This morning we drove up to Cincinnati to visit a couple of the museums at the “Cincinnati Museum Center“, also known as Cincinnati Union Station. The building that houses the museum complex used to be a major transit point for trains headed to the mid-west, but today it houses a small Amtrak station, an Omnimax theater and 3 museums. We wanted to check out the museums, particularly the Children’s Museum and the Natural History Museum.
We paid our parking fee ($6), then headed inside. The building does look pretty cool; I love old train stations because when trains were the main mode of transportation in the US, plenty of thought and money were poured into their design. I loved the terminal station in LA, and the Cincy Terminal is equally as impressive, well maybe the exterior is more impressive and the interior is less impressive.
We paid $12.50 each for Jean and I (Zoe is free almost everywhere we go), and that price includes entry into all three of the museums – Natural History, Children’s and the Cincinnati History Museum. It doesn’t include the OMNIMAX theater, but we didn’t really care about that.
We started out by heading straight downstairs to the Children’s Museum. We spent about an hour down there, with 50 of those minutes chasing Zoe around the infant and toddler garden. Basically it’s a fenced in area with toys laying around, a sand box, some instruments, some obstacles to climb around on and slide down, and a few other things. Zoe was the smallest child in there, and basically she spent her time picking up little toys and walking around with them. She did chew on each one, which had a bit of a gross-out factor for me, but I guess she improved her immune system a little bit by doing that.
The highlight for me was watching Zoe play in the sand box with Jean. Zoe appeared to enjoy the feeling of the sand on her hands as she’d swipe her hand all around in the pile of sand in front of her. I also enjoyed the couple of times when Zoe actually interacted with other kids, but basically kids played with their parents and kept to themselves, but Zoe did help a little boy put a bunch of plastic fruit into a little wheel barrow, but once it was loaded up he took off running and Zoe was left standing there with a carrot in one hand, a cow in the other, and wondering where her little pal was off to…
After we left the baby garden we changed Zoe, then we walked through the Children’s Museum to see what else they had. I really liked the forest area with big fake trees and cargo netting where kids can climb around, and the water room where little kids all were wearing rubber coats and playing with squirt guns looked cool too. Most of the stuff in the Children’s Museum seems geared towards 5-12 year olds, so our little girl was out of luck for the majority of the exhibits.
We went back to the main floor and sat down to drink some sodas and feed Zobug, then we went into the Natural History Museum. I’ve been to much better Natural History Museums, most memorably the one in Washington, DC. The one in the Cincy Union Terminal was pretty weak. The exhibits were hokey and looked like they hadn’t been updated since 1982, the cave we went through was neat but it could have used a few pumps to get the water moving in the stagnant little pools, and the flow of information was pretty bad – you go from local tribes hunting with arrowheads to a brief NASA exhibit, then to geodes and finally to bats all within 100 feet, then for some reason you go to mummies and next on to animals trapped in peat bogs. I was OK for someone with ADD like myself, but really it made no sense to flow in such in a way. Another disappointment was that none of the dinosaur or mastodon bones were authentic, they were all recreations.
After the Natural History Museum we took an elevator up a few floors and then climbed two staircases to check out “Tower A”, which apparently used to be the main control center when this was a major train station. Lots of train memorabilia, a good view of the tracks below, and even a large bell I rang.
We stopped by the Cincinnati History Museum on the way out the door, but it wasn’t our thing, so we skipped it entirely. We just headed on home so I could watch the Super Bowl and Jean could go pick up groceries for the week.
We did receive some sad news today; Carolyn’s Aunt Louise passed away early this morning. I’m really sorry for Sandy, who lost his wife, and Keith, Sandy Jr and Matthew, who lost their mother. I only met Louise once, but she was really friendly and I’ve heard Carolyn talk about her many times. I know she was loved and will likewise be missed by lots of people.
Here are the pictures from our trip up to Cincinnati today:
We woke up early this morning and continued our tour of the Bourbon Trail. The official Bourbon Trail consists of 6 distilleries, 3 near Frankfort (Woodford Reserve, Four Roses and Wild Turkey) and another 3 near Bardstown (Jim Beam, Maker’s Mark and Heaven Hill).
We’ve already toured Woodford and Four Roses, so we left home around 7:30am and drove to Wild Turkey in Lawrenceburg. Right at 9am we walked through the rain and into the Wild Turkey Tour Center and Gift Shop, and a few minutes later we went to the back of the building where they have a little bar so that our small group could watch a little video before loading onto a van to start the official tour. Our group consisted of Jean, Zoe and I, a married couple from Louisville who were taking the Bourbon Trail, and an older guy by himself, plus the tour guide.
The van drove us over to the distillery where we unloaded next to where the grains (corn, rye, etc) are unloaded from trucks and into silos. We moved quickly into the building to avoid the rain. Up a few flights of stairs we entered into a huge room with a dozen or so gigantic metal tubs used for fermentation of the sour mash. Wild Turkey was a huge operation compared to the other distilleries we’ve visited – instead of a few wooden vats they had gigantic stainless steel versions, and instead of old wooden buildings we were in a modern factory. I noticed two operators in a little room with 6-7 flatscreen monitors in front of them, running the entire operation by themselves.
