It's Done Turned Fall, Ya'll

Friday, August 21 - We are finally seeing a show at the world-famous Blue Bird Cafe together tonight.  Ashlee's been before with some friends long ago, but I've never been.  We saw Sean McConnell tonight for one of two shows there.  Sean will also be on our upcoming music cruise in November.   We chose the early show to get us home at a reasonable hour to our melee of pets.  He was awesome with this intimate acoustic set.  Such a great local talent!   And the cheese sticks here are boss!! 

Friday, August 28 - We went to see one of our favorite live bands, O/A/R, tonight at the FirstBank Amphitheater in Franklin.  This was a great $30 flat deal, or we might have just passed.   We've not had good luck with this place since being stormed out of a Harry Connick, Jr. show there almost 5 years ago to the day.  It's so far away and it's just not that easy to get in and out either.  The openers were pretty big names in KT Tunstall who we caught the last few minutes off as we arrived and then a rockin' set by Gavin DeGraw.  The place is very cool and there's definitely been a lot of money put into it, but the sound is just not great at least where we were sitting up high in the cheap seats. It may be echoing off the former quarry walls in not a great way.  We stayed for 2/3 of O/A/R's show and then headed out to beat the traffic and take care of pets.  Not a bad night, but not a good enough one for us to probably ever come back out here to a show. 

Saturday, August 29 - Tonight's show with Mat Kearney at The Pinnacle was a complete 180 from last night's O/A/R show.  First, we were on the front row for this one (thanks, Ashlee!).  Second, the sound was exquisite. And lastly, Mat had a great opener, The Lone Bellow, and then he put on an excellent show himself celebrating the 20th anniversary of his debut album, "Nothing Left to Lose" here in his hometown.  We've been with Mat for 17 of those 20 years and can't wait to see him (and The Lone Bellow) again soon on the music cruise we've got booked for early November. 

Before the show, we had a nice, tasty dinner at Sweet Paris Creperie and Cafe in the same Nashville Yards complex as The Pinnacle.  We even got a discount on the very convenient onsite parking.  

Before tonight's show, we did an awesome behind-the-scenes tour at The Nashville Zoo with a sloth encounter as an early birthday present for Ashlee.  Our trip to Costa Rica earlier this year piqued our interest in these fascinating creatures.  We got to meet Fern, the two-toed sloth ambassador for the zoo.  Getting to hand feed sweet Fern was a lot of fun.  We learned a lot about her and her species who are pretty amazing.  We can't wait to do another encounter here.  So, what's next:  rhino? anteater?  tiger?  

Sweet Fern in an up-close shot showing off her pretty face and her amazing claws. 

Tuesday, September 8 - We drafted tonight for the 27th season of the BFFFL.  This season is dedicated to the 26-year veteran of our virtual gridiron, JD Franklin, who sadly passed away last year.  We're going to miss you, bud, RIP.  

Sunday, September 6 - Today was the unofficial start of Ashlee's Birthday Week Extravaganza! 

Monday, September 7 - Nothing wrong with nice, quiet and peaceful Labor Day at home at our pool with just our pets.  

Saturday, September 12 - Happy Birthday, Ashlee (and Paige!)!   We drove down to Chattanooga today to celebrate the big 55 for the girls at Paige's house.  

brunch at Inglewood Lounge with their locally famous patio cat, Penny 

Friday, October 23 - Andrew McMahon SOLD-OUT solo at City Winery in Nashville (concert poster pic on phone at 6/9) and VIP meet-n-greet beforehand

ALASKA! TOGETHER! FINALLY!!

 While we have both been to Alaska, we have not been together and neither of us have been there on a cruise, so this is a big bucket-lister trip for us along with some family as well. 

That's 2,081 Nautical Miles Traveled + 2,072 airline miles + a few hundred road miles in between!! 

Wednesday, August 5 - We had an early direct flight on Delta Airlines to Seattle today as we prep for our Alaska cruise from there on Friday.  The flight went smooth and uneventful.  Thanks to our friends for dropping us off so as not to incur a large parking fee at the airport.  

Mt. Rainer came in to view as we neared Seattle, rising above the low cloud cover and a good amount of nearby forest fire smoke. 

We had to rent two vehicles to carry all our luggage and bodies! Our first stop while we waited on our lodging to be ready was The Museum of Flight which is close to the airport and where we also had lunch.  This place is so big and so interesting that you could spend a couple days here instead of just the couple of hours that we did and definitely without seeing it all.  But what we did see (warplanes from WWI - above - and WWII, fighter jets, inside a Concorde jet, inside an Air Force One, inside a FedEx freight-hauling jet, etc.) was pretty great! 

