Another Birthday Month Under the Covid Cloud (but, shhh, we're going to Disney World!)

 It's Ashlee's birthday month...let the presents start raining down!!  

So this was kinda fun....thru the website: Cameo.com, you can get celebrities (major and minor) to record something personal for you or someone you know for a variety of prices depending on their notoriety.   Since Ashlee is a huge fan of the reality show:  "Little Women LA", I thought it would be fun to have one of its stars wish Ashlee a happy birthday.  I chose Jasmine Sorge and she did a great job!  Check it out below:

Friday, September 4 - We both took a half-day off today and spent a little time in West Nashville checking out the cool L and L Market complex including a stop at Bold Patriot Brewing.  We had a late lunch at the nearby and new-to-Nashville location of Hugh-Baby's BBQ and Burgers.  It kind of looks like an In-and-Out burger joint from out west but with some great southern touches including a thick-cut fried baloney sandwich!  Yum!! 

Sunday, September 5 -  We celebrated Labor Day in the pool for the most part this weekend and Ashlee's twin sister, Paige, and her family joined us today and we also had an early birthday celebration for the ladies since we were going to be gone next Saturday on their actual birthday.  Ashlee gave me a pretty solid hint that she would like a fancy birthday cake from Baked on 8th in Nashville, so I obliged with the moo-lah and they obliged with this awesome one-of-a-kind creation based on our suggestion of half a cake with a cat on it (for Ashlee - kinda looks like Dudley!) and half  with a horse for Paige (their horse, Hope, doesn't have a white nose, but it's still pretty cute!).  It was a delicious and dense strawberry cake with butter-cream icing, and, man, it went fast! 

With our fantasy football league heading into it's 21st year of existence, I used Cameo.com again to give a pretty cool greeting to all the team owners before our draft next week.  Take it away former long-time Cincinnati Bengal wide-receiver and fantasy football stalwart, TJ Houshmandzedah:  

Well, Dudley, got out there and got himself a job in a taco truck.  Maybe you other free-loading cats should follow his example!  Great pic snapped by Ashlee.

Wednesday, September 9 - We got up very early today and headed to the airport to catch a Southwest Airlines flight to Orlando for our Covid-19 Disney trip,  Wearing masks are still the rule of the day, and the plane's center rows are still empty for social distancing (we love this!), but the flight went smooth and easy, as did our Disney-scheduled transportation from the airport to our hotel on the Disney property.

We haven't been to Disney World together since way back in 1998 (very PB - "Pre-Blog" and even PAK - "Pre-Animal Kingdom"), so it was definitely time for a revisit with tons of new attractions (and a whole new park) since then.  Ashlee's actually been a couple times since then with her family, but I have stayed away since the big crowds and long lines are not usually my idea of fun.
The ticketing system sure has changed with big paper tickets back in '98 and now fancy electronic wrist bands with your name (and credit card info, of course) on them.  Check out my sweet Mandalorian band below. 

The Pop Century Hotel is considered a "budget" Disney place to stay, but we thought it was pretty nice, convenient and kind of fun with all the giant pop-culture nostalgia adorning the buildings and set up all over the property.

After dropping our bags, we headed to the kind-of-new Sky Pods for a quick ride over to Epcot for our first visit into the Disney array of parks.  The weather cooperated with us for the most part throughout our stay, but it did rain some every day including a few soaking downpours.  Umbrellas in hand and a new waterproof purse of Ashlee's were good calls.

We planned to visit this park twice during our stay mostly because the 2020 Taste of Epcot International Food and Wine Festival was going on.  The numerous craft beers available throughout the festival were one of the factors that sold me on going... plus all the new Star Wars stuff...plus less crowds due to Covid-19...plus it's where my baby wanted to go for her birthday! 

With Ashlee's more recent visits, she was the perfect planner for our trip and guide to the parks for me.  One of her favorite "secret" places to visit (and now one of mine) is Living with the Land, a ride/tour of some of the most unique farming techniques going on right now including here at Disney.  For example in the photo above, we were amazed you could grow such large, hardy plants in such small containers of soil. 

