The SNOW-BIRDING Episode...

After researching a rental house down in the Destin, Florida, area again for a week at Thanksgiving and maybe even a week at Christmas, Ashlee came to the conclusion that for just a little more in cost, we could rent a house for a couple months and try snow-birding out for the first time.  Granted, Ashlee can do a lot more of it than I can since she works from home, but I tried my best to spend as much time "down south" as possible.  

(Editor's note: We had to then shorten our snow-birding to just a month when the house Ashlee had booked well in advance was very shittily sold out from under her and she was only given a smaller place as an option with only 3 days notice.)

Here's how it went when we were together:

Saturday, November 23 - We spent a rainy day packing.the U-Haul trailer we rented to move Ashlee and 3 of our cats down to Florida for a month.  The giant cat-tree that Byron and Doris love to climb, play and sleep on was a must and took up most of the room in the trailer.

Sunday, November 24 - With much improved weather, we started headin' south early today.  Our first stop was the Alabama state-line rest area.  The cats were troopers for the entire trip and Ashlee did well pull the U-Haul trailer.  Traffic was fairly light and we made good time down to Destin.

We got unpacked and dropped off the U-Haul trailer before dark in and were treated to a beautiful sunset over Choctawhatchee Bay as we crossed the bridge back over to Destin.  

Since I had to go back to work after the holiday week, I followed Ashlee in a sweet G20 Mustang convertible that I got a great deal on for a week's rental.  It was even warm enough to drop the top after we got off I-65.  Our rented condo was, as mentioned before, not what Ashlee had originally rented and was smaller in square footage, but it was still pretty nice and in a great location.  Our sister- and brother-in-law, Paige and Andy, and their daughter, Ellas, joined us for the week.  We celebrated despite the loss of the girls' mom, Evelyn, this year and our first Thanksgiving without her.  

The cats all did well adjusting to the new space.  The babies were a little hesitant about the long staircase, but were soon bounding up and down it with glee.  Ms. Bea's first long trip went well and her elderly-cat habits were about the same as at home, but her appetite was good, and she seemed to enjoy the warm temps coming through an open window in our bedroom.

Monday, November 25 - Today was our first full day of snow-birding and while it was sunny, the temps were still a little cool, so instead of heading to our nearby Crystal Beach,  we opted to head west and check out Navarre Beach which is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore.  We also had a tasty lunch and some libations at Ye Olde Brothers Brewing nearby.

I got all five of us tickets to see Frozen II in IMAX tonight at the nearby AMC Destin Commons Theaters.  We all enjoyed this impressive sequel.  

Tuesday, November 26- The weather warmed up enough to go to Crystal Beach, a short walk from our condo.  But the wind (and the seagulls) were relentless enough, that we didn't stay too long.  Here's the most consistent of the gulls we named "Jerry" dive-bombing Ella who he was sure had snacks.  

One our best dinners of the week came at Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House just down the road from our condo.  We haven't been here before, but we will be back.  The food was fantastic! 

Boshamps is on the waterfront and has their own little beach, lots of decking and a cool harbor dock.  These big beauties were laying in wait for a fishing tournament the next day.

Wednesday, November 27 - The weather was PERFECT for the beach today and we headed back down to Crystal Beach for several hours of lounging and even got in the water some.  Beforehand, we had a tasty breakfast at Camille's Coffee Shop.

Andy snapped this cool shot of me and Ella in the rolling waves off Crystal Beach.

It was movie time again as I got us all tickets to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood starring Tom Hanks as the admirable Mr. Rogers.  It was an interesting true story told from a jaded magazine writer's point of view who was given an assignment to interview the children's icon and it wound up changing his life for the better.  We were back at the AMC Destin Commons thanks to its close proximity to our condo, but we sure we wish they had recliners!!  Before the show we had an excellent dinner at The Craft Bar - Destin as well as some tasty craft beer.  

Thursday, November 28 - Thanksgiving was a pretty lazy day for us.  Instead of a lot of cooking, we just ordered Cracker Barrel To Go which was just around the corner from the condo and lazed around watching Netflix, eating and napping.  

