Summer...and Some Are Not

 

Sunday, July 2 - We held our one and only of the summer Happy Birthday, 'Merica Pool Party today along with these custom-made pool beers from Evill Nash Brewing up in Clarksville.   We had a fun time, and the beers were a hit!  

Monday, July 3 - We attended the Matchbox 20 concert at Bridgestone Arena tonight, along with a stay overnight at the swanky Bobby Hotel. 

Our room at The Bobby Hotel was very nice!   Worth the price?  Hard to say, but it was fun to get to hang out in downtown Nashville after a show instead of driving back home. 

We had a pre-show dinner at the new restaurant downtown, The Black Tap.  The place was very cool and the food was tremendous!  

Talk about a Collage Blast from the Past!!  We saw MB20 (gulp) 25 years ago as a "new" band in Knoxville on their first major tour.  

With over two hours of great music and great front row upper-level seats, it was an awesome show.  

Sunday, July 4 - Happy Independence Day!  We lounged around in our fancy room at The Bobby Hotel as long as we could before checking out and heading home for a quiet day. 

The band gave a cool shout-out on FaceBook to the Nashville crowd last night that included us! 

Our first two boys have been adopted from the litter of six we've been fostering lately.  We are certainly gonna miss these two sweeties.  That's Dom above showing that he's not that shy, and Dante below striking a pose that got him in the running to be adopted first.  Handsome boys!! Good luck with your new forever home!! 

Sunday, July 9 - We had a Sunday "rainy" Funday today with an afternoon trip into Nashville with Sunny.  Our first stop was the tiny Pink Door Cookies which delivers big taste in their delectable goodies.  The Rainbow Fudge Cookie and the Smores Cookie were our first two tries and they were awesome.  There's two more varieties below these for future yumminess.

Our next stop was just up the street at Fait La Force Brewing who has a great covered patio for just such a rainy, but cool and enjoyable, afternoon.  Ashlee's beer of choice was, of course, the SUNNY Skidoo Belgian Witbier.   

Along with our brews, we had some tasty European-inspired finger foods as well.  With a couple shopping stops on the way home, we had a nice little time as did "Sunny Skidoo." 

Thursday, July 13 - We hosted Paige and Ella and couple of her friends, Natalie and Harper, overnight on their way to a horse festival up in Kentucky this weekend.  The weather was perfect for some pool time and Sunny enjoyed a float and hanging with "the girls."  Thanks to our friends, Curtis and Kate, for the pool donation of the new-to-us strawberry float which actually smells like strawberries even though it's a couple years old! 

Saturday, July 15 - Another rainy weekend day had us looking for alternative fun away from the pool, so opted to partake in Burger Week here in Nashville and our choice was the Cledis Burgers and Beer Garden for its proximity on our side of Music City and the fact we could take Sunny to their outdoor seating area. We met up with our friends, Curtis and Kate and Nate, for some tasty burgers and libations.
The weather broke afterwards, and we were able to close out the day hanging out in the pool anyway! 

Wednesday, July 19 - We attended another SOLD OUT comedy show at Cedar City Brewing tonight with our friends, Curtis and Kate.  Not the best show we've seen there, but still better than driving into Nashville for a so-so experience. 

After the show it was nice to see the new Lebanon Square lights glowing all around!  Look at our little square actually looking like a nice place to visit! 

Wednesday, July 26 - We did some civic duty tonight and attended the public meeting at the Lebanon City Hall about our local train link to Nashville under the direction of WeGo now.  We are hoping for more runs into Nashville from here in Lebanon on the weekends and maybe some weeknights for special events to save from driving, parking, etc.  There seems to be some hope of adding more weekend trips, but the idea of it ever being like a subway and running 24/7 is probably never going to happen.  Still a productive and informative meeting and they had free snacks!! 

Friday, July 28 - We drove to Rosman, North Carolina, today for our almost annual mountain getaway with our friends Wendy and Charly, and Michelle and Patrick.  I found a sweet place called "The Waterfall House" that is at the end of road in a gated community.  Talk about private!  The photo above is basically in the dark walking back up from the small waterfall to the house.  We didn't get there until about dark and then the first of a couple weird things happened on this trip.  Michelle and Patrick had to basically turn right back around and go back to Chattanooga tonight because of pet troubles at home.  What a bummer.  The foursome that was left hung out enjoying the house until late in the evening before calling it a night.  