Next up is hands-down our favorite ride at Disney (sorry Star Wars).  Soarin' (Around the World) is a virtual flight over some of the most iconic places in the world.  As avid travelers, it's easy to see why this one is simply our favorite.  The lines so far have been short and fast to the attractions thanks to it being a weekday, kids back in school and this tiny little global pandemic we have going on.

After a stop at the Hawaii station of the Food and Wine Festival for a snack and a beer, we stood in a little longer line, but still nothing like usual, to experience Frozen Ever After in the Norway section of Epcot.  It was cute and fun as was the Gran Fiesta Tour in the Mexico area.  Next up was Reflections of China, a cool 360-degree film about the amazing country that we've been lucky enough to visit, and of course, after seeing this film realized we only saw a fraction of what is there.  

The rain started coming down pretty heavily in the late afternoon so we took refuge inside the Via Napoli Ristorante and Pizzeria in the Italy section.  We again were taking "flights" at Epcot, but this time it was a flight of Italian beers for me and a flight of sangria for Ashlee.  We split a delicious pizza as well.  A perfect place to wait out the rain.

With a 4 AM wake-up and travel to Orlando and 8.6 miles of walking behind us, and a fantasy football draft ahead of us, we headed back to the room and relaxed the evening away in our comfy bed.  With Covid-19 protocols, all the parks have earlier closing times than normal right now, so we weren't missing anything there (plus we were too darn tired to move anymore that day!). A great Day 1 at Disney was in the books!  

Thursday, September 10 - Day 2 was slated for Disney's Hollywood Studios (i.e. Star "Freakin'" Wars!!).  The purchase of the Star Wars franchise by Disney a few years ago was a genius move on their part as their new attractions at this park have been met with huge crowds of adoring fans who have given the Disney touch to their beloved universe glowing reviews.  I honestly thought it would be years before the crowds died down (yikes! unintentional bad pun) enough for me to want to go and check it out, but lemonade from lemons gave me a great chance thanks to Ashlee's great idea to visit now.

Ashlee admits to not being much of a Star Wars fan, but even she is impressed with the detail and sheer size of Galaxy's Edge - the Star Wars section of the park.   I mean, come one, they have a full-size Millennium Falcon for Pete's sake! 

We walked right in and enjoyed an interactive ride on Smuggler's Run with very light crowds this morning. Ashlee snapped this fun pic during our "flight" in the Millennium Falcon.

The massive size and tiny details of Galaxy's Edge are just jaw-dropping.  We had a tasty breakfast at Ronto Roasters and I had my first Star Wars-inspired morning beer.  We also checked out Star Tours - The Adventure Continues: a cool motion simulator.

We left the Star Wars galaxy and headed over to the Rock-n-Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith.  This was maybe one of the fastest (and smoothest) roller coasters we've ever been on.  We also enjoyed the silly and fun Muppetvision 3D film.

I was just resting my eyes!! 

We ambled back over to the Galaxy's Edge again and while we couldn't get a reservation inside the ultra-popular Oga's Cantina (the park wasn't THAT uncrowded), I was still able to have their official beer, The Gold Squadron Lager, right outside the front door.  Cheers! 

Did I mention the detail at the Galaxy's Edge is amazing?  Note the live storm-troopers to the top right (and the sparse crowds!).  We also saw Chewbacca and Rey in character.  

Ashlee had made us dinner reservations at the awesome and fun Sci-Fi Dine In Theater Restaurant where you sit and eat in a 50's convertible car watching cheesy and hilarious old science-fiction movie clips with your meal.  The burgers and fries were fantastic! 

