From CoCo's Courtyard to Martha's Vineyard...

Ever since our good friends, Chris and Tarryn, moved away from here in Wilson County to Fort Wayne, Indiana, we have started a yearly tradition of meeting them somewhere for a little get-together trip.  First it was Columbus, Ohio, to see a Predators game.  Then, last year, we met in Chicago for St. Patrick's Day.  This year, we stepped it up a notch with a little bit bigger trip to New York to catch some world class tennis at the U.S. Open, and then on to explore the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.  

Saturday, August 31 - We flew into NYC's Laguardia Airport this morning and then Ubered a short distance to an Airbnb apartment located in Flushing/Queens that we had rented.  We spent the rest of the day in this area since we've never visited this blue-collar side of New York.  The tennis stadiums are so close to the airport that you can see them on approach.  Our weather was perfect as you can see.

After meeting Chris and Tarryn at the apartment and dropping our bags, we headed to the Long Island City Farm open house before it closed for the weekend.  This is one of the largest rooftop gardens in New York City (45,000 square feet) and a part of three such set-ups around town known collectively as The Brooklyn Grange. It sits atop a re-purposed Standard Motors building with a heck of view of the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

Our next stop was the swanky, new Boro Hotel which proposed a whole different kind of rooftop that was a bar.  Unfortunately, it did not open until 5 PM (weird on a lovely Saturday afternoon), but we decided to have a few libations and split a tasty pizza downstairs on the outdoor patio of their in-house restaurant, Beebe's.  From there we headed to the nearby Big aLICe Brewing Company per my suggestion, of course.  We split a very good 6-beer taster flight in their small, but popular, tasting room. LIC stands for Long Island City which is the name of the brimming neighborhood here.

Dinner was our next endeavor, so we Ubered again to the ethnically-diverse Jackson Heights neighborhood to check out the Arepa Lady Restaurant, a long-standing and popular staple here since it's beginnings as just one lady and a food cart.  Arepas are Columbian corn cakes (photo below) and we had several tasty ones along with interesting pork belly (chicharrion) patacons (photo above).  Patacons are fried mashed plantains with an avocado spread and your choice of meat topping.

We walked off our large dinner with a stroll down 37th Avenue to the fascinating Apna Bazar Farmers Market/ Supermarket.  It was like stepping into another country (or several other countries)  here with an amazing array of ethnic food choices. And despite it being around 9 PM, the place was jammed with customers.  I mean where else are you going to get fresh pooja nuts when you need them?  Yes, we had to Google what pooja nuts are also, so don't feel bad.

We Ubered back to the apartment after a long day of travel and exploring to relax and turn in fairly early in preparation for a long day of tennis tomorrow.  Our AirBnB apartment was nothing special, but it was clean and spacious enough occupying the third floor of the owner's own home.  It was cheaper and gave us more room than two hotel rooms would have.  A couple of unexpected bonuses of the apartment included the fact that jet planes didn't buzz our roof at all hours despite it being a stone's throw from Laguardia. The runways are mercifully on the opposite side of the area. Secondly, there was actually a decent view westward of the Manhattan skyline from the third-floor living room window.   You take what you can get.

Sunday, September 1 - Good mornin' Manhattan, from over here in Flushing/Queens! 

Another reason for our apartment choice was that it is close to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park which is hosting the 2019 US Open tournament. It's already to the fourth rounds of the singles, and we had a day pass for the entire grounds and then assigned seats to the prime-time night session.

We started the day with another ethnic meal as we walked to the only place close the apartment, The Laguardia Cafe, a Dominican-based restaurant.  The food was decent and plentiful and you get chicken soup for breakfast...it's a Dominican thing, who knew?

We had great weather once again as we Ubered a short distance from the apartment to the U.S. Open.  Our first stop before going in to the tournament was to check out the giant Unisphere from the '64-'65 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.  In the background are the abandoned observation towers also from the world's fair history, and which are in the process of being restored.

The US Tennis Association Center is an amazing facility.  It even underwent a multi-million dollar renovation recently.  The impressive and massive Arthur Ashe Stadium is an imposing site to see inside and out.