We also stopped by the room where the distillation takes place, but you look at the equipment from a hallway through glass windows. You could only see the top foot or two of the copper pot still, but you could easily see a good 15-20 foot section of their column still; Wild Turkey is double distilled. Jean tried to get a picture of the glass sample boxes where the “white dog” pours out after each distillation process, but it was hard from 25 feet away and behind glass.
Next we got back on the van and drove over to a warehouse. We basically walked into a dark warehouse, stood there for a minute and left. I was surprised that Wild Turkey doesn’t rotate their barrels in the warehouses, but I guess it makes sense when you consider the volume of whiskey they produced when compared to the smaller distilleries. The view across the valley just outside the warehouse was gorgeous, with a train trestle disappearing into a foggy mountainside.
When we got back to the Gift Shop we all went back to the bar area and the lady leading the tour pulled out 6 or 7 different Wild Turkey products and let each of us choose any two to sample. I ended up sampling four – my two and Jean’s two. The tour guide was really friendly and knew the process well, and the whiskey was good.
We bought a couple of souvenirs and then got in the car and headed down to Loretto to visit Maker’s Mark. I’ve taken the tour at Maker’s Mark several times, and Jean even took it once before, but it’s on the Bourbon Trail, so we needed the stamp in our “passport”, and it never hurts to see what all has changed since the last time we visited.
We pulled up just as a huge coach bus was letting off a group of 20-25 people, so I ran in to get our tour tickets while Jean got Zoe all set. We joined the largest your yet and made our way through the distillery. On the way out of the Tour Center I noticed a couple of pictures of my grandfather on the wall. After the tour I went back and took pictures of the framed photos of my grandfather.
Also, during the tour I talked to one of the guys working there and mentioned that my grandfather worked there a long time ago, and he said he recognized the name and that an older guy working that shift would definitely know him. I was the last person in the tour group to leave that building because I stayed behind to take a few pictures of the copper stills, and on my way out a group of 5 guys had come front somewhere and were waiting for me and one of them said “I knew your grandfather. He was the head man when I was hired on about 30 years ago.” We talked for a few minutes, then I said goodbye to those old timers and caught up with the group.
We went through the bottling area, but they don’t bottle on the weekend, so we didn’t get to see them dipping the bottles. They were also adding new tasting rooms to the facility, so we couldn’t go into the warehouse you normally tour because of the construction. We ended up in the obligatory gift shop where we tried Maker’s Mark and their new product, “46″, which they drop a few boards of seared French wood into a few months before it finishes its life in the barrel. I didn’t care for the 46, but I still love the original. We purchased some t-shirts for Jean and a low ball glass for me, then we left.
I will note that Maker’s Mark is by far the most expensive of the distilleries we’ve visited so far. The tour at Woodford cost $5, but you get a free souvenir plastic shot glass. The tour at Four Roses is free, but you can pay $4 and keep a collector’s edition glass that you sample with. The Wild Turkey tour is free, their sampling policy was the best because it offered the most variety, and their low ball glasses and shot glasses were $4.50-$6 depending on the design. Maker’s Mark also gives a free tour, and the free samples at the end seem about double the size of the ones from Woodford and Four Roses, but a low ball glass was $12 and a shot glass was like $9! Unbelievable that they charge double what the other places are for basically the same product.
After we’d finished our two tours we stopped by my aunt’s house in Bardstown, but nobody answered the door. We stopped at Subway for lunch, then tried my grandmother’s house, but once again nobody was home. We ended up driving back to Louisville and got home around 4pm.
It was a fun day – the weather even improved drastically after the Wild Turkey tour; the rain stopped and it warmed up to 51F.
So far here are my thoughts on the distilleries:
Woodford Reserve – hardest to find, snobbiest, the most complete tour of the bourbon making process
Four Roses – most unique and unexpected architecture, unfortunately no tour of a warehouse, knowledgeable tour guides
Wild Turkey – most industrial and furthest from the purported “Kentucky roots”, highest volume, second friendliest tour guides, most choices when sampling the whiskey
Maker’s Mark – most beautiful property, friendliest tour guides, busiest, highest priced
Zoe loves to dance. Any time music starts playing Zoe begins to dance. She’s been doing this for a few months, but this week marks a new era in Zobug dancing. She’ll literally drop everything and starting squatting, swinging and hopping around. Her favorite song is a three way tie between the Backyardigan’s Theme Song, Alan Jackson’s Little Bitty and Single Ladies by Beyonce.
Here are some pictures taken this week, and below those are a couple of video of our dancing baby:
Today I woke up feeling much better. I’m almost back at 100%, unfortunately I burnt a vacation day and half a weekend recuperating so that I’d be ready to go back to work on Monday, but the good news is that the food poisoning is now mostly a bad memory.
Today we woke up around 8:30am and started the long process of getting ready for a family outing. Showers, Zoe’s bath, walking the dogs, dressing Zoe, loading up the car with baby accessories, etc.
Around 11:30am we finally took off. We headed to Lawrenceburg so we could hit our second bourbon distillery as we make our way along the “Bourbon Trail