Local Attractions: Keeneland in Lexington

Some families move as the bread-winner's job is transferred.  Perhaps they change cities and/or states in search of better jobs.  They might think they won't move again and put off checking out what the local area has to offer in terms of fun places to visit.  I used to think that but now I know: don't wait - you might not live there forever!

Since the year 2000, I've lived in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.  There are so many places to explore, I've really enjoyed most of them several times.  The Kentucky Horsepark is a particular favorite of mine.  It's the place if you have visitors you first want to take them to visit.  There are an uncounted number of "horse" farms, horse-themed places to wander around.

Then, how did I miss going to Keeneland, the premier horse-racing center here, until last year?  I blame it on my nursing job with its variable schedule and requirements!  Anyway, my daughter and other friends and I went to Keeneland Race Track for the day last Friday.  We had a terrific time!

Marie, daughter #7, left, & me at Keeneland's Thoroughbred Club for lunch, 4-25-14.

From left, Stuart, one of Rosemary's visiting friends, Peggy, Rosemary, Marie, & Jan, having lunch, 4-25-14.  

After lunch, the bunch of us took the shuttle over to the track.  It was packed with visitors!  We strolled around, watching the beautiful horses being shown.  We went and viewed several races.  Particularly interesting were the huge screens opposite the stands which showed the exact position of the horses during the races in progress.  We were too busy to notice if any of us actually bet on the horses or not.  Don't miss Keeneland, if you're in Lexington during racing season!

Dozens of beautiful horses were paraded before the races.  4-25-14. 

Rafting on a River

Picture this: Travel on the Hwang Ho, which we know as the Yellow River in China, was mostly accomplished in 1932 and for the previous 2,000 years, on home-made rafts using sheepskins for flotation.  W. Robert Moore describes the process in Raft Life on the Hwang Ho, National Geographic Magazine, June, 1932.  "It is a long, breath-taking task to inflate all of the sheepskins, even on this small raft.  Some of the larger freight rafts, however, have as many as 500 skins bound together" (photo caption, p. 745).

At that time, there were no dams on the river.  The many rapids were extremely dangerous to navigate and required great skill to steer.  "Whenever one of the sheepskins is torn in going through the rapids or grounding on sand bars, the hole is sewed up and the hide reinflated.  Skins can be used three seasons" (photo caption, p 747).

The skins are inflated by one man blowing through an opening in the end of one leg of a sheepskin.  What a strange sight!  Many skins are stuffed with wool to bypass taxes on transporting wool.  The skins are lashed together with wood strips.

The Hwang Ho River "is the second largest river in China. . . all along its 2,500 mile path to the sea, it is not navigable for steamships or other deep-draft craft.  It is alternatively either too swift and broken by turbulent rapids or widens and becomes too shallow and filled with sand bars to allow the use of large boats" (p 742).  Isn't the Chinese invention amazing!

Hungary's Largest City

For centuries, the Danube River was the chief and only highway of a large portion of Europe.  Flowing through the Hungarian cities of Buda and Pest, each on opposite banks, in 1932, the river was still quite prominent in the area's trade.  J. R. Hildebrand described the importance of the river as "the commercial focus of the vast plain that pours its grain and wines, its cattle and wool, into warehouses and factories to be shipped or fabricated for the Danube trade, Budapest, Twin City of the Danube, National Geographic Magazine, June, 1932, p. 731.

In addition, "in its busiest years Budapest has ranked second only to Minneapolis as the premier milling city of the world" (p. 731).

Budapest is a city of sidewalk cafes, "proportionately more prevalent . . . than in Paris."  The author counted "47 thermal springs in use" as medicinal baths (p. 732).  They claimed a climate similar to the American state of California, with "bathing (swimming out-of-doors) . . . the universal sport" (photo caption, p. 734).

With a past history of government by kings, Hungarians have a unique perspective.  "Through the ages the kings of Hungary have worn as a revered emblem the crown of St. Stephen (the first Christian king of Hungary)  . . . our king (formerly) swears allegiance to his people and not the people to the king" (photo caption, p. 735).

The Hungarian language is singular.  "Few aliens learn a tongue which has no kindred roots or relation with any other European tongue.  Fortunately, English is widely spoken" (p. 741). The land was settled a thousand years ago by Magyars from the Ural Mountains in Russia and "they still remain the dominant race" (photo caption, p. 728).

