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What's up y'all?
Thanks for joining the Travel Tales and Talks podcast with Derek and Makayla.
I'm Derek.
I'm Makayla.
Thanks for listening and enjoy the show.
What's up y'all?
We are back with another episode of Travel Tales and Talks with Derek and Makayla, of course.
Baby, we have a wonderful October weekend and we made the decision to have,
we're going to have a jam packed Midwest October.
And we decided to do a couple of things.
So I took time off from work and we went to the Kingland Fall Meet, Blink in Cincinnati.
We partake, partook into a Lexington soccer match, the Halloween Festival and Thriller Parade.
Yes, we did.
We had an amazing, how many days?
It's four days, more than 72 hours.
How many hours is that?
Do the math for me.
Thursday through Sunday, we had something going on.
We had a blast.
I was tired the following Monday.
Didn't want to go to work.
Good thing I had to work from home that day.
So let's start off on Thursday.
We made the decision to go to Kingland for the Fall Meet.
We love trying to win some money at the racetrack, but we never do.
I always lose.
It is so frustrating.
But for those who don't know what Kingland is, Kingland is a racetrack here in Lexington.
It opened in 1936, in October of 1936.
It's the world's largest and most prominent thoroughbred auction house
and host world-class racing twice a day, which I mean twice a year,
which is the Fall Meet and the Spring Meet.
Spring Meet takes place in April from April 4th through the 25th
and sometimes goes through the 26th.
Just depends on how the calendar falls.
So we went to the Fall Meet this year.
Just a word of advice for those who are listening, buy your tickets in advance.
Yes, because Derek had this idea that he was going to buy.
Well, okay, so you can just buy your tickets at the gate, but nine times out of ten,
they're the standing room only tickets, which you can bring your lawn chairs and things,
which is what we did.
But we wanted to sit in the stands with a pile of tickets.
So we can look down on the track and see everything.
This is an unusual year because on Thursday, they usually never sell out on Thursdays.
They were sold out.
So yay!
So we had to do the general admissions where we brought our own seats.
Yeah, which was good because we got to sit right up on the fence.
But, you know, keep in mind, you're going to have people standing all around you.
And if you have a sensitivity to smoke, you're allowed to smoke out there.
So you got to put up, not put up with it.
That sounds so...
You do have to put up with it.
If you don't smoke, you're putting up with it.
Yeah, because it was hard on you, girl.
And then another thing in general admissions, you're subject to the weather.
You are subject to the weather because you're not covered.
And I went out there.
It was a beautiful day.
I didn't think, oh, girl, get you a hat or...
Some shades.
Because you would think, oh, racetrack, wear your fancy hat, right?
Well, let's be honest.
We normally...
You dress nice like you're business casual, but you don't bust out in your Sunday best
and your fancy hat unless you're going to...
The derby.
The derby happens in May in Louisville.
However, sometimes, depending on the race, I know in the spring, everyone will wear their best.
In the spring, you will get the derby type dressing going on on a Thursday in Lexington.
But in October, in the fall...
It's a little more relaxed than what I've seen.
You'll get nice skirts, slacks, cowgirl boots and dresses, that kind of thing.
But people will have on hats, but they're not the big fancy derby hats.
So I didn't even think to bring my hat this time.
I didn't even bring sunglasses.
So my poor retinas got towed up by the sun.
It was so bright.
Because you're looking into the sun from where you're sitting, where the stands are.
We were looking directly into the sun.
I ended up leaving early.
Just be aware to wear shades.
The grandstand and the seats are facing...
They're facing the sun.
They're facing east.
I mean west, I'm sorry.
Because when the sun sets, it's directly in your face.
Yeah.
So be aware of that.
London Rose and I, we ended up missing the last couple of races because we couldn't handle it.
We couldn't see anything.
But outside of that, let's give us more information about seating.
So GA, general admission, seven bucks.
Then there are benches there.
There's seating there.
But if you're not one of the first people there, you're going to be out of luck.
So bring your own chair if you're not there for the morning training session so you can
claim that bench for you and your family.
But bring your own seats.
Then you can have grandstand seating.
So the pricing on the grandstand seating, Wednesdays and Thursdays, it's 15 bucks.
