Let's FALL into AUTUMN in Vegas, Mandy

Tuesday, September 21 - We headed over to the Hollywood 24 Theaters in Nashville tonight to catch five episodes of one of our favorite classic sit-coms ever, "The Golden Girls" on the big screen.  We haven't laughed that much in a movie theater in a long, long time.   Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at the always great Vui's Vietnamese Kitchen in nearby Berry Hill. 

Friday, September 24 - We headed to Nashville tonight to see actor/comedian, Michael Rappaport, at Zanies.  He's in one of our favorite movies of all time, Beautiful Girls, in which he's very funny. and he's uber-liberal which we like.  We had VIP seating and were even supposed to meet him after the show, but Covid shit-canned that.  Thanks, you stupid virus.  This was his first time in Nashville and he was very funny as was our local host for the evening.  With our VIP seating next to the stage Michael even incorporated us into his act by first asking if I was a vegetarian and closing the show by asking Ashlee if she'd ever done crack cocaine!  LOL.  

Saturday, September 25 - The line-up was just too good to miss Pilgrimage Fest this year, so we loaded up today for our third visit to the Harlinsdale Farm in Franklin.   We were joined by our friends Danny and Brenda (who are also letting us crash at their place nearby over the weekend) and Chris and Tarryn coming back into town from way up in Indiana.   Seems that a lot of folks are Jonesing to be outside for some good music and good time these days as it was announced that general admission tickets were SOLD OUT.   It was also comforting to know everyone in attendance was either vaccinated against Covid or a had a negative test within 48 hours of the festival. 

Our favorite performance of Day 1 was Amos Lee on the smaller of the two main stages.  We were able to get pretty close and enjoy his great vocals and tight band.  

We started the day with a good show by Houndmouth on the main stage who we've never seen play live before.  Better Than Ezra's sunset show and headliner, The Black Keys closed out the day on the main stage as well.    We had some great food in the food truck oasis and some tasty libations throughout the day as well. We also had incredibly nice weather all weekend

Sunday, September 26 - The smallest, shortest and BEST set of Pilgrimage Fest DAY 2 was Butch Walker in the American Triangle Tent.  But then again, Butch always brings it.  

The rest of Day 2 was filled with solid shows by Jamestown Revival, The Black Pumas (our first time seeing them live) and an amazing sunSET by Cage the Elephant who remain weird, remain entertaining, and remain rock-and-rollers.  We closed out the day and the weekend with veteran (makes us feel old to say that) festival players and headliners, The Dave Matthews Band.  Another great festival and another positive experience that will probably having us coming back again.

Saturday, October 2 - We had to go to Chattanooga today to get our permanent renters, Alexis and Hunter, settled into Ashlee's mom's house (goodbye for now, AirBnB), so we went a little further south first to Ringgold, Georgia, to see our niece, Ella, practice for a horse show next weekend.  This is her atop her family's newest horse, the beautiful Fred.  Great shot, Ashlee! 

Monday,  October 4 - We've gotten back to walking some at the Don Fox Park and were rewarded tonight with not only the benefits of exercise, but a pretty nice light show too. 

Friday, October 8 - Will Hoge and 3rd and Lindsley for the first of a two-night stand there.  Will's one of our favorite local artists, and I personally consider him the "Springsteen of Nashville."   We will be seeing a lot of Will again soon as he is scheduled to play on the Rock Boat Cruise that we are taking in early November.  Tonight's show was 

Saturday, October 9 - We had dinner and did a bit of ghost hunting in the supposedly haunted woods at Short Mountain Distillery in nearby Woodbury tonight with our friends Bethany, Wendy and Charly.  Dinner was good as were the cocktails beforehand.  The ghost-hunting didn't yield a whole lot, but it was a beautiful starry night with lovely temps for a walk in the haunted woods. 

Monday, October 11 - No Time to Die - man, are we gonna miss Daniel Craig as James Bond - he's the best ever in our opinion and his swan song film that we saw today at the Roxy Theaters (recliners!) here in town was awesome.  Clocking in at over two and half hours, it moved really well and was a great story.  We even liked the controversial ending (spoiler alert:  he bites it).   

