Jay About Saratoga

So one bad, one good today... My special lady and I were invited by friends LB squared to join them in Saratoga for the horse races and the Phish concert. I have never been to a horse race but I have been to a few Phish concerts and we were pretty psyched. Saturday was hot as balls in the Saratoga Springs area and made it interesting out on the causeway. Surprisingly enough, heat seems to radiate up from asphalt... who knew?! I had a few beers but they sweated out of my body so fast I never even got a buzz!!! It was an interesting scene to say the least, there were folks super dressed up w/ funny hats up in the grandstand... and then there were others wearing jorts, tank tops and Miller Light hats. People watched the horses walk around, they watched the races, some people just sat in front of TV screens in a concrete room gambling. We put a little money down and did ok finishing up just enough to pay for the day. Tickets into the venue are cheap $3, $8 for the grandstand? The food was carnival style, we had peanuts, and delicious Carnival ice cream, and a gross BBQ Pork sandwich (Get the F*ck out of here!). I would give the heat 1 thumb down, the humidity 2 thumbs down, the food 1 thumb in a loop for fun, the races 2 thumbs up, the parking 1 thumb three states over, and the overall scene 1.5 thumbs up, it was fun!

Dinner w/ friends was also a scene. The summertime Saratoga nightlife is out of control! There were people everywhere and the bars were packed w/ cigar smoking gamblers, cougars on the prowl for big winners, and other assorted NY characters. We dined at the Grey Gelding. The bar was pretty cool and the drinks looked nice. I went w/ straight scotch so there really is no way to mess that up. My lady had a Mojito that was a little sweet but ok. The natives started getting a little restless as we had not eaten real food all day and we were not seated for about 40 minutes post reservation. Of course that paled to the wait for actual food which was over 1 hour. As for the food itself? Well first off, the place was not cheap! For an appetizer, my wife and I shared a salad and then got guacamole and chips. The guac came as a platter the size of New Jersey! It was good but even w/ the help of 8 other people we did not dent it. I took it home and am still eating it 4 days later! (just kidding, that would be gross). People who had steak or the snapper seemed satisfied for the main course. My wife had a shrimp and pasts dish that was heavy handed on the garlic... it was good not great. I had veal and let me advise, never get the VEAL!!! Overall it gets 1 thumb down for slow service, high prices, and pedestrian food. The only thing keeping the other thumb at bay was the good company and fun time we had.

Whooo... now we get to the "show". The concert was held at SPAC which is an interesting park. As a park it sucks... it is just a series of parking lots w/ buildings and trees interspersed. As a concert venue or place to stay (there is a beautiful hotel on the grounds it is amazing). They somehow managed to throw a huge concert while letting other folks continue to use the grounds for other purposes and it really was not an issue. There are 2 golf courses, a pretty cool pool, and amazing huge old beautiful buildings on the grounds. It was cool. We all parked grilled and headed in. Special thanks to LB squared who invited us to the balcony which was key. 2 seconds after we walked into the roofed building it started pouring... pouring!!! 40 year anniversary of Woodstock, let's just say the lawn seats got a little soggy. The concert itself was pretty good. The first set took a little bit to get going. The second set really ripped though and the crowd was really into it. Once again, good company, fun time. 1 3/4 thumbs up.

Overall the weekend was really a ton of fun and it was pretty painful coming back to work on Monday. I think I need to win the Powerball or something!