Saturday, July 29 - After a lazy morning and a tasty breakfast casserole (thanks, Patrick!), we headed out to do a little exploring.  Our first stop was the Sassafras Mountain Lookout Tower right on the North and South Carolina border (Elev. 3553').  It's the highest point in South Carolina and the eastern seaboard's continental divide.  The 360-degree view was a bit hazy, but still amazing.  Gotta come up here and do a sunrise or sunset sometime! 

We headed into Brevard next and did a little shopping and browsing in their numerous cool downtown shops.  And posed for a few photo ops as well.  White squirrels are a thing here in Brevard and this cutie outside the White Squirrel Shoppe was ready for a picture. Somebody yelled, "Just grab his nuts!!"  So...we did!  He does look a bit concerned!  LOL. Afterwards, we had lunch at the very good Corky's Dawg House. 

We had planned on going to the popular Sliding Rock swimming hole this afternoon, but the temps weren't super warm, and the area was crowded, so we knew it would be too, so we opted to go back to The Waterfall House and play around in our own tiny "Sliding Rock."   I did slide down the right bottom side once.  It wasn't that great, but it's still a beautiful little private creek to relax in. 
Our evening hanging out at the house got interrupted by a long power outage from nearby storms although we didn't even get any rain.  The house generator didn't kick on as expected by the owners, so we didn't have water (electric well pump), internet or land-line phone either.  When power was finally restored, we were able to play a fun little murder mystery game that Ashlee purchased in Brevard this afternoon before turning in for the night. 

Sunday, July 30 - We packed up this morning to get ready to drive back home.  We took another few good looks at The Waterfall House front porch view (photo above and video below) to remember this beautiful, private place.  I could definitely see coming back here.  

Before leaving North Carolina, Ashlee and I stopped at the swanky new-to-us Sierra Nevada Brewing (East Coast Facility) in Mills River.   Wow, they really dropped some serious coin on this place!  It's beautiful and large sitting right on the French Broad River.   We didn't eat although we heard the food is great and the restaurant was already busy just after opening.  Instead, we had a few fresh pints relaxing out in the Back Porch/Beer Garden area.  This awesome place is definitely on our visit-again list! 
We tried stopping at the new largest-ever Buc-ee's in Sevierville, TN, on our way home, but the place was a just a friggin' madhouse, so we opted for the Crossville location where we stocked up on their amazing sandwiches and Buc-ee's goodies and swag. 
Another great little trip to the mountains!! 

Saturday, August 5 - After a rainy day stuck inside the house cleaning, we scooped up Sunny and headed down to Murfreesboro to Cedar Glade Brews for a beer or two and some tacos from the Mission Taco Truck that was one site.  The food and beers were great, and we enjoyed sitting inside, out of the humidity at one of the few places around that allow dogs inside.  And that's why we keep coming back!! 

Wednesday, August 17 - We attended another SOLD OUT Comedy Night at Cedar City Brewing tonight with our friends, Kate and Curtis.  This was our first time sitting upstairs which wasn't bad and gave a good bird's eye view of all the comedians including the hilarious, Elijah J. McNutt (photo above).  "Free McNutt!!" 

Saturday, August 19 - It was a "hang around the house" kind of weekend for everybody! 

Saturday, August 26 - We walked up a few blocks this morning to an estate sale at a cool old house across the street from Cumberland University's baseball field.  We didn't buy anything (we have plenty of our junk in our house), but it was interesting to look around.  

It's so hard to choose what you want at Starbucks sometimes... (great pic, Ashlee!) 

Thursday, August 31 - We had our fantasy football draft tonight online for the 24th Year of the Burgess Falls Fantasy Football League.  I am proud to say I am also the defending champ for the first time ever in a league that I have run for almost a quarter of a century.  I am sure I will be back down in the middle of the pack as usual this year, but there's always hope this time of year! 

MAY we have some fun before it's JUNE already??

Fourth option: CUTE!!  We love you, Dudley!! 

Wednesday, May 17 - We attended our third monthly comedy show at Cedar City Brewing tonight and while it was only two comedians instead of the four they've had before, these guys were top-notch funny:  Brent Blakeny and Jesse Jones and the always-funny host, Corey Knox. I even helped Corey out a bit with his routine with a nice circle-back smartass comment regarding an earlier bit of his.  He even thanked me after the show for it and seemed genuine about it. 