Thursday, October 14 - We jumped on a plane to VEGAS, BABY!! after work today with our friend, Bethany.  We got in pretty late, but still walked around a little in The Venetian where we were staying to take in that Vegas Vibe.  Our shared room was big and roomy and even had a decent view of the High Roller Ferris Wheel all light up at night. (photo above)  

Friday, October 15 - The weather was beautiful during our whole stay albeit a bit cool for the pools at The Venetian.  This was our first time in Vegas during the fall.  I actually worked (some) from the room today while the girls shopped and wandered around The Strip.  We got together for a happy hour beer at Trustyworthy Brewing located in The Grand Canal Shoppes mall later that afternoon. 

We got dressed up nice and headed out to an early dinner and we did  it Old-School Vegas, baby!   The Golden Steer Steakhouse is a historic spot that's been a mecca for famous names for decades (our table was near Elvis' famous corner table).  The ambiance inside was awesome.  The wait staff were excellent.  We had our Caesar salads made right at the table!  The food was amazing as well.  What a fun and cool old piece of nostalgia.  Now if we could have only rented this awesome vintage convertible sitting out front!! 

A rare photo of me not in cargo shorts/pants.  Most people I know would be shocked.  But it was worth it for The Golden Steer.  Note the awesome Old Vegas ambiance background! 

Speaking of vintage!  He writes the songs, baby!  After dinner, we went to the Barry Manilow concert and we were in VIP seating right ON STAGE!!  Well, stage right, that is.  He is in residence at The International Theater at the Westgate Resort and he's trying to break Elvis' (there's that name again) record for consecutive shows there (back when it was The Vegas Hilton).  Barry was great and had tons of energy for being 78 years young!   We all had a great time especially when he popped out right in front of us during the show.

Saturday, October 16 -  Besides, Barry, our other main reason for coming to Vegas this time was today when I started my $1,500 WSOP poker tournament that I won entry into online the year before last (thanks, Covid) and finally got to cash in today to play live. I played the Monster Stack No Limit Hold 'Em Event # 30.  It was a long, grueling day but I managed to get my starting stack up to 120K at the dinner break.  But two devastating cooler hands in a row did me in late tonight and I was out.  Frustrating and disappointing, but still a fun experience again.  I shall return!! 

Sunday, October 17 - The girls had a spa day today and did some more shopping, so I rambled around and had some good craft beer and played a little more poker (again to no success...oh well). We've been amazed at watching the new MSG Sphere under construction as part of The Venetian domain.  It's going to be a state-of-the-art music venue and we can't wait to see who they might bring in for it! 

Monday, October 18 - It turned into another day apart for us today as I decided to change my flight so I could get back to Nashville early and attend the Monday Night Football Game.  The girls kept their late flight and I was able to pick them up from the airport after the game which worked out kind of perfectly.  The one thing we did share today was watching the amazing Oscar-winning documentary, My Octopus Teacher, on Netflix on our separate plane rides home.  I watched it first and was astounded at how moving it was and recommended it to Ashlee, and then she and Bethany in turn watched it coming home as well.  
Thanks for the good times as always, Vegas.  We shall return! 

 

Friday, October 22 - We dropped by the opening day of our new craft beer bar on The Lebanon Square called The Cedar Tap today.  It was crowded and the food was a bit limited and underwhelming, but the beer was good.  Things will hopefully improve in all aspects.  A great addition to our little town!  Cheers! 

Saturday, October 23 - Our tour of local J. Alexander's restaurants continued tonight in Cool Springs with dinner at that location.  With the 2-hour wait for a table, we had to sit at the bar, but the food was just as good there!  Time to go to Memphis at hit the trifecta! 

Sunday, October 24 - We were lucky to grab a couple seats tonight to the last of the SOLD OUT shows for the incredible 8-night-stand by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit at The Ryman.  It was worth it.  What a knock-out of a show!  The opener, Adia Victoria, is a lanky, sultry blues-singing devil.  She was outstanding!  And Jason's just a living legend and his band are amazing!  Despite not knowing a lot of his songs, every one played was phenomenal.  Best show at The Mother Church in a long, long while! 
Before the show, we had some excellent pizza at our first visit to Slim and Husky's in the ultra-crowded (and ultra-cool) 5th and Broadway complex across the street.   

