Sunday, April 26, 2009

Grand Ole Opry

This is the only picture I have. I did have the mind to take a picture with my camera at one point. This is Bill Anderson, for those who know their Classic Country artists.

The show we went to was on the radio! It's on WSM 650 in Nashville. You can listen to the show online or on Sirius satellite radio. It was in 4 half hour sections, with commercials in between. The first part was sponsored by Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (they like their Cracker Barrels down here. :o) ), and was hosted by Bill Anderson. The performers were The Whites and Emily West. The next session was sponsored by US Bank and was hosted by Jimmy Dickens. The performers were Jimmy C Newman (cajun music) and Cherryholmes (a family blue grass band). The next one was sponsored by Humana and was hosted by Lorrie Morgan. The performers were Jean Shepard and Jack Greene. The last part was sponsored by Johnson Controls and hosted by Marty Stuart. He had Mike Snider and Connie Smith. Each one performed 2 songs, including the hosts. Bill Anderson did a cute song about unicorns with his grandson. It's very informal making the whole experience fun. I had a great time!!!

We went to Lynchburg yesterday. Lynchburg, TN, for those who don't drink hard liquor, is the home of Jack Daniels. The distillery, not the person. He's dead now. We did the distillery tour (free to the public) and got our group picture taken. When it's available on line, we can download it and print it out. The tours are done by groups and they take a group picture when the tour starts. We went into Lynchburg to the Hardware store for souvenirs. I should mention that Lynchburg and the distillery are in a dry county, so we didn't get those kind of souvenirs.

Now we're in Chattanooga. Actually, we're in Georgia, but just over the border. Rossville is actually split in 2 by the state line. One part of town is in TN and the other is in GA. The Georgia side has a lot more traffic. I'm not really sure why we're here, except to check out the brewpubs. Of course. There is, however, a winery at the entrance to the campground. :o) After this, we head to Pennsylvania.

Our trip is almost over....

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Nashville, TN

We went to the Grand Ole Opry and I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!!!!!!!!!

More later...

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

More Graceland

Like I said earlier, jumpsuits. However, as time went on, they became jumpsuits with big belts and capes. The earlier ones Elvis wore were just the suits.

The racquetball court.

The meditation garden.

Elvis, his mom, his dad, and his grandmother are buried in the meditation garden. There is a marker for his twin brother, but his brother is buried in Tupelo.

The current residents of Graceland.

Enough about Graceland. On to Nashville!

Inside Graceland

The living room with the music room beyond.

The dining room. The blue drapes and white carpet run throughout the entrance of the house. I actually like it. It's not pretentious. Classy.

Part of the jungle room. My pictures didn't come out very good because you couldn't use a flash and the room is rather dark. The green shag carpeting is not only on the floor, but it is on the ceiling as well. It has a wall on one end with a waterfall. The kitchen (another room that I couldn't get a good picture of) is a typical 1970s horror room with the dark wood cabinets and all. They left it just the way it was when he died. But it was probably the most modern kitchen at the time.

In the basement, this is the TV room. There are 3 TVs on the wall, a fireplace, and a bar.

This is the pool room, which is also in the basement. And yes, that is fabric on the walls and ceiling. Since there are no windows down here, makes sense to me.

The upstairs is closed off to tourists. And I never did see any bathrooms. The other room on the 1st floor was his parents bedroom. It is behind the living room. All in all a very surprising glimpse into a life that I thought was more extravagant. He had his quirks, but they weren't over the top. Except maybe the Jungle Room

We also saw his cars, walked through his planes, and saw just about everyone of his jumpsuits that were his signature style. There is even on museum dedicated to his military uniforms.

Oh, before I forget. There are a few other buildings on the property. One is in the back, which used to be the smokehouse when the house was originally built. It was used by Elvis' father as an office and storage. Then there is the racquetball building. It has a lounge where you could sit and watch a racquetball game. The court itself is full of gold and platinum records and some of the above mentioned jumpsuits. And what used to be the patio to the pool was closed in and became the trophy room. This one contains awards, trophies, plaques, gold and platinum records, and more jumpsuits.

Graceland

The backyard

The family room, aka the Jungle room, which was at one time a patio, but was closed in by Elvis to create the family room

The horse pasture. Yep, horses at Graceland. There are at least 2 there now. They were frolicking in the front yard when we were there.

The back of the house.

The pool.

The whole place is not as big as you would think. It may have been enormous when it was built in 1939. But by today's standards of mansions, it's small. I was rather surprised that it was so small. All the stuff across the street is bigger. And talk about the tourist trap. They like to gouge you around here.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Where are we now?