Friday, November 29 and Saturday November 30 -  It was another couple spectacular beach days for us with even warmer temps and more time spent in the water at Crystal Beach.  Friday saw The Gulf with very little waves and looked almost still as a farm pond.  Saturday the waves rolled in again in steady and beautiful fashion.

We drank a nice plethora of canned craft beer during our days on the beach thanks to the excellent selection at Beach Liquors just down the road from our condo. Salute!! 

Sunday, December 1 - Before I hit the road headed back north, we had a wonderful brunch at the Sunset Bay Cafe in the Sandestin Beach and Golf Club complex on the Choctawhatchee Bay.  

Wednesday, December 4 - I stopped by our neighborhood Aldi Store today to grab a Countdown to New Year's Advent Box with seven different bottles of sparkling wine to count down to 2020.
Cheers to the new year!! 

Friday, December 13 - While the weather wasn't that great, it was still nice to be back at the beach with my baby today!  I flew down on Southwest Airlines to Pensacola late last night with our friends, Danny and Brenda, who were joining us for the weekend.  We had a great late lunch at Harbor Docks Restaurant today with a table overlooking the Destin Harbor. 

Saturday, December 14 - The weather improved greatly today and we started the day with breakfast just up the coast at The Whale's Tale.  The food was good and the views were better.

The best find of the morning however was across the road from the beach at Pascalli Kitchen where they have hot, fresh beignet bites available every morning!!  It's NOLA on the beach!! 

The kittens are still enjoying their beach vacation, although Doris was as peeved as I was that Chelsea F.C. took out their new American scoring phenom, Christian Pulisic, in the second half and still needing a goal!!  

Poetry (and scavenging) in motion.  Danny got this great shot of the gulls at Crystal Beach grabbing French fries from The Crab Trap while we were enjoying the sunny weather today. 

We were back at Harbor Docks tonight for dinner when our first choice was closed for a private event, and I didn't mind at all.  I call this my "Cajun Combo" - a bowl of seafood gumbo and a mud-bug sushi roll.  Both were outstanding! 

After our friends, Wendy and Charly, arrived from Nashville this afternoon, it was time to "suit-up" for the Sandy Claws Party.  

That's right, Ashlee had all six of us custom onesies made that we could lounge around in at the condo and out on the beach for a campfire under a million stars...some of which were shooting during the Geminid Meteor Shower.  Thanks so much for this great memory, honey! 

Ashlee also ordered us fancy mini-cupcakes for the night-time beach soiree.  They were fantastic and went down good with several adult libations that we had available.

We barely even got any second looks as we all ambled into a nearby Waffle House on the way back to the condo for a late-night snack in our matching onesies.  

Sunday, December 15 - We went to the beach a little while today, but the wind was relentless and we called it quits after an hour or so.  Before heading to the airport to fly back to Nashville along with Wendy and Charly, we had a tasty late seafood lunch at Dewey Destin's Restaurant. 

Saturday, December 21 - I flew down early today to the Panama City Airport on Southwest from Nashville and Ashlee picked me up.  We had brunch at Big Bad Breakfast in Rosemary Beach on the way back to Destin.

Despite the inclement weather, we toured through the quaint (and fancy) little town of Rosemary Beach.  We would like to come back and stay here sometime and explore a bit more.

We were in the midst of down-south'er nor'easter for a few days and to us it looked more like a Hurricane Light on the radar.  

With the crappy weather raining out the day, we headed over to AMC Destin Commons to took in a showing of the new film, Cats, based on the long-running Broadway Show.  What's with all the negative reviews?  We thought it was pretty good.  It's people dressed as cats...of course it's gonna be weird! 

Sunday, December 22 - We spent a lot of yesterday afternoon and this morning moving from the condo to a much larger house that we had rented before in the very nice Destiny East Subdivision.  This gave everybody much more room to hang out including Paige, Andy and Ella who drove down today from Chattanooga through the icky weather.  