Then of course on the weekend, it goes up to 25.
So Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it's 25 bucks.
And then on opening weekend, it's 30 bucks for grandstand seating no matter what.
And then you can get away from the common folk.
Oh, goodness.
And go to the equestrian, which is casual ala cote dining from the first floor.
And I believe they start out like 50 bucks and it goes up by day.
So Wednesday, Thursday, it's like 50 bucks.
Saturday and Sunday doubles.
And then on opening day, I think it triples.
So I mean opening weekend, sorry.
And then from there, you can go to the Phoenix room, which is more business casual attire.
It's indoor and it's on the fourth floor overlooking the paddock.
So where the horse is coming in at.
And then if you really want to get away from people, you want to have that VIP experience,
you want to go to the Lexington, Kentucky room.
It's formal dress code.
So it's formal indoor dining on the fourth floor overlooking the track.
You have to order your tickets early.
They sell out quick.
Those go super fast.
So if you're planning to come to the fall meet, get your tickets early, FYI.
Because I dropped the ball back.
You did.
I dropped the ball.
And one fun fact about Kingland that I didn't know,
they generate about $50 million in revenue in horse sales.
You remember when the guy announced this particular horse that was racing, I think, in like the third race.
So one pay like $650,000 for this horse.
Oh yeah, they tell the prices of the horses.
I was like, what?
That's twice the price of a house, three times the price of a house.
That is nuts for an animal.
For an animal, they paid $650,000 for one of them.
Not a whole stable, just one horse.
Amazing.
It's a beautiful horse though.
And it won.
So paid out.
Because if they win enough races, they more than pay for themselves.
And you gotta keep in mind that people,
a lot of times people that own these horses don't even live here.
They purchase these horses and they...
They will leave them here.
Yeah, I hate to say leave them here, but they'll leave them here with a trainer.
And the trainer will raise this horse, yada, yada, yada, and the owner will fly in at least twice a year,
but ideally more times a year to just check in on their investment.
Exactly.
Picking up what I'm putting down.
Exactly.
And they have these auctions.
These auctions don't happen every day.
It's four times a year.
So they're generating 50 million plus dollars out of four auctions.
Because Kingland is located directly across the street from the airport.
Like the airport, they face each other.
And so there's people, twice a year when we have these races...
Private jet.
They come in, they fly in.
They fly in and just shuttle across the street to see their horse run.
Then they get back on their private plane.
Oh, remember when we were going to Spain and we were in Philadelphia and the guy in front of us,
he had just left Lexington because of Kingland.
Yeah, his horse.
His horse.
And I think his horse finished third.
So the guy lived in Pennsylvania and he owned horses here in Kentucky.
He's like, yeah, I got two horses down here.
I come down in April and October.
He's like, to check on my investment.
So Kingland horse racing, I love it.
I don't know about you.
It's a whole vibe.
I say at least come for one day.
Just come for once.
Come to a horse race just once.
Because it's...
Bring some money.
Even if we don't always...
I'm looking at Derrick over here flexing.
Y'all, we don't always bet.
No, we don't.
A lot of times...
And it's not a lot of money.
You can bet 50 cents.
Yeah, we just come in.
It's literally just the vibe.
It is so much fun.
And it's fun to fake bet.
We'll sit there and try out the different combinations.
And normally, Derrick will guess right.
And I'm like, why didn't you put money on that one?
Because he's like, when I put money on it, it don't win.
The last three races, horse number three and number four were hot in the last three races.
Okay, I said, okay, I'll do three and four and nine and 12 were always placing in the
top four.
So what they do, they change the numbers on the horses.
Horses are different, but the numbers are the same.
And the horses that had number three and four were one and two, one and two, flip-flopping.
Right?
So when y'all left, I made...
I think I made a 50 cent bet.
Tri-factor, super tri-factor.
Three and four place.
Nine and 11 were always in the top.
Three and four, those two horses in the last three races didn't place at all.
So I got three and four right, but my other two picks, my super factor, never hit because
nine and 11 all of a sudden stopped placing and hitting third and fourth or whatever.
Was it win show place?
So nine and 11 stopped showing and being in fourth place.
And there was seven and eight started showing up.
