Sorry for the late blog. We were up late last night.
I did another spin class yesterday morning, while Thomas went to the farmers market. I noticed that they had barf bags in the spin studio. It cracked me up because my old spin instructor Mark Cutone used to say it was his goal to work us so hard that someone would throw up. I sent him a photo.
I met up with Thomas at a Barista Parlor. I got in line for coffee but gave up. Too slow. Thomas had a coffee. We sat and ate boiled peanuts from the farmers market. Delicious. Thomas is ready to move on from his marriage. He notices women everywhere.
From there, we tried one more time to go to the Willie Nelson and Friends museum over by Opryland. Before the museum we had lunch at Scoreboard. A good sports bar but otherwise I give them a zero on my scoreboard. Mediocre barbecue and hot chicken. Horrible service.
Note our friends in the Christmas cowboy hats in the background, celebrating a "merry" birthday.
We had a 2 PM appointment for a distillery tour. No time to see the museum. Off to the Nelson Greenbrier distillery, where they make the Belle Meade bourbon we discovered. We started off with a hot cider spiked with Belle Meade. Very satisfying on a cold rainy day. We enjoyed the tour. Our guide Kyle was knowledgable and entertaining. We learned The ABCs of bourbon whiskey: American, Aged in charred Barrel, made from 51% or more Corn. To be Tennessee whiskey it has to be made in Tennessee and filtered thru special charcoal. We did our tour duty and drank a bunch of whiskey at the end.
As you can appreciate, it was then time for a siesta. I slept. Thomas played on his computer. I have developed good napping skills over the last year. A necessity for retirement.
Comments about the trip:
(1) a lot of discussion about mule skinners. Mule Skinner Blues was a seminal country song by Jimmie Rodgers. Many artists covered it including Dolly Parton. Neither of us knew that a mule skinner was a mule team driver. Thomas wants to make a playlist of different versions of Mule Skinner Blues.
(2) take ten pictures! Everywhere we go, we ask strangers to take pictures of us. Thomas always tells them to take ten pictures. He says, "pro tip - take ten and keep one". The problem for me is that ALL of the pictures are taken on MY phone, the iPhone 11. I laughed every time he said it. At first, I nervously told the photographer they did not need to take ten shots. However, I realized that we would upload all the photos to the cloud every night and delete them off the phone. By the end of the trip, I did not care how many photos we took on my phone.
(3) Get an iPhone 11! The camera is amazing. It does everything, zoom, wide angle, etc. It is designed to take better photos. It has programs that improve your photos automatically. Stuff that professional photographers would do in the darkroom. The battery life is very good. Supposedly, I have 20 hours of usage. Thomas is getting one ASAP.
(4) I love Nashville.
There is great live music EVERYWHERE. If you love countryish music you will love Nashville. Most of the music we heard around town was not what you would call traditional country music. It varied from bluegrass to blues to rock and roll. We did find more traditional country music at the Nashville Palace, near Opryland. There were numerous other venues playing varied music in the same vicinity.
Food: barbecue, barbecue, barbecue! Beans, okra, fried everything. What's not to like.
The city is not too big. It is easy to get around by car. I can't speak to public transportation. We did not explore it or
All the coffee places have Oat milk. I am writing this sitting at Ugly Mugs drinking a decaf, oat milk, extra hot latte.
Nashville feels very open and inclusive. It seems to have all the good qualities of a southern city and none of the negative. This was just my impression from a short visit.
Back to yesterdays activities and experiences. After siesta/computer playtime, we drove to the Ryman auditorium to see Robert Earl Keen. I was worried about whether we would like the show. I knew and liked a handful of his songs. Thomas only knew what I played for him the last two days.
The show started. We were both disappointed. Robert Earl Keen was very overweight and the music seemed kinda New Orleans jazzy. After a few songs, I figured out that this was just the opening act, Not REK. A guy named Shiny Ribs. I liked him better after I knew his role in the show.
After intermission, REK came on stage and started out with a song that is very significant for me: Feelin' Good Again. About twenty years ago, Beth and I had a big fight before she left for a trip to New York. We were barely speaking. I discovered this song and played it for her when she got home. It is about a man who returns to his home town, goes into his local bar, sees all his friends, finally, he sees his old lover across the room and she "breaks into a grin". Fight over - Feelin' Good Again. It has remained a very special song between us.
The rest of the show was wonderful. REK played many of his hits that I knew. So it seemed, did everyone else at the Ryman. It is a great experience to have the crowd singing along with the lyrics the whole show. There was enjoyment all around. REK threw in some covers of songs about the moon and space, in line with the theme of the show: REM Man on the Moon, Elton John Rocket Man; David Bowie Space Oddity, etc. There was general glee by the end of the show. It was significant that the show was at the Ryman. Great accoustics. History.
After the show, we poked our heads in the Wild Beaver Saloon, which had been recommended. Stupid. Off to the Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar, which my brother Joe suggested. We saw a great Blues band: Stacey Mitchhart. I had a few Hurricanes. Sweet and satisfying. We laughed and took lots of photos and video. They closed around midnight. We would have stayed longer.
We got back to the house near one pm. Feeling great. I had already decided not to blog. I had a midnight snack of all my leftover barbecue. So ended another excellent day.
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