Preakness, baby. Preakness.

And thus, Wifey and I received an introduction to horse betting. Wifey bet on Sway Away to show and I picked Concealed Identity to win. Outcome? 12^th and 9^th respectively. -$80. Dang. The weather more than compensated!

OK…maybe it was a bit warm for a couple of yuppy Bostonians, but the previous 10 days brought rain, rain, and rain. So we were content. Our tickets were complimentary (thanks, dad)! Despite dad's warnings of the 'Soddom and Gomorrah' atmosphere, we happily accepted the tickets to the Preakness infield.

Infield attendees miss some of the days pageantry but gain access to a wide variety of extracurricular activity (more on that later). We opted to set up camp in a quiet patch of the infield along the backstretch. We had front row seats for all of the days races, a great visual on the main stage, only a short walk to the cleanest port-a-potties, and an even shorter walk to the free sodas (I heart Pepsi).

There were 13 races on the schedule. The Preakness was #12. In my opinion, this was brilliant planning on behalf of the organizers. The 100k person crowd descends upon the exit tunnel at intervals; some leave before the Preakness race, some leave immediately following the big race, some leave after #13, and still others stick around for the late entertainment.

Speaking of entertainment, the spectators are 50% of the show. By the time 4p rolled around, the most ambitious spectators were being escorted to the exits (by stretcher), wanderers started to separate from their herds, and the sun/alcohol combination was otherwise winning the battle.

One of our pleasant surprises was that of the commute and parking options. It couldn't have taken us more than 25 minutes to get there (or back) from dad's house. We quickly found side street parking for only $20. The funny thing was that the side street parking is actually public and free! The homeowners have learned that they can make some $ if they block-off the roads with their children and only "allow" cars that fork over the cash. The only downside is that you have to worry about the health and welfare of your car during the ENTIRE event.

As with every trip to MD, the greatest joy is catching-up with the Fam. Dad's hospitality was top notch (e.g. steak and crab cakes on Saturday night) and accommodating (e.g. an extra/unexpected 6a trip to BWI on Saturday morning).