So anyway, bring a little money.
You don't need a lot of money.
You can make a 50 cent bet, pick a winner.
You can make a dollar bet, super factor, tri-factor.
It's not a whole lot of money.
If your head is swimming like mine, yeah, I don't even bet.
I come to eat.
I have my money for the concession.
Yeah, or the restaurant.
Yeah, and they have a kid zone.
So London Rose is a member of the kid zone.
When we first moved here, we signed her up.
We sure did.
And on Saturdays, she's able to go in and-
Watch them train in the morning.
Uh-huh, and hang out with the horse mascot.
It's real cute.
Kingly does have a mascot.
I forgot about that.
All right.
Let's talk a little bit about what we did on Friday.
Friday.
Yeah.
So we take the day off again.
No, did I go to work that day?
I went to work on Friday.
You did a half day.
I did a half day, and then we got in the car and we went up to Cincinnati.
For us, Cincinnati is about an hour and 30 minutes from us.
And call out here, we should have knew that there was going to be traffic, so we should
have left earlier.
Because we sat on the interstate for 30, 45 minutes trying to get into, and we were already
behind.
But anyway, so we go to Cincinnati for, it's called Blink Cincinnati.
And it takes place in Cincinnati, and it's the nation's largest public light and art
event.
So they use light to create art on the landscape or the cityscape of downtown Cincinnati.
And I will never forget the first time we went to Blink.
It was so freaking cold.
Like my face froze.
Remember that?
I remember.
Because it's on the water and the wind was blowing, and in that year, they had a lot
of their art installations on the water.
On the water.
So you're thinking Ohio and mid October, it's going to be cold.
But not that cold.
And we were not dressed well.
I had on leather gloves.
I had on a skull cap.
And it just wasn't enough.
It wasn't enough.
I needed to wear an abrigo, like a heavy coat.
I needed a trench bubble coat.
You remember triple fat goose?
Yes.
I needed a triple fat goose coat.
I think I had on a nautica jacket and a hat.
I was like, what is going on?
It was so freaking cold.
But this year, perfect weather.
They didn't have a lot of art installations on the actual river, but they were scattered
throughout downtown.
And the weather was really nice.
It was perfect for October.
Yeah, it was nice.
All I needed was a light jacket, hat, my skull cap, my gloves.
And even then, I was a little warm.
There was no wind.
No wind.
No.
I think it was probably about 65 degrees.
It was perfect.
Clear skies.
So you could see the drone display from the river.
Yes.
So tell them a little bit about the drone display.
We saw it while we were sitting in traffic.
So this year, they used drones as part of the light show, where they would use the drones
to have art in the sky over the Ohio River and over downtown Cincinnati.
I've never seen that before.
I haven't either.
So picture fireworks.
You know how fireworks are up high?
It's like a firework that's brought down to almost your eye level in the sky.
That's exactly what it looked like.
A fireworks show with drones.
Like a low level, but you get eye level fireworks.
So you don't have to really look up into the sky.
So these lights were flush with the buildings.
The drones.
And then they would use projections onto the skyscrapers to show their artwork via lights.
So they had this one where we're walking down, I forget the name of the street, might have
been race or something, where they had the astronaut and was it?
ET.
ET?
That was cool.
In front of the golf carts that had eyeballs.
So the golf carts looked like they were blinking and frowning at you.
Like cars.
It was like real life cars.
But they did it all with lights.
My favorite was this one building.
It had a huge clock countdown.
And when it countdown to zero, the building looked like it was transforming.
Like a transformer.
It looked like a Rubik's Cube.
Rubik's Cube, yeah.
That was so cool.
And then they had the one where we went past the red light district, is what I call it,
where they had these red lights down this alley.
But before we went down that red light district, there was this building that looked like a
lizard was walking up and down the building with the lights.
That was cool.
Very creative.
And then we went down the red light district, as I call it, to the DJ.
There was this alley.
It was a legit alley.
It was an alley.
It looked like a scene out of Blade.
Blade.
I said, they're going to be playing that music from Blade, and then it's going to start raining
blood.
The guy really did have music that sounded like it should have been on the Blade soundtrack.
And you're talking about hundreds of people walking down this alley and music down.
