From the new in York to good old Destin

Saturday, October 1 - We took Sunny on her first official hike today and while we didn't complete the full 2-mile loop at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, it was a good start for her at just over a mile total.  We figure we will work up to the full loop eventually.  She did very well and seemed to enjoy it, as did we on this beautiful fall day. 

We also had our first fire of the season in our Solo Stove tonight.  We enjoyed a bottle of wine and the quiet evening as our chilly pool stood silently by. 

Tuesday, October 4 - We went to see the new gay rom-com movie, Bros, tonight ($6 Tuesdays!) at The Roxy Theaters (recliners!).  We treated our new friends, Curtis and Kate, to the show as well.  We all thought it was very funny with many LOL moments.   Kudos to The Roxy for bringing such a film to little ol' Bible-thumpin' Lebanon.  

Thursday, October 6 - We flew up to BWI this evening and then, drove an hour or so north to York, PA, to the quite lovely home of our friends, Joe and L.A., in preparation to attend the White Rose Music Fest going on in town there over the next couple days.  

How come we didn't get the fancy Tennessee plane, Southwest Airlines???
(great pic snapped by Ashlee as we got ready to depart BNA for BWI)

It was a gorgeous clear night for flying in over the beautiful Chesapeake Bay into BWI.   Joe and L. A. were actually out of town until tomorrow, so they graciously let us crash at their lovely home without them.  Only their "guard cat" named Cow was there to greet us, but he did a great job!

(Editor's note:  In a sad update, we found out that Cow passed away a few weeks later. 
He had a good run at 17 years.  Sweet boy.  We sure are glad we got to meet you, buddy.  RIP.) 

Friday, October 7 - We had the morning to ourselves since Joe and L.A. wouldn't be in until the afternoon when the White Rose Music Festival started, so we lazed around and got up for a late brunch at the hip Roost Uncommon Kitchen where the servings were massive and tasty! 

We took a short drive over to check out the unique Haine's Shoe House (built circa 1948 by who else, a millionaire in the shoe business!) but were a little bummed when we couldn't go in since the place was closed for repairs today.   Thanks to AtlasObscura.com for another great visit idea.  

York seems to take a lot of guff as not a great place to live, but it seems like a lovely town to us and at least they are trying with this music festival, several breweries, bars, etc.  Go hang out in somewhere like Dunlap, TN, if you really wanna see a "shit town." 

So, we got to PeoplesBank Park well after the gates were open for the White Rose Music Fest and seriously thought we were at the wrong place.  There was almost nobody there!?  It was very odd and the first music festival we've ever attended where there weren't crowds of people everywhere.  It was literally an empty ballpark and would kind of remain that way during the entire festival.  It's so odd because while this music line-up isn't stocked with huge names, they are well-known enough (at least around Nashville) and all these acts would sell out good-sized venues there very quickly and easily.  Changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes I guess...

First up at the White Rose Music Fest was country music newcomer, Britney Spencer, who has a great voice and a very solid band around her.  

There was a rumor that "The Eagles" were at this music festival, but I call bullshit...

Joe and L.A. made it back from their road trip in time to catch the next set by Langhorne Slim.  We've heard his name before but never seen him live, but, man, he puts on a whale of a show!  Undeterred by the small crowd in front of the stage, he waded into us with his finale song, the stirring "Past Lives."  

One of our favorites to see live, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, was next and made sure everybody here knew where he was from with his great ballad, "Tennessee" - a bit of which is in the video above. 

We only stayed for a couple songs from the White Rose Music Fest Day 1 closing performer, Jamey Johnson (and his crazy 12-member band).  He sounded fine, but he's just not our particular cup of tea.  We opted instead to take a stroll to Gift Horse Brewing (that's their cool logo in the photo above) in downtown York.  After a libation here, we moved on to the Holy Hound Taproom where the food was a little lacking, but still a great, rollicking beer bar.  We got back to Joe and L.A.'s house and stayed up late talking and laughing and imbibing in a few more adult beverages.  Their sweet dogs, Chester and Tank, provided the entertaining floor show.

Saturday, October 8 - Before heading to Day 2 of the White Rose Music Festival, we had a late brunch stop at the beautiful South County Brewing facility here in York.  These brewers got their start over in nearby Fawn Grove, PA, and this is their second more swanky facility.  The place was packed, so we were lucky to get a table.  The food and beer were top-notch. 