Aging like fine wine, look who's 49!!

Monday, August 16 - We went to see James Taylor and Jackson Browne at The Bridgestone Arena tonight with our friend, Bridgette.  This is our fist time seeing ol' JT, but we have a tense history with ol' JB who played The Ryman  several years back without belting out one hit...we were kinda steamed! This time he did some hits and was pretty darn good.  James Taylor was excellent as well.  We had burgers before the show in the arena at a Rotier's kiosk.  They were tasty and we now regret never going to the original location on Elliston Place (circa 1945) before it closed recently.  

Tuesday, August 17 - We were back at The Wilson County/State Fair tonight with Ashlee's co-worker and our friend, Danny, and his wife, Kim, who had neither ever been to the fair here, plus our local friend, Bethany.  Our first stop was the yard-bird exhibits and I apologized to this fellow above about all his cousins out there roasting on a stick.  Delicious!  We did have some great food including a thick-cut baloney sandwich and some deep fried Oreos. And the temps and humidity were actually reasonable enough for us to stay a good while and see most of this giant well-run fair. 

Tuesday, August 24 - We saw the new Respect film tonight at our local Roxy Theaters ($5 night, free popcorn and recliners!).  Since we never got to see Aretha Franklin play live, I guess this is as close as we are gonna get.  The movie was well-done, but did seem to avoid some touchier subjects and wash over some glaringly negative aspects of Franklin's life that weren't so good.  

Friday, August 27 - We headed out tonight to catch the comedian drag queen, Aunt Mary Pat, at the Lipstick Lounge in East Nashville.   We've been a fan of his/her hilarious routine on social media for a while now.  The show was fun, but we were definitely out of our element a bit.  We had dinner beforehand at East Side Bahn Mi that was simply outstanding!  We also had a beer afterwards at Crazy Gnome Brewing completing our East Nashville Night.  

The first birthday present of this year's Ashleextravaganza arrived today.  It was this cool clear toy candy cat hand-made at Shane Confectionary up in Philadelphia.  They are the oldest candy shop in the U.S.  Time to do some kitty-nibbling!! 

Saturday, August  28 - As the AirBnb windfall continues down in Chattanooga, we worked most of the day down there today getting it ready for the Labor Day weekend visitors.  After three positive reviews from three consecutive stays, we had an open weekend and it was time for a little deep-cleaning, lawn care and other chores.   

Sunday, August 29 - Well, we were supposed to see Harry Connick, Jr. at the new FirstBank Amphitheater outside Franklin tonight, but Mother Nature had other ideas.  After a two-hour weather delay and a command to evacuate the site due to lightning, we gave up and headed out only to hear Harry took the stage around 9:30.   Too late, too wet, too bad.  The new facility is beautiful, but getting in and out is a bit of a nightmare, and this particular situation was not handled well.  We may have to give this place a few years to work out the kinks before we come back...if it's even still around.

Wednesday, September 1 -  Forget fancy, expensive birthday cakes.  The cake that makes Ashlee (and me) the happiest is this Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean Sheet Cake from Trader Joe's.  There's not a better-tasting, moister cake around and we will fight you if you disagree!!   Probably going to go get another one before Ashlee's birthday because this one isn't lasting long,

Friday, September 3 - We stopped by the new Seven Cedars Butcher Block today on the square here in Lebanon and got some beautiful locally-raised beef steaks for grilling out over the upcoming long holiday weekend.  

Saturday, September 4 - We spent a fun day day and evening in Nashville today serving as tour guides to Ashlee work friend, Karen, and her boyfriend, Tony, who were wrapping up a long cross-country trip with another visit to Music City.  Before meeting up with them, we had a great lunch at Homegrown Taproom in Donelson.  Our first stop as tour guides was the always-fun Marathon Motor Works Complex where we had drinks at the newly-updated and expanded Corsair Distillery and Taproom.   We then wandered around the rest of the complex checking out some shops and the cool displays of the old car manufacturing equipment and then into the (new? it was to us) Tennessee Legend Distillery for a tasting of their wares which were surprisingly good.  I grabbed us a bottle of their Dirty Cream liqueur for our future coffee additions at home!  Delicious! 