Techno music.
With this red light, it is like, man, we could literally be marching to our deaths, but we're
going to have fun doing it, right?
Because I was like, let's go.
Yeah, let's go down there.
Because halfway down this alley, there's this creepy door.
The door looked like it came from a scene out of Hansel and Gretel story.
Is that the door that leads to the witch that eat the kids?
It was beautiful, but it was- Very unwise decision on our part.
It looked like at any moment a creepy hand was going to come out and grab us to that
techno music.
It felt like we were going to be on Blade 4.
It did.
It felt like a scene from Blade 4.
And then when we passed it, there was a DJ set up in that alleyway and he had a headset
on.
Headset.
Everything.
It looked like he was copying the guy from Blade, but it was so awesome.
I almost forgot that London Rose went to the club with us.
Oh yeah, we went to the club.
Hey, we didn't realize it.
It was Family Fun night before nine o'clock.
Right, and we got in right before nine.
Yup, we got in there about 848 because London Rose went in there and they had a silk dancer
from the-
Later from the ceiling.
Yeah, what was it called?
Silk drapes from the ceiling and she was swinging.
She was dressed like Harley Quinn.
Harley Quinn, yep.
And then they was serving alcoholic beverages.
I didn't even realize it.
We brought our 12 year olds into the club.
Because we had the Joker in there.
He did a really good job, that Joker.
He did, he did.
And they had their music playing and London Rose, you couldn't tell her, oh we took pictures.
We did our photo shoot with the-
You know, with the circle.
Circular.
And then the moment we stepped out, another family tried to come in with their kid.
It was like, no kids allowed.
They looked over at us and we were like-
Hey, we were here earlier guys.
You missed the cutoff.
You missed curfew.
They said nine o'clock, no kids allowed.
No kids.
I was like, man, I didn't realize it was that late.
We were in there doing that Jersey, New Jersey pump, the pump fist.
Yeah, we had a good time.
She didn't know what to do.
I'm like, London Rose, loosen up.
She ain't no my bank of shelter.
She act like a little square from Delaware.
Oh my gosh.
But the good thing about, great thing I love about Blink, Blink Cincinnati.
So they have six different zones.
And each zone has a different theme.
And we mostly did the downtown and the banks, which is the banks of the Ohio.
So you have the Flinley market, OTR, downtown, the banks, Covington, which is Covington,
Kentucky, Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati border each other and Newport.
So each zone will have something different, but we spend most of our time in the downtown
and the banks zone.
One call out I would say that we probably should have took advantage of, free public
transportation.
We should have parked and we could have got on the train and went to the different zones.
We could have took Tank over to Northern Kentucky.
Tank is their bus system in Northern Kentucky.
But yeah, I had a blast.
I think London Rose had a blast.
You had a blast?
Yeah, I had a good time because Aliyana, our oldest child, was with us as well.
And I like that there were lots of vendors, food vendors.
And I love that they had workers handing out blinking lights.
So they had, you know, the necklaces and we got like little green hearts that blinked,
which was pretty cool.
And we missed the parade.
For free.
And we missed the parade.
There was a whole parade?
There was an opening parade.
Oh snap.
So we missed on the parade.
I'm distraught.
But yeah, it starts out with the parade.
I think it starts the first night.
I think the parade starts at like seven or something.
We have to make sure we make that parade next year.
Yeah, we have to leave earlier this time.
Or spend the night.
You know how we do it?
Something like that.
On to Saturday.
From Saturday, we spent most of the day.
We'd London Rose have practice for Charlotte's Web, her play on Saturday.
Swim.
She had swim practice.
So I mean, you and I just laid around the house and just chilled until game.
Well, was it match night for soccer?
You know, got me caught up on my match, my soccer lingo since you're a coach.
Lexington has a soccer team now.
Lexington SC.
This is Derrick's thing.
I don't know why he's like looking at me like talk about it baby.
You started talking so I thought you were going to speak on it.
So we actually have two teams.
We have a men's and a women's.
So we have Lexington SC Sporting Club is what the SC stands for.
They play in the USL one, which is third tier in the US soccer pyramid.
But the next next year in 2025, they're going to move up to the USL championship.