Friday, May 19 - Happy 22nd Anniversary to us!!  We spent the day around the house doing yard work and such since some rainy weather cancelled our camping plans for the weekend (we moved those plans to June 9 and 10 - see below).  We closed the quiet day with the latest episode of our favorite streaming show, "Mrs. Maisel" and a nice cheese plate from an order from Kenny's Farmhouse Cheese up in Kentucky that arrived today.  

Saturday, May 20 - Speaking of rain, it came down today in buckets putting a real damper on our plans to attend the Southern Skies Festival in Knoxville with our VIP passes.  We decided to wait until mid-afternoon before heading east hoping to avoid as much of it as we could.  We already had a hotel room reserved with Ashlee's points, so we figured we would make the best of it. 
The plan worked out pretty darn well as we drove east the two hours plus this afternoon in very little rain with some blue sky even now and then.  The rain front was past Knoxville by the time we pulled into the nice downtown Hilton.  We made it into the festival just before our favorite band (and the developers of this festival), The Dirty Guv'nahs, took the stage!! 

When the The Dirty Guv'nahs came on stage the sun actually popped out and then about three songs in we were "IN THE DOWNPOUR!!!" to quote the late, great John Ward of UT- Knoxville fame back in 1992 as Mose Phillips scampered 65 yards against the hated Florida Gators in a torrent of rain.  And, yes, I've quoted it so many times that Ashlee quoted it back to me tonight.  I was so proud!! 
The shower was over fairly quickly and the Guvs finished their excellent set in the dry.  We grabbed some dinner during the musical break at the AppeThai food truck which was tasty.  
We enjoyed our VIP goody bag, drink tokens (Ashlee more than me! i.e. 24 oz. of wine in cans) and air-conditioned restrooms.
St. Paul and the Broken Bones closed out the fun night with a solid set as well.  
It was so nice to take the short walk back to our hotel after the show at a leisurely stroll and be in bed at a reasonable hour.  

Sunday, May 21 - It was Day 2 of the Southern Skies Festival in Knoxville and we slept in thanks to our comfortable Hilton beds (yep, twin room and we each had a bed - 22 years married, folks).   We met up with a co-worker of Ashlee's and her kids at Tupelo Honey just around the corner from the hotel in pretty Market Square (photo above).  After our tasty meal and with still an hour until the music started at the festival, we made an executive decision to just skip Day 2 and go home to our pool since we really didn't know any of the musicians playing and couldn't stay all day anyway.  
We did enjoy our short taste of the Southern Skies Fest and would definitely consider coming back if the line-up is interesting to us. 

On our way back, Bucee's was packed...as usual, but we you know we had to stop for snacks, swag...oh, and gas even! 

Wednesday, May 24 - Hello, baby!  Surprisingly, we got another baby fawn bedded down in our backyard this year!  We were not expecting that since the grass is cut pretty short back in "Deer Alley" and the fact we now have Sunny running around in the yard (she spotted this little guy first, of course).  But, we have planted some loblolly pines in the back and there is a small patch of tall, uncut grass between them and there he/she is right up against our fence!  Welcome to the world, little guy (aka Fred III)...and quit barking, Sunny!! 

Monday, May 29 - We had a fairly quiet Memorial Day Weekend with the weather unseasonably cool, we only got some pool time today when the sun finally came out and the temps went up.  Paige and Ella came up for a night of visiting, and we had some tasty grub from a food truck called The Floppin' Fish that was out at The Cedar Tap on Saturday, but that's about all the highlights to this quiet 3-day staycation which was just fine with us since we have a busy June coming. 

Monday, June 5 - Check out this six pack of cuteness!!  Yep, we got six foster kittens in the house currently.  That's a new record for us.  Let's see how it goes...so far, so good. 
Named from characters from The Fast and Furious film franchise, we've got Dom, Letty, Dante, Roman, Diego and Mia (aka "The Fast and the Curious")

Monday, June 5 - Look who got her own pool float!  Sunny's been swimming again this summer in the pool, so we thought we'd get her a float so she could relax a little with us in the deeper water.  She took to it pretty quickly and has good balance atop the water.  

