Kathryn turns 18! (And she spends it at the races!)

So my sweet little sister turned the big 18 yesterday. And to celebrate we went to Emerald Downs to watch the races. We had never been there before so it sounded like a good idea. And I have to say it is quite interesting. i am not sure if all horse tracks are like Emerald Downs, but this one sure seemed nice.
We had no idea how the racing and betting thing worked. It seems pretty complicated if you ask me. They parade the horses through this nice looking courtyard, then the riders get on them and they go out onto the track, escorted by their companion horses. (I think they are to quiet the racing horse's nerves but I really don't know.) Then they all go to the starting gate and begin. The whole race probably lasts about a minute at the most. And then its 25 minuets until the next race, giving you time to go collect your mulah and bet on the next race. The winning horse of course gets his picture taken in the winners circle surrounded by his trainers and owners and all their friends. And that is about it. We just stood along the chain link fence to watch. Nothing fancy, unless you wanted to pay more for the rich people seats.
It seems strange to me the sort of people that are attracted to the races. There were a medium amount of elderly people (most of those seemed to be single men), a lot of parents with younger kids, a lot of Hispanics, and a few punks that would fall into the age range of 18-25. Seems like a strange mix to me. Some people looked like they really knew what they were doing others I think were just there for the fun of it.
We tried our luck at gambling and came out with about $12 more than when we came in. Beginners luck probably. I was a little surprised that they never even asked Kathryn for i.d. They would look at her a little funny, but never asked. So any daring 17 or 16 year old could get away with gambling their parents money away. This was a winning jockey, Kathryn made some mulah off of him.
We ended the day at one of the best hamburger places ever, Red Robin. I tried the Whiskey River hamburger and I will have to say it is very delicious. We made sure to have the waiters come sing to her and thoroughly embarass her! Overall, it was a great day. (I got her one of our fav movies - Howl's Moving Castle.) Have fun watching it Kathryn!