They have an amazing stadium.
I thought I think it's awesome.
The men play there as well as the women.
The women play in the USL Super League.
Now that being said, Coach Makayla, for those who don't know Makayla coach soccer in high
school.
We're going to talk about soccer play many moons ago.
You better get on with it.
We both were talking about it because I got into soccer in what 2018.
I guess the Russian World Cup whenever they had the World Cup in Russia.
That's when I really, really got into soccer or football and I noticed that Saturday night
their lines were off.
They were not making runs to the box when they had I was like, what are they doing?
There were several shots that they should have took that it didn't take.
The passing was not great.
What are your thoughts, coach?
Oh my gosh.
I don't know.
My main thing I noticed was the fact that they weren't keeping triangles.
You know, soccer is a passing sport.
There's a lot of passing going on and the ways that you make these passes.
Yes.
Is you set up triangles.
Groups of three people form a triangle always.
And you're constantly moving.
Always moving.
Your feet should always be moving.
And I noticed a lot of people a few times on the field, the teams would, what's the
word?
They wouldn't support their teammates as they should.
They were not staying within the triangle.
So there were players that would instinctively make moves that normally you would think at
a professional level should happen.
They should be able to blind kick in a direction here or there and hit one of their teammates
because their teammates should be in that triangle.
And more times than not, their teammates wouldn't be there and they would turn over the balls.
And most people would be like, why did he kick over there?
Wasn't no one there?
I was like, well, the idea is that these are professional athletes.
There should have been a person there.
Just like when when when Lexington scored, then I think they're playing Charlotte.
Charlotte came right back and scored because they left two guys unmarked in the box.
That's a no-no.
They were just down there by themselves playing.
What are you doing?
I don't know.
I was just amazed at, well, first of all, let me just put out there, I had a great time
at the game.
It took me about 10, 15 minutes into the game to realize that our team was not performing
at the level I felt like they should.
I was like, these are professional athletes.
I feel like I'm watching a high school team play with some of the because of the mistakes
that I was saying.
So I was a little disappointed by that, but I was very pleased with everything else.
Yes, nice stadium.
The concessions were reasonably priced.
Yeah, they were good pricing.
Of course, of course, the paraphernalia, the gift shop.
Yeah, it was expensive.
Like Derek wanted this horse hat.
I really wanted to have that horse hat.
It was $40.
Yes.
Yeah.
Is this styrofoam?
It was it was made out of felt.
Felt.
I was like, man, you guys spent.
Not felt, foam, foam paper, like foam paper.
Yes, it cost them probably three cents to make it.
And you gonna charge me 40 bucks?
I was I was a little disappointed.
If it would have been 20, I would have bought it.
40.
I know what you paid for it.
I know what it costs to make that.
You know I know.
Yeah, it was a little a little pricey.
I understand you got to drive revenue, but I think you would sell more horse hats if
they were 20, 25 bucks.
Yeah.
$40.
I just go buy a hat or I buy a shirt.
I'm not going to buy a piece of styrofoam.
I want to know how much those tickets were.
Our tickets?
Yeah.
So our tickets were $25 apiece.
Now this is one thing I'm upset about because where we were sitting all on that side, all
those empty seats, I was like, this wasn't online.
That seat wasn't online.
None of those seats were online.
Like why didn't they pull up?
I don't know.
Why didn't all those seats pulled up?
From my understanding, when Derrick went looking for the tickets, it showed out most of it
was like sold out.
It showed that, hey, these seats are unavailable.
Most of the seats were blocked out, but in our section, maybe 10 seats were filled?
Something like that.
Yeah, because it was us.
It was three little girls out to the side, the four in the front.
It was at the end of the night they said 3,000 people were there.
Really?
Yeah.
Okay.
It holds 7,500.
Oh, okay.
Because it just felt very empty.
But you know me, I don't really, I enjoy not big crowds.
I'm upset because I could have got better seats, but I don't know where they... Maybe
I should have bought the seats at the gate because I bought them online.
I will tell you this, the people that were there were hype.
They had this one section.
They were blowing smoke.
Loneroll said, I want to sit over there.
They had dragon fire blowing.