Today was Round 4 of the women's and men's singles and the second round of doubles matches of the  prestigious Grand Slam tournament and we had a bevy of games to choose from to watch with our day pass.

We opted to watch most of today's action in the second biggest venue in the complex, the beautiful  Louis Armstrong  Stadium where we saw:
China's # 12th-ranked Qiang Wang upset # 1 overall, Australian Ashleigh Barty to move on to her first-ever Grand Slam Quarterfinal
Britain's #11 Johanna Konta pull another upset over  # 2 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic to advance to her first-ever U.S. Open Quarterfinal

Our biggest thrill of the day was getting to see the 15-year-old  U.S. sensation, CoCo Gauff, and her 100 MPH serve take out an older, more-experienced and ninth-ranked doubles team of Nicole Melichar (US) and Kyeta Peschke (CZR), along with her U.S.  partner, the excellent, Caty McNally, who herself is only 17.   The stadium was packed for this one.   Look for team  "McCoCo" to move up fast in the ranks in the near future! 

This magical day in New York took on an amazing glow as night approached.  As we filed into Arthur Ashe Stadium for the two night-time, prime-time sessions, our nose-bleed seats afforded us the jaw-dropping sunset view of Manhattan from the upper outdoor tiers.  The picture has ZERO filters, folks.  

They call it "Prime Time Under the Lights" and it's as big a presentation as any NFL  football game, NHL hockey game or arena concert we have been to.  And why not, in the world of pro tennis, these players are rock stars. The place was packed and there were famous folks in the crowd including comedians, Chris Rock, who we saw flashed on the big screen, and Adam Sandler, who we saw being interviewed earlier in the day.  This was being shown on ESPN with millions watching world-wide.  It was an honor and a thrill to be here.

This may be the best IPhone panoramic shot I have ever taken.  It's just about perfect.
 Tonight, we got to see two important matches under the lights and in prime time:
American hopeful and # 9 in the world, Madison Keys, fell in two straight sets to # 5 Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine who was just on fire with her swings.

The only men's game we saw turned out to be very exciting, very strange and very memorable at the same time.  The # 1 in the world monster, Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, fresh off his Wimbledon win, was down in a third straight set to # 19, Stan Wawinka, of Switzerland when he suddenly retired from the match due to injury...we think...it was never really confirmed.  Djokovic had a strange tournament overall with angrily shushing the crowd with colorful language;  getting in a heated debate with a fan during practice; and winning a match though complaining of a shoulder injury, then being perfectly dominating in the next match, and then quitting while getting trounced tonight to a packed house that was definitely pulling against him.  It's always hard being on top of the mountain.

Like him or not, you gotta respect the power and grace of Novak Djokioick.  He nearly made a play with his back to the net  way in the back-court between his legs that sent the ball back to just within millimeters of clearing.  Maybe one of the most amazing athletic things I have ever seen live.  

After the matches, we filed out of the stadium along with thousands of others and our plan to head south through  Flushing Meadows/Corona Park to grab an Uber back to the apartment were dashed as we walked under the spooky, abandoned and kind of otherworldly (remember the end of Men in Black?) World's Fair Observation Towers and were told by the police that we didn't want to go any further because the park isn't lit up at night past here and thus it is not a place to walk in the dark.  Yes sir!  Thank you, sir!  Hey, it's still New York. 

We did make it back to the apartment after a fairly long wait in the official ride-share line.  It was late and we were exhausted, but it was such a great day and experience.  

BUCKET LIST CHECK!!  

Monday, September 2 - We awoke today to some light rain, so what better time to leave New York and take a short flight to Nantucket, Massachusetts .  We got a light breakfast around the corner from the apartment at a deli/market that was actually pretty good despite giving it a skeptical second-chance.  Sorry about that, Danny's Deli and Grocery.  You are awesome despite your, crowded aisles, weak beer selection and somewhat dirty floors! 