Despite the diminished crowds, we felt very lucky to get in the second and last-of-the-day online queue to experience the new and extremely popular Rise of the Resistance ride back in Galaxy's Edge.  Wow, what a way to end a great day!  This ride is unbelievably fun and exciting.   This blurry pic is evidence to how fast you are moving during it. The only reason it's not our favorite ride in all the parks is that's it's so hard to get a chance to experience.  Thanks so much to Ashlee for planning such a great day with mostly nerdy me in mind while it was HER birthday trip.
Over 6 miles walked today - easy, peasy.

Friday, September 11 - Day 3 belonged to Animal Kingdom which I have never been to even on our last visit so many years ago.  It had only opened that same year we visited.   The weather to start the day was the best of the trip so far although the humidity was still there in force.  Sweat on!! 

Well, here's where Galaxy's Edge got it's inspiration for detail.  Wow! While older, the Pandora area based on the sci-fi masterpiece, Avatar, is incredibly realistic and awe-inspiring.  Time to go and watch Avatar again!!   We got on the mind-bending (and stomach-flipping) Avatar Flight of Passage ride relatively easily thanks to sparse crowds again (the weekend's coming, so enjoy it while it lasts...) this morning. 

We hung around the Pandora area for a while longer checking out the nice underground floating water ride called the Na'vi River Journey, and then a showing of the silly 4D film, It's Tough to be Bug, in a theater tucked into the base of the giant Tree of Life.

Next up was a safari ride through the Harambe Wildlife Reserve.  We got a great view of tons of animals in large, beautiful areas for them to roam.  We saw grazing antelope, submerged hippos, huge sleepy crocodiles, gentle zebras, elegant giraffes (photo above), large-horned African cattle, huge elephants, giant rhinos from a distance, snoozing cheetahs and lions, and the beautiful, but shy okapi (some of the same markings of a zebra, but related to giraffes actually).

After our ride, we set out on foot to see a few cute meerkats and a large family of lowland gorillas along the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail.  This was my favorite pic from the trek seeing the big male silverback deep in thought (or just ignoring us).  We also enjoyed an impressive exotic bird show at UP! A Great Bird Adventure.

We summoned our courage next to take on the Expedition Everest roller coaster.  Not as smooth as the Rock And Rollercoaster, but still a hoot to ride.    The Kali River Rapids water ride was next and despite getting a little wet the first time, we rode it immediately again thanks to not many people in line.

Speaking of second rides, we also did the safari again with added bonuses of seeing the majestic rhinos much closer this time.  Plus good views of muscular African wild dogs, curious ostriches, huge mandrills (not baboons!), delicate flamingos and thick warthogs that we missed on the first ride.
We also rode the still-thrilling Avatar ride again before calling it a day.

We got back to our funky Pop Century Hotel (the giant PC on our 90's building was a fun landmark for us to use to guide us to our room) ready to eat, but too tired to go back out.  So, it was our first time ordering from Uber Eats. Man, that was easy, and not very expensive!  We got a great pizza from The Pizza Press, a now-national chain we've never had before.  Our nine-plus miles walked today was a new trip record.

Saturday, September 12 - Happy Birthday, Ashlee!! After breakfast in the room with some aweosme Mickey pancakes, it was back to Epcot for another day of eating, drinking and fun.

The other "gift" we got on Ashlee's birthday were the outer bands of what was being called tropical storm # 19.  We braced for bad weather throughout the day and forged ahead.

We were driven over to Epcot in our Uber in the rain, but when we arrived, we seemed to be under another much larger Epcot "dome" as the rain miraculously stayed away for most of the day.   Speaking of Uber, it was kind of God-send for getting to the parks and back at times when the waiting crowds for buses or aerial trams was too long, bad weather, or no buses or monorail running due to lesser Covid-19 operations.   

We immediately jumped in line for the Spaceship: Earth interactive ride inside the iconic Epcot sphere and enjoyed seeing ourselves in "the future" as space travelers.  The weekend was upon us and the lines were quite longer today in the park.  We've been spoiled.