Here's the whole gang goofing around and posing with the retro Pan Am mannequins.  Who's the dummies here, again? 

Our adorable AirBnB home (good find, Paige!) in the very sweet Magnolia neighborhood of Northwest Seattle was our next stop.   We had three separate bedrooms and lots of room to spread out and hang out.  And it saved us some much money compared to hotel rooms! 

The minivan that Ashlee rented could seat us all without luggage, so we saved a ton of money on using Uber/Lyfts (which are really high here) to go see the Seattle Mariners game vs. the Detroit Tigers tonight.  We had front-row, aisle seats in the outfield of beautiful T-Mobile Park.  (our first time there for all 7 of us).  It was my treat since not everyone in the group is a sports fan like me, but we all wound up enjoying it on especially on "Jimothy Night." 

We actually saw a lot of action in our front-row left foul pole seats.   Mariners left fielder, Randy Arozarena, put on quite the show in front of us with a homerun-saving catch over the wall in front of us and a wicked bullet of a throw to 3rd base to get a runner out.  At bat, it was Randy's single that started the scoring for Seattle with three runs in the bottom of the 6th.  We didn't stay for the end to beat some of the traffic out of a nearby VIP parking garage that we were at the top of (good find, Ashlee!), but the Mariners went on to win the game by a final score of 4-2.  There was a huge crowd and a great atmosphere, and the weather was perfect for watching a game! 

Thursday, August 6 - We had a full day in Seattle to enjoy before crusing out tomorrow morning, so we started the day off with an awesome chef led food tour of and around famous Pike Place Market.  Our first stop was a dandy: CHEESE!  Beecher's Cheese to be exact.  So fresh, so good!  Next was some outstanding smoked salmon City Fish Seafood Market with an optional bonus fresh raw scallop (photo above) that you shoot from a seashell.  Wow was it good!  

Our next stop was the amazing Greek gelato shop called Hellenika.  This stuff was extremely smooth and creamy!  Street tacos came next.  Always a crowd favorite.  It was on the Truffle Queen next for exquisite fresh truffles.  We also got a free bonus fresh fig slice from the store's neighboring standing across the way.   Next were savory, delicious Portuguese custard tarts (pasteis de nata) at the Lands of Origin shop.  A slice of pizza came next from the authentic Pizza & Pasta Bar, then some legendary Rachel's Ginger Beer, some award-winning clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder, a quick stop to see one of tour group do a great job at catching a famous flying fish at the Pike Place Fish Market and concluded with some fine European chocolate at Frans.  We were stuffed and our chef host, Will, was outstanding! 
Afterwards we made a few more stops of our own around the market area that included the hip and popular ice cream shop, Salt and Straw, (there's always room for ice cream!); then The Cheese Box for some outstanding blue cheese recommended by our chef/tour-guide, Will, (there's always room for cheese!); and a few brews at the Taproom at Pike Place (there's always room for beer!).  

Ashlee's bad knee only lasted for the first part of an Underground Seattle Tour we had scheduled next since most of the tour was up and down a lot of stairs.  But it was quite interesting with information like the fact that Seattle is the only major US city named after a Native American chief.  However, it does look like the name got butchered somewhat from its original pronunciation which is probably why his bust (photo above) seems to be more like "Chief Resting Bitch Face."  
We got a great parking place again near the busy downtown waterfront market area by using the SpotHero app at a hotel with cheap valet parking.  

After getting back to the AirBnb house and freshening up, everyone but Ashlee and me went to dinner nearby.  We had other plans, and to kill some time we drove through the enormous and lovely Discover Park which dead ends at West Point Lighthouse (and a beautiful driftwood beach) overlooking the Puget Sound.  Catching the sunset here tonight was a bonus!   In a bit of an odd pay-it-forward move, we gave two German tourists a ride out of the giant park and back to a bus station near the entrance where they had gotten off earlier in the day.  Nice fellas.  Glad they didn't murder us! 

Our other plans tonight were to meet for dinner with our long-time friend, Paige, from Nashville originally who moved out here several years ago.  We met at her choice of location, the eclectic and fun Dreamland Bar & Diner in the funky Fremont neighborhood.  The walk to the bathrooms (photo above) should tell all you need to know about this interesting place! 