To say our short flight on Jet Blue was easy and casual is an understatement.  The terminal we flew out of was mostly empty since many flights south had been cancelled or delayed due to Hurricane Dorian churning off the coast of North Carolina.  Since it's the end of the in-season on Nantucket, the flight was almost empty and we had entire rows to ourselves.  The weather improved as we headed east also and we touched down under sunny skies.  

Our first views of the uniquely-shaped Nantucket Island were surprising as it did not seem as developed as you would imagine as a playground of the Northeastern rich and famous might be.  

One of the first things you notice (and feel in the Uber from the airport) are the cobblestone streets.  The town of Nantucket is idyllic in every way.  You can tell there is money and history here, but you aren't beaten over the head with either.  They are just here and accepted.  

We chose the Hawthorn House based on a reasonable price and a good location in town.  It's one our first encounters with an invisible service hotel, meaning no front desk, no bellmen, just our keys to our rooms in envelopes in the hallway entrance.  Kinda nice and obviously a very low crime area!  It's a beautiful, old large house built originally in 1849 and has served as traveler lodging since 1920.  Our room # 1 was right inside and quite lovely with an incredibly nice and comfortable bed.  

After settling into our rooms, we immediately headed out for a walk around town and out to beautiful Brandt Point Lighthouse.  We had a pretty good dinner and drinks around the corner from our hotel at the Company of Thieves Pub and then headed back to the Hawthorn House and wiled away the rest of the evening on their secluded back patio with libations and laughter.

Tuesday, September 3 - This morning we were scheduled to take a ferry over to Martha's Vineyard for a guided tour of the famous and swanky island.    We started the day with breakfast as the excellent Black-Eyed Susan's restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. 

It was just a short walk to the ferry dock, so we did some casual shopping and browsing on our way there.  It was during this time we had quite a disturbing incident with our scheduled tour operator on Martha's Vineyard.  I try to keep this blog positive and upbeat, so I won't go into too many details, but let's just say we were very let down by our expensive, private, pre-paid-in-full and booked-months-ago tour and it's unprepared operator this morning.  We wound up having to cancel the tour the morning of due to her shocking unprofessional ineptitude.(Editor's note: We did end up receiving a full refund and future credit also thanks to booking through ToursByLocals.com instead of directly with this twit of a tour operator. They treated us great from the start with a frantic phone call to them that morning and then thru email afterwards.  Here's a big shout out to Tours By Locals for all their help. and we will definitely be using them again!)

Despite the setback with the tour, it was still a beautiful day and the Hy-Line Ferry left right on time like our  pre-paid tickets said it would (see how that works, Dee-Dee?).  We had a smooth ride over enjoying the scenery including this front view of Brandt Point Lighthouse again.  After a bit of looking around at the dock in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard at our options, we decided to rent a car for the day to see as much of the island as we could before our return trip in the afternoon.  The guy at Sun and Fun Inc. car rentals was nice and professional (see how that works, Dee-Dee?) and gave us a four-door sedan for a reasonable price as well as some great tips on where to go and what to see.

Our first stop was the famous Jaws Bridge from the classic film just outside Oak Bluffs heading toward Edgartown.  If you can't read my lips, I am saying..."there's a sh-sh-shark!  A shark in the pond!!"

We did a drive-by of the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse.  The whole town itself is beautiful.

Our next stop was my call, of course, but we all enjoyed it.  Bad Martha Brewing is named after the beautiful siren mermaid Martha who summoned many a sailor to his doom.  She just showed me where the tasty beer is, so I got no problems with her. 

On the far westernmost end of Martha's Vineyard is Gay Head Light which was actually moved back a few hundred yards recently due to erosion around its base.  This was our final stop before heading back to Oak Bluffs to catch our ferry back to Nantucket.  

Gay Head Light overlooks the beautiful Aquinnah Cliffs.  Sure wish we had had more time here.

Our time on lovely (and larger than expected) Martha's Vineyard Island was much too short, and while a lot of it was seen from a passing car window like these awesome gingerbread houses that the island is famous for, we still really enjoyed it enough to know we would consider a return trip if the opportunity every arises. 