Hungarians appreciate classic architecture and monuments as is evidence in the text and photos of this article.  It is an ambition of mine to cruise the Danube River and pass through Buda and Pest, Hungary.

The Summer Exile

Heretofore, the travel articles I have perused in the pages of the National Geographic Magazine have been written by temporary visitors to the particular country of note.  Today's article, Hungary, a Kingdom Without a King: A Tour from Central Europe's Largest Lake to the Fertile Plains of the Danube and the Tisza, Elizabeth P. Jacobi, June, 1932, was penned by an actual resident of that country.

Mrs. Jacobi, her husband, and two school-age boys lived in the city of Budapest, Hungary.  To escape the fumes from their apartment while being re-painted and redecorated, this young mother took her boys on a summer adventure around the countryside of Hungary.

The country lost two-thirds of its land after the "World War" (World War I).  We were instructed on the long history of Hungarian rulers, 150 years of Turkish rule, and then recently ruled by a Regent in anticipation of perhaps a king returning.  Like all other European countries, governments have come and gone, and the people in the countryside carry on as best they can.

FYI: Hungary, in 1932, was bordered by Czechoslovakia on the north, Yugoslavia on the south, Rumania in the east, and Austria on the west.  Budapest actually is the cities of Buda and Pest, opposite each other on the Danube River.

After hiring a car for the journey, the family's first goal was to spend time on a feudal estate in the country.  They enjoyed the trip through small villages.  Agriculture was strictly by primitive methods of hand-harvesting.  Major products were a large silkworm industry, Indian corn to which two million acres were devoted; cattle farming, both meat and dairy, tobacco, and "Paprika, a powder made from the dried fruit of red peppers widely grown on the farms of Hungary, appears on almost every table.  It is cheap and plentiful" (photo caption, p. 723). "Between three and four million of its fertile acres are planted in wheat.  Other important crops are potatoes, sugar beets, corn, rye, barley and oats" (photo caption, p. 724).

Next destination: Lake Balaton, the largest lake in central Europe.  ". . .we took the children on a motor-boat trip around the lake, visiting the twenty-odd small resorts and the few, larger places - Balatonfoldvar, patronized by the wealthy; Siofak, summer paradise of Budapest tradesmen's families; Balatonfurad, a health resort whose hot springs, baths, and sanatorium are visited at all seasons of the year" (p. 705).  The lake is very shallow, seemingly a lake impossible in which to drown.

The family attended a wedding of their cook's family in a small town.  There were fourteen pages of beautiful native costumes and countryside  in this article.  Every locality has distinctive dress, quite beautifully and elaborately embroidered.  The women wear so many petticoats that they have to be put on out-of-doors, otherwise, they couldn't pass through their doors! The headpieces are also quite elaborate, especially that of the bride.  Around her neck she wore a necklace on which was a picture of her bridegroom.  Mrs. Jacobi writes, "Girls of Decs, proud to wear their beautiful national costume.  The rural districts of Hungary have resisted the invasion of conventional prosaic, machinemade clothes better than most other parts of central and southeastern Europe" (photo caption, p. 727).

Finally, Mrs. Jacobi received a telegram from her husband: "Carpenters departed; fall cleaning completed; cook returned; paprika preserves in full swing.  Longing for my family."

"There was no resisting such a summons.  The next day saw us on our way home, to tell about our experiences and to discuss what would be the best thing to do the next summer" (p. 721).  Plus, the boys had to return to school!

'Round the World, 1931 Style (Part 2)

Our gutsy flyers, Gladys and Charles, left the beach on the Bay of Bengal and headed across the Yoma Mountains with a repaired engine but with no working radiator.  Twenty-five miles short of Rangoon, they were forced to make another emergency landing.  The pair refueled, kept going east to reach Bangkok, Siam (Thailand).  There, the leaky radiator was repaired.

Meanwhile, hostilities between China and Japan had started north of Siam.  The flyers progressed in the Errant and reached Hanoi, French Indo-China (North Vietnam) and were advised to not fly over China.

Gladys and Charles were determined to visit Hong Kong so proceeded to fly up the Chinese coast.  Gladys writes, "On October 9, when we landed to refuel at Swatau, we were surrounded by Chinese soldiers dressed in irregular uniforms, but equipped with bayonets which might have been all too effective if we had not been able to show that ours was not a Japanese plane" (p. 686).

