It Was A Grand Ole Trip!

It had to come to an end.  Our winter trip officially ended when we left Nashville early Sunday morning and drove home.  Our final day was spent cleaning and getting the trailer ready to roll. 

We had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry Saturday night.  What a great place.

We saw 12 entertainers in this 2 1/2 hour show, most I'd never head of, but recognized the songs they were singing.  Vince Gill was the most popular, but our favorite was Bo Bice, who was runner-up on American Idol the year Carrie Underwood won. 

Ranger Doug (in the red) yodeled for us again, when he appeared with his group, Riders in The Sky

Vince Gill

The backstage tour was interesting.  All the workers were quick to point out how nice the Opry is since the massive remodeling due to the flood last year.

Mark lounging on the couch in the dressing room that Vince Gill used that evening.

Our group on stage - Steve and Carol from Montana, Windsor and Pam from Ohio, us, and Lois and Steve from New York.

It was close to 11:00pm before we got back to the trailer.  Pam and Carol wanted us to go to a midnight show at the Ernest Tubb theatre, but we headed off to bed to get an early start.

Nashville was the perfect ending to a great winter.  I'm sure we heard at least 10 renditions of Crazy by Patsy Cline, and at least 20 of Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette, but it was all great.

It has taken us two trips so far out to the storage lot to empty the trailer, and we still have more to go.  I've done 6 loads of laundry and have at least 10 more to go.  While we haven't seen all of the family yet, those that we have look fabulous.

Next blog will be from Gulf Shores, Alabama in September.   

Jumpin' Time

Monday was Pam and Dennis' 30th wedding anniversary!  Dennis had picked out a restaurant to celebrate, and Mark had picked out the evening's entertainment.  For a couple of years, Mark has wanted to see "The Time Jumpers" at the Station Inn in Nashville.  This rally got us here.  They only play on Monday nights so what better way to celebrate a 30th anniversary.  We had dinner at Goten, a Japanese steak house where they cook your dinner right in front of you.  The food was delicious! 

We arrived at the Station Inn two hours early for the entertainment, and got the last two seats!  I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the outside of the building.  It was very old, and very small with a limited capacity, and lots of people were turned away.  These guys are all fabulous musicians.  There was also a steel guitar, an accordion, and a base guitar. 

Tuesday night Steve and Carol provided dinner for everyone at the rally.  Steve and Windsor cooked in four Dutch ovens.  They started with very large boneless pork tenderloins and added and removed coals from the tops and bottoms of the cast iron ovens for 3 1/2 hours.  The end result was fabulous pulled pork and great baked beans.

Wednesday morning we had to say goodbye to Pam and Dennis who headed to St. Louis for a few days before heading out west.  Luckily we'll see them again in August.

We all went to the Country Music Hall of Fame for a couple of hours before Mark and I headed off to the Big River Grille and Brewery Works for lunch.  We both had the house specialty - fish tacos.

Yesterday we had a tee time at Two Rivers Golf Course about 3 miles away.  It was a beautiful municipal course and the day was perfect.  Our first sunny, warm day since arriving in Nashville last week Saturday. 

Today we headed to the Ryman Auditorium which is where the Grand Old Opry was originally located.  Lots of history in this old building. 

We got to stand on the stage where thousands a whole lot more talented than us, stood. 

Next stop - our new favorite Nashville locale - Tootsies!  Another great female singer.  Unfortunately, after she played two sets, a young man from Cuba got up, and he was not what the crowd wanted to hear.  After two songs, he left, and the other gal came back.  She kept taking requests, but she didn't always know the words, so she Googled the lyrics and sang anyway. 

It's good to have a smart phone while being an entertainer!

Nashville Now!

We have finally arrived at our final stopping off place before we get home next week.  We're at the 2011 Cedar Creek RV Club Rally in Nashville, Tennessee.  Other than passing through on trips to Atlanta, we've never visited this city.  When we left Kinder, LA we drove to just south of Memphis Friday night, and got up early Saturday to get to Nashville to see Pam and Dennis and the rally folks. 

The weather hasn't been great since we got here Saturday afternoon.  We've had to dig out the sweatshirts and jeans.  Pam had made us dinner for Saturday so we quickly ate and headed into downtown Nashville to check out the entertainment.  As I am a huge country & western fan, I love this town.  The downtown district was mobbed as it was a weekend night and all the kids (20-30 somethings) were out.  Most bars had cover charges and long lines to get in, with music blasting way too loud (not country music either.)  We finally landed at Rippey's Bar and Grill.  We were surprised by the beer prices - $4.25, but have come to discover that that's the price everywhere.  After a few, we headed out to find other entertainment.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get in anywhere so we visited all the souvenir shops. 

I thought Elvis was from Memphis. Pam and I didn't mind posing with him.

Early Sunday afternoon Mark and I headed across town to visit his Aunt June who we haven't seen in 10 years.  Unfortunately, she fell and broke her hip and wrist last week and was in the hospital, so that's where we visited.  She looks great for being 90.  She recognized us immediately and was quite happy to see us.  After our visit, we had Pam and Dennis meet us downtown so we could try and get into some bars that we couldn't get into on Saturday night. 