Remember Me?  You mean the cool La Cava del Tequila Bar tucked away in the Mexico area of Epcot?  Of course, we remember you from the other day and our vow to come back and try a few cocktails!!  Ashlee had the La Cava Avocado and I had the Pink Popcorn .  Both were superb, but I give Ashlee the slight win for best drink.   Thanks to our server the other day at the pizza restaurant for the recommendation.
We stopped at the China booth of the Taste of Epcot International Wine and Food Festival (yep, that's still going on!) for some tasty bao buns, and I had a beer at a few different areas including Brazil and Canada.  We checked out the patriotic and interesting stage show, The American Adventure, (thank God no mention of "Adolf Tweetler").  We had to ride our favorite ride, SOAR, again, of course, and then it was time for... 

...DINNER!!!
My German mother would be so proud! 
Ashlee made us reservations at the Biergarten Restaurant which is usually a buffet-style meal, but with Covid going on, they brought the buffet to your table in three GIANT courses.  I mean look at the plate of meat!  That's pork schnitzel, grilled chicken,  meatballs, two kinds of sausages and even frankfurters!!   The desserts were bonkers too!  It was WAY TOO MUCH FOOD, BUT DAMN IT WAS ALL GOOD!  We left happy and stuffed.

Plus there was a show during our meal with an oom-pah band turned up to about 11.  These guys were super-talented, not only playing these huge horns and somehow hitting lots of notes on them, but also tables of bells, plus your other usual suspects of instruments when it comes to kickin' it polka-style!! 

We had to do some walking after such a meal, and we were actually ambling our way out of the park and back to the hotel to lay down (#foundered) when we saw that Mission: Space was still open and we were actually the two last riders of the day.  So, we closed down this fun ride and the park tonight.  We logged in just over 8 miles of walking today.

Sunday, September 13 - Well, the last day at Disney World has come and it's time to go old-school and get to the Magic Kingdom before we fly home from Orlando tonight.  We started the day with the classic ride, Space Mountain...yep, it's still dark, and yep, it still jerks you around a lot, but yep, it's still a blast to ride it.

And now Tropical Storm #19 has grown big and strong enough for a name, and it's Hurricane Sally.  Thankfully, it was moving west and away from us mostly, so our weather was pretty good throughout most of the day. (Editor's note: unfortunately, folks to the west including the panhandle of Florida and the coast of Alabama were not as lucky as Sally slammed them hard the following week.)  

As I said, Disney classics like the iconic castle were the rule of the day as we knocked out almost all of them including the fun Enchanted Tiki Room, the (soon to be a major motion picture) Jungle Cruise, the (already was a bunch of major motion pictures) Pirates of the Caribbean, and the still-charming Peter Pan's Flight.

Old-school treats were also on the menu today as we shared a delicious coconut Dole whip (photo above), a hot and soft Mickey-shaped pretzel and had an excellent lunch at the Jungle Cruise-inspired restaurant, Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen.

We said goodbye to Disney Land and our funky little  home for the last few days, the Pop Century Hotel, and got to the airport with plenty of time before our evening flight home that went smooth and without many bumps.
Whether it's another 20+ years before we get down here again (Ashlee's already planning on coming back in November with her sister, Paige...yes, they are addicted!), this was a great trip that we won't soon forget and that went pretty well despite all the troubles that 2020 has brought to the world.

July and August 2020 - The Weirdness Continues

July and August 2020 are still going to be a big "who knows" with Covid-19 spiking again here and around the U.S. So, it's another couple of months of "not much" when it comes to getting out and about... 

Our new picnic table from Lowe's is a nice addition to our backyard oasis.  Ashlee's idea, not mine.  But I have to admit it's pretty sweet, and will be put a to a lot of use, especially during our upcoming pool party on July 4th.  

Saturday, July 4 - We hosted an Independence Day/March-to-July Catch-Up Pool Party today with over a dozen people in attendance including some out-of-towners who came a long way like our friends, Chris and Tarryn, who now live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Ashlee's (new-to-her) cousins: Leslie and her daughter, Lee-Ann, who drove down from Cincinnati.  We also celebrated several birthdays between March and today as well as even on graduation of Lee-Ann from college.  Congrats!!  We had a fun day of  pool time, tacos, snacks and adult libations around the pool and went well into the night when all our neighbors put on a pretty good free fireworks show for us on all sides of our property. 

