We went over to the office and paid them for another month here at Valle del Oro. We have decided that we would stay here until the end of March, then think about going to the North Ranch Escapees Park for their 15 day deal.
I took some steaks that I had gotten at Costco out of the freezer this morning and let them thaw. Then seasoned them ahead of time like I had seen them doing on The Chew. I used some of the bourbon flavored smoked salt I had gotten in Tennessee along with some ground pepper and some ground lemon pepper. I put them back in a zip lock bag and let them sit until dinner time. I broiled them on our George Foreman grill and they were delicious!
Our friends Colleen and Dennis are going to have their silverware jewelry booth at the Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale starting tomorrow for the next ten days. We had invited them to come over for dinner tonight after they got all set up. I had put some potatoes in the oven to bake, so we had them along with some fresh asparagus and hard rolls. Forry had picked out a chocolate mousse cake at the bakery this morning, so we had quite a feast.
Colleen brought along some really good red wine to go with. We spent a great couple of hours just getting caught up again and visiting. It is so good to spend time with friends from home.
Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tennessee. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The King, Ducks and BB King
What a fun day we've had today! We started out at Graceland back across the Mississippi River in Memphis. The home that Elvis Presley bought when he became a star is now a shrine to him and his music.
You sign up for a tour of the mansion and then take a shuttle bus basically across the street. These are the gates of Graceland as seen through the shuttle bus windshield --
The living room at Graceland -- can you believe that l-o-n-g white sofa?
The tour takes you through the downstairs portion of the house and the basement, plus the addition that housed the racquetball court. The former racquetball court is lined with gold and platinum record awards. And that's not all of them!
Glass cases hold many of the fantastic jumpsuits and outfits that the King wore at his performances. I don't recall what he was wearing the first time we saw him when we were teenagers -- at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane. When we saw him in the early seventies in Las Vegas, he was wearing something similar to these. I remember he had a red scarf around his neck. He wiped his face with it and then tossed it into the audience. I thought the lady who grabbed it was going to swoon --
Elvis Presley and his music was such a part of our teenage and early married years. I can remember watching him on the Ed Sullivan show when they so carefully did NOT show anything below the waist! Elvis' grave is in the Meditation Garden behind the house along with those of his parents and grandmother. There were multiple bouquets of fresh and silk flowers that continue to arrive at
Graceland every day --
In the automobile museum next door are many of Elvis' automobiles, motorcycles and other mechanized toys. I think I liked this purple Cadillac the best. Or maybe the pink one?
Both of Elvis' airplanes are also on the tour. We had to chuckle at the color schemes and what was "hot" so many years ago.
From Graceland we drove downtown to the historic Peabody Hotel. It was time to take a break in the lobby --
And to see the famous Peabody Marching Ducks in the fountain! Four females and a drake march down to the lobby from their penthouse quarters every morning at 11 AM and march back up at 5 PM.
The hotel has a "Duck Master," who trains and cares for them --
Here they are climbing out of the fountain for their trip down the red carpet --
People were lined up all along the mezzanine and the lobby to watch --
They follow the Duck Master down the red carpet and across the lobby to the elevator. --
(The jerk in the blue shirt is a professional photographer from PBS... he kept getting in front of everyone!)
From The Peabody we walked a couple of blocks down to Beale Street to BB King's, (King was not there tonight, but was playing in concert on the huge video screen) where we had wonderful ribs and the best catfish I've ever eaten. When I had asked the concierge at The Peabody for directions to BB King's, he gave me cards good for two free appetizers...
Memphis is much like Nashville -- even on a Tuesday night, downtown is alive and active! This shot is looking down Beale Street which was barricaded off from vehicle traffic --
You sign up for a tour of the mansion and then take a shuttle bus basically across the street. These are the gates of Graceland as seen through the shuttle bus windshield --
The living room at Graceland -- can you believe that l-o-n-g white sofa?
The tour takes you through the downstairs portion of the house and the basement, plus the addition that housed the racquetball court. The former racquetball court is lined with gold and platinum record awards. And that's not all of them!
