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Carolina Cup: A Day At The Races

This past Saturday was the 80th running of the Carolina Cup horse races in Camden, SC.  We started off the day by gathering at my family's lakehouse which is a short drive from the track.


After consolidating into one car, all six of us made our way in and met up with my family.  They have had a spot at the Cup for as long as I can remember.  Ian even commented on Saturday morning that he thinks my parents would attend the Cup with a tornado watch in progress.  He is right.  They would say, "Well, that's why we bought a tent, honey!"


The guys: Casey, T, Ian, Cass, Dad


The gals: Lindsay, Kim, Mom, Laura, me
  The Cup is the perfect excuse to bring all of your favorite tailgating food.  We had Bojangle's fried chicken, devilled eggs, pasta salad, brownies, a veggie tray, hummus and pita chips, and macarons.


And of course we had lots of fun things to drink -- we started with mimosas.



Without fail, my friend Mary Margaret always finds me at Cup.  She is in my ADPi "family" -- she is my grandlittle.  Basically, she's the "little sis" of my "little sis" ... confused yet?


The first race started at 1:30, so we placed our bets on our horses and made our way to the rail.




And after each race, we went back to our tailgating area and waited for the next running.




After a while, I headed over with the girls to the area known as College Park.  Basically, the set-up of the event is like a big donut, with the actual donut being the race track.  The inside of the donut, or "infield", is where you tailgate if you are a) past the age of 22, b) not drinking any sort of punch scooped out of a large trashcan or cooler, and c) not planning to fall on your face during the day.

So you can deduce that College Park, where fraternities bus down oodles of people looking to be buzzed by 8:30am, is one. hell. of. a. hot. MESS.

So of course we had to see it in all its glory.


So we looked around in disgust and left promptly.

NOPE!

We partied with the college students - duh!


Danced on coolers and pretended like we were 18 again.




And then we went back to our husbands and told them they weren't missing a thing at that disgusting excuse for a proper tailgate.

Once it was time to bid our farewell to the racetrack, we headed back to the lakehouse with a very important mission:

GET COMFY.

After a long day of wedges, dirt, tight sundresses, and a smidge of sunburn, it felt so good to change clothes and just relax.


The guys tossed a frisbee and we girls just chatted and recounted the hilarity of College Park.  We all had dinner at the picnic table on the screened porch together.


And the guys sat on the porch of our cabin and talked about the good ol' days.


Once again, another awesome year at the races.

20 comments:

  1. This gives me hope that I didn't miss out completely on Cup by not going during college! When we move back to SC I'll have to go :) Looks like y'all had so much fun!

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  2. I had a huge #WAH moment about Grand Little (I miss mine)

    looks like such a blast! I've been to the Belmont Stakes out on Long Island and yes... there was... debauchery..

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  3. What a fun night.


    Tab
    my-cliffnotes.blogspot.com

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  4. You look precious in your outfit and love the hat!
    OMG! I was laughing at the College Park part of the story. What a hoot!

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  5. You saw horses?!!! I'm impressed!

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  6. So fun!! and YAY for ADPi-I've been reading for a bit and just saw that. Fellow ADPi from MTSU!! whoop whoop! <>

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  7. Perfection! Day drinking, pretty dresses, and partying, what more could you ask for? Glad you had a great time, April! Love the dress that you decided to wear :)

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  8. Looks SO fun and really got me pumped for VA's Gold Cup next month!

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  9. What a great weekend! You and your friends look fabulous and love your pictures of College Park mayhem. ;)

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  10. It looks like such a fun time!

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  11. Hands down one of my top 5 favorite posts of yours! Livin' it up and I'm loving it!

    Too fun!

    xo,
    VRB

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  12. an excuse to look gorgeous in sundresses and hats...i so want to live in the south :)

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  13. What a fun day!!

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  14. Looks like you had fun! I haven't been since 2009 when it poured, I MUST go next year!

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  15. Looks like a blast--love your fun, pink hat (of course!)!

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  16. Horse races is also a time for people to bond. Its a perfect time for people to get to know each other...

    horse tips

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  17. haha oh man, the guy you were dancing? talking? to at College Park looks just like one of my Richmond friends. Crazy. Then again he could be any 'Joe Frat.' Classic Cup pics!

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