Friday, June 9 - Our delayed classic Shasta Camper AirBnb weekend in nearby Bloomington Springs happened this weekend with much better weather than on our anniversary weekend when we first had these booked.  The owner was nice enough to let us move our weekend to now due to the weather.  Our friends, Danny and Brenda, whose wedding anniversary date is close to ours, joined us, as did our new friends (and newlyweds) Kate and Curtis as well.  
The Sulfur Ridge Trailer Park is adorable, an easy drive from our house, very close to the interstate, and full of great touches and amenities.  We hung out throughout the late afternoon enjoying the small pools on site and having a few libations and conversations.  We headed into nearby Cookeville for dinner where we had a great meal at Father Tom's Pub.  
We came back and hung out until late in the night around the firepit with a toasty blaze. 
Memory link:
Sulfur Ridge Shasta Camp THIS IS ALL THREE CAMPERS - Campers/RVs for Rent in Bloomington Springs, Tennessee, United States - Airbnb

Saturday, June 10 - After sleeping in and a leisurely, but tasty breakfast prepared by me and (mostly) Ashlee, we headed out for a little sightseeing in the area.   We must have been a little too leisurely because our first stop at Burgess Falls State Park found us not being able to find a parking space on this busy and beautiful afternoon.  We went ahead and headed to our next destination:  Calfkiller Brewing in Sparta and were lucky to grab the last two parking spaces there.  We enjoyed some excellent brews, some tasty treats from some food vendors on site and relaxing in their beautiful outdoor area.  This was everyone's first visit here (except mine) and I was happy to see everyone enjoying the visit. 

The crowd was a lot smaller at the much lesser known but equally beautiful Lost Creek Falls just outside Sparta.   None of our group had been here before either (except me), so I was proud to show it off to them.  In fact, this was Kate and Curtis' first Tennessee waterfall visit! 

We got back to our little oasis and enjoyed a blissful evening relaxing, having fun and eating good.  Curtis and Kate brought a bevy of great snacks for all of us to enjoy.  Danny and Brenda grilled us up an excellent dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers with all the trimmings.  We enjoyed the lawn games available including horseshoes, cornhole and the very cool Lawn Scrabble - and, yes, the dirty word rule was most certainly in affect, of course...

Sunday, June 11 - We had to pack up and say goodbye to our Mellow Yellow camper today, but not before Ashlee busted out another great breakfast as the rain from overnight tapered off for us to enjoy eating outside again.  What a wonderful little place and so close to home!  I bet we are back here again sometime if we get the chance!  We enjoyed some pool time when we got back home with Curtis and Kate as well. 

Tuesday, June 14 - We headed down to Manchester late this afternoon to meet up with Paige, Andy and Ella to pick up the pop-up camper for our return to Bonnaroo later this week.  Andy was nice enough to swap cars with us for the week, so we got to use his great 4x4 truck to get us there and back.  We also brought Ella along as she would be attending her first Bonnaroo with us this year.  
I bought everyone a tasty dinner and drinks out on the patio (since Sunny was with us) of Common John Brewing before heading back home. 

Thursday. June 15 - While this was officially the first day of Bonnaroo, we decided to skip it since there wasn't anything on the schedule we felt we had to see, so instead we spent the day prepping for our camping set-up down on The Farm. 

SOLD OUT! About 800,000 strong including Day Pass users. 

Friday, June 16 - Back to Bonnaroo!! Day 1 (for us).   We got a pretty decent camping site despite coming in a day after the start with only about a nine-minute walk to Centeroo.  We were set up at camp and headed into the melee by the last afternoon.  As mentioned before, this was Ella's first Bonnaroo and she got an eye-opening experience right from the start!  Evidently this was the "year of the ass cheeks" at Bonnaroo with lots of girls' derrieres hanging out all over the place.  Are we getting too old for this?  Nah, who cares!! 

We always seem to find new-to-us great artists at Bonnaroo and Day 1 (for us) was no exception.  Despite the huge crowd, the cowboy crooning of Texas' Charley Crockett was very enjoyable this afternoon in That Tent.  

We caught a little bit of Portugal. The Man on the main What Stage and an interesting set from Japanese/British artist, Rina Sawayama, on the Which Stage before wading into another large crowd gathered in and outside of That Tent as night fell (photo above) for new-to-us artist who we really enjoyed, Noah Kahan, and his awesome band.

It was good to be back at The Roo!! 

We got back to our comfy camp setup before it got too late.  Tired, but satisfied with our first day back at Bonnaroo. 