It was an angry Gulf we were watching during an early dinner at The Crab Trap today.

Monday, December 23 - The highlight of this rainy day was going to see the new film, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker which we all enjoyed immensely.  Me for the second time actually.

Tuesday, December 24 - We got to spend of some of Christmas Eve Day finally back at the beach as the storm moved north and blue skies were once again overhead.

We saw this giant jellyfish and scores of sea cucumbers washed up on the beach today from the storm.  Ashlee read that the sea cucumbers are usually found in very deep water, so no telling how far out those poor guys and this giant had been washed in from.

Wednesday, December 25 - Merry Christmas from the beach!  We had great weather for Christmas and took a stroll after a great early afternoon meal at the house.

Thursday, December 26 - Looking like something out of the aforementioned Star Wars film, this other-worldly looking shot at the beach today (no filters, by the way) does show we had a great afternoon of hazy sun and warm temps.  We even got back in the water a little to close out our holiday beach time here in Destin.

We all took in a showing tonight of the new sequel, Jumanji: The Next Level over at the nearby AMC Destin Commons Theaters.  It was a hoot just like the first one and well enjoyed it.

Friday, December 27 - We did get back to the beach briefly this morning to let our oldest cat, Ms. Bea, check out the sand and smell the surf for her very first time.  She's been a trooper on this long trip being as this is her first real time traveling from home.  

We packed up our U-Haul trailer today for our trip home tomorrow and rewarded ourselves after all the hard work with dinner at Camille's at Crystal Beach.  It was fantastic.  My rib-eye steak (photo above) was tremendous.  They have excellent sushi too.

Friday, December 27 - We finished packing up this morning and had a nice, uneventful drive home with all the cats doing fine.  Thanks to the small-town, true-crime podcast, "Small Town Dicks", for keeping us entertained for the entire 7-or-so-hour trip back home.  

It's gonna be a quick weekend at home before we head out on our New Year's adventure to Dallas! 

Winter is coming...ready or not

Mother Nature don't care...

Thursday, October 30 - We picked up our friend, Jeremy, at the airport tonight and had dinner at the always tasty, Homegrown Taproom, and followed that up with some bourbon tasting at our friends, Wendy and Charly's house nearby.  Jeremy had flown in from Salt Lake City to join me and 4 other guys on our annual GAME weekend in Kentucky and Charlotte, NC, this year.

Friday, November 8 - We saw the new holiday film, Last Christmas, tonight at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!). We both really liked it, especially since it was filmed in London which we visited again last year.

Sunday, November 10 - We were back in Chattanooga this weekend again working on the house, and came to what we hope is a good decision and is definitely an instant load off our minds with it by allowing our nephew, Matt, and his wife and son to move in and help pay the mortgage on it.  We tried the nearby Taco-nooga for take-out lunch and it was excellent.  We will definitely have to hit this place again when in town.  

Monday, November 11 - We attended the  SOLD OUT Ryan Bingham show at The Ryman  tonight with our friends, Wendy and Charly.  The opener was Jamestown Revival who we have seen before at Bonnaroo and really liked.  It was a fantastic show from start to finish.  Ryan has an excellent band around him and his own guitar- and harmonica-playing are superb along with a singing voice that it very unique and true.  The boys from Jamestown Revival also joined him on stage for a number and on the closing song.  We ate dinner at Nectar, a great new-to-us Mexican cantina with killer tacos.  We drove home with snow flakes coming down as temps drop steadily throughout the night.

Tuesday, November 12 - We awoke to a nice little dusting of very early snow (for us) on the pumpkin today thanks to an arctic blast from the north.  Guess it's time to light the fireplace pilot light and put up the Halloween decorations!  Thanks for the fun pic, Ashlee.

Sunday, November 17 -  After a day of pretty strenuous yard-work, we rewarded ourselves with a late-afternoon visit to the new Shop Springs Creamery here in Wilson County for some homemade ice cream.  This was the grand opening weekend for the SSC and our choices of waffle cones of chocolate chip cookie dough and salted caramel were both excellent.  What a great addition to our area!