The ferry ride back to Nantucket was quick and easy, and when we disembarked, we went to get in the line out the door of The Juice Bar, a very popular ice-cream shop cleverly disguised as something healthy.  Some of the best ice cream we've ever had, no doubt about it.  We spent our last evening on Nantucket back on the patio of the Hawthorn House with a lot of libations, more laughs and even a pizza delivery.  

Wednesday, September 4 - We had a late afternoon flight home scheduled with a layover in Newark for a late arrival back home while Chris and Tarryn's flight was around noon, so we had just enough time to go back to Black-Eyed Susan's for breakfast again.  This is my "side" order of Yucatan chicken sausage that was unbelievably good with my scrambled eggs.  

We tried to book a sail around the harbor, but there were not enough people for it to go out, so with a few hours to kill and some pretty hot temps, we decided to duck into The Nantucket Whaling Museum.  Despite our opposition to whaling, there is no disputing that it was a major part of history and the industrial revolution in America, and Nantucket was the undisputed capital for it.  The air-conditioning and displays were very nice and we enjoyed our visit more than we thought we would, and seeing the full skeleton of a grown sperm whale was amazing.  

An added bonus to The Whaling Museum was the 360-degree views of their Roof Walk. This panoramic shot out toward the harbor shows the beauty and meticulous upkeep of this cool little historic town.  

You know what else is close to The Whaling Museum?  The Juice Bar!!!  This is a scoop of their "Dirty Grasshopper" flavor (chocolate mint ice cream with Oreos) which they were out of during our visit yesterday, but in stock today and it was amazing.  

An added bonus to our admission to The Whaling Museum was that we also gained access to some other historic points of interest on the island.  The closest (and most interesting) to us was The Old Mill.  This beautifully restored wind-power grist mill is the last survivor of a row of seven of these beautiful structures that once adorned the landscape here grinding out corn hardtack for the scores of whaling ships heading out from Nantucket.  Built in 1746, it is also the oldest mill in the United States still in operation and we got to have a private tour and demonstration of it in action (private because we were the only visitors at that time) by the folks working there.  See video above.  The wheel in the photo above the video is for rotating the entire top of the windmill and its blades to whatever direction the wind is blowing .  Clever, huh? 

We were done with learning and history and it was time for some drinking!  We took an Uber out to Cisco Brewery a few miles from town for a few afternoon libations since they not only brew craft beer, but distill liquor and also make wine.  We met a great couple there while sharing a table who told us about a free shuttle that Cisco was running from downtown Nantucket out to the farm so we hopped on with them to head back to town at no charge.  That was the good news...

then came the bad news..

Yep, first time ever in all of our travels together, United Airlines cancelled their last flight out of Nantucket today which we were supposed to be on.  With no good alternative, we were stuck on the island with Hurricane Dorian down south and churning northward.  We were forced to spend another night in this beautiful place even though it screwed with our work and other plans.  Our room at the Hawthorn House was still available, so at least we got that..but at no discount...and since it was not the fault of UA...supposedly an air traffic control issue at Newark...we probably won't be getting reimbursed for it or our other expenses to stay the extra night.

We just had to trust the UA gate agent who was confident we would get on their 9 AM morning flight with no problems even though the hurricane had us worried about more flight delays and cancellations.  With no other choices and hungry bellies, we decided to try the restaurant here at the airport called Crosswinds which we were told was great by a flight attendant when we were coming in on Jet Blue.  He was right!!  The food was amazing, so at least we had that.  The Wednesday night weekly special is unlimited pasta (Ashlee) and 50-cent jumbo wing (me).  It was cool to see that some of the stars of the long-defunct TV show about a small airport in Nantucket called, "Wings", had visited here also and left signed photographs on the wall.

It was another beautiful night in Nantucket and although we don't live on Easy Street, it is fun to visit it now and then, and eek out a pretty darn good trip despite some major snafus along the way.