Hats off to the owners of Mark's Specialty Seafood Truck for hooking us up with their conch fritter mix they use and to Ashlee for doing a great job frying them as an added snack to today's festivities.  

Monday, July 6 - We both had a rare day-off today that wasn't a holiday or a vacation day.  With the weather predicted to be cloudy, but not rainy, we decided to do some kayaking from Center Hill Lake to the base of Lower Burgess Falls.  It was a ton of fun and we did pretty well.  In fact, our paddling skills are definitely better than my selfie-taking skills.   Our matching Florida Key Brewing Company visors look pretty good too! 

Here's a much better pic of the falls and Ashlee in her new-to-her Jackson kayak.  Despite owning it for over a year now, this was sadly our first outing in it.  Well, it was dandy christening!  We are vowing to get out on the water more this fall with a return trip here when the leaves turn maybe, and another paddle up to the base of nearby Fancher's Falls as well.

Ashlee and I both got a free year of AppleTV Plus recently and we devoured Season 1 of their awesome original series "The Morning Show."  Amazing performances by all three stars and a great supporting cast as well.  Can't wait for Season 2!!   It was also great to watch it on our den TV thanks to our new Amazon Fire TV Stick that Ashlee bought.  Thanks, hon!! 

Friday, July 10 - We rewarded ourselves after a week of smoothie-dieting with a couple of fresh pies from the new pizza place here in Lebanon, 615 Pizza Company.  They were terrific!  

With the recent update of our den with wallpaper removed, new paint and redone wood floors, we also rearranged our 21-collage layout and we are pretty happy with the result!  Now the water damage from a roof leak on our newly painted ceiling is something different.....[insert expletive here]

Wednesday, July 16 - Ashlee got a VERY EARLY birthday present from me today, but I just couldn't wait to give them to her and she definitely couldn't wait to receive them.    Our friend, Mollie, told Ashlee about these awesome sterling silver cat charms from Tiffany and Company and she loved them immediately.  It seemed like a great gift idea for me, so I bought two and had them engraved for our two cats who have passed on in tribute to them: MBL (Mabel) and M.S.B. (Ms. Bea).  Happy early birthday, Ashlee!! 

Saturday, July 18 - We are officially stalkers I guess.  Today we followed Mark's Specialty Seafood food truck to a new-to-us area winery for lunch.  Avian Glen Winery in nearby Smyrna doesn't have the ambiance of some of our other favorite regional wineries, and their products are a little too sweet, but we enjoyed the visit and the free tastings. Our friend, Lisa, went with us, and we bought her lunch and she bought all of us a bottle of their blackberry wine which we all agreed was their best.  We had more of Mark's amazing conch fritters along with a spicy perch sandwich for me, and a grouper reuben that the ladies split.  We headed back home (after a quick beer stop for me in Murfreesboro) and got immediately in the pool for the rest of the day since it was salaciously hot.  

Thursday, July 23 - Doris says our first tomato grown on the patio is ready to pick!  And we did just that today.  Congrats to Ashlee on her first-ever homegrown tomato!  Hmmm,  "Doris and the Mater" - sounds like a good title for a children's book...

Thursday, July 23 - Thanks Disney+ for the up-close look at the amazing Broadway musical, "Hamilton" on our TV tonight..  It was a lot better view (and the original cast) from what we saw in Chicago back in 2018  from the nosebleed seats that still cost and arm and a leg!  

And....we're fostering again.  Meet, Audrey, on the left, and Hank(y Panky) on the right.  Ashlee agreed to watch over these little guys until they find homes which shouldn't take long because they are adorable and sweet.  Audrey had a bit of medical drama, but is doing better now.  Thanks to our cat-rescue organization, Beanie's Kitten Care, for the great pic of Audrey at the vet.  Ashlee got this adorable shot of Hank as he is ready to go outside and face the great big world immediately.  Nothing scares him! 