We were very excited to see Memphis gritty rockers, Lucero, today in their first festival setting that we've seen them in.  The sound engineering, unfortunately, was not very good, but the guys did their best and were positive in nature despite the sound issues and the once-again very small crowd. 

As the beautiful hunters moon rose, the temps fell fast tonight in York.  Good thing we were (sort of) bundled up. 

Much like Langhorne Slim yesterday, the amazing Wood Brothers saved the day/night with a raucous show that was positive and uplifting despite the small crowd. They even vowed to come back if invited next year...and if there is a year two for the White Rose Music Fest.  

Similar to last night, we only stayed for a couple songs from the closing act, Grace Potter, who we used to love, but now have a "strained relationship" with based on her history of cheating on her husband from her beginning band, The Nocturnals, as well as dropping the band itself to go solo and more poppy than their true rock-n-roll start.  The first two songs she played were great hits that she did with The Nocturnals but now turned into poppy (and kind of silly IMO) versions, So, we said, hey, it's cold, and we've had enough. 

Again, the festival was a kind of surreal experience with the small crowds, and sound issues with some of the performances.  It will be interesting to see if there is another year for them, because they must have really taken a bath and lost money.  This blog always tries to focus on the positive, so we will take with us the great performances by Langhorne Slim, Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, and The Wood Brothers, plus the gracious hosting from our pals, Joe and L.A., and say it really was a fun time. 

Sunday, October 9 - We had most of the day to drive back to BWI for the flight home tonight, so we decided to make a stop in Leesburg, VA, to meet Ashlee's childhood friend, Starling, and her husband, John.  We met up at the cool and vintage Luckett's Antique Store to do some browsing.  It is a very neat, multi-floored store.  We then all stopped by nearby Vanish Brewing (where Ashlee said we had been before, and I denied it - see was right...my UNTAPPD Beer App doesn't lie or forget).   We enjoyed catching up with a couple more of our friends and sipping brews in the warm afternoon sun at this really nice farm brewery. 
Our flight home was a bit delayed, and we got to find out how BWI is kind of a dumpy airport if you have time to kill there, but it was a smooth flight and we got home before midnight to close the book on another fun little trip.

Sunday, October 17 - Sadly, we had the pool closed this past week in preparation for fall leaves falling and winter soon after.  Sunny made lemonade out of lemons by declaring our pool cover as her own personal splash pad! 

Monday, October 18 - Just call it The Stupor Bowl.  Ashlee and I have two of poorest performing teams in our fantasy football league this year, so when we clashed this weekend, it came down to one 9-yard pass in OT of a dismal Monday Night Football to set up a game-winning field goal for the Chargers for me to eke it out over her by a tenth of a point!  

We finally got to see the new film, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, tonight as we rented it off Apple ITunes and streamed it though our Fire TV since it never came to our local theater as we were hoping.  It was charming and well-made.  Great little flick! 

Monday, October 24 - We had dinner and a pretty good light show at Town Square Social tonight up on the Lebanon Square with Ashlee's sister, Paige, who was in town on business. The food was great as always.

After dinner we decided to catch a showing of the new comedy, Ticket to Paradise, over at The Roxy Theaters (recliners! and Paige's first time in a recliner theater!).  It was a pretty good movie overall. 

Monday, October 31 - Happy Halloween from Spartan Dudley! 

Tuesday, November 1 - We slipped into Nashville tonight to see one of our favorite live performers, Butch Walker, performing at the newish Brooklyn Bowl venue.  The show was great with a member of Butch's band, Aaron Lee Tasjan, providing a very good opening set.  Butch was in classic form as always, but we headed out early since it was a "school night" and the place was super-crowded with annoying drunk people (geez, it's a Tuesday, folks) and plus, we had some walking wounded pets to look back in on at the house.   Keep on rockin', Butch!  We love ya! 
Before the show we also had a tasty dinner at TennFold Brewing in Donelson.  

Friday, November 11 - We headed over to Franklin tonight to catch one of our favorite performers, Augustana (aka Dan Layus), at the beautiful Franklin Theater.  We had great seats right up front for the man and his piano.  The acoustics are so good in this place!  Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at The Frothy Monkey just around the corner housed in a beautiful old historic church manse.  