Thursday, September 5 - The food was so good at Crosswinds at the airport that we came back for breakfast.  Check out my wonderful steak and eggs platter.  And the potatoes and rye toast were perfect.

We did make it off the island on time and with no issues.  Goodbye, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, it's been a memorable time for sure.

The window was a tight 45-minutes to change planes in Newark which we made without much trouble and a little bit of sweat from having to cross three huge concourses.  The flight home was smooth despite a warning from our captain that we might be on the runway in Newark for a long while before departing (that didn't happen), and it might be a bumpy flight due to the outer trails of Hurricane Dorian (that also didn't happen). And we did get Stroopwafels which may be United Airlines only redeeming value.

We used a lot of Ubers/Lyfts this trip (about $200 in total) and as I was going back through my receipts I could recall that all of them were pretty good, but this guy's name stood out.  

You know the ladies love Lovejit!! 

Epilogue: Hurricane Dorian got close to Nantucket as a CAT 1 storm, but missed it on it's continued path north. Our thoughts are with those affected in it's terrible path of destruction.
None of our faves at The U.S. Open won their brackets.
As I mentioned before we got our refund from the botched MV tour.
We have yet to hear from United Airlines about any reimbursement for the cancelled flight.
We miss eating at Crosswinds. 

CONCERNING CONCERTing

The months of July and August mean a lot of pool time,

but they are also chock-full of concerts and other fun stuff for us this year: 

Wednesday, July 3 - So we were both at Jeff Lynne's ELO concert at the Bridgestone Arena tonight, but we were not sitting together!??  I got tickets first with my pals, Craig and Barry, and Ashlee wasn't interested.  Then she found out that Jeff Lynne did all the music for Xanadu, one of her favorite films, and she was in with our friend, Bridgette, and they got seats fairly close to our nosebleeds.  Turns out their seats were right next to ours!  Yes, they were up high, but they were also dead-center for a great view.  We all had a great time and the show was sensational.  At 72 years old, Jeff Lynne, is still sounding great and the show was full of hits from his amazing career.

Friday, July 5 - We checked out the new film, Spiderman: Far From Home in IMAX at The Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville tonight with our pal, Wayne.   It was an enjoyable romp and a nice finish to this phase of the MCU.

We've had a house-guest this week with our "cousin cat" Penny, who we are watching while Ashlee's sister, Paige, and her family are on vacation.  Our young cats are having a ball with her.  Zippy seems to like her too.  Ms. Bea is quietly indifferent.  

Tuesday, July 9 - We went to see Rob Thomas perform at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in downtown Nashville tonight.  He's been one of our favorites for many years and his band, Matchbox 20, was one of the first shows we traveled together to see as a couple in Knoxville way back in 1998.   Tonight's show was spot-on with new songs from his solid new album, "Chip Tooth Smile"; other hits from his long solo career; a few Matchbox 20 classics; and even a very good cover of David Bowie's "Let's Dance" which he did even into the crowd.  Our seats in the balcony were good and his great voice sounded divine in this beautiful acoustic-friendly facility (a taste of which is in the video above).  We were surprised that he had two openers, one of which we saw very recently open for Martin Sexton.  His name is Chris Trapper and he is excellent.  The second opener won't be mentioned because we thought she was fairly awful.  Rob's only guest during his set was Jimmie Allen, a young country artist who has a popular cover of MB20's beautiful song, "3 A.M." which the pair did a duo version of tonight.  We had an OK dinner beforehand at Taki Sushi over in Hermitage and a drink at City Tap around the corner from the venue.

Here's a cool shot from the stage perspective that I stole from Thomas' social media feed.  We are in the top left balcony.  Photo credit to Jim Trocchio Photography.  

Wednesday, July 10 - We were back down at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center again tonight after I won four tickets to the National Geographic Live Speaker Series featuring photojournalist, Brian Skerry from NowPlayingNashville.com (thanks, folks!).  Our friends, Danny and Brenda, came along to use the other two tickets.   Our seats were great for this visual feast. It was an interesting, enlightening, worrisome and hopeful presentation all at the same time. regarding our world's oceans  Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at The Southern Steak and Oyster restaurant.  There are three more of these speaker series coming up in the next year and we are going to try and make as many of them as we can.  

