY covered in shredded cheese, and two bacon strips on top. It tasted pretty good mostly because the cheese tasted very fresh and flavorful. But I hope and pray that this artery clogging, heart disease inducing meal is not eaten on a regular basis by Kentuckians. I ate halfway through it, moslty enjoying it, when I couldn't take the fat content anymore. I could feel my thighs getting fatter.

I’ve now made two trips to LEX and in the second trip I saw a little more of the gritty side of Lexington including a trashy racetrack called the Red Mile. It was within walking distance of my hotel so I ventured there one night to watch horse trotting races. This is where they pull the guy in the cart behind them. It was not near as exciting as the quarter horse races that I am familiar with, but the people were definitely unique. I had a woman who was wondering around aimlessly almost the whole time come up to me with her fly unzipped and ask for a cigarette. I must look like an easy mark because earlier that day while eating at an outdoor restaurant a woman asked me if she could draw my picture. Interesting…

The other interesting part of Lexington I was blessed to find was the drag world. I had seen a store during my first visit that looked interesting and wanted to go back. I did and was browsing when I realized that it was a store for drag queens. I don’t know how I put it together, but my first clue was that all of the clothes seemed rather oversized. I asked the gentleman behind the counter if there were any shows going on in town and he told me there was one that night. I was really tempted to go, but since I don’t drink and he said there was a two drink minimum, I opted out.

I went to the Kentucky. It is a very old movie theater downtown. It was very fun to watch “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” on the big screen. It is one of my favorite movies of all time and I think became a few people there’s favorite too by the end of the show. It was great to listen to other people laugh and enjoy it the way I do. There was an old-style organ there and a man played some of the movies hits in a melody before the show. We also had a sing-a-long, but I didn’t know any of the words to “My Old Home Kentucky”. A local D. J. gave us some movie trivia that I found interesting some of it is on IMDB, so you should go check it out. It is obvious that they work really hard to keep up the theater and give you a real experience for the show.

I still didn’t go to the big horse museum because it is so expensive, $21 a person, but I may someday…