Saturday, November 12 - We flew out early today to Tampa to attend the wedding of our new, but dear, friends, Curtis and Kate.  It was nice to escape the cold, winter temps at home even if it was just a quick overnight trip.  Flying into the Tampa airport we spotted a few of the cool old historic stilt homes offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. 

The wedding was over in the Treasure Bay area near St. Petersburg, and we stayed next door to the wedding locale at the historic Thunderbird Beach Resort.  We chose it because they boasted about having a nice tiki bar, but it turned out to be a little small and ordinary to us.  But still nice to have a drink poolside in the warm Florida sun this afternoon.  

The beach wedding of Curtis and Kate was short and sweet which was fine with us since the sun was bright and warm in our wedding duds.   We appreciated them using a Michael Franti song during the ceremony.  Congrats, guys!!! 

We partied through the pretty sunset and into the night with an open bar, great food, fun music and a lot of laughs with a bunch of fun people. 

Sunday, November 13 - Even though we were flying home today, it wasn't until pretty late, so we had the whole day to tool around in our sweet Audi A4 rental.  

After a decent breakfast at the Treasure Island location of the Key West staple, Sloppy Joe's Bar, and checking out a neat and very professional sandcastle building contest going on at the beach here, we headed over to the fairly new and recommended (thanks Thrillist.com) St. Pete Pier.  It's a beautiful location with lots of open space and wildlife too.  There were lots of large, gorgeous pelicans hanging out, and we even saw a small pod of dolphins near the pier also.  

Now here's the tiki bar we've been looking for!  Our biggest surprise at the St. Pete Pier was the Pier Teaki tiki bar.   What a fun and beautiful place a couple stories up at the end of the pier with great views looking out over Tampa Bay, and a good drink menu.  Cheers, St. Pete!! 

Our next stop was over in Gulfport at The North End Taphouse owned by our friend, Bill (aka Houston).  We enjoyed some late lunch and a few brews as we chatted with our friend and listened to a pretty good Grateful Dead cover band out in the shared courtyard.   

We enjoyed cruising over the colossal and cool Sunshine Skyway Bridge that spans Tampa Bay on our long way around back to the airport.  Our flight home was smooth and easy.  

Tuesday, November 15 - Our good friend, and my pal since kindergarten, Mick, was staying in town for work tonight, so we were proud to take him to the new Cedar City Brewing for a great dinner and a craft beer or two made right here!  It's so nice to be able to do that now here in Lebanon!  We even played a little musical bingo, but sadly there were no winners at our table.  Next time!! 

Saturday, November 19 - We drove down to Destin today for a Thanksgiving week on the beach.  We've done this trip so many times now, it almost doesn't feel like a vacation...almost.   We had a smooth drive with no problems and the new audio book, written (sang) and read by U2's front man, Bono, called "Surrender" really helped the miles go by easily.  

We did break up the drive with a quick stop at Interstellar Ginger Beer Company in tiny Alabaster, Alabama, just south of Birmingham.  Since it's been a couple years since our last stop, we were glad to see this specialized nanobrewery had made it through Covid.   After we had a light, tasty and fizzy pint each and grabbed a couple four-packs for the upcoming week, we headed on south.  

As we were stopping at a Starbucks a few more exits south, we stumbled upon Durbin Farms Market in Clanton, AL, It's such a great little place with fresh produce and all kind of other goodies.  They were all decked out for Christmas already, so it was very festive.  This place will now have to become a regular stop it looks like! 

We got into Destin after dark and pulled into our rental house in the very familiar and very nice Destiny East gated subdivision just across the street from the beach.  It was tough "slumming" it here this year after being able to stay on the beach last time across the road at Destiny by the Sea, but rental prices have skyrocketed here since Covid with more and more folks picking up on our secret of spending Thanksgiving on The Emerald Coast. 

 

Sunday, November 20 - We woke up to sunny skies and mild temps here in Destin today.  Exactly what we were looking for!   Our rental house was a beauty.  Well laid-out and very comfy.  Our master bedroom was gigantic as was our sweet veranda! 

