I've never been to a horse racetrack before in my life, that is until yesterday...
So you ask, what possessed a 6-month-pregnant woman to venture out to a horsetrack out of the blue? Of course it's the Annual Golden Gate Fields Dachshund Derby!
We were there to support our neighbor, Tube Dog, who participated in this historic race. Well, think of it as half-time entertainment between the real horse races. We were surprised to learn that there were a total of 96 wiener dogs participating (who knew there're that many wieners around here??), divided into 8 heats. The winner of each heat than go on to compete for Championship. On top of that, it was dollar day- $1 beer, hot dogs (the food, not the racers), soda, etc... which made for a very packed track.
Here's the pre-race wiener practicing his trot. Just look at that sleek build and shiny hair, I'd say he's in prime racing condition.
And the gate opens! (If you can see it *argh*) I got this sh*ttiest spot with the camera guy smack dab in front of me. But you could kinda make out the 3 wieners that sprinted out of the gates towards their owners (to the right), and the huge congregation left behind who were either too busy mingling with other hot dogs or not quite sure where they were supposed to go (including Tube Dog)...
At the end, he didn't win (he was shamelessly carried across the finishing line), his people came back covered with nats, and we were all dehydrated and delirious (it was the first warm day of the year), but we all had a rowdy good time :)
Here are more sub-par/ partially blocked/ shaky pictures of the day if you're interested.
We felt all guilty when we're back as we couldn't take Bryson with us, so Hubby had a good play session with him. I just love all his different expressions when they're playing- or more accurately, Hubby whistling into his face, which disturbs him to no end, hee hee... :)
(I especially love that top right one where he's like "Huh?! Are you hiding a bird in your mouth?!" So darn cute!)