One of my favorite images of Mr. Skerry's was this one of President Obama snorkeling off Midway Island, a marine sanctuary that he helped save while president.  

Friday, July 12 - It was a beautiful night to have lawn seats for Fitz and the Tantrums at the Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville.  They continue to be one of our favorite bands to see live and tonight's show was great.  The opener, Coin, a young band out of right here in Nashville were solid as well.  It was a co-headlining tour with Young the Giant, but we skipped their set since we didn't know any of their songs, and to beat traffic and get home at a decent hour.  We had a very good dinner beforehand at the new Sun Diner, a 24-hour joint serving breakfast all day.

We did  get home in time for me to take my first night swim of the summer.  Ashlee just put her feet in and Zippy just hung out with us.  There is a rumor that I swam naked...but, hey, that's just a rumor....and Zippy's not talking....

Tuesday, July 16 - We were back on the lawn again tonight for a SOLD OUT show with two of our favorite 90's bands, Train and The Goo Goo Dolls, at the Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville.  Our friend, Emily, and her husband, Andrew, joined us as well.  We've seen both of these bands numerous times and still enjoy listening to their timeless hits.  Both put on great shows and as did the opener, Allen Stone, who we've seen more than once, and he's such a great talent.  Rain from Tropical Storm Barry threatened all day, but we were mercifully spared even a drop while at the show. and the temps were even cooler than our previous visit last week.  Traffic slowed us down from our planned dinner locale, so we ate at the Ascend whose concession stand food is actually pretty good, but, pricey as expected.

The Goo Goo Dolls took the stage first and really brought the hits, and even some new stuff from another upcoming album.

Train closed the show and sounded about as good as ever with the seemingly ageless, Pat Monahan, on lead vocals.  We did miss lead guitarist, Jimmy Stafford,  who we've met and who retired from the band a few years back, but his younger replacement is solid.  

Sunday, July 21 - After rescheduling exactly three times, we FINALLY saw The Lion King live-action remake in IMAX at the Streets of Indian Lake Theaters in Hendersonville with our pal, Wayne.  The theater was packed, but the plethora of kids there were pretty quiet during the show.  We enjoyed it, but forgot how scary and foreboding the whole story is.  

Sunday, July 28 - We made the drive down to Chattanooga today for our first-ever visit to "The Little Brown Church" on Signal Mountain.  The historic Union Chapel as it's more formally known was built in 1905.  We were there to attend the memorial service of Ashlee's great Uncle Bob who passed away recently at the age of 96.

Ashlee's great uncle, Bob Boggild, led an eccentric, albeit very interesting, life.  He was an engineer and an inventor including creating probably most famously, the Play-doh Fun Factory.  He also worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II.  His long-time wife, Aunt Madge, is still spry and jovial at the age of 95.  Both of them were and have always been very nice to Ashlee and I over the years, and we think highly of them.

A beautiful stone for a beautiful lady.  We miss you, Evie-baby!

Thursday, August 1 - We decided to check out the new film, Fast and Furious Present: Hobbs and Shaw, in the also new 4DX-format theater at Opry Mills.  4DX immerses the viewer in not only sight and sound, but movement, weather conditions and even smells!  This great action/comedy was the perfect film for this format as we were jerked, sprayed and shaken from start to finish laughing with joy the whole time.   We may not see every film this way, but it won't be our last either.  Beforehand, we had a tasty dinner at the Homegrown Taproom over in Hermitage.

Friday, August 2 - We rarely repeat trips, but sometimes places are so great (Key West) and so beautiful (Paris), that it's worth it.  We've kind of started a yearly tradition of going somewhere "in the mountains" with some of our friends the first weekend of August, and last year we chose Bryson City, North Carolina, and had a great time except we didn't get to do the main thing we went there to do:  tubing in nearby Deep Creek, due to it being at flood stage.  So we went back to Bryson City to give it another try.

