![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Okay super-rambly, disjointed post ahead. I am too lazy to make it perfect. I'll leave that sort of nonsense to others. I don't care about perfection, I just want to talk at you guys! So, here we go, apologies in advance for typos. Typos happen, whatever. (They used to freak me out, but no more.)
Last weekend, I went to Tennessee for the Fourth of July weekend. My sister Leslie and her family have lived in Nashville for about eleven or so years, and I'd never gone to visit her. She offered to fly me up and I jumped on the offer--you bet! I couldn't wait to see her and Robert her spouse, and their daughter Lexie, who is 14 now. And awesome. They'd bought a house recently, which is just so cute and clean I writhe with jealousy--the back porch is what stole my heart though. They can eat out there on cool nights, and at night when it is dark, all the frogs come out and sing. They are near the airport, but the planes aren't that bad though Claire the Collie has to have her say about them. She runs out and barks at them... protecting? Or just talking to them, who knows. She is a crazy girl.
Isn't she pretty? She is gorgeous--and crazy. She bark-talks alot.
One of the first things we did was go grab something to eat and get coffee (mine is in my user pic--I was charmed by the heart and of course had to take a picture and send it to Nick). This was at Fido--wish we'd eaten there again, it was so good. That coffee was so strong, it about made my eyes cross. Really cool place in an area I liked lots, near Vanderbilt University. I long to have a place like this to take my laptop and just hang out and drink coffee and... Okay there is Starbucks here, but this is different, a different feel entirely and one that Fort Worth lacks. Fido is the URL...I highly recommend that place for coffee or sandwiches if you are in that area.
After that, we headed for the biggest tourist attraction...and I mean in size, the Parthenon!!!
My sister Leslie and Robert and the Parthenon.
It is true-to-size of the original. There's alot to the history of it that I won't go into here but it is easy to look up if you so desire. The most amazing thing, other than its sheer size? ATHENA!! Her history is just as amazing, the amount of time and money spent on her rather mind-blowing, and yes, that is real gold leaf covering her.
And a close-up of the snake, and a bit of the shield. Stupid me had taken a picture with my phone of the other side of the shield, and deleted it. Sigh.
There were replicas of other statues all around Athena--I liked this one especially though:
I fell for Nashville, to my shock and surprise. I could live there, I realized. Sure there was the country music tourist scene, but it pretty easy to avoid (though it WAS fun to walk through the area where tourists do). I took a couple of pictures there... ELVIS!
And talked to one woman walking her dog--when we stopped to pet him, she and her friend both cheered--her pup was getting all kinds of attention. LOL. Silly tourists.
Hard to believe, as we moved past the stores and bars, that that had all been underwater. At one point we drove around town and looked at all the damage done--recovery has started, but that part of Nashville was truly devastated...so many lost their homes, their things, some their lives. At one point my sister said, "Canoes went down this street." I was stunned. Their house, fortunately, was fine, but so many weren't so fortunate.
My sister and her daughter Lexie showed me around town, I saw where my sister works, her favorite little grocery store (and other stores besides). We stopped at this cemetery which is smack-dab in the middle of a neighborhood:
Sad Infant Bell never got a name. We stopped at a garage sale (I hate garage sales) and saw these, and I was for some reason compelled to send a picture of them to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
amand_r. Sorry Mander...
We explored downtown, visited the library, along with Robert, her husband, who is a musician, we ate at several really fun places the likes of which Fort Worth doesn't have. And had coffee, alot. Oh I love coffee! Everywhere we went, too, there were dogs! I want to live in a dog city! A city with places to walk your dog that isn't boring and, possibly, dangerous. We did that one morning--Saturday, taking the dogs not too far away from the house to walk by the lake. I was insanely jealous of my sister at this point--why can't you have places like this, Fort Worth? My dogs would love it! The two dogs go nuts when they realize they get to go on a walk--my sister and Lexie start to sing the walking song (lol) and they jump around and Shelby howls and it is hilarious. Neither dog requires a leash--they just mind. I envy that. Mine of course can't be trusted off leash. Anywhere. There were some guys out there working with their labs in the water--fun to watch. Maybe I should get a lab someday, instead of goofy huskies...