We did some food-touring next including a stop at the Martin's BBQ down in Nolensville where it all got started.  Finding some Nashville hot chicken for Tony was next on the agenda and after finding out it would be an hour and fifteen minute wait for some of it at Prince's on Nolensville Road, we decided to head to East Nashville instead and check out the long-time staple there, Bolton's Spicy Chicken and Fish.  A few tears and snot-bubbles later, we had some really HOT chicken at this classic institution.  It's cool to know that Anthony Bourdain actually stopped here during his adventures in Nashville.  Prince's may be famous, but Bolton's is where it's at! 

Our next planned stop was nearby.  The always-fun CAMP Bar presented by the 308 Bar is a staple for us with out-of-town visitors.  Their national-park themed cocktails are always fun and all about presentation.  We represented the Smokies, Mammoth Cave, Glacier and Yosemite NP in our selections tonight.  

Our last stop of the night was right next door at the legendary Dino's (Restaurant?) and Dive Bar.  This was another Anthony Bourdain stop when in Nashville. and it was somewhere Tony and Karen had actually been before on their last visit here.  But we never have been in here despite being in Bar 308/CAMP several times.  It's definitely a dive, and we just had drinks since we'd been eating all day, but it was fun to say we've actually been inside now before it gets closed down with all the changes in East Nashville lately...you just never know.  

Wednesday, September 8 - Tonight's the night for BFFFL Draft # 22 - Ashlee and I settled in on the couch tonight for another draft in the Burgess Falls Fantasy Football League.  I stole her star from last year by picked up Derrick "King" Henry with an early draft position while Ashlee stewed with a much lower draft pick.  In the end we were pretty satisfied with our teams and look forward to another season on the virtual gridiron against each other and our friends. 

Sunday, September 12 - Happy Birthday, Ashlee!!!....wait, where is she....?  With all the Covid mess over the past year-plus, Ashlee was Jonesing for a cruise.  Her and her girlfriend, Mollie, found one they just had to take and I told her that was fine with me since I couldn't go.  It's her birthday after all.  She had a great time and had so much built up credit and freebies on the cruise, she didn't even use the Celebrity Cruise gift cards I got her.  Just save 'em for the next one I guess!! 

Grand Preeee and then Hersheeee and then Dudleeeee!!

 

Sunday, August 1- We had a bit of a Nashville Sunday Fun Day today.  Our first stop was a good one.  Ashlee had preordered some amazingly good pastries from the Brightside Bakeshop in East Nashville.  We decided to just enjoy them outside on site since it was a nice cloudy day with low humidity.   They were all great, but this key lime one shown above was the best.  So good!  We also had some great iced lattes from the pop-up Gold Bar for Hanna Bee Coffee also there on site.  Ashlee had the cotton-candy infused one, of course.  

Our next quick stop also in East Nashville was at this fun mural on W. Eastland.  Up, up and away!  We also took a look around the swanky, new Virgin Hotel over around Music Row.  They've got a great rooftop pool and bar (and it will cost you a small fortune to swim and drink in it!).   We headed back after that and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon in our own free pool! 

Tuesday, August  3 - We went to see the new Disney Jungle Cruise movie at the Roxy Theaters here in town ($5 discount night and recliners!) tonight.  It was a ton of fun and very well done.  This was our first movie here in a long while.  It was nice to be back! 

Thursday, August 5 - We headed to downtown Nashville tonight to see Sean McConnell at City Winery.  It was his new album release show and our first time seeing him live. We congratulate City Winery on enforcing a vaccinated-only crowd and a mask mandate when not seated in the venue.  It's a bold stand, but necessary and appreciated by us.  Sean was excellent live.  He's also a producer and brought out a young man named, Nick Connor, who he is helping with his debut album.  That dude can sing!  This may be one of those "I saw him when" moments!   Sean also had a great opener named, Tristan Bushman, who we enjoyed as well.  Great music, great food, great venue! 

August 6, 7, 8 - We won tix to the Music City Grand Prix this weekend - our city's first grand prix race!

