God, I love Opening Day! For those of you non-San Diegans, Opening Day is the first day of the race season at the Del Mar racetrack. It's also one of the biggest social events of the summer, complete with fancy dresses, big hats and lots of champy. And I love that you can bump into at least a handful of people you know... further proof that San Diego is the smallest big city there is.
This year we headed to the track with Ryan's parents and their friends and had an absolute blast, as was to be expected. As they say, there was a winner in every race and for all the races I bet on, that winner was me.
We went to brunch first at Peabody's in Encinitas and then headed down in a fun, funky station wagon taxi to the track. Around 45,000 people were expected to attend this year and it sure felt like they were all there!
This year I also had media passes to go check out some of the events like the Coors Light party and the party area in the infield. I think that people have to buy tickets for Coors Light party and having finally experienced it for myself, I can confidently say that I would never recommend spending any extra money to go in there. There was a photo booth, a DJ, cornhole and a couple of different food vendors, but other than that it was nothing special enough to justify the line that you have to wait in to get in there. As for the infield, we didn't make it because I had absolutely no idea how to get over there...
For me, the most exciting thing about Opening Day was getting to wear my outfit, which I had been planning since March! It all started with this Yoana Baraschi dress from Rent the Runway. The second I saw it, I knew it was going to be my Opening Day dress. The dress was a dream and by far one of my most favorite dresses that I've worn. It was heartbreaking to ship it back this morning.
From there, Ryan's mom and I went shopping for hats at Village Hat Shop in Hillcrest and that's where I found the perfect orange hat to go with it. The only thing I didn't have were a pair of shoes to match....
I finally found a pair during a desperate last ditch effort the night before. Even though they didn't last the whole day (I was barefoot by noon), my shoes made me feel like a winner before I even got there. I went to Macy's and found not only the perfect pair, but the last pair in a size 6.5 and I got them for $25, down from an original price of $99. There are no words for how impressed with myself I was.
If you're one of those unfortunate souls who keeps saying they're going to go to the racetrack but has never gone, do yourself a favor and make it out there this summer. And good luck!