The last city in China on their trip was Shanghai.  Intending to ship their plane across the Pacific, they were not prepared for the difficulties that ensued.  They had to obtain a release from the Chinese government in Nanking.

While the American Embassy was negotiating this, they hoped to at least dismantle the Errant and pack it in crates.  They were not even allowed on the field.  "The reason was soon apparent.  A plane arrived amid great excitement among the crowd.  A few minutes later a car raced out of the field carrying a man in military uniform.  It was General Chiang Kai-shek, the President of China and the principal figure in China's resistance against Japan" (p. 687).  After more delays, they finally left and stopped in Japan before their trip across the Pacific.

"It was a joy to reassemble the Errant in San Francisco and soar over the Golden Gate" (photo caption, p. 688) after wandering over the rest of the world.  "At Los Angeles the skypath turned toward the east and home . . . the flyers felt relief in freedom from frequent customs inspections and from the necessity of obtaining information through interpreters" (photo caption, p. 689).

Gladys and Charles were most impressed by the American Luxuries of having an airport and ground crew at every major city, radio communication between the fields and weather reports.  "We had been away almost eight months.  Now we saw America in perspective. . . It was time for the Errant, home from its wanderings, to rest" (p. 690).

Personal note: my parents lived for years in California.  Dad was famous for being a horrible driver (I promised my children, "You will never again have to ride with grandpa).  One time when mom, dad, and I were on a road trip, dad nearly got us killed by turning left in front of a truck.  After he got out of the car to pump gas, I commented to mom, "I think he just used up his Guardian Angel."  Mom sighed, "I think he just used up about two dozen of them!"  Gladys and Charles must have used up about a hundred Guardian Angels on their world-wide tour in a primitive airplane with no communication, no radar, not much else!

'Round the World, 1931 Style (Part 1)

Here we have Charles, an engineer-airplane designer, with time off, married to Gladys, an adventurous woman who loves to travel. One evening they contemplated flying around the United States. She offered, "if we can get the plane?"  He countered, "Get the plane?  Why not build it?" Flying the World: In a Homemade Airplane the Author and Her Husband Enjoy 16,000 Miles of Adventurous Flight Across Europe, Asia, and America, Gladys M. Day, National Geographic Magazine, June, 1932, p. 655.  And that's exactly what they did!

"We built our plane in the spring of 1931.  We then shipped to England, where it was reassembled.  From England we flew to France . . . to Germany . . . over the Balkans to Istanbul . . . across Palestine, Persia, and India . . . up the Chinese coast to Shanghai, in the shadow of impending war between China and Japan . . . we shipped to San Francisco and flew home across the American Continent in December" (p. 655).

Some statistics: total distance: 24,000 miles (as in the title, 16,000 miles of flying).  Gasoline consumption: 1,240 gallons, "ranging in price from as low as 22 cents a gallon (in America) . . . to as high as $1.50 per gallon at an English fort in the middle of the Syrian Desert" (p. 655).  Total expenses, including hotels and ship passage: $6,000.

Their plane was christened the Errant; high speed was 105 miles per hour, cruising speed was 85 miles per hour, and landing speed was 30 miles per hour" (p. 656).  One unique feature of the Errant was that the passenger seat was beside the pilot's seat.

After procuring the necessary maps, passports, visas, and flying permits, they took off from London on May 28.  "The thrill of that first take-off, the feeling of the plane lifting from the ground after so many months of waiting and planning, will not soon be forgotten" (p. 657).

It didn't take long for the couple to get lost,  They were running out of gas and had to land soon; they weren't sure over which European country they were flying.  They chose the next flat field for landing.  They feared they were in the Netherlands, in which they had no flying permit. The plane turned out to be in a potato patch in an insane asylum's field in Germany.

All was well.  They were "declared welcome and escorted into town . . . Really, we could not have landed in a more charming or picturesque place if we had tried!" (p. 659).

They enjoyed flying over Western and Eastern Europe and eventually crossed the Black Sea into Turkey.  "The difference between the East and the West is apparent to the flyer in more ways than simply the change in dress and customs of the people.  Beyond Istanbul, flying accommodations were at a premium.  It became difficult and often impossible, to obtain weather reports" (p. 662).

