Too Much Fun!

I feel bad that I've abandoned my blogosphere family... but not that bad, 'cause the reason is, I've just been having too much fun.  It's not right for old folks to be having this much fun, and I don't trust it.  I can smell trouble hidin' just behind that tree.  But I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Got a call from my X a couple of weeks ago (we're still friends) wondering if I would be interested in traveling up to Nashville to catch the Dave Rawlings Machine at the Ryman Theatre.  It took me all of about two minutes to think it through and cry out... hell yes!  Every country boy has to make a pilgrimage to the Ryman at least once in their lifetimes and I can hardly think of a better reason.

On the way up we spent the night at a cozy little Inn in Chattanooga, the Sky View Bavarian Inn, an older, super clean and affordable place about halfway up Lookout Mountain.

Sunrise as seen from our room.  We spent the morning on the mountain checking out Civil War history.  A huge battle was fought for Chattanooga, a vital rail center.  Thousands of men died here.  The very somber feeling of walking on hallowed ground.

That afternoon we moseyed north towards Nashville where we would spend a couple of days with my brother-in-law and see the sights.  Along the way we stopped at a nice little state park, Old Stone Fort, where there were beautiful little waterfalls and wooded trails.  

Mr. Charleston at the Mother Church awaiting the show.  As you can see, we barely made it inside as the show was sold-out.  As it turned out, we were lucky to get padded folding chairs, the rest of the seating is butt-numbing hardwood church pews.  I can't say enough about the quality of the music and the experience.  A sample below.  When the band played Led Zepplin's "Going to California", the crowd finally figured out who the John Paul Jones playing mandolin that was introduced several times during the evening actually was!  Yes!



 Nashville is one of my favorite American cities.  A really fun and pretty city.  On the way home we over-nighted in Atlanta to catch an old friend, Seth Walker, at the infamous Eddie's Attic.  Seth killed it to a sold-out house.





If you ever go to Atlanta, a must do is the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.  Fabulous.  Spent twice as much time there than we had planned.

Finally, 4th of July (Independence Day) weekend and my musical partner in crime and I played our first public performance.  Had a blast and the (very biased) audience (mostly my family) seemed to like it just fine.

All-in-all, a pretty darned good vacation/holiday break.  Now you know what's been keeping me busy lately.