Friday, August 7 - Time to get on the BIG BOAT!!  After a bit of harrowing and annoying time to return the rental cars this morning, we got smoothly onto the beautiful Celebrity Edge to begin our cruise out of Seattle.  Ashlee and Paige have both been on this same ship before and it's one of their favorites, and I can see why.  So beautiful from stern to aft.  

Our first cruise out of Seattle, but probably not our last.  The Emerald City is such a great place to visit.  With a little creative contrast work, I was able to clear the still-lingering wildfire smoke from this above shot as we pulled out into The Puget Sound.  

With so much port time and cruising with a view of the Alaskan coast most of the time, we decided to not get the booze package, but did upgrade a little to include high-end coffee, soft drinks and other upgraded non-alcoholic drinks.  One of our new favorites is the many flavors of the Italy-made Sanpellegrino.  We are not always the biggest fans of sparkling water, but this stuff is very smooth and flavorful.  

Saturday, August 8 - Waking up at dawn and seeing the ocean outside your window is always a special feeling.  One of the coolest features on the Edge are the new "infinity-balconies."  Instead of a door to a separate balcony, you get more room space with a large window instead, the top half of which can be rolled down for the open balcony effect.  Pretty ingenious if you ask me! It was a relaxing day at sea for us as we cruised north up the Canadian coast toward Alaska.  

The dazzling interior design throughout the ship just continues to amaze.  This art piece is made entirely of pearl necklaces, tiaras and bracelets. 

One of our favorite new-to-us Celebrity Cruise Line on-ship offerings are the "Beyond the Podium" talks presented before entering each port.  The speaker we had for our India cruise was outstanding and we didn't think she could be beat, but, alas, there's naturalist and all-around awesome dude, Brent Nixon! The photo above is a screen grab of his first talk today about Alaska overall that was rebroadcast on the ship's TV system after it was given, but we were there live (and so was about half the ship - it was so crowded).  If you can't get fired up about nature and all it has to offer after listening to Brent, well, you might be dead! 
All of his talks were packed with listeners.  Come to find out that his wife, Mary Amanda Fairchild, was also a speaker on the cruise and was very interesting in her talks about overall travel, culture and tourism.  
   

After a free tour (and a pretty good sales pitch) we opted in for spa access on the ship ever day on the cruise for a couple hundred bucks each.  The ship was crowded (just under 3K in passengers alone), so this was place was a great respite from the crowds.  These heated loungers shown above were our favorite accoutrements of the spa area, but we also enjoyed the salt room, the crystal room, the Turkish bath and steam room, etc.  But the # 1 reason we chose spa access was private open front deck access which will really come in to play a couple days from now (see below).  

Tonight we chose to have dinner in the beautiful Eden specialty restaurant at the back of the ship.  You pay extra for this experience, and I thought it was great (especially the butterscotch creme brulee in the photo above).  However, the girls, who, again, have been on the ship before, thought it had changed somewhat for the worse in their opinion to what they had experienced before.  That's too bad since paying the extra cost should blow you away in flavor, choice and presentation. 

Meanwhile, back at the Martin Avenue Zoo...big thanks to our friend and pet-sitter, Leslie, for taking such great care of our pets again while we travel for a long period.  How she got all seven of these goofy cats to pose in the same picture is beyond me.  She's amazing!!  Don't forget there are also two dogs in the den!  And she did extra cleaning and organizing when she got "bored."  What a gal!! 

Sunday, August 9 - Hello, Ketchikan, Alaska!!  It seems the 49th state is just bursting to welcome us back as a couple! After promptly spending a little time apart this morning doing different activities, we met back up for a low-key afternoon wildlife and waterfall tour that I had booked through Viator.  

After Ashlee's lumberjack show (hard pass for me), we met back up at my second craft brewery of the morning, Baleen Brewing.  This one was better than the first one I visited, and we both enjoyed our libations while relaxing inside.  

The weather was exquisite for our low-key wildlife and waterfall tour this afternoon.  I say "low-key" because it was cheap and kind of lame at times without much of the wilds of Alaska really being explored.  In fact, we barely got out of Ketchikan city limits, but we made it a fun time, nonetheless.  That is some of Rotary Beach in the photo above.

We went bear hunting and danged if we didn't just miss him!! #scathumor

One of our first stops was pretty Rainbow Falls.  Definitely worth a look, but being right beside the main highway in and out of town took a bit of the luster from it.   