We headed down the coast a little for breakfast today at the amazing Parlor Doughnuts/Cronuts.  Good grief!  Where have these been all our life!  So effing good!!  And there are two locations in Nashville!  Who knew?  We gonna get even fatter!! But so worth it!  

Our first look at the beach here in Destin this trip was not the greatest this morning, but we took a short walk anyway and took in the beautiful white sand and emerald waters.  Good to be back! 

We've passed Lulu's on the Choctawhatchee Bay every time we drive into Destin and finally decided to give it a try for lunch.  The food was good, albeit pricier than we were expecting (that will be a hard-learned theme this year down here unfortunately).  Thanks, Covid.  

With the weather still kind of gloomy and the rest of the family (Paige, Andy and Ella) still driving in from Chattanooga, we headed over to the always-lovely Destin Commons shopping area to poke around in some stores this afternoon as Thanksgiving has already given way to the rush of Christmas.  

The clouds started to break as evening closed in and we had our first sunset of this trip tonight as we all headed over to Pompano Joe's on the beach for dinner.  Delicious and a little pricier than two years ago, but what ya gonna do?  

Monday, November 21 - Now that's more like it!!  Hello, sunshine, white sand and emerald waters!  We spent a good chunk of the afternoon on the beach today in mild temps with our toes in the sand and our worries off our minds.   The water was a bit cold to get into, but not terrible.  
We tried a new to us place for dinner near our rental house called Jackacuda's that was extremely good.  Best sushi I've had down this way.

Tuesday, November 22 - More sun, more sand, more waves.  We had some cool flyovers from some jet fighters and those cool Osprey chopper/planes from nearby Elgin Air Force Base this afternoon.  We also had some canned craft beer for our beach libations.  Cheers! 
We had dinner at another of our Destin staples, Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House, where the food is always tops. 

Wednesday, November 23 - More beer, more sand, more sun, more waves!!  Today was the warmest day so far with temps deep into the 70's which made the wading in the surf a little more tolerable.  Still no swimming.  We're not brave enough for that!  We witnessed our third beach wedding in as many days this afternoon also.  In all our trips down here, we've never seen a wedding on a Destin beach until this year.  New racket in town, I guess.  

Not only was it the best beach day of the trip, but it was also the best sunset of the trip tonight.  So freaking gorgeous!   

Thursday, November 24 - Happy Thanksgiving from The Emerald Coast!  We lazed around our comfy rental house today enjoying the holiday.  I don't think I got out of my PJ's except to take a walk after our Thanksgiving meal.  Burrp!!   We ordered from Cracker Barrel again and it was delicious and perfect as always.   We also had some early Christmas gift exchanging since Ashlee and I will be out of the country next month. 

Friday, November 25 - With cloudy/rainy weather, we had to abandon the beach today for some shopping and craft breweries going in opposite directions.  We did meet up at the end of the day to catch a showing of the Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, in IMAX at the local AMC Theaters in Destin Commons.  This was an early Christmas gift of mine to everyone here.  We all enjoyed the film including me who thought it was actually better the second time around. 

Saturday, November 26 - It was again cloudy today, so we had to skip the beach again and we split up again during the day doing other girls and boys activities, and then got back together at the house tonight to watch a couple new streaming holiday movies: the surprisingly good Spirited on AppleTV+, and the OK, but not great sequel to A Christmas Story on HBO Max; and one great old holiday classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 
"Train don't go outta Wichita lessen you're a hog...or cattle.  People train runs outta S-S-S-Stubville."

Sunday, November 27 - Well, the sun came back out just in time for us to have to drive home from Destin.  It did make for a pleasant trip home with some great vistas out the car windows like downtown Birmingham under a blanket of puffy clouds.  Bono continued to entertain and enlighten us along the way as well.  

It was also opening weekend at Bama's first Buc-ee's!  We stopped in Athens, Alabama, at the newest Buc-ee's here in the south.  It was a mad-house inside, but we got some goodies in terms of food (awesome turkey club sandwiches) and swag - a New Year's T-shirt for Ashlee.  The real cluster-eff was outside trying to leave as the traffic lights have not been put up yet, and it made for a very slow exit, but we made it out finally with full bellies and cruised on home with no other issues.
Another great Turkey Week in Destin - can't wait to do it again!!