Shelby, who is half-husky herself (though obedient) and woo's and howls on command, but also, like a husky, chases the cats now and then, loved the water:
Claire on the trail, stopping for a break-scratch:
I especially liked this picture of Shelby:
Okay what else did we do? Talk alot, eat at cool places, at one point on Saturday Leslie dragged out pictures and letters and emails from my mom and others--those will get their own post, however, as Mom has been gone many years now, and I have some pictures and such I want to scan first. There was one email where my mom told my sister she'd just talked to me, and that I was 'babbling as usual.' Things haven't changed much, Mom! (should I be upset by that? Hmph.)
Otherwise, the weekend was just good fun, and quite relaxing. It was great spending lots of time with them, especially my sister who I haven't been around in ages more than a day here, a few hours there. Going to the store, to the library--oh I have a picture of me in the library, working onmomebie's fic--
Sunday night on the fourth, we drove out to a place NE of Lebanon, TN, for a private party--every year, the owner of this place puts on a huge party for 2k or more people. Robert plays in several bands in Nashville but was a fill-in for this evening...so we got to go too! It was a very country scene, really (though the band Robert played with, Bueller!, is an 80's band), and the bbq just wasn't near as good as Texas bbq (nope), but there it was fun, and also...for the first time ever, I got to check out a tour bus. Okay, no big deal to some of you guys, but hey, I viewed it as research:
And yes, my niece Lexie and I climbed up into those bunks. Just had to check it out--my sister was not into that. Too claustrophobic. It was a rather tight squeeze...but comfy, definitely. I could sleep in that long as the curtain was open a little. The tour bus was owned by the man hosting the party.
This is my niece Lexie, with the owner's house behind her:
And her dad playing the guitar, right behind that kid with the goofy face on the right of the picture:
This is the truck with all the fireworks waiting and yes we were that close to them:
And last of all, for your enjoyment, a video of just a small part of the fireworks display that night. I swear, we saw at least $50k worth of fireworks over the next few hours. We sat almost underneath them--at one point, one went off into the grass but not toward the crowd. If it had... Eeks! But truly, this was the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen.
Last weekend, I went to Tennessee for the Fourth of July weekend. My sister Leslie and her family have lived in Nashville for about eleven or so years, and I'd never gone to visit her. She offered to fly me up and I jumped on the offer--you bet! I couldn't wait to see her and Robert her spouse, and their daughter Lexie, who is 14 now. And awesome. They'd bought a house recently, which is just so cute and clean I writhe with jealousy--the back porch is what stole my heart though. They can eat out there on cool nights, and at night when it is dark, all the frogs come out and sing. They are near the airport, but the planes aren't that bad though Claire the Collie has to have her say about them. She runs out and barks at them... protecting? Or just talking to them, who knows. She is a crazy girl.
Isn't she pretty? She is gorgeous--and crazy. She bark-talks alot.
One of the first things we did was go grab something to eat and get coffee (mine is in my user pic--I was charmed by the heart and of course had to take a picture and send it to Nick). This was at Fido--wish we'd eaten there again, it was so good. That coffee was so strong, it about made my eyes cross. Really cool place in an area I liked lots, near Vanderbilt University. I long to have a place like this to take my laptop and just hang out and drink coffee and... Okay there is Starbucks here, but this is different, a different feel entirely and one that Fort Worth lacks. Fido is the URL...I highly recommend that place for coffee or sandwiches if you are in that area.
After that, we headed for the biggest tourist attraction...and I mean in size, the Parthenon!!!
My sister Leslie and Robert and the Parthenon.