I was looking like, I'm pretty sure we can just walk over there at this point.
You know what?
I know where to sit next time because they were crunk.
They were crunk.
Kick off to the last whistle.
They were on it.
So that was the close of Saturday.
But before we close out Saturday, I'm going to take Lonerolls to some women's league games.
And they happened during the winter time.
Oh no, we not.
Mind you, this stadium is outside and it's not a dome.
So let's see.
I think the next home match is December or something.
So nice.
December 2nd.
I'm like, ooh, it's going to be cold.
You ain't going to have my baby in the cold.
I'm going to have her get dressed up, put on full pair of socks.
We'll be dressed for it.
That'll be a no.
And hot cocoa.
We going to talk about Sunday.
I'll let you talk about Sunday.
This your thing.
You love this festival.
So Sunday, we wrapped up our weekend with the Lexington, Kentucky Halloween Festival
and Thriller Parade.
Thriller.
Yes.
So this is an annual tradition.
It has become a local must do event.
So for real, for real, must do.
There is no need for you to have to rush to Salem, Massachusetts and what's the word?
Sleepy Hollow.
New York, right?
You can come to Lexington.
You can just have your Halloween fun here in the Midwest.
Yes.
In Lexington, Kentucky.
Absolutely.
I don't know why I'm talking like that, y'all.
I don't know because you in the festival Halloween stage.
So normally like the third weekend in October, they have this variety show, this Halloween
variety show.
I think I figured it out.
What?
They hold this festival the same weekend as Scarefest.
Oh yeah, we forgot about Scarefest.
So Scarefest.
Because I realized it the other day.
I'm like, wait a minute, Scarefest and this are all the same weekend.
So okay, well let me introduce Scarefest is like this big Halloween.
I hate to say Halloween, it's like scary movie conference.
It's like Comic-Con.
Yeah, it's like Comic-Con for scary movies.
So they'll have speakers from like Five Nights at Freddy, Vampire Diaries.
I think Hellboy was here a couple of years ago or something.
So yeah.
They'll have booths set up.
They'll sell costumes, socks, handbags, everything spooky.
Everything spooky in Halloween.
Wasn't this year somebody from Scream spoke on a panel?
No, I think Scream and the guy from Walking Dead, he was actually in the parade.
He was on one of the floats.
I think one of the producers or one of the writers for the Walking Dead, he was here.
On a Walking Dead, yeah.
So Scarefest is huge.
It is huge.
It's in Rep Arena and that's where the UK Wildcats play basketball.
So you know it's big.
And it lasts the whole weekend and with Scarefest, Sunday is Children's Day.
So they kind of tone it down just a little bit for the kids.
And so right after you leave Scarefest, you just come up a couple of city blocks and you're
ready for the Halloween variety show.
And they have vendors out there, all sorts of food.
And what happens is they have different groups performing.
Dance groups, yeah.
Different dance groups all over the area, dancing, performing.
On stage, right in front of the courthouse.
I know, right?
So if you start something, you don't have far to walk.
And as soon as the variety show ends, the Thriller Parade happens.
And so there are floats.
And most times the people that were in the variety show, they'll get on their floats
or they'll get in their parade formation and they'll parade on down Main Street.
And at the end of the parade, that's when we have the zombies come out.
And it is the Michael Jackson's Thriller Dance.
They act out the whole Thriller video.
The whole thing.
We're talking about from when Michael Jackson is walking down the street.
With his girlfriend.
And she has on the little blue outfit.
And before he turns into the werewolf thing.
But instead of him going into the werewolf, he goes straight into the zombie.
And then they start the...
Right?
And they literally do that whole scene over and over again.
All the way up Main Street.
How do I know?
Because the first year that we moved here, I had the bright idea that me and my baby,
we gonna dance in the Thriller Parade.
Because look, y'all, they have actual dance lessons.
Oh, you have to attend at least one to participate.
Yeah.
And you pay for these lessons, right?
You gonna pay these people for their time to teach you this Thriller routine.
So at the time...
It's really not, baby, for real, it's really not a massive chunk of time.
You have to participate in one practice and they're held on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.
And the cost...
So if you're a new dancer, it's 16 bucks from ages 13 and over, ages 7 to 12, it's 11 bucks.