Woop!  There he is!!   This is a screen grab from a video I took out the back of the van shows a pretty good-sized bear that we saw.  Granted he was just crossing the road (after sitting down on it and scratching his ass...), but we were promised wildlife, and we got it, I guess.  We saw another one from a distance in the actual wild of Herring Cove as well.  

After our tour, our guide dropped us off at the Cape Fox Lodge with a nice view of the town and harbor below.  We had a good appetizer of loaded halibut fries in their restaurant before heading back down to the ship.  

It was early to bed after saying goodbye to Ketchikan because very early tomorrow we cruise into the Endicott Arm and ever closer to Dawes Glacier.   One other note of interest is that we got to briefly meet Brent and Mary (our Celebrity celebrity speakers) tonight! 

Monday, August 10 - EPIC DAY ALERT!!! Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier and then on to Juneau, Alaska to take a helicopter and land on Mendenhall Glacier!! 

Iceberg right ahead!! No photo editing on this shot inside the Endicott Arm and we approached Dawes glacier.  Those colors are legit!! 

The waterfalls started appearing fast and furious.  Too many to count (or to name). 

Man, that first peek around the corner at Dawes Glacier is draw-dropping.    

I caught this with a photo, not a screengrab from video.  But see below for a pretty awesome video of another cleave drop.  The sound (like thunder) is not captured in the video below, but trust us, it's amazing. 

Panoramically sublime. 

Only two cruise ships a day are allowed into the Endicott Arm, so we had it all to ourselves this morning and passed this Virgin cruise ship on the way back out.   

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Weather moved constantly in and out Alaska, but we were very fortunate overall to have great weather during time there and in Seattle before and after. 

The unfortunately named Sumdum Glacier at the entrance/exit of the Endicott Arm. 

Welcome to Juneau! 

We had time before late afternoon helicopter ride to check out the Juneau waterfront and have a libation or two at Alaskan Brewing out on their nice deck in some sweet weather. 

Hello, sweet girl! The story of "Patsy Ann" - the official greeter of Juneau throughout the 1930's - is so great.  The white bull terrier was completely deaf, but had the uncanny knack of knowing when ships were coming into Juneau and would always be on the dock to greet them. Thanks, AtlasObscura.com for the recommendation!  

Away we go!! Along with our brother-in-law, Andy, we dropped $700 each to do a once-in-a-lifetime trip by helicopter to and ON the Mendenhall Glacier northwest of Juneau.  Spoiler alert!  Worth every penny!! 

Immediately after taking off, the views were astounding!

And then come the mountains! 

Our first glimpse of the Mendenhall Glacier was surreal.  We had a great young female pilot who gave us a super-smooth ride in.  

And here it is in all its glory! 

Yep, we landed ON A GLACIER!! 

Our first-ever walk on a glacier! 

Free glacier water.  So fresh!! 

Like you are on a different planet...

The flight back was just as scenic.  I am so glad our tour was late afternoon to catch the start of The Golden Hour.   We had a different pilot coming back and we were the lead chopper.  Our young male pilot was professional and smooth and he gave us info, carried out his lead chopper role and gave a smooth take-off, ride and landing back at the heliport.  

WOW!!  THAT WAS A HELLUVA DAY!! 

Tuesday, August 11 - Say hello to pretty Skagway, Alaska!  We had different tours today - Ashlee on the famous White Pass train and me on a waterfall-specific bus tour. 

We met back up in town for some shopping.  I found my first Alaskan Mountain Dew.  Amen!   We also had some delicious and famous Alaska fry bread from the Klondike Doughboy shop.  

Just before we left port, we got a cool visitor near the ship...

So long, Skagway!  It's been great! 

Wednesday, August 12 - Another relaxing day at sea with our fancy coffees.  

We really enjoyed some time in the Turkish steam room in the spa today too.  

Calamity Ashlee strikes again?   Just a couple days out and the Juneau area received flooding from a glacier outburst - that they had been expecting at any time.  No one hurt, but we heard excursions were being cancelled in Juneau because of it and I doubt anyone was flying onto Mendall Glacier today.  We were very lucky with weather again on this trip.  

Happy <Very Early> Birthday, Ashlee and Paige!! Never turn down free cake even if it isn't your birthday for another month!  We had a great final dinner as a group tonight in one of the main dining rooms on the ship.  The food and service have been great.  