Tuesday, November 19 - We went to see the new film, Ford v Ferrari, at the Roxy Theaters here in Lebanon ($5 Tuesdays and recliners!) tonight.  We really enjoyed the film and it's 2.5 hour run-time just seemed to "speed" by.   

Thursday, November 21 -It's been about 4 years since we've been to the Mercy Lounge in Nashville.  And who did we see there four years ago?  Why, Augustana, of course.  So we were back again tonight to see a show by the reformed band, Augustana at the Mercy Lounge.  Founder and lead singer, Dan Layus, and Company are back and as good as ever.  They tore through a great set of old favorites of ours and even a couple of excellent new songs.  We also enjoyed their fantastic opener, Zac Clark.  
(Editor's note:  Wonder if this will be the last show we ever see at The Mercy Lounge?  It was reported recently that the entire Cannery Row property has been sold with new plans for its future.
Second editor's note:  Well, it won't close before March since I just saw that Blue October is playing in the Cannery Ballroom.)

Autumna-All FUN, ya'll

Saturday, September 8 - We were in Chattanooga today for Day 1 of the SOLD OUT second annual Moon River Music Festival down at Coolidge Park on the north shore of the Tennessee River.  Just like last year, the festival tix went quick thanks to reasonable prices and a killer music line-up.

Good Lord it's hot!!  We grabbed a discounted beer (discounted vs. festival prices that is) at The Brewhaus before diving into the outdoor inferno.  Early September shouldn't have 90-degree-plus weather, but we've got it this year.  Our first band to see in the blazing heat was a very pregnant (8 mos.) Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds who we always enjoy seeing live.  They tore it up with a good-size crowd gathered next to the Walnut Street Pedestrian Bridge. Next up was a great set on the larger Poplar Stage by Drew and Ellie Holcomb, who are also a favorite of ours and the organizers of this great festival.  Following up on the main stage was Nashville's own, Moon Taxi, who we've seen a little, but this was probably our first full set and they were extremely good.  We saw a lot of these shows from the shade underneath the Walnut Street Bridge which offered nice site lines out of the brutal sun.   

Did we mention it was hot?  I mean, real hot.  So hot, it melted the cups they were serving Tennessee craft cocktails in!!  This was the Peach Picker with Huling Station Bourbon made by Old Dominick Distilling in Memphis.  The drinks were small and overpriced, but they went down cool and refreshing.  The beer pours were expensive as well, but  bigger, and it was nice to see all Tennessee craft brewers in the festival's "Tennessee Tavern."  We caught parts of the sets by Devon Gilfillian, The Oh Hellos and Josh Ritter throughout the afternoon.
The night brought on two great performances by St. Paul and the Broken Bones who we always enjoy seeing and hearing live.  The night was closed by the amazing Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit who we were seeing for the first time live.  Now we see and hear what all the buzz is about.  No wonder him and his band sold out night nights in a row at The Ryman.  What a tremendous band! Thanks to our friend, Deborah, for joining us for this wonderful closing show.

Sunday, September 9 - Moon River Festival Day 2 was briefer for us due to obligations back at home; a less-impressive line-up than Saturday; and, yep, it was just  damn hot again.  Before heading down to the park, we had breakfast beforehand across the river at Whitebird, a relatively new restaurant in the bottom floor of the also new (and swanky) Edwin Hotel.  It was pretty good and we sat outside on the patio before the real heat started setting in.

The artists we wanted to see the most today were the Nashville-based duo, Johnnyswim, who we had to miss recently at Live on the Green.  We got pretty close to the big Poplar Stage to catch the early part of their set and then retreated once again to the shade.  They were pretty good.  Most of their songs kind of sound the same, but it's a pleasant sound at least. I am sure we will have more chances to see them in the future since they seem to pop up at all kinds of different events that we frequent.  We listened to a little of the set by The Band Camino who were OK before heading home.  If we are comparing year to year, last year was better, but not a bad sophomore follow-up to say the least.  I bet we are back here next September as well because it's a great festival in a great location in a great city.

