Preakness 2008 in Mount Washington!

Well, Preakness lived up to all my expectations. Beth arrived on Friday evening with Cardiff - yippee!! By 7 a.m. Saturday morning, Preakness revelers were already parking on the street. But the fun really began when the building management company started parking cars on our property ($20 for a blocked space, $40 for an unblocked space). Beth and I took the boys down to the front porch where we joined my neighbors Paul and Lucy to watch the gentle beginning of the day.


Here are Beth and Cardiff!



Its morning, everyone is still sober, good times all around! The gates over at Pimlico open at 8 a.m. The race is at 6:15 p.m.!


More cars! Owain kept a close eye on things!



We returned down to the front porch for our very Marylandy lunch of crabcake sandwiches. Beth had a Natty Boh, which is the nickname of Baltimore's National Bohemian Beer. Beth loved their slogan -- "From the land of pleasant living!" (You can see that they parked cars right up next to the house.)




Here are the boys that returned to their minivan midafternoon to find their car completely blocked in. Of course they paid for a blocked space, so it shouldn't have been so much of a surprise. They spent a LOT of time debating with each other about whether or not they could squeeze out between the other cars. (They couldn't)



They were really convinced they could do it. Here they are with their car wedged between two others. We overheard one of the guys say, "Dude, you're hitting BOTH cars right now! You're hitting both cars right now!" Nice.



But maybe, if we rock and move this car, we'll have enough room to get out. (So $40 gets you an unblocked space AND messed up brakes/transmission!) Hm, still not enough room....



Maybe if we move THIS car too...



They formed a little bit of a small mob with some other trapped revelers and moved some cars closer to the house too. Eventually they did manage to squeeze out. It was unfortunate and obnoxious, but there wasn't much we could do. We called the police twice, but they only drove by THREE times without stopping. By the third time, the mob had freed themselves and left.

Aside from the slight car "wilding" that hit around 3, the rest of the day was interesting and fun! We did view 11 public urinations ("You're number NINE!!!" we'd shout happily!) on the property. There was a lot of trash everywhere, but by 8:30ish just about everyone had cleared out. and we were none the worse for wear.

Here's a bit of the trashy lawn.



So Beth and I went to Miss Shirley's this morning and had a FABULOUS breakfast! It's officially a tradition now! Here are Owain and Cardiff together before Beth and Cardy hit the road. Owain sounds GREAT on video!! Check out Cardiff's paw action! "I must touch your face, Owain!! I must!!"



I hope Beth and Cardiff come back for Preakness next year -- it was so much fun!