Hunting for Horses

The day after Thanksgiving we bid a sad farewell to Uncle Dan and Aunt Jan as they drove west trying to beat a storm out of town. Thankfully Aunt Kathy had a great idea for the day. Saratoga, made famous for its race-track has horse statues scattered throughout the town. We decided to play tourist and see how many horses (and other excitements we could find).

"Babel Horse"

This was the first horse we stopped to see. I think it was my favorite. Meets all of my basic requirements simplicity of design and makes you think a bit.

"Giddyup"

Alicia's favorite horse, I think she liked all of the sparking mirror tiles used in the mosaic.

"Saratoga Horse"

Horse in front of "The Olde Bryan Inn"

Somehow I missed getting this one's name. I think we were just enjoying the aroma from the restaurant a little too much - definitely going to have to stop there sometime and try it out.

"Magic"

Horse in front of Starbucks

This was Mark's favorite horse. I don't think had a name however and as you can see it's a little different than the others with the platform as well as just being a more traditional statue. Still wondering what it's story is. Once again however, I got Matt picking it's nose - it was a joke from the first horse when we found cobwebs in a nostril - after that they all received similar treatment.

"Comic Relief" - dedicated to Robin Williams honoring his work for the homeless

This one was definitely Ryan's favorite. He immediately decided that it was going to get a shower of kisses. Alicia liked this one second best according to the report.

Obviously this wasn't one of "the" horses but despite Alicia's expression she really liked it and enjoyed getting to see some of the Christmas decorations that were going up.

Okay, so I'm a little biased but how can you resist snuggly cuteness! You may notice a conspicuous absence of Ryan in the following pictures - it's because soon after this he'd had enough (okay we'd had enough of him) and he got to ride out the rest of the trek in his stroller.


There's a store there - I think it's called something like Gee Wilikers. Anyways, if I've ever seen a store that I thought would come close to Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium this is it - at least from what I've seen in the the displays, I haven't dared take the kids inside! When we first drove in Wednesday night we were blinded by the lights from these displays. There are actually four winder wonderlands in all that they had put up - The Sweets, The Nutcracker, Winter Forest, and Santa's Shop - they were all just too cute.

"The Realtor" - M.I.A. or MagicallyInvisible?

"Where's the horse?" Alicia wonders. Possibly moved inside for the winter but we certainly couldn't find it so perhaps this horse knows a special trick.

This horse also wasn't one of the "real" horses but still oh so cute with it's scarf wrap. Amazingly I was able to walk by the store without going in to drool.

"Aslan, is that you?"

The last horse we found. Sadly it was inside for the winter and we couldn't get in to see it better. That still didn't stop us from getting our pictures or Matt from once again attempting to pick its nose.

Thanks again to Kathy for the great idea. It was so much fun. Hopefully we'll get to go back this summer and see if we can find any more.