Glass cases hold many of the fantastic jumpsuits and outfits that the King wore at his performances. I don't recall what he was wearing the first time we saw him when we were teenagers -- at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane. When we saw him in the early seventies in Las Vegas, he was wearing something similar to these. I remember he had a red scarf around his neck. He wiped his face with it and then tossed it into the audience. I thought the lady who grabbed it was going to swoon --
Elvis Presley and his music was such a part of our teenage and early married years. I can remember watching him on the Ed Sullivan show when they so carefully did NOT show anything below the waist! Elvis' grave is in the Meditation Garden behind the house along with those of his parents and grandmother. There were multiple bouquets of fresh and silk flowers that continue to arrive at
Graceland every day --
In the automobile museum next door are many of Elvis' automobiles, motorcycles and other mechanized toys. I think I liked this purple Cadillac the best. Or maybe the pink one?
Both of Elvis' airplanes are also on the tour. We had to chuckle at the color schemes and what was "hot" so many years ago.
From Graceland we drove downtown to the historic Peabody Hotel. It was time to take a break in the lobby --
And to see the famous Peabody Marching Ducks in the fountain! Four females and a drake march down to the lobby from their penthouse quarters every morning at 11 AM and march back up at 5 PM.
The hotel has a "Duck Master," who trains and cares for them --
Here they are climbing out of the fountain for their trip down the red carpet --
People were lined up all along the mezzanine and the lobby to watch --
They follow the Duck Master down the red carpet and across the lobby to the elevator. --
(The jerk in the blue shirt is a professional photographer from PBS... he kept getting in front of everyone!)
From The Peabody we walked a couple of blocks down to Beale Street to BB King's, (King was not there tonight, but was playing in concert on the huge video screen) where we had wonderful ribs and the best catfish I've ever eaten. When I had asked the concierge at The Peabody for directions to BB King's, he gave me cards good for two free appetizers...
Memphis is much like Nashville -- even on a Tuesday night, downtown is alive and active! This shot is looking down Beale Street which was barricaded off from vehicle traffic --
It was an absolutely delightful day! And we came back to Auntie Violet in time to watch the Country Music Awards being broadcast from Nashville. We had checked into the possibility of getting tickets last week when we were in Nashville, but they were already sold out. Besides, it was "formal attire required." I don't think any of us have anything that fulfills that requirement in our RVs...!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
And Now, Arkansas
When we were discussing what we wanted to do in Tennessee besides go to the Grand Ole Opry, I immediately said that I wanted to see Graceland. Well, we were in Nashville and Graceland is in Memphis -- almost across the state. Tennessee is not a real big state, it's wide and skinny, but it was a good two hundred and thirty miles. We followed Tom and Juni out of the Nashville Country RV Park this morning headed for Interstate 40 West --
It was long trip, but we finally came to the western edge of the state and approached the Mississippi River --
And right in the middle of the bridge, we crossed into Arkansas --
We had originally planned to stay at the RV Park at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, but Tom was on-line making the reservations and he found this really neat RV Park across the river in West Memphis, Arkansas. It's called Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park and it really is right on the river!
I'm standing beside Auntie Violet where we are parked beside Tom and Juni in the above picture looking to the right across the gravel --
And then looking to the left --
The weather forecast is predicting a thunderstorm tonight and the wind is really blowing already, but once it clears off, it should be a gorgeous night with this full moon --
The line of thunderstorms in Oklahoma, Texas and southern Arkansas is predicted to spawn tornadoes tonight, so everyone is a bit jumpy. We have the NOAA weather radio turned on, even though it's not supposed to be bad this far north...
It was long trip, but we finally came to the western edge of the state and approached the Mississippi River --
And right in the middle of the bridge, we crossed into Arkansas --
We had originally planned to stay at the RV Park at Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, but Tom was on-line making the reservations and he found this really neat RV Park across the river in West Memphis, Arkansas. It's called Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park and it really is right on the river!
I'm standing beside Auntie Violet where we are parked beside Tom and Juni in the above picture looking to the right across the gravel --
And then looking to the left --
The weather forecast is predicting a thunderstorm tonight and the wind is really blowing already, but once it clears off, it should be a gorgeous night with this full moon --
The line of thunderstorms in Oklahoma, Texas and southern Arkansas is predicted to spawn tornadoes tonight, so everyone is a bit jumpy. We have the NOAA weather radio turned on, even though it's not supposed to be bad this far north...