SHRIMP FEST 2019!!!!

Monday, September 9 - Thanks to our pals, Wayne, and Charly, for not making us feel guilty and for going with us to the Red Lobster in Mt. Juliet tonight for all you can eat shrimp.  We did some damage to say the very least.  This was Ashlee's first time ordering the all-you-can-eat option and she did OK until she fell for the cheddar biscuits and got full first....amateur....

Thursday, September 12 -It's Ashlee's birthday!!  Woot!! Woot!!
Even though we technically already had a party at the new Opryland Water Park called Soundwaves last month to celebrate my best girl, we couldn't just do nothing on the actual day.  So we kept it small and at home with some cool gifts (Christmas Mova Globe!), flowers, a Chik-Fil-A lunch delivery (yep, she worked on her birthday...so sad), pool time and dinner via Painturo's Italian take-out from around the corner.  Happy Birthday, Officer Sexy!! 

Oh and there was ice cream cake, of course, from Baskin-Robbins.  Someone does love her fancy purses especially if they are made of mint chocolate-chip ice cream!!

Tuesday, September 24 - It was like Kinder-Care in our back yard today as our young cats, Doris and Byron, sweetly interacted with a couple of young deer that frequent our neighborhood.  

Wednesday, 9/25 - Well, I got skunked 7-0 in our first game of bocce at the new courts here in town as part of the Don Fox Park complex.  They have built eight really nice courts that are free to use.  I bought a nice set of bocce balls from Amazon for us to use recently.  I made it a game the second time around, but still lost 7-6.  Someone's been sneaking up here and practicing during the day I think! 

We took a bit of hiatus from fun activities together this last half of September with work and the usual day-to day-grind.  Plus Ashlee took a great trip to a Disney World with her sister, Paige.

Saturday, October 5 - We took an overnight trip today to Monteagle Mountain to catch a show by Blue October at The Caverns.  Since it was an evening show, we decided to stay nearby and found a cabin for rent on top of Monteagle with a 50' waterfall on the property.  Unfortunately, we've been in a drought lately so Morgan's Falls was just Morgan's Bluff today, but still a pretty cool place.  I will definitely be back in wetter weather because it looks very promising to my waterfall-loving mind.

Man, what a blast from the past for me, and a special visit for Ashlee.  On a whim, I gave my old wood-carving friend, Jess Betchart, a call to see if he was still around on Monteagle Mountain.  He has pretty much retired, but lit up when he heard my name over the phone and invited us over for a visit.  The old woodcarver's shop looked the same as it had way back in 1991 when I interviewed Jess for a "Tennessee Magazine" article (which he still has mounted on the wall!).  We visited and reminisced for a long time and it was very special to me, and Ashlee enjoyed herself as well because Jess is a charmer and has a million great stories.

We even got treated to a song from Jess about his old friend, Dusty, who's about the sweetest dog we've ever encountered.  Dusty has cancer and his days are numbered, but Jess is making the most of them with him.  At 83-years-young, Jess, as well, is getting closer to that long walk home himself, but he looks great for his age and is still carving when he can while taking care of his ailing wife.

Still generous and caring, Jess insisted that we pick out an animal carving of his to take with us.  Ashlee chose this beautiful deer which she says reminds her of the ones we have in the back yard at home.  I would have to agree.  We have vowed to stop back by and see Jess again when we get a chance, and we aim to make good on that vow.  

Another unplanned and unexpectedly delightful stop in Monteagle before the concert was dinner at the Mountain Goat Market.  We had a great pizza in this fun, quirky and hip restaurant/market.

Man, you forget for an amazing live act Blue October is until you see them again.  And seeing them in a beautiful and acoustic cave makes it even better.  The SOLD OUT show was great even if the openers were pretty forgettable.    The rain had started outside as we ducked out a little early to avoid traffic in the crowded parking lot, and along the windy little roads back out to the interstate.  But we got well over an hour of powerful songs and unbridled energy from the band, especially lead singer, Justin Furstenfeld (photo below) who had the crowd in the palm of his hand all night. 