Friday night  - We headed downtown after work not knowing what to expect, but just like the NFL Draft, NHL All-Star and other big events, Nashville seemed to handle this giant affair just fine.  We got easily into our free parking at Bridgestone Arena (thanks to our pal, Wayne, and his Predators season ticket).  Ticket access and entry was easy and smooth.  We had some tasty chicken sausage dogs for dinner from a food truck for dinner.  The race course and its surroundings encompass 45 total acres of space.  And we walked most of it! 

We got to see a little of the SRO GT America cars practicing before dark.  I snuck out afterwards and got this cool pic along the track heading west over the Korean Veterans Bridge part of the course.  This is the first-ever Grand Prix that goes over water.

Hey, it wouldn't be a Music City event without some...well...music!  We hung around into the night and caught a few songs by a decent line-up of artists including Tyler Farr, Vince Neil of Motley Crue, Jamey Johnson, Chase Rice, and the legendary duo, Brooks and Dunn, who we've never seen play together.  It was a lovely night and a beautiful walk back across the Cumberland River on the pedestrian bridge after the show.  

Saturday afternoon - Man, it was hot!  But we had a pretty good time back at the Grand Prix today.  We got there in time to see the end of the actual first race of the event, the Trans Am Series.  Next up was some SRO GT America qualifying.  We had some more terrific grub from food trucks on site.  Afterwards we wondered over toward the paddock area and were surprised how close we could get to watching the teams work on some of the cars.  

NTT IndyCar Series qualifying was next.  These are the big boys and the main event racers.  While the general admission tickets don't give you the best views of the track, there are some decent access places.  We found this cool view of tight Turn 10 which is their first turn after a long straightaway.  We headed back to our cooler pool since today's and tonight's concerts were of no interest to us. 

Sunday afternoon - Since the heat was so oppressive yesterday and projected to be even hotter today, we held off getting downtown until just before the Grand Prix race itself today.  There were a few earlier things we would have liked to have seen, but not at the cost of the heat index.  We did get to see the end of the SRO GT America Race # 2, the pre-big race parade of drivers, and the start of the Grand Prix itself in the shade near Turn 3.  Then we went to check out the view with some elevation from the east-side ramps of Nissan Stadium where we had a good view of the S- (or is that a Z) curve in Turns 1 and 2 .  We even saw this wreck happen right in front of us.  We had more good food from the bountiful amount of food trucks available...we chose The Loveless Cafe truck today.  

We were able to grab a glance at the inaugural winner of the Music City Grand Prix, Marcus Ericsson, as he emerged from his Indy car after the race.  The most amazing thing about Ericsson's win is that very early in Lap 5 he was in a hair-(and car) raising collision with another car in front of him that lifted his car off the ground and almost airborne and flipped over.  He and his crew were able to recover from that crash and take the whole thing!  Wow!  The race was exciting throughout with crashes and speeds of over 180 mph over the Korean Veterans Bridge, and right up to the finish with a bold young driver named Colton Herta pushing his way up the field with crafty passing in the tight turns and into second place as the race got close to the end only to crash with only 5 laps to go.  Ericsson and crews other great move was winning the race on basically fumes as well.   

Another hot day led to a beautiful night and another gorgeous walk across the Cumberland River back to our car.  The Korean Veterans Bridge shone is all its brilliance somehow knowing it was also a star of this weekend's historic event.  We were a bit disappointed that Alan Jackson, who was scheduled to close out the event on the concert stage, was a no show.  The ageless Oak Ridge Boys were a great fill in at least.  We also saw performances by rising country-music stars Justin Moore, Riley Green, Danielle Bradbery and Callista Clark as the Grand Ole Opry was broadcast tonight from the Grand Ole Prix!! (not my joke, but I like it). 
Overall, an outstanding weekend an event.  It looks as if it was a big success with all parking nearby sold out, all grandstand seats sold out, and lots of smiles on lots of the 110,000 faces despite the heat.   We can't wat to go again next year...and, hell, we might even pay for tickets this time!! 

August 12, 13, 14 - Our (damn Covid) rescheduled trip and show to see Green Day in Hershey, PA, is finally this weekend! 