Thursday, November 3, 2011
On To Tennessee
I was awakened a little after 6 AM this morning by the sound of a downpour on the roof of Auntie Violet. Now, we used to have a metal roof on one of the porches in our house in Spokane that was right outside our upstairs bedroom window. And I enjoyed the sound of the rain on that roof -- mainly because I didn't hear it very often!
The rain tapered off a bit while we were getting everything disconnected so that we could move this morning. Still, we got quite wet while we were disconnected the water and electricity. We didn't have terribly far to go. It's a pretty short drive from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee. It's a straight shot down I-65.
As you can see, it was a gray day for traveling --
We're staying at an RV Park, Nashville Country RV Park, in a northern suburb of Nashville called Goodlettsville. Our friends, Juni and Tom, will arrive tomorrow.
We got here early enough to make a much needed Costco run (of course, clear on the other side of Nashville!). I bought some great blue crab dip and lobster dip from Gold Coast in Naples, Florida to use for appetizers the next couple of days. When I asked why we never saw either of these at our local Costcos, I was told that they don't freeze them, so only sell them in the southeast. At least, Forry got his favorite gourmet meal -- a Costco Polish dog!
The rain tapered off a bit while we were getting everything disconnected so that we could move this morning. Still, we got quite wet while we were disconnected the water and electricity. We didn't have terribly far to go. It's a pretty short drive from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Nashville, Tennessee. It's a straight shot down I-65.
As you can see, it was a gray day for traveling --
We're staying at an RV Park, Nashville Country RV Park, in a northern suburb of Nashville called Goodlettsville. Our friends, Juni and Tom, will arrive tomorrow.
We got here early enough to make a much needed Costco run (of course, clear on the other side of Nashville!). I bought some great blue crab dip and lobster dip from Gold Coast in Naples, Florida to use for appetizers the next couple of days. When I asked why we never saw either of these at our local Costcos, I was told that they don't freeze them, so only sell them in the southeast. At least, Forry got his favorite gourmet meal -- a Costco Polish dog!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
An Aborted Tour
We took off after lunch to visit the Adena Mansion and Gardens high upon the hill overlooking the Scioto River Valley. I had checked the website and thought it was open today (closed on Mondays), but when we got there, the sign said "Closed on Mondays AND Tuesdays." So much for that!
Our drive did take us through some of the older residential sections of Chillicothe. We saw some gorgeous old houses on our way to Krogers. We stocked up on groceries at Krogers, then headed back to Auntie Violet for a spaghetti supper.
We've been in touch with our friends Leslie and Bill, who are in Red Bay, Alabama at the Tiffin factory getting some needed repairs done to their coach, Serenity. They had a pretty long punch list of things to be fixed (they had purchased her used, as is). I think all of their list has been taken care of, but the factory also had a couple of things to be fixed under warranty. One of them had to do with the roof -- they are actually cutting the roof loose and replacing a portion of it with aluminum! Kind of scary to think about. Evidently they do it one day, then paint it the next. I almost feel like we should send Serenity a get-well card.
Our friends Tom and Juni are also in the south. They are in Tennessee visiting Juni's family and will also be heading for Red Bay after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure when we will cross paths with either set of friends, but since we are slowly but surely heading in a southerly direction it will happen one of these days.
Our drive did take us through some of the older residential sections of Chillicothe. We saw some gorgeous old houses on our way to Krogers. We stocked up on groceries at Krogers, then headed back to Auntie Violet for a spaghetti supper.
We've been in touch with our friends Leslie and Bill, who are in Red Bay, Alabama at the Tiffin factory getting some needed repairs done to their coach, Serenity. They had a pretty long punch list of things to be fixed (they had purchased her used, as is). I think all of their list has been taken care of, but the factory also had a couple of things to be fixed under warranty. One of them had to do with the roof -- they are actually cutting the roof loose and replacing a portion of it with aluminum! Kind of scary to think about. Evidently they do it one day, then paint it the next. I almost feel like we should send Serenity a get-well card.
Our friends Tom and Juni are also in the south. They are in Tennessee visiting Juni's family and will also be heading for Red Bay after Thanksgiving. I'm not sure when we will cross paths with either set of friends, but since we are slowly but surely heading in a southerly direction it will happen one of these days.
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