Thursday, August 13 - Victoria, British Columbia in Canada is our destination today.   Now we didn't go completely sober on this cruise.  We got a free bottle of fizzy stuff with our room class which we enjoyed in the pea soup.   Just look at that fog! 

One more shot of Brent was in order today as well before we docked this afternoon.  

The fog never lifted today.  We just simply cruised out of it as we got near Victoria.  Now THAT is a bank of fog! 

Victoria is such a lovely, green city.  Here's we are in our beer tour bus having to wait on a couple "locals" to cross the street at their leisure.  Our first beer stop was Whistle Buoy Brewing where we got a pint of our choice and enjoyed them out in their nice patio area. 

We went all over Alaska, yet this is one of my favorite shots of the trip. This is famous Fan Tan Alley in Victoria's Chinatown.   We used the narrow alley to walk from our first beer tasting to our next.  

That next beer stop was Herald Street Brew Works.  Here we met a great older couple from Atlanta that shared a table with us as we were served a tasty flight of their wares.  Then at our next stop we had to put some MAGA dopes from Minnesota in their place at Swan Pub and Brewing.  But they did shut up and we wound up having a nice time, nonetheless. It was another brewery selected flight of tasting here as well.   

This was our first night port and our first chance to see the pretty lady all light up when we got back to the dock from our beer tour.  Another fun stop to close out a great cruise!  

Friday, August 14 - The return to Seattle was smooth and easy except for the fact my small (overstuffed) suitcase gave up the ghost when we got to our airport hotel room.  At least it made inside the room before popping open.  Thanks Wal-mart delivery (and Ashlee) for the quick and easy replacement! 

Ashlee rented another giant vehicle for our large group for our remaining couple of days in Seattle since Ubers and Lyfts were sky-high and would have cost more in total than this bad boy pictured above did.   I also got us another great deal on a parking spot for another trip downtown tonight thanks to the SpotHero app.  

We needed the rental vehicle to fill up the day with separate activities around town like shopping and beer drinking (you can guess who did what) and to get us all back downtown for a booked sunset sailing cruise on the Bay Lady out on the Puget Sound.  The weather was perfect...again!  We feel so fortunate!  

As I have said before...such a great city! 

Nice shot, Paige! I had to steal it.  

Saturday, August 15 - With one last full day in Seattle today, we all decided to book a day-long tour of Mt. Rainer National Park.  We got an awesome guide named Mark who picked us up at the hotel along with just a few other folks. 

And with all due respect to Alaska, this national park is quite amazing. 

Our first stop inside the park was at Box Canyon.  This is looking straight down 180' into the narrow canyon from the road above.  

Pretty and delicate Martha Falls posed in the background across Stevens Canyon from our second roadside stop.  

One of the park's Reflection Lakes. Mt. Rainer was still hiding behind clouds, but these tall evergreens filled in rather nicely in the water reflection role.  

There she is!!  The clouds gave way some later in the day and we got some really nice views of her as several locations throughout the park.  The highest elevation for us today was just over 5,400'.  In contrast, Mt. Rainer's summit is 14,000'.

Ashlee's bum knee didn't allow her down to the base of pretty Myrtle Falls, but she was able to make to the footbridge across the top of it shown in the picture above. 

A shot from the footbridge above Myrtle Falls. 

Inside the amazing Paradise Lodge.  We definitely want to try and come back and stay here maybe.  Early winter would be epic! 

Our tour guide, Mark, did such a great job including small stops and info along the way that weren't on the usual agenda.  I mean, who doesn't love popcorn?  

Once again, Ashlee's knee wouldn't allow the steep hike in and out to the base the incredibly beautiful Narada Falls, but yet again she was able to make it to the bridge above it shown in the photo above. 

Ashlee and her bum knee made it to this one!! That's picturesque Christine Falls behind us. 

We walked on a fun "swinging" car bridge across the Nisqually River to get one last look at Mt. Rainer before leaving the park.  What a wonderful national park!  

They grow 'em pretty big around here...

The whole mountain gang! Thanks for the pic, Mark! 

Mark said we were a good enough group that we could stop and get ice cream after leaving the park.  Well, we were loud, goofy and talkative, but we still got ice cream at the very cool Elbe General Store where huckleberry is the most unique flavor and it was delicious!  Mark was a very good sport to say the least with us! 

Sunday, August 16 - The flight home from Seattle was as smooth and easy as these puffy clouds over Wyoming.  An amazing trip from start to finish.  Can't wait to get out this way again ASAP!!