Now you do get a discount if you are returning.
If you're a returning dancer, it's just eight bucks for 13 and over and six bucks for seven
through 12.
And then also there is a staging rehearsal on the...
Like a couple of days before the event that you must attend at least one.
Yeah.
But outside of that, you don't have to spend a lot of time.
So basically, you could have just watched a Thriller dance from off of YouTube and learned
it that way.
But it was a lot of fun to go to the practices and you meet people.
And they literally break down this dance routine.
And me and London Rose, we went to...
I tell y'all, we went to every last one of them doggone practices.
And then we got into the parade, made it up half the block and my hip just like was on
fire.
I was like, what is this?
You didn't realize how long Main Street is.
I didn't realize.
I mean, because we thinking we like really making ground.
Nope.
Because you walking like a zombie.
You can't run.
You got to do the zombie thing all the way to the end of the parade.
So we never made it to the end.
Derrick snatched me up out the parade.
Like I could tell you was hurt.
Man, she was five or six steps into it.
She's like, oh, I gotta go.
My hip, my hip.
But what's so fun about it is that before like when the variety show was taking place,
all of these zombies and we're talking about a couple of hundred people.
Our first year was a couple of thousand because they really wasn't regulating like that.
So it's like all these folks that kind of jumped in the parade, but which is what my
plan was to do this year.
I was like...
I forgot about that.
We ain't got to do these practices.
We can just jump in like the little folk did.
Wrong.
They had barricades up.
It was super organized.
I was like, oh, I'm not going to try them this year.
So we didn't jump in.
But let me go back.
So what I love about it is like during the variety show, all of the zombies that are
going to be in the parade, they go find their spots on the street.
They find their group.
Yeah.
They lay out on the sidewalks, on buildings as if people have died.
So you walk up and down Main Street, you see like all these dead people all over the place.
And so what happens is they'll lay there all the way through the parade until they hear
darkness falls and they'll wake up off the street and they will drag themselves out into
the parade route and then they'll do their Thriller dance all the way down.
It is quite...
It is very good.
Yeah.
It is very good.
It is considered a top 10 Halloween destination.
In the US.
And then my girl Oprah, Oprah magazine, featured it in the top 25 best Halloween festivals
in the United States.
So it's for real, for real.
And that was USA Today named it top 10 Halloween destination.
So you guys gotta look, come hit us up next year.
We have already said that we're going to participate.
Yeah.
We're going to do the lessons.
That means I'm going to have to stop practicing now.
Because let me tell y'all that our first year I made it through all the lessons.
I made it a fourth of the way down the parade.
So then the next year...
It's so funny because she thought maybe you performed one time and you were done, a new
group comes in, but no, you gotta go from beginning to the end.
And then I picked the back of the group.
You were at the last one.
The last group.
Because like I said, the different groups are sprinkled throughout the parade route
so that the whole parade route is filled with zombies at the same time.
I picked the back so it means I had to go the whole way.
So the next year, meal on the road, rolled up.
I paid my money to do the parade because at the time it was $12 to participate.
I paid $12 for me, $12 for her.
And we literally got through 10 minutes of rehearsal and my darn hip.
And I said, you know what?
It's not going to work.
Yeah.
She tapped out.
So I tapped out during rehearsal.
They gave me my money back.
Thank you for your time, ma'am.
And I just rolled off into the sunset.
Yeah.
But yeah.
It's for real.
I mean, the Michael Jacksons they picked this year were really into it.
The one guy actually looked like Michael Jackson.
I was like, is that Michael for real?
Yeah.
I don't know if that was his skin or he painted his face.
He looked like Michael Jackson.
There's this one guy who's been doing it for the past 10, 12 years.
I think that was him.
And then they have some new ones that joined.
Because the year that we did it, there was only one Michael.
He did it the whole way.
And it was that same guy.
And he is from Eastern Kentucky.
Oh, boy.
So that's the crazy part.
So we have some honorable mentions.
We have the McConnell Springs Jack-O-Lantern Trail.
Yeah.
It's actually going on this weekend.
And what it is is that residents from all over Lexington carve jack-o-lanterns.
And they donate it to McConnell Springs.