Friday, July 24 - Doris got here first float of 2020 today as we finally got here favorite peacock cleaned off and pool-ready.

Saturday, August 1-We kicked the new month off with a sit-down-at-a-restaurant dinner at Homegrown Taproom over in Donelson.  The place was super-clean and the staff all were observing Covid-19 safety protocols (unlike at Cherokee Steakhouse a few weeks ago...yikes!).  The food and libations were great and our friend, Nate, met us there as well.  It ALMOST felt normal....

Saturday, August 8 - We took a road trip today to try out some fresh-water snorkeling in the Conasauga River in the Chattahoochie/Oconee National Forest in SE Tennessee just north of the Georgia state line.  The water was incredibly clear and it was a ton of fun.  We saw several small trout, darters and tad-poles, and I even found a life-jacket whistle and a shiny quarter on the river bottom!  This would be something we would do again if we get the chance perhaps on a less crowded day than a hot Saturday when this popular area is also being used as a swimming hole thus scaring off many of the jaw-dropping 76 varieties of native fish in these waters.  

We were very fortunate to snag one of these sweet stable suites to stay overnight in after our snorkeling adventure at the beautiful Walnut Hill Farm in nearby Dalton, Georgia. These rooms are usually reserved for family and friends of folks getting married at this beautiful venue, but since Covid-19 has put a squash on big-gatherings like weddings, the owners put these rooms up for availability on AirBnb.

Our room was plush and beautiful, and if you are going to have "just one life" it might as well be with a giant shower like this one!  

We headed into town for dinner and after a bit of searching (and a beer or two at the Dalton Brewing Company), we stumbled up on the Baja Coop where we had some awesome burrito bowls. 

Sunday, August 9 -  After a leisurely sleep-in, we headed home but made a couple stops on the way.  Our niece, Ella, had a riding lesson at Willow Tree Farms in nearby Ringgold, Georgia, so we stopped for a visit with her and Ashlee's sister, Paige.  Here's Ella atop Blue who is a real beauty.

Willow Tree Farms is a pretty neat place with not only horses, but a variety of other animals including these adorable  Scottish Highland mini-cows, Teddy and Clair, who were enjoying the hot day in a pretty little creek that flows through the property.

And they got llamas too!! 

Our second stop was for lunch at Market South in Chattanooga (aren't these cool hanging plant fixtures?) where we had some beer from Five Wits Brewing and some tasty lunch choices from their high-end food-court.  They were doing a great job with Covid protection procedures, but you can tell they are hurting in terms of business retail.  We sure hope they survive because it's such a great place. 

Saturday, August 15 - We were back in Chattanooga today checking our newest great-nephew, Ronin, who was born recently to our nephew, Matt, and his wife, Sherrae.  Afterwards, we stopped by the tiny Big Frog Brewing over in nearby Red Bank for a couple of libations and met up with our friend, Bill, who was in town sadly for the recent passing of his sister.  Life starts, life stops with a few good beers in between I guess.

 

Sunday, August 16 - We got sort of a last-minute invitation today by our friends, Wendy and Charly, to head up to Center Hill Lake near Cookeville and go out on their newly-acquired-to-them pontoon boat.  The weather was great and we couldn't pass that up!  We had a fun day swimming and relaxing on this beautiful lake.  We also got to tour their sweet little weekend cabin near the lake they recently purchased.
We got home in time to entertain our own couple of guests as Ashlee's cousin, Allison, and her husband, Greg, were passing thru town.  We got some tasty salad and pizza from the new and nearby 615 Pizza and talked and laughed late into the evening out on our patio.  It was a good (and rare) day of hanging out with friends during these crazy Covid times.