It is true-to-size of the original. There's alot to the history of it that I won't go into here but it is easy to look up if you so desire. The most amazing thing, other than its sheer size? ATHENA!! Her history is just as amazing, the amount of time and money spent on her rather mind-blowing, and yes, that is real gold leaf covering her.
And a close-up of the snake, and a bit of the shield. Stupid me had taken a picture with my phone of the other side of the shield, and deleted it. Sigh.
There were replicas of other statues all around Athena--I liked this one especially though:
I fell for Nashville, to my shock and surprise. I could live there, I realized. Sure there was the country music tourist scene, but it pretty easy to avoid (though it WAS fun to walk through the area where tourists do). I took a couple of pictures there... ELVIS!
And talked to one woman walking her dog--when we stopped to pet him, she and her friend both cheered--her pup was getting all kinds of attention. LOL. Silly tourists.
Hard to believe, as we moved past the stores and bars, that that had all been underwater. At one point we drove around town and looked at all the damage done--recovery has started, but that part of Nashville was truly devastated...so many lost their homes, their things, some their lives. At one point my sister said, "Canoes went down this street." I was stunned. Their house, fortunately, was fine, but so many weren't so fortunate.
My sister and her daughter Lexie showed me around town, I saw where my sister works, her favorite little grocery store (and other stores besides). We stopped at this cemetery which is smack-dab in the middle of a neighborhood:
Sad Infant Bell never got a name. We stopped at a garage sale (I hate garage sales) and saw these, and I was for some reason compelled to send a picture of them to
amand_r. Sorry Mander...We explored downtown, visited the library, along with Robert, her husband, who is a musician, we ate at several really fun places the likes of which Fort Worth doesn't have. And had coffee, alot. Oh I love coffee! Everywhere we went, too, there were dogs! I want to live in a dog city! A city with places to walk your dog that isn't boring and, possibly, dangerous. We did that one morning--Saturday, taking the dogs not too far away from the house to walk by the lake. I was insanely jealous of my sister at this point--why can't you have places like this, Fort Worth? My dogs would love it! The two dogs go nuts when they realize they get to go on a walk--my sister and Lexie start to sing the walking song (lol) and they jump around and Shelby howls and it is hilarious. Neither dog requires a leash--they just mind. I envy that. Mine of course can't be trusted off leash. Anywhere. There were some guys out there working with their labs in the water--fun to watch. Maybe I should get a lab someday, instead of goofy huskies...
Shelby, who is half-husky herself (though obedient) and woo's and howls on command, but also, like a husky, chases the cats now and then, loved the water:
Claire on the trail, stopping for a break-scratch:
I especially liked this picture of Shelby:
Okay what else did we do? Talk alot, eat at cool places, at one point on Saturday Leslie dragged out pictures and letters and emails from my mom and others--those will get their own post, however, as Mom has been gone many years now, and I have some pictures and such I want to scan first. There was one email where my mom told my sister she'd just talked to me, and that I was 'babbling as usual.' Things haven't changed much, Mom! (should I be upset by that? Hmph.)
Otherwise, the weekend was just good fun, and quite relaxing. It was great spending lots of time with them, especially my sister who I haven't been around in ages more than a day here, a few hours there. Going to the store, to the library--oh I have a picture of me in the library, working on
momebie's fic--Sunday night on the fourth, we drove out to a place NE of Lebanon, TN, for a private party--every year, the owner of this place puts on a huge party for 2k or more people. Robert plays in several bands in Nashville but was a fill-in for this evening...so we got to go too! It was a very country scene, really (though the band Robert played with, Bueller!, is an 80's band), and the bbq just wasn't near as good as Texas bbq (nope), but there it was fun, and also...for the first time ever, I got to check out a tour bus. Okay, no big deal to some of you guys, but hey, I viewed it as research:
And yes, my niece Lexie and I climbed up into those bunks. Just had to check it out--my sister was not into that. Too claustrophobic. It was a rather tight squeeze...but comfy, definitely. I could sleep in that long as the curtain was open a little. The tour bus was owned by the man hosting the party.