And they sprinkle the whole...
McConnell Springs is a park.
I just assume the park staff did that.
No.
And it's a beautiful park.
It's like in the woods.
And then they have paths along water.
It's beautiful.
It's a beautiful park surrounded by all these buildings.
And once you go in the park, you don't even see it.
It looks like you're in the woods.
It's just tucked off behind all this industry.
It reminds you of a tropical paradise.
It does.
Tropical bears, birds, and fruits.
But I went before...
We did the Star Wars thing.
And the year that I went, no one in my family wanted to go with me.
And I was like, man, okay, well, I'm just going to go by myself.
And it's at the dead of night.
And all you see are just these elaborate pumpkins.
I mean, these people go all out, all out.
And they're so beautiful.
And it's just...
Something we should do.
Yeah.
And Louisville has a jack-o-lantern spectacular, which is just like McConnell Springs, except
it is massive.
Where McConnell Springs might have a thousand carved jack-o-lanterns.
And Louisville, they have like 5,000 artistically carved pumpkins in themed settings.
They call it a luminary art...
Organic luminary.
An organic luminary art experience.
And it is.
It is.
Because when I tell y'all, these people are carving out whole villages in a pumpkin.
Yes.
It is.
It's world-class artistry with a pumpkin's face.
Yes.
And the thing about the one in Louisville, because what happened the year that I ended
up going to McConnell Springs was I couldn't get tickets to the one in Louisville.
Right.
They sell out fast.
And we're talking about $15 per adult, $12 per child, two and under free.
And we're talking about weekday tickets are selling out, selling out, selling out.
They're going quick.
So McConnell Springs was my happy runner-up.
$6 tickets for adults, 12 and under are free.
And the one in Louisville is from October 1st through November 2nd.
Yeah.
So...
So there's still some time.
So by the time you're hearing this, you'll get to rush over to Louisville.
Yeah.
Possibly, if they're not sold out.
Or just put it on your calendar for next year.
Yeah.
Like we do every year.
Every year.
And then every time we go to buy a ticket, oh, we're sold out.
I'm like, what?
What?
Y'all need to make more tickets.
Whatever they need to do.
So do you have any regrets, Derrick?
About this wonderful Midwest October weekend?
I got a couple.
For Kinglin, I should have bought my ticket earlier.
I really regret that I didn't do that.
Because I assume, because we've done it before, Thursdays just don't sell out.
But I don't know.
This year it's sold out.
And for Blink, not getting there earlier.
So we should have made the like a, where we get there around lunch or a little bit after
lunch, take in downtown, eat, and then just make it a whole day up in Cincinnati.
I regret that.
And then Sunday, not Sunday, Saturday for the SC, I probably should have bought my tickets
at the gate so I can get better seats.
Or what we should have done, just went rogue and just started sitting wherever we wanted.
Like London Rose did?
Yeah, I don't think anyone was paying attention.
And then for Sunday, the Halloween festival and Thriller Parade, I wish we would have
danced.
Go through the training and do it.
Because we knew about it.
And we were going to pull one of your moves.
I'm just going to show up.
And they're like, no, not this year.
But yeah, we got it on the calendar for next year that we're going to dance.
So we're going to be zombies next year.
Those are my regrets.
What about you?
I have the same.
Okay.
All of them?
On everything?
I just said?
Maybe for Keelin, I wish I had worn my hat and brought my sun blockers that day.
Because Derek, everyone had his shades.
And did not, would not share them.
Not even with his child.
Nobody asked for my shades.
In London Rose, she tapped me on my arm and said, Mom, I asked Papa for his shades and
he wouldn't let me have them.
Number two, whenever the sun's out, I put on my shades.
It's just, I've found that not wearing shades has hurt my eyesight.
So I try to wear shades because I'm either driving into the sun for work.
So I wear shades now.
I used to never wear shades, but anyway.
But yeah, that's, that's our October Midwest weekend.
Until next time, talk to y'all later.
If you made it this far, you are the true champion.
You could have been anywhere, doing anything, but you instead chose to spend your time with
us.
And for that, we say thank you.
I'm Derek.
I'm Makayla.
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Do good, be good.
Until next time.