Guess!

We're down at the end of...

Behind the...

At the RV park on...

Across the street from...

Got it yet?

Yep. We're at GRACELAND!!!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

A couple more

Driving through White Sands. Like driving through snow. They even use a grader to clean up the drifts.

Las Cruces from our RV park.

One of the inspection stations along the highways. They just ask where you've been, where you're going and what you're citizenship is.

From Carlsbad to Las Cruces

The flat, brown, dry landscape outside Carlsbad

Then you start going up into the mountains. Not only did the trees change, but there is a ski area outside Alomagordo.

Next you go through a canyon, which includes a tunnel through the mountain.

At one point you get to see the White Sands National Monument. It sticks out like a sore thumb being white in a sea of brown.

New Mexico

Hello all! I need to really update you on where we are and where we've been since Bill doesn't seem to want to share all his pictures with you.

When we left Texas, we headed back to New Mexico, only this time we took the Southern route. Our first stop was Carlsbad and the Carlsbad Caverns. It was really cool to walk through the cave. It's something like 750 feet down, and about 2 miles total walking. I really enjoyed it. Tiring, but awesome.

We stayed at the KOA in Carlsbad, which happens to be about 15 miles north of town. Carlsbad is a very small place, although it is really self contained. It has its own Walmart, a grocery store, gas stations, hotels, 2 McDonalds, 2 Sonics, and a hospital. Many of these small towns have this stuff. Since they are spread out, they need to be. Otherwise you'd be driving hours just to get a gallon of milk.

We got caught in a windstorm while we were there and were delayed an extra day. Spent the day watching TV and hoping the RV didn't fall over. It seems to be normal there. Some of the wind gusts were hurricane strength. Being from Alaska, we're used to high winds, but it's a lot different when you're in an RV. Even Meika didn't care for all the wind.

When we left Carlsbad, we headed to White Sands National Monument. We drove around there and had lunch among the dunes. It was a weekend and there were people there spending the day, "sledding" down the sand dunes. It was so unexpected from all the brown, flat topography we had in Carlsbad. From here, we went to Las Cruces.

We only spent a few days in Las Cruces. We went shopping in Old Town Medilla, and went to one of the wineries there. We also went to a brewery. Of course. Las Cruces is one of those places that you could spend a lot of time in. I wouldn't mind going back. It's more of a city than a small town, with a mall, and Sam's Club, and all that stuff. But it also has really great views of the mountains. And is just down the interstate from Albuquerque.

From Las Cruces we went to the exciting metropolis of Demming (can you read the sarcasm in that statement?). Demming is a stop on I-10. It's also the way we went to get to Mexico. That's about all you can say for it. Except it does have 2, count them, 2 wineries. Good wines too. Rather surprising for where it is. From here we headed to Hatch, the chili pepper capital of the world, on our way North. We went through it to get to the interstate. Other than anything made with chilies, there's nothing else to say about it. Yep. Some parts of New Mexico are just sooooo exciting. Even the cattle look bored.

Then on to Albuquerque. Civilization. Brown and dirt civilization, but civilization just the same. It was a little colder there. We woke up one morning to snow on the mountains and some snow on the kayak. It was gone by the end of the day, though. We spent 2 days walking through Old Town, although I think we got better deals elsewhere. Too touristy. But we picked up a few things. We're going to have an interestingly decorated house when we get one. And of course, had to hit a couple of breweries and a couple of wineries. I've got quite the wine cellar growing. I'm going to need to have one of those whole room, temperature controlled wine rooms put in. :o).

Left Albuquerque trying to outrun another wind storm. Spent one night in Elk City, OK and then headed to Oklahoma City to get to yet another micro brewery. Except this one was in Bricktown and was attached to their baseball field. It was in left field. You could even sit outside and eat and drink while watching the game. Not bad. You'll have to talk to Bill about their "beer water." Even Meika wasn't impressed.

And so now we're in Arkansas. First in Altus, the wine capital of Arkansas, where we got to 4 of the 6 wineries in the state. Like I said, wine cellar. Big wine cellar. And as I write this, we're in Little Rock. We went to 2 breweries here, one with good root beer and one with good pizza. We had a thunderstorm earlier in the day and it's been raining on and off since. Not much else to report on Little Rock. Although it does seem to be a very livable city. And Arkansas is most definitely an outdoorsy place. Lots of state parks with hiking, biking, camping, birding. We'll probably come back to do more stuff outside.