To get to Bryson City, we also had to repeat traveling on the famous winding road of Highway 129 also known as The Tail of the Dragon.

The real miracle of the weekend and the entire trip was how we magically dodged spotty stormy weather all over the place.  

Another repeat was this spectacular view of the Caulderwood Dam from high up on Hwy 129 except this time with a nice addition.  Note the butterfly in the foreground.  

More repeats!  We drove up again in a Subaru Outback...except this one was a year newer and a rental and we stayed at the same rental house and train caboose right in Bryson City.  

One big change from last year was that we slept in the caboose this year along with our friends, Wendy and Charly, while Wayne, who couldn't make it last year, and Patrick and Michelle took the two bedrooms in the house.  While the bunkbeds aren't the most comfortable things to sleep on, it was kind of fun and it's a very cool little space to stay in.  Evidently this is the caboose used in the movie The Fugitive as well which we didn't know last year.

Saturday, August 3 - The biggest change from last year is that we did get to tube Deep Creek this year!  It was bit bumpy on the ol' behinds, but it was still pretty fun.  I didn't take a camera along on our ride so this shot above is of some other folks enjoying the view of Tom's Branch Falls along the float.  Again, the weather cooperated perfectly.

Our friend, Michelle, did bring her camera and she's kind of notorious for not taking the best pictures, but you gotta love her effort.  Here we are at Tom's Branch Falls during our run down Deep Creek.  Thanks for the pic, Michelle.

While we were in the mountains, Ms. Bea was hanging out "rockin' the cat's spa" at The Chatter Cat Inn boarding house taking her thyroid medicine twice a day, and being cute for her internet posting.   Thanks for  taking care of our old girl and the great pic, Anjie! 

Sunday, August 4-  Here's the whole crew just before we headed out from the our mountain home for a couple days.  Thanks to Wayne and his remote camera for the shot.  

Another thing we missed last year was a visit to the odd, whimsical and impressive collection of The Museum of the American House Cat in nearby Sylva, NC.  This is a one-man effort of over 30 years of collecting by Dr. Harold Sims, who also gave us a personal tour during our visit.  The museum is connected to a large antique mall that we also had fun poking around in as well.   We came last year, but they were closed due to a storm-induced power outage. 

Our last repeat of the trip was a visit to the awesome Tapoco Lodge for a riverside meal and last trip libation.  We still plan on staying in this beautiful place sometime in the future.  Maybe on a first weekend in August....

Saturday, August 10 - I sort of tricked Ashlee into going to see the new film, The Art of Racing in the Rain, tonight at our local Roxy Theaters (recliners!) by telling her it wasn't a sad story.  Well, it is...in parts, but it's also a great story and the movie followed the great audio-book I listened to a few years ago very closely.  She did wind up enjoying the film since it was so well-made and had great casting including, of course, Enzo, the golden lab.  

Sunday, August 11 - It turned out to be a Sunday Funday for us this afternoon as we attended a beer-and-donut pairing at Mayday Brewing down in Murfreesboro along with our friends Danny, Brenda and Kyle.    The donuts were provided by Donut Country, a local bakery, and the pairings were pretty good, even if the whole set-up seemed a little disorganized.  Our group moved on from there to check out the new Hop Springs Beer Park nearby.  This place is new, and it's gonna be something special in the future with some bold plans.  It was already hopping today with craft beer flowing, live music, a food truck, and other  family-friendly activities.  We finished the day off back in Wilson County with a great dinner at the always-great Cherokee Steak House out on the riverside with our friends, Wendy and Charly.  

Wednesday, August 15 - We both decided to take a few hours off from work and go check out the Titans preseason practice with the NFL defending-champs, the New England Patriots today.  We were able to get pretty close to the action and even saw the amazing Tom Brady sling the pigskin right toward us.  The heat was tough, however, and we only stayed for about an hour before it drove us away.

Since we were in the area, we decided to have lunch from the drive-thru of the long-time (1972) North Nashville staple, Ed's Fish and Pizza House, which hilariously hasn't had pizza in years despite the sign.  We got a huge sandwich of fried whiting on white bread to split that was outstanding.  This won't be our last visit!  

