Fair Grounds Race Track for Thanksgiving 2012

An immortalized jockey

We are not gamblers.  I don't think Frau Schmitt has even been to the Fair Grounds Race Course and Slots located in Gentilly, New Orleans, LA.  I have been a few times, but never to bet on the ponies.

I know a few people who make some walking around money from betting on the races.  I know a few families who make it a tradition to go to the Fair Grounds on Thanksgiving Day, the day the track officially opens.  You can visit New Orleans any time of year, and you can visit the Fair Grounds any day.  The best days are during Jazz Fest and on opening day.

I happen to know of a colorful New Orleans bed and breakfast inn that is only a picturesque seven-minute stroll from where the action happens.

A garden of heroes

While I haven't placed a bet at the Fair Grounds, I have wandered the grounds and enjoyed the ambiance.  I admit that I have been tempted to place a bet, but it all seems very confusing.  I buy the Racing Form newspaper and I read the statistics and articles.  The ladies at the counter tell me it is easy to pick a trifecta, but I don't really know what a trifecta is, let alone being comfortable enough to lay down a dollar wager.

Napoleon always posed with his hand in his vest

There are plenty of traditions in New Orleans and there is plenty to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day in New Orleans.  Yes, you can go to the French Quarter and have a good time.  Everyone who  visits New Orleans does it at least once, but there is so much more that makes New Orleans the City That Care Forgot.  There is horse racing and there is history.

They face the rising sun

The New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course is full of exhibits and memorabilia from the track's glory days, including last year.  Even if you don't follow the ponies, you will be able to wile away a few hours soaking up the atmosphere, especially on Thanksgiving, the track's busiest day of the year.  

People come from all over Louisiana, from the outlying parishes and small bayou-hugging hamlets, to take part in the excitement when the thoroughbreds charge out the gate on opening day.  They come from Kentucky to see what the competition will be like.  Sheiks and English gentry come to the Fair Grounds for Thanksgiving to watch potential champions prove their mettle.

A day at the races

You can stay in a chain hotel and spend a whole vacation in the French Quarter, but New Orleans is a city full of unexpected delights.  Life is what you make it.  You can be guided on a tour, or you can create your own adventures.  New Orleans is fertile ground from which fond memories sprout without encouragement for people who choose to venture where the citizens spend their days and nights.  If you have never been to New Orleans, you don't know what you are missing.  If you have only been to the French Quarter, you have missed quite a bit of what makes this city special beyond compare.

The excitement never stops in New Orleans, LA

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast is a colorful inn located between the French Quarter and City Park.  It is near everything important in more ways than one, and in more ways than two.  In a kaleidoscopic city, surprises are around every corner for people with they eyes to see and the ears to hear.