Monday, August 17 - We hung out with our pals, Wendy and Charly, again today in downtown Nashville to check out the newly-opened and swanky  rooftop bar, White Limozeen, atop the very cool and new Graduate Hotel.  We had dinner and drinks at this Dolly Parton-inspired everything-pink haven for bachelorette parties, but still had a good time despite being out of our element a bit.  They did an impressive job with social distancing and Covid-19 spread prevention which we appreciated.

My pricey cocktail at White Limozeen was the Velvet Tuxedo, a milk punch whiskey libation that was quite tasty, but the flower in my ice cube was the coolest thing about it.  Ashlee had their fancy and delicious take on a pina colada called Another Day in Paradise.

I call this one "Dudley Down Under."  Our cats are so artistic! 

Friday, August 21 - Ashlee's cousin, Allison, and her husband, Greg, were coming back through on their trip today and flying out of Nashville tomorrow morning, so since the weather was iffy, we decided to meet back up downtown rather than on our patio.  We picked them up from their hotel and headed to East Nashville to check out Camp, a new national-park-themed bar set up where our favorite speakeasy, No. 308, used to be.  Their drink selections were named after national parks and all of them were great, but my "Glacier" - their take on a white Russian - was served on its own giant slab of ice (i.e. glacier), so I think I won (and Allison since she ordered one also) for best choice.

Ashlee and Greg split the American Samoa tropical drink which was pretty cool as well and very tasty evidently.  We also had a second round that included Mammoth Cave for me, The Everglades for Allison, The Grand Canyon for Greg and The Hawaii Volcanoes for Ashlee.

Saturday, August 22 - We got take-out from a new restaurant in Mt. Juliet today call The Lost Cajun which is evidently a nationwide chain.  They messed our order up a bit, but the food was good enough to get it again sometime.  

Sunday, August 23 - We went to a concert, yes, a concert tonight! We saw Nashville-based singer/songwriter, Matthew Perryman Jones, at City Winery - Live music again...finally!!   This was our first time seeing this talented balladeer and this was his first full show of this crazy year as well.  (This great pic was stolen from City Winery's Facebook page, but I figure it's good advertising for them.) MPJ was fantastic as was his backing vocalist and steel guitar/harmonica player. He had a great opener as well, Hannah Miller, who is also based here locally.  This gives us such hope for the future of live music until this pandemic crap is past us. 

Musical memory, MPJ's opening song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkyt-Mb2iiQ

I stole this shot from Ashlee because it's just so good! 

Saturday, August 29 - We headed over to Mt. Juliet today to their very nice Charlie Daniels (RIP) Park to catch up with one of our favorite food trucks, The Grilled Cheeserie, for lunch, but were drawn in by the Tennessee Tatercakes  food truck instead.  We had to try this new-to-use street food and it was excellent!  Ashlee got the Mexican-style and I got the buffalo chicken (and pimento cheese - sorry, Grilled Cheeserie, we will catch you on the flip side).  A tatercake is basically a mashed potato pancake lightly fried and then topped with all sorts of goodies.  Our friend, Bethany, met us and we all had a nice meal outdoors at a picnic table there in the park.

 After a little pool time that we weren't expecting to get with predicated rainy weather, we headed to Watertown (now in a downpour) tonight to catch the new silly comedy sequel, Bill and Ted Face the Music, at the Stardust Drive-In Theater (who just celebrated their 17th anniversary! Wow!).  Why don't we come here more often?  What a fun place!  Excellent!!  The rain let up and the movie was silly, but enjoyable, as was our inexpensive dinners there.  Thanks to Bethany for sticking with us on this endeavor as well for a pretty fun Saturday from start to finish.    

Man, do we miss traveling during all this Covid mess.  So much so, that we bought a piece of the infamous carpet from the Nashville Airport as a door mat They are replacing the well-known and well-trodden carpet currently and since our feet have graced it many times, it seemed like a fun thing to have, plus it keeps it out of the landfill.  Stamped with their BNA airport code, this rug pattern was adored around the world and now we own a piece of it.  It only sat by the pool for this photo op (for now).  It's current location will be at our front door.