After leaving Jerusalem, they turned west, "directly over the Syrian Desert, which in that season of the year was a furnace of heat, a white, glaring expanse of sand, where to lose our way meant almost certain death" (p. 664).  I'm reminded that these brave adventurers could not fly more than several thousand feet in the air.

The dangers they survived were many and varied.  In Cologne (Germany), their gasoline tank started leaking.  The mechanics at the airport wouldn't weld it closed and had to construct a new copper tank (while they waited).  In the middle of the night at a hotel in Baghdad (present Iraq), they had to leave because the hotel was on fire!  (Let's not forget, in 1931, there were no night flights.)  The monsoon season in India made air travel difficult.  The two contracted dengue fever in Calcutta and ended up staying there one month.

Due to total engine failure, they had to make an emergency landing on the beach of the Bay of Bengal (India).  Charles asked Gladys to drop a smoke bomb so he could determine from which direction the wind was blowing.  She did, but it didn't go off.  He managed to land just inches from the water.  Burmese natives came from the jungle to inspect the strange craft.  Both parties decided the other was friendly.  The natives helped move the plane close to the trees so the tide wouldn't flood the plane.  Then they guided Charles and Gladys, all the while, carrying the plane's engine on bamboo poles through a jungle full of poisonous snakes,  six hours to the nearest road close to which there was an actual automobile. 

I admire Charles: no one could help him repair the engine so he took it apart and rebuilt it himself!  He decided that it would be easier to float the engine back to the plane by water in a 'dugout' canoe.  This in itself was another adventure but the two were able to continue their journey after that.

(Please note: this article is as interesting as a juicy romance novel, but it is long!  I will finish it another day and report the continuing progress and conclusion!)

Frog or Toad?

"A man can make a running jump of not more than four times his length, while any two-inch frog worth his salt thinks nothing of a jump of twenty times his length," Our Friend, the Frog, Doris M. Cochran,  National Geographic Magazine, May, 1932, p. 645.  This is but one of many amazing qualities of those amphibian animals we call frogs and toads.

*Only the males can sing.  "The inflated vocal pouch of the calling male extends in the front of the head," (photo caption, p. 649).

*Their long, sticky tongues are attached to the lower front of their jaws for maximum length in snaring flying insects.  One species has no tongue but has claws on its feet.

*You can distinguish terrestrial/land/tree climbing frogs from aquatic frogs by the appearance of their feet.  The land-dwellers have round knobs on their feet for better attachment while the aquatics have webbed feet for more efficient swimming in the shallow ponds they prefer to inhabit.

*Females lay a large quantity of eggs, as many as 240.  Only one in a hundred usually survives the metamorphosis from tadpole to adult.  Enemies of the newly hatched eggs are fish, turtles, and crayfish.

*Frogs secrete a slimy substance on their backs to make most of them inedible.  Some are poisonous.

*Frogs hibernate in the winter in the mud; they do not breathe.  In tropical countries they don't hibernate.

*"The insect-eating habits of the tailless amphibians are of great economic value to man.  Toads especially take enough food to fill the stomach four times completely in twenty-four hours," (p. 645).

*A wide-spread habit in the southern United States, especially in small towns or rural areas is "frog gigging."  Done in the darkness of night using a flashlight, frogs are poked or captured live with a loop or nail at the end of a long stick and put into sacks.  The Bullfrog is large enough to be eaten.  (This is generally a 'guy' thing!)

*"The nutritive value of frogs' legs compares favorably with that of chicken and fish," (p. 648).

*Some frogs have teeth and will bite if disturbed.

*Frogs make good pets.  They need an environment that is always moist.  Frogs are toads and toads are frogs.

*There is no truth in the belief that touching frogs cause warts on your hands.  The author attested to this.

Ms. Cochran obviously greatly appreciates these interesting creatures.  The eight-page section of color drawings were lovely, if you like frogs.  "I have not spoken of the real beauty of some species of frogs.  Their slender, graceful proportions, their waxlike, nearly translucent skin, glowing with the soft, rich tones of old pottery; their brilliant expectant eyes, with irises of gold and iridesant colors - these are sufficient to make an esthetic appeal to anyone who is sensitive to beauty in all its forms," (p. 649).