Thursday - We flew up to Philly this morning, rented a car and headed west toward Hershey.  Our first stop were the beautiful Longwood Gardens where we were hoping to see some of the dozen or so cats that "guard" the huge conservatory there. 

 It was blazing hot and the cats were nowhere to be found, and even the beer garden was closed!  Kind of a bust, but still a beautiful place with flowers everywhere in the giant conservatory, and this huge aeolian organ (over 10,000 pipes) that was amazing to walk around behind. We may try and return someday (especially at Christmas we hear).   

We continued west through Amish country with heavy traffic through Lancaster County. 

Our funniest stop was at  a red light in Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Make your own jokes here, but don't forget it sits between the small towns of Blue Ball and Paradise...

After checking into our hotel in Lebanon (sounds familiar) just east of Hershey, we headed on in to Chocolate Town and meet a new co-worker of Ashlee's who lives nearby  at Troeg's Independent Brewing (her idea, so I like her already!).  We had some great beer and some very good food (the street corn fries were amazing!).

Friday - We spent most of today at Hershey's Chocolate World with some fun activities including a trolley tour around town and the Hershey factory.  It's a great place where even the street lights are shaped like Hershey's kisses!! 

The BIG pay off at the end of the day at Hershey's Chocolate World was designing and making our very own personalized half-pound chocolate bars!  We ate mine almost immediately, but Ashlee's made it back home...for about a day!  Yummmmm!! 

We Ubered up to check out the historic and beautiful Hotel Hershey.  Again, the really cool bar in the hotel was closed (what's with no day-drinking in PA?).  So we just looked around and then our friends, Joe and L.A. picked us up and we headed back over to Troeg's Brewing for more beer and tasty food.  

We got lucky and dodged some rain while at Troeg's Brewing.  Then it was off to the SOLD OUT Weezer, Fall Out Boy,  and Green Day Hella Mega Tour concert at Hershey Park with our friends Joe, L.A., Danny, Brenda, and Wil.    

It's the Galapagos Fearsome Four-some back together again! 

Green Day, Purple Night.  We've seen Weezer a couple time before and as usual they fun and solid.  Fall Out Boy was pretty good and sounded great, but we honestly just don't know a lot of their music.  Green Day was the main reason we were here, and they were electric!  Excellent show! Great energy!  It's hard to believe these guys are pushing or past 50 years old!  

Saturday - We got up pretty early today to head back to Philly for a little fun before flying home.  A spur-of-the-moment stop that turned out to be pretty cool was Valley Forge Historical National Park.  They have a great driving loop of interesting sights that again worked out best since it was still blazing hot.  This would be another place to definitely visit more in depth with cooler temps.   

When we got to Philly it was cheesesteak time and the big Pat's vs.Geno's debate (and chow down) began!  We think Pat's is a little better, but Geno's is solid.  

We met up with Ashlee's co-worker and our good friend, Eileen, and her husband, Mike, and their daughter, Megan at the Old City Beer Garden for a few hours before our flight home tonight.   One of my choices from their impressive beer list was this hilarious, but tasty, IPA.  

Added note: Our Southwest flight home which connected through Orlando (yuck) kept getting delayed due to bad weather in Florida, so we decided to cancel that flight and jump on a decent-priced American Airlines direct flight home (why didn't we do this from the start?).  We got home safe and sound with another fun little trip under our belts.  

Holy cat!  Dudley's in the Tennessee State Fair! 

Sunday, August 15 - We flew back early from Philly for this, dude!  You better win this cat show!!  I mean, no pressure.  It's just now the STATE Cat Show since the Wilson County Fair and the Tennessee State Fair are one in the same now as of this year.   

He's our winner for sure!!   He seems relaxed and ready...of course, he has no idea what's about to happen to him either.  Thanks to our cat-sitter, Anjie, for this great pic of the Dud-miester over the weekend while we were gone. 

Dudley chilling before his competition (or chilled in fear).  It's hard to tell with him.

Dudley eyeing his competition. His category of short-haired adults was the largest of the night.  He didn't win unfortunately, but we are still proud of him.  And very excited about some of the Mighty Miracles kittens winning their categories (and runner-up Best in Show) and getting a lot of positive publicity and an invitation to come back next year and bring even more participants.