Sunday, April 23, 2017

Nashville, TN

Ahh Nashville, Tennessee!  Home of bluegrass, country western music and the Grand Ole Opry! Even though I am not a big country western fan I enjoyed it and was able to get my music fix.  So many venues with so many really good to great musicians!  We saw some great performances.









Music Row lights up nighttime
downtown Nashville!






And a good brewery!
Had to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum of course









Always fun to see how a
music genre has
evolved over the years




 From stage costumes then to

stage costumes now!






more of Music Row in the daytime

did I really manage to get a picture of Alan Jackson outside of his bar????




a pedal party looks like fun!
 An afternoon of checking out Opryland and an evening performance at the Grand Ole Opry!





All this under one huge roof!

Felt like we were back in Vegas!




On our way into the Opry!

That night we enjoyed:
Bill Anderson
William Michael Morgan
Sunny Sweeney
Parmalee
Lorrie Morgan
Pam Tillis
Del McCoury Band
Chris Janson

What fun!!

Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan

Del McCoury Band

Chris Jansen



A nice Tennessee estate wine!

  

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Tupelo, MS and Trace State Park

A very nice week in Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley.  Really enjoyed Trace State Park and would do it again.  The park is large, away from the city, has a big lake, 3 hiking trails, deer, a disc golf course and we had our resident blue heron, One Foot:)

We were very close to the Natchez Trace Parkway, a national scenic byway.  444 miles of lovely scenery with no billboards blocking it!  In the 1800s the parkway was a trading route for Ohio Valley traders. Nowadays one can enjoy a nice drive from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee with no stops at 50MPH and nothing to block the scenery!

6am, a fisherman heads out on the lake.  Pic taken from Paradise.



Natchez Trace Parkway
visitor center




We only walked a few miles of trail
along the parkway as the trail was
right next to the road most of the time.


 In Tupelo you can stop by and visit the site of the Tupelo National Battlefield:
Tupelo National Battlefield
 On one of the trails in our park looking across a part of the lake at Paradise. The motorhome in the middle;)

A purple haze in a forest opening


lots of beaver sign in the park, however, no more beavers:(


this little guy was crossing the trail at the park when we came upon him.  I think he is smiling at us:)

there were several blue herons at the lake but this one, One Foot (yep, I named him) obviously had the bank in front of our motorhome in his territory.....



here he is catching his dinner on a cloudy day....





no easy task!!!





below, you can see why I
named him One Foot
 Another day in Tupelo we stopped by to take a pic of Elvis's birthplace and childhood home.


this hardware store is where Elvis bought his first guitar
 Lots of live music in town. Enjoyed an evening at the Blue Canoe.  Good food and good music!



What you looking at??








A few pics from the 
Natchez Trace Parkway...







Monday, April 10, 2017

Cathedral Caverns State Park, AL

While Mike and I were in Decatur, AL, last week, we also drove to Marshall County to check out Cathedral Caverns State Park.  It has the worlds largest natural opening of any cavern and a beautiful "frozen" waterfall among other cool formations.  Enjoy:









below, Mike checks out the cave
map. Just to the left, under the "shelf" is the entrance






a beautiful "frozen" waterfall"


some pics are just better in black and white

note the Indian chief head formation jut left of center








only 3 inches wide at the base this stalagmite is 27 feet tall and growing!


Spam Museum, Austin, Minnesota

We were staying just a few miles away in Blooming Prairie and, of course, were going into Austin to a couple of breweries....how could we no...