Sunday, October 6-  Well, there wasn't enough rain overnight to make Morgan's Falls run yet, but it was still a beautiful morning up on Monteagle Mountain that was actually starting to feel like fall after several record-breaking hot days in late September and early October.  This little tree I viewed from the nice back porch on the rented cabin was ready for fall even if all the others around it are not yet.
On our way off Monteagle Mountain, we took a quick look at The Retreat at Deer Lick Falls, an interesting tiny-house natural community that could also be of some interest to us/me in the future for rental options for a nice weekend back up on the mountain especially since Deer Lick Falls is one of my favorites in that area and I haven't been back to it in years.

We headed on into Chattanooga for the rest of the day to do some work at Ashlee's mom's house and then rewarded ourselves with a few libations and Chattanooga's newest craft brewery, Five Wits Brewing Company.  It's located in an interesting, new complex known as Market South, kind of a high-end food court.  We had some decent Asian food as well and enjoyed seeing our friend, Chris, who came by and had a couple of beers with us.  Another great addition to the little city we love.

Tuesday,October 8 - We attended our first and only film tonight at this year's historic Nashville Film Festival at the Hollywood 27 Theaters called Bluebird, a documentary about the famous Nashville songwriters venue, The Bluebird Cafe.  A place we surprisingly have never been to together.  We gotta change that! The film was very well done and there was a Q and A after with the director and the current manager of The Bluebird Cafe.  Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at Vui's Fresh Vietnamese nearby.

Saturday, October 12 - We were hosting Ashlee's newly-found cousin, Leslie, and her daughter, Leeanne , from Cincinnati this weekend during their visit to Nashville.  We started today with a quick tour (and sampling, of course) out at Pennington/Speakeasy Distillery in West Nashville.  The girls loved their products and stocked up on them for the journey home tomorrow.  This was our second visit this year to this fun place.  They are busy here and on the brink of going big-time soon I think.

We headed south next and stopped in Nolensville at the Oktoberfest event they were having at Mill Creek Brewing.  The fun and festivities were dampened by a drunk asshole who decided to sit down beside us without invitation, so we moved on to nearby Arrington Vineyards for a much nicer experience as the sun was setting among the grapevines.

We closed out the fun day with a fire in our backyard as the full moon shown down in our (yes, still open) pool. We roasted hot dogs and had s'mores and laughed into the night as the cool fall temps finally found us here in Middle Tennessee.

Sunday, October 13 - We ate well today with a late brunch stop at the new Party Fowl location in Donelson with our visitors before they headed home.  Then, just a few short hours later we met our good friends, Wendy and Charly, at Cherokee Steakhouse for an early dinner that was excellent as usual and some libations to close out a fun weekend.

Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20 - We didn't have a very fun weekend down in Chattanooga, since we were working at Ashlee's mom's house, cleaning it out and cleaning up the yard, but we did eat well!  On Saturday evening we had a well-deserved grilled cheese and tomato soup from Milk and Honey just down the street on the North Shore.

Sunday's lunch was splitting a giant muffaleta sandwich from Kenny's Southside Sandwiches along with some house-made chips and pimento cheese along with some interesting mustard slaw.

Saturday, October 26 - We took a weekend off from working down in Chattanooga on the house since the weather was kinda crappy and enjoyed a trip in to Nashville for some fun shopping/browsing at the Green Hills Mall, an afternoon matinee showing of the new film, Judy, with our friends, Danny and Brenda;  a tasty dinner afterwards at Emmy Squared and then a little more late-night grocery shopping at the always-interesting Trader Joe's.
The movie was surprisingly depressing as we learned that Judy Garland's life was far from the perfect persona seen on the red carpets of Hollywood.  However, Renee Zellweger's portrayal of the tragic Hollywood icon was brilliant, so we may have seen an Oscar winner tonight.