Saturday, June 17 - Bonnaroo Day 2 (for us) started off with a few tunes from soulful songstress, Danielle Ponder.  Then, one of the biggest draws for us to this year's Bonnaroo was Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness on the main What Stage to start the day there.  We were lucky enough to get in the pit in front of the stage and then were shocked that Andrew started his show in the crowd near us with the beautiful song "Nobody Tells You When You're Young."  He closed the show with "Ceclia and the Satellite" with his little girl, Cecilia, singing along.   He also invited a local young dance group to join him on stage for a few songs.  What a great show (as usual)!  This would turn out to be our favorite show of the festival.

The consummate veteran rocker, Sheryl Crow, was up next on the main What Stage and we were in the pit again for a close-up experience with her and her excellent band belting out hit after hit. 

I was excited to see The Band Camino on the second-largest Which Stage from what I had heard during research, but we found their live show to be a little dull since every song sounded basically the same.  We stayed at the Which Stage for strategic reasons and surprisingly enjoyed the set by the dance/electronic duo, Sofi Tukker.  It was an entertaining show and a little "bat shit crazy!" 

The strategy to stay at the Which Stage was to see the next act, the enormously popular, Tyler Childers, who tore the roof off the place with his soaring vocals and a huge backing band that included a strings and horns section.  It was obvious that he should have been on the main stage and the crowd swelled to almost unbearable numbers (single-day ticketholders, we think), but we stayed for the whole show and were rewarded with a great set.  

Sunday, June 18 - Bonnaroo Day 3 (for us) started with us deciding to pack up and be ready to go late tonight instead of staying overnight as we originally planned.  We were tired and there did look to be some weather coming in, so it seemed for the best.  Music-wise, the day started with another of our long-time favorites, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, in That Tent which we actually got to be inside of for this show and right up close against the rail (ah, the beauty of early shows at Bonnaroo).  The boys were great, and some the songs off of the new album were really catchy and have already been downloaded off ITunes. 

With Ella being 17, our musical tastes differ somewhat, but she was a good sport and stuck with us for the artists we wanted to see and seemed to and said she enjoyed them as well.  So, we let her pick this afternoon's show and she chose the young Norwegian singer/punk/lesbian known as Girl in Red on the Which Stage.  While we didn't necessarily enjoy this show, it was our first witness to a crowd dive at Bonnaroo this year which has to count for something, right?  

Our last full set to see at this year's Bonnaroo Festival was the ultra-talented Marcus Mumford solo and stripped down on the big Which Stage.  His pure voice rang across The Farm on songs from his recent solo album as well as crowd-pleasing hits from his popular band, Mumford and Sons.  We had a great view on the rail behind the pit for this show.

We caught a little bit of the Foo Fighters on the main What Stage closing out the festival in their screaming rock fashion on our way to head out and get home before midnight.  

Another great festival that we survived!!  We just might do this again...with some tweaks...maybe.  We had a great time hanging out with our friend, Bridgette, for a lot of the time.  Showing Ella the Bonnaroo ropes.  People watching which is always interesting here.  Some good food: great pizza slices and key lime burritos were the highlights inside Centeroo, and Ashlee's tasty breakfasts at the campsite.  And avoiding rain and super-hot temps during day.  Thanks again, Bonnaroo!! 

Friday, June 23 - Our friends, Kate and Curtis, invited us to some night racing at the Nashville Super Speedway here in Wilson County today.  Not really our thing, but we do like to support events here in our home county and away from the roar that is downtown Nashville.  It's pretty cool that NASCAR events are back here since this place was almost torn down a few years ago.   This would be the start of a whole weekend of night racing here concluding with the already sold-out Ally 400 main event on Sunday. 

After some tailgating, we headed to the track for a 7 PM green flag and it was a beautiful night for racing!!  We dodged some rain but got the benefit of a rainbow during the Rackley Roofing 200 of the Craftsman NASCAR Truck Series.   Carson Hocevar took the checkered flag of a pretty quick race with a several yellow flags, but no major wrecks.   A pretty cool historic fact that happened tonight was that the # 1 Victoria's Secret truck was being driven by VS model, Toni Breidinger, the first Arab American woman to ever do so.   Thanks to Curtis and Kate for the invite along with a large group of their friends from work at Southwest Airlines.  

Thursday, June 29 - We went to opening night of the new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, tonight at the Roxy Theaters (recliners!) here in Lebanon tonight with our friends, Curtis and Kate.  We thought the film was a pretty good way to spend a couple hours out of the summer heat.