As we were walking down the street, we stumbled onto a large crowd that appeared to be waiting for something or someone.  We just happened to be in the right place at the right time.  Keith Urban and Bill Anderson were being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and they walked right in front of us!

Keith Urban and wife, Nicole Kidman

Bill Anderson and his wife.

My week was then complete.  Keith Urban was one of a couple singers I really wanted to see while here, and he walked right in front of us.  Thankfully Pam got a great picture of them - all I got was his security guard and the back of his head. 

We next headed over to Tootsies.  What a great place.  We walked in and a group immediately got up and gave us their perfect table right in front of the window, and next to the stage.  The two performers were fabulous and the drinks were cold. 

A few hours later we headed over to the infamous Wildhorse Saloon where we had wanted to get into on Saturday night, but there was a 2 1/2 hour wait.

The four of us even tried the line dancing lessons.  Mark and I lasted way longer than Pam and Dennis. 

Tonight we're going to dinner and some restaurant/bar to celebrate Pam and Dennis' 30th wedding anniversary which is today.  Boy do I need a nap!



A Little Gambling To Finish The Winter

Our final day in Kemah was spent cleaning up the inside of the RV, and then heading to the Gulf Greyhound Park for the matinee races.  Since it was "senior day" we got in for free and the lunch buffet was only $5 a piece.  Not a bad price, since the meal was just so-so; luckily the desserts were good. 

As newbies to live dog races, we weren't really sure what to expect.  It's certainly not like the professional horse racing we've seen on TV, or the horse racing back home, but hey - it filled the afternoon, and we even managed to walk out with their money!

First these kids walk the dogs down to the starting gate.

After the dogs are in the gates, the kids must run back to the other end before the dogs are let out.

And they're off - chasing "Sparky", the mechanical rabbit (I think). In no time at all, the race is over, and 5 minutes later a new one starts. 

We got back to the park later in the afternoon with no plans other than to get ready to leave in the morning.  While Butch and Mark napped, I did laundry.  This was not cheap!  Three loads cost me $14 to wash and dry. 

Thursday we headed off to our next destination - Coushatta Casino and RV Park in Kinder, LA.  Several of our Texas friends had been raving about this casino and RV park.  Since we had never been, and it was kinda on the way to Nashville, we were game.  It was a nice casino, and the slots were certainly a lot looser than any others that we have previously visited.  The cafe had great sandwiches (lunch) and the buffet was very good for dinner.  Unfortunately, we gave to the casino what the dog track gave to us.

Early this morning we headed off to just south of Memphis.  We crossed the flooded Mississippi River in Vicksburg, MS.

Tomorrow we'll be heading to Nashville for the Rally.  An added bonus - my sister and her husband will be joining us for 4 nights!

Starting For Home

We've spent the past couple of weeks winding down on our workamping in Victoria TX.  It was a struggle at the end since all the winter people were gone.  Even though the park was full every night, it's full of pipeline, chemical plant, and every other kind of oil field workers imaginable.  Those people all work 6 or 7 days a week, 8-12 hours a day, and don't want to talk to us old fogies! 
Our Sunday night dinner/dessert/canasta evenings with Mike and Pam ended up being the highlights of our final month.  We managed to get in one (or part of one) golf game per week.  The Riverside course has three nines, but one of those was always closed so the course was very crowded, and we have no patience for slow golf. Mark's back has been acting up again so once a week was plenty for him.

 
Yesterday we finally left the Lazy Longhorn RV Park and drove 150 miles to Kemah, TX which is very ritzy town on Galveston Bay between Houston and Galveston.  The largest attraction is the Kemah Boardwalk.   This area also has the third largest concentration of pleasure boats in the U.S.  Everywhere you look, there are marinas full of boats - I'm not sure anyone actually uses them - they just own them and pay for marina space. 

Check out all the seagulls following this fishing boat.  Even though the Boardwalk area is right on the Bay, you see no birds until a boat comes into the marina.

Last night we returned to see if there were more people at night, since there were only a few tourists during the day.  Sad to say, it wasn't much better at night.

This ride took you all the way to the top, then immediately dropped at about 50mph.  No, we didn't ride.

Note the sidewalks - no people!

Yes, I was a sucker for yet another crazy photo.

Today we headed down to Galveston to see if much had changed since we hadn't been there in more than a year.  We still saw lots of hurricane damage, but lots of rebuilding too.  We drove along the coast until we couldn't stand the smell any longer.  The beaches were loaded with this disgusting smelly seaweed - we could smell through the closed truck windows.  A few brave people were out on the beach, and even in the water.  The red flags were blowing since the surf was so rough.  We headed over to the Strand area and had lunch at Yaga's before heading back to Kemah. 

After lunch, we walked across the street to the Nestle store.  Mark had this ice cream with hot fudge; I had a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie.

I had to finish my fudge cake that I was taking to the adult "Cork on the Wall" potluck in the park tonight.  The park provided fried chicken.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this.  Since no one is in the park, we were the only non-long term people in attendance.  After a couple glasses of wine and dinner, we headed back to walk Butch.

Butch playing with his Santa Bobo.

One of Mark's errant tee shots!