Now we're off to Memphis and the home of Elvis. As a matter of fact, we're going to be staying at the Graceland RV Park across the street from Graceland and next to the Heartbreak Hotel. Really. I'll take pictures. Looking forward to the brisket. :o)

Oh, while going through the panhandle of Texas, I added 2 more birds to my Texas list, bringing the total to 128 species. My life list is now at 388, having added a Verdin, Cactus Wren, and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher while sitting in the RV in Las Cruces. And a Black-throated Sparrow, Yellow-Headed Blackbird, and Aplomado Falcon while in Demming. Bill has pictures. I'll wrestle him for them.

May your next bird be a lifer!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Our trip so far

We started our trip in September. As of today, we've been through 25 states, and now...

3 countries!!

This picture is just because Eugene is such a cutie!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Oh, one more thing...

Remember this sign?

Yeah. Not so much...

Texas Recap

After leaving Florida and points along the Gulf Coast, we headed to Texas. We spent a few days in San Antonio. I already posted some pictures of the River Walk and the Alamo. I actually thought the Alamo was a monument for a battle won, not a battle lost. Oh well. We had a good time. The Riverwalk is a really neat place. It's mostly hotels and restaurants and so crowded with people you can hardly move, but still a really neat place for a nice walk. Then you go up to the street level and you can shop and eat some more. They were having a St. Patrick's Day celebration while we were there and they colored the water in the river green and had a parade through town and then had a parade of barges on the river. (We didn't see that.) On Saturday, they had a day called Arts Luminaria (I think), and all the art galleries were open for viewing. Downtown they had 6 different stages set up for performing arts. Musicians, dance groups, theater groups. It made for a very crowded downtown and Riverwalk. It was really cool being part of the local scene for a while.

From San Antonio, we headed to the Gulf Coast of Texas and spent 2 weeks in the Rockport/Fulton/Corpus Christi area. I liked this side of the gulf of Mexico better than the Florida side. It doesn't seem as crowded. I spent 2 good days birding with my friend Bron who lives in Rockport. I found a lot of new birds. But most importantly, it was really nice re-connecting and spending time with Bron. Then one morning, we took the Skimmer out to see the Whooping Cranes. (Hopefully, Bill will get around to updating his blog and get some pictures up. I posted some pictures previous, but he has the better ones.)

Bron took me to Corpus Christi to hit some of the city parks known for their birds (FYI, we were in the area prior to the big spring migration. I didn't get to see the hundreds of species that pass through the area every spring.). Bron drove me past the Selena memorial. She's quite the celebrity in Corpus.

The weather in Rockport was great. But it is so dry in that part of Texas. All the little puddles and ponds that are bird attractors were dust. We did have one big thunderstorm with lots of rain on one day, but they need a lot more. The storm came with its own tornado warning! Never seen a tornado. It was another new experience on this trip.

On the birding front, I had a good time. My final tally is 125 birds in Texas, my last 2 Texas birds being lifers for me, a female Vermillion Flycatcher and a Scaled Quail on our way to New Mexico. After Texas my life list is 381 birds long. I had a good birding trip and certainly plan to return to do the whole Texas Coastal Birding Trail.

From Rockport we headed back North to Austin. We needed to have the oil changed in the RV, so we spent a couple of days in Austin. I don't think I took a single picture there. Austin's motto is: Keep Austin Weird, and it is. But it is very easy to get around and has a lot to do. The Congress St. Bridge is known for its bats. They were just beginning to return from Mexico, so we didn't get to see any while there. We did, however, get to 3 brewpubs. Austin, not only being the capital of Texas, is also a college town. The LBJ Presidential Library is located here and all sorts of things. We really didn't do much there. We were gearing up for the long drive across Texas to New Mexico.

For thought: I've come to the conclusion that Florida is where old people go to spent the winters before they die. Texas, especially the Texas coast, is where old people go to live. After spending a month in Fort Myers, FL and then 2 weeks on the Texas coast, I can say that the folks who go to Texas are more active. More people walk and bike just around the rv park, not drive their golf carts. They swim in the pool and play shuffleboard and partake in other resort activities. Plus they go out more and do things around the area. While we were in Florida, some of those people didn't leave the resort the whole time we were there. There were 2 people in the RV across from us and I only saw the woman there once the whole time we were there. The guy there would sit out in the sun and smoke, but we never saw her outside the RV. And the people at the RV park in Texas seemed to be a lot friendlier. Not so "clique-ish" We were made to feel part of the family, not like an outsider in a tight knit community. Interesting.....just thought I'd add something deeper today.

Next up, New Mexico.

May your next bird be a lifer!

Laura