This is my niece Lexie, with the owner's house behind her:
And her dad playing the guitar, right behind that kid with the goofy face on the right of the picture:
This is the truck with all the fireworks waiting and yes we were that close to them:
And last of all, for your enjoyment, a video of just a small part of the fireworks display that night. I swear, we saw at least $50k worth of fireworks over the next few hours. We sat almost underneath them--at one point, one went off into the grass but not toward the crowd. If it had... Eeks! But truly, this was the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 02:25 am (UTC)Great doggie city, and great dogs! I've never spent time in Nashville, but it looks like fun. :)
Glad to hear the flood recovery is going well.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 02:27 am (UTC)(Lookit that, I had to edit my comment . . . should've left it given this statement: So, here we go, apologies in advance for typos. Typos happen, whatever.)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 02:30 am (UTC)Looks like you had a lot of fun though! ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 02:47 am (UTC)Glad to hear you had such a great time!
Parts of New Orleans are still recovering from the flooding of Katrina, too...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 02:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 03:03 am (UTC)glad you had a great time!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 03:27 am (UTC)I hadn't realized the Parthenon was the same size as the original. Huh.
Yay for fambly time!!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 04:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 05:40 am (UTC)we have 3 different little cemeteries in the neighborhood, and one acrosse the main highway in the middle of the auto-auction... i should take pictures one of these days - i kind of love that, and your pics :)
LOL BUELLER!!!
epic fireworks! the ppl across the street did a professional fireworks show last summer (they had some big party) and we could see them if we stood outside in the driveway (not from the house, though, b/c our tree blocked the windows)
you should totes move to nashville, then i could come visit you! (if you wanted me to, that is...)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 12:35 pm (UTC)I didn't know about the Parthenon and gigantic Athena - that's really cool.
I'm glad you had fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 01:27 pm (UTC)The fireworks vid is brilliant!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-11 06:06 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 12:30 am (UTC)I would've loved to have gone around you to sight see! I love that sort of stuff.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 01:15 am (UTC)I am not used to such lazy doggies in the house. My two are always wrestling, yammering, moving around, and I love their woos instead of barks. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 01:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 01:31 am (UTC)I now don't care much for barkers... But I do miss Claire and her warning bark.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 01:56 am (UTC)I don't know if it happens where you are but we have lots of small cemeteries smack dab in the middle of places, because families buried on family plots and they aren't there anymore, but you can't very well dig up a graveyard, so you'll be going along and it'll be like, house, house house lot GRAVEYARD lot house house. I think it has something to do with organic cities and age.
I LOVED THE RUBBER CHICKEN PIC. LAWL.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:16 am (UTC)Thanks! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:18 am (UTC)Dog pictures always get alot of responses. I have no idea.
I don't post much and then tend to make it all too long, so am always happy when I get comments. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:19 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:20 am (UTC)recovery is slow, and some places, impossible.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:20 am (UTC)I love your user pic. LOL.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:29 am (UTC)Yes, fambly time indeed. Never enough. Leslie moved to Seattle just out of college, pretty much, rarely came back and this is only the 2nd time I've gone to visit her. She wants me to come in the fall, and I hope to but can't until next year. No more time off!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:34 am (UTC)I think 'chicken butt' in your kid's voice raced through my mind so I thought of you. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:38 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:38 am (UTC)Yeah, when she said 'we're going to see the Parthenon!' I had no idea it would be so incredible. And Athena! OH MY! She was HUGE!!!!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:43 am (UTC)I gave her Twizzlers after.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:48 am (UTC)Twizzlers rock. LOL.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 02:59 am (UTC)I usually only have four dogs running around, but I'm training a puppy for my grandma.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-12 03:19 am (UTC)One day we will have a typo-off. :)