Lexington - suggestions
 

We will be doing a long weekend in Lexington in May - sugestions on resturants - points of interest?? We will be travelling with my 6 year old daughter who loves horses - and planned on visiting Horse Park and the early AM training sessions at Keenland. Any other suggestions would be appreciated - especially for good restaurants. Thanks! Staying downtown Lexington.

One of the highlights of our trip to Keeneland last year was a private tour of several horse farms, including Claiborne, through Kentucky Horse Tours (Mary Ann Squires) (859) 312-1124.

Keeneland will not be running in May - 3 weeks in April and October only.

There is a children's museum downtown in Victorian Square shops called the Explorium.

Does your daughter ride? There are several places within 20 miles of Lexington to trail ride. www.sugarcreekresort.com

Would she like to tour one of the top farms such as Three Chimneys and see Shorty Jones? www.threechimneys.com

www.visitlex.com or www.kentuckyconnect.com (the Lexington newspaper's website) should have info on the Lexington area.

I'm afraid most of the downtown restaurants are not geared towards children.

The Horse Park has Breyerfest every year but I think it's in July. You might want to check and plan a return trip just for that.

The University of Kentucky Basketball museum is pretty neat as well and it is downtown. It has some interactive exhibits. Lexingotn has some great places to eat but I don't know if they are what you would call kid friendly. Right in downtown is DeSha's it would be a pretty good place to go and for a good lunch spot downtown is Sawyer's for burgers, sandwiches, soups or chilis they are near each other near the starbuck's.

We'll be going to Lexington this summer and here were the dining suggestions given to me: Billy's BBQ, for kids it's Joe Balogna's (pizzas & breadsticks) and the Parkette Drive-in, a real 50's style drive-in. Here's a link to Lexington's attractions:
http://www.visitlex.com/family.html

30 miles east of Lexington, in Shelbyville:

www.wakefieldscearce.com

Amazing galleries and don't miss lunch or dinner at Science Hill.

I understand Keeneland is a seasonal event. But wouldn't horse farm tours go on nevertheless?

I would NOT take a 6 year old to a Thoroughbred farm in the Lexington area. These are working breeding farms, and you are not allowed to pet or even touch the stallions, most of which are worth millions of dollars. Children are generally frowned upon on these tours, and any of the guides will tell you this. (I've been on tours of most of the major farms in the Lexington area over the past 15 years, so I'm not exaggerating.) May is also still breeding season, so the farms offering tours will be limited.

The Kentucky Horse Park will be MUCH more her style, since they will allow her to pet the horses and there are child-friendly exhibits. You can ride on a trail ride, take carriage rides, and watch horses get harnessed, have shoes put on, etc. It is a great place for horse lovers of all ages to spend the day! :-) Breyerfest is the last weekend in July. (I'll be there!)

Although Keeneleand will not actually be running at that time, there will still be horses in training there, so you can go watch morning works. The Track Kitchen is a great place for breakfast, too.

A 6-year-old does change the equation and some farms are friendlier than others. But the tour I'm talking about is a private tour with a guide who also works in the breeding industry. In our case, the guide took my husband and I in her own car to three farms. We spoke beforehand about which ones those would be. At Claiborne our party of three intersected with a bus tour. An exeedingly polite groom not only brought Monarchos out for everyone to meet, but invited us to pet him. On our last morning our guide invited us to her own farm where we were lucky enough to see a newborn foal brought in from the field where his mare had birthed him during turnout. Altogether, it was a lovely -- and very real -- experience.

Oh, and we also ate here:
http://www.buddysbarandgrill.com/
very near the birthday party room!

A private guided tour as you describe is VERY different than the tours that most farms give, and the type of tour you describe would be child-friendly. I still do not recommend that the OP try to take her 6-year old on to most farms for their standard tour, as the child will not be welcome. The Kentucky Horse Park will be MUCH better for her! Most 6-year old sjust want to pet and ride horses, and a Thoroughbred breeding farm is not the place for those activities.

In the years I have been touring farms, the only stallions I've been invited to even get somewhat close to were Silver Charm, Slew O' Gold, Belong To Me, and Conquistador Cielo. Many others, such as Dynaformer and Seattle Slew, have notoriously nasty tempers, but I am still glad I was able to see all of the stallions that I have seen.

Take a look at Bluegrass tours. They've been around for years and will give you an overview of several horse farms.
http://www.bluegrasstours.com/daily.html
As you can see from their photo, chidren are welcome and tours run daily.

ChristieP - If you haven't ever attended the races at Keeneland, you might try that sometime. Before each race, the horses are paraded into the paddock where all the spectators are standing. You will be within a few feet of the horses getting ready to run the next race. http://www.keeneland.com/visitor/paddock.asp

I've been to Keeneland, and it is beautiful. My favorite track in Lexington is actually The Red Mile because we don't have harness racing here in Texas! I go to Lone Star Park here quite often, too.

Watching the early morning training at Keeneland is fun and it's neat to eat in the Track Kitchen and "rub elbows" with the trainers, etc. Even though the spring meet will be over, you can still do this. Aside from horses, another interesting spot in Lexington is Henry Clay's home, Ashland, which is well worth a tour. Ashland sometimes has special activities for children on the weekend, so you might check to see if anything is going on when you will be there.

A couple of downtown restaurant suggestions would include Joe Bologna's, which is a locally owned pizza/Italian restaurant in an old church on Maxwell St. Another fun place is the Atomic Cafe, which serves Caribbean style food in a laid-back atmosphere. The interior of this restaurant is covered with tropical murals and they have a lovely patio which is fun to dine on when the weather is nice. The Atomic Cafe is on N. Limestone. A third choice is Ramsey's, located on the corner of High and Woodland. Ramsey's serves excellent "home-cooked" meals, as well as burgers and other sandwiches. There are several locations in Lexington, but it is a local "chain". All three of these places are child-friendly.