2017, hoping for the best...and...go!

While our country starts a new year and a scary new chapter with a person in charge who we wouldn't trust to back out of the driveway, we are pressing on with our normal foray of searching out fun activities wherever we can find them, but never forgetting that we are Americans and we deserve a country that treats all individuals the same:

Saturday, January 7 - It never got above freezing today, so it was a good day to check out the newly remodeled Belcourt Theater in Nashville for an artsy double-feature.  We saw two excellent films.  First up was Manchester by the Sea which just got Casey Affleck a Best Actor Golden Globe (and probably the Oscar) and then Jackie with a stunning performance by Natalie Portman.  In between films we had a tasty dinner across the street at Jackson's and a few drinks at Cabana.

Sunday, January 16 - We attended a great show tonight with Tom Chaplin, the lead singer of the British rock band, Keane, at The City Winery in downtown Nashville.  Tom's soaring vocals rocked the place with songs from his new solo album plus several Keane tunes.  We had a tasty dinner while we were there and met a nice father/daughter couple sitting next to us.  Before the show, we stopped at Nashville's newest craft brewery, New Heights, nearby on 5th Avenue.

Friday, January 20, 2017 - After work today, we flew to Washington, D.C. to meet up with our friend, Dianna, who flew in from Austin.   Our plane was packed with folks going to the Women's March on Washington. We rented a car and drove up to nearby Jefferson, Maryland, to meet our friends, Starling and John, at their house to plan for our group's participation tomorrow in the march.   Ashlee, Dianna and Starling grew up together in SW Georgia and we all had a great night of laughter and stories from their childhoods with some great local pizza and some adult beverages.  The signs we created were very quite funny as well as poignant.

Saturday, January 21, 2017 - We drove a little south this morning to get on the DC Metro and rode it in with tons of other folks to The National Mall to join the Women's March on Washington.

At 10 AM the rally started on Independence Avenue and the place was already packed.  This was as close as we could get to the stage even though we arrived an hour before it began.  There was a long and impressive list of speakers and performers including Charlie Brotman who kicked things off (he's the veteran inaugural announcer who was snubbed from yesterday's laughable ceremony); actress, America Ferrara (on screen in photo above); feminist icon Gloria Steinem; Muriel Bowser, the mayor of DC; film director, Michael Moore; actress Ashley Judd; CNN host, Van Jones; singer Alicia Keyes; comedienne Amy Schumer and the one and only Madonna.  The program went well beyond the 3 hours it was scheduled for and we soon found out that the rally and march had gotten much bigger than we or the organizers thought it would.

What was expected to be a turnout of 250,000 swelled to well over a half-millon people and what was supposed to be a march turned into basically an all-day occupation of a large chunk of our capital.  It was crowded, cold and a bit nerve-wracking but such an honor to have been part of this historic day. - the largest protest in U.S. history.  All day through the thick crowd we never heard a harsh word or sharp tone in anyone's voice as people squeezed by you or you squeezed by other people.  It truly was a memorable and moving experience.    (photo courtesy of a screen grab of a video posted by TWITTER.COM|BY SWAH-REY).  This is Independence Avenue looking east toward The Capitol with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the left.  We were about half-way down the length of the museum.

We did it!!  Tired and hungry, our group of ten somehow stayed together for the entire day.  The rain held off and the temps were cold, but manageable.  Thanks to Dianna for this great pic of us with Starling and John back on The Mall after "escaping" the crowds still packing Independence Avenue.  We crowded back on to the Metro and headed north for some dinner all together and then an early turn in for all of our tired bodies.  We the people...we the people!!

Sunday, January 22, 2017 - We met Starling and John this morning for a great breakfast in Frederick, Maryland, at the Silver Diner.  Afterwards with most of a day to kill before our flights back home, Ashlee, Dianna and I decided to take a quick tour of nearby Baltimore.  

The rain held off most of the day allowing us a nice stroll around Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

Our favorite stop in Baltimore was the Westminster Presbyterian Church Cemetery where author/poet Edgar Allan Poe was laid to rest (twice).  This beautiful historic cemetery is somehow still very peaceful despite being right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown.  We split a late lunch (and some adult beverages) at two different places in the hip little Highlandtown neighborhood.  First up was the Snake Hill bar where I had some interesting albeit tasty rattlesnake/rabbit sausage and then we moved on to Lee's Pint and Shell for some seafood since we were in a harbor-town.  The crab cakes and fish tacos were tremendous!  

We got home later than expected due to a plane delay out of BWI (and a lucky switch to a different flight - nice job, Ashlee!), but we had a great experience that we will definitely never forget and has probably changed us more profoundly than we will ever really know.

Thursday, February 26,  2017 - We continued support of strong women and equality for all with a viewing of Best Picture nominee, Hidden Figures, tonight.  We really loved it and it is our early front-runner pick for Best Picture.  Beforehand we had a really tasty meal at our local Fulin's Asian Cuisine in Mt. Juliet.

Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - Thanks to our new local, independent Roxy Theaters improving their  screen projections and having a $5-movie-night on Tuesdays, we continued our Oscars research tonight by checking out La La Land with it's whopping 14 nominations.  It was a great throwback tale with singing and dancing and lots of romancing that we thoroughly enjoyed.  We won't be surprised if it takes home Best Picture.