Tuesday, August 20 - It was $5 Bargain Night at the Roxy Theaters (recliners!) here in town and we loaded to go see the raunchy new comedy, Good Boys, with our pal, Casey.  It is one of the funniest movies we've seen from start to finish since The Hangover.  We definitely plan to see it again since we missed some of it laughing so hard.

Thursday, August 22 - We attended our first of two nights at the 2019 Live on the Green Music Festival with backstage VIP tickets. 

We were pretty worried about the night being a complete wash-out with rain steadily coming down as we drove in to downtown Nashville and when we got there early to hear a little bit of Mat Kearney's soundcheck.  We passed the time in the dry under a tent with some adult libations and a tasty dinner that was all included in our VIP upgrade.  It was only rain at least and not storms. And, thankfully, after only a slight delay of the 6 PM planned start, the rain moved out, the temps dropped nicely and the music began!   Thanks to our friends, Danny and Brenda, for joining us also.

First up was one of our local faves, Will Hoge, pounding out his solid tunes in a short,but solid set.  This guy is the "Springsteen of Nashville" we think and vastly underrated.  

The quirky and cute, Amanda Shires, was next on the billing.  She's gifted musically, playing guitar and fiddle, but her voice wasn't our favorite, but it was still an entertaining set. 

The best thing about the Shires set was that her famous husband, the  ultra-talented Jason Isbell, played guitar with her band.  He kept his presence on stage fairly low-key:  stage right and in and out of the shadows of the spotlight out of respect for his wife I am sure.  As Ashlee said, only in Nashville would a guy who headlined 9 sold-out shows at The Ryman recently now play back-up guitar at an outdoor free show.  You gotta love this town.

The final performer that we stayed for was another one of our favorites, Mat Kearney, who also lives here in Nashville and has for a long time.  His set was solid as usual including a fun romp into the crowd during one of his closing songs.  

Saturday, August 24 - We had lawn seats for Judah and the Lion once again at  the Ascend Amphitheater in downtown Nashville.  The weather was perfect, the crowd was large and enthusiastic, and the local boys who have done gone big time on us tore up the stage with a great show.    Don't be surprised if they are playing arenas the next go around.

Sunday, August 25 - We found a great way to check out the new Opryland waterpark called Soundwaves which isn't open to the public unless you stay at the hotel.  However, thanks to Ashlee, we found out that you could also just book a party room for about $50 a person that included parking, pizza, a cake, drinks and an all-day pass to the park, so we figured "Hey, why not?!" 

We used Ashlee's upcoming birthday as our "reason" to rent a party room.  Sure, it's probably intended for kids and we had a a couple kids in our group of 14, but us and some of our closest friends are kids at heart anyway.

We had a great, long day inside and out at the park which has a wave pool, several slides, two lazy rivers and several other aquatic activities plus a big game room, lots of lounging areas, food trucks, bars, etc.  The weather was a bit suspect and the outside was closed for a while, but reopened later in the day, so we got to experience pretty much everything we wanted.

We capped off the day with 6 of us hitting Krystal for their new all-you-can-eat offer, I racked up nine cheese Krystals myself, but Charly was the big "winner" with 17 gulped down.  

We bought a hummingbird feeder for our back patio earlier this year with zero success, but our flowers have done great this summer and that has brought them in for our viewing pleasure.  Look quick in the video above because he's not there long.

Thursday, August 29 - Our two summer months of concerts and other fun concluded tonight back at Live on the Green with VIP tickets for one of our favorite live bands and summer staples, O.A.R.   Before the boys from Rockville closed the night out, we also saw and heard American Authors who were pretty good, and a great set of  70's and early 80's classics by Yacht Rock Revue.  More good food and adult beverages were served as well and we enjoyed the company of our friends, Danny and Brenda.  

Kind of a cool reverse panoramic shot from the ground of OAR on stage to over my head to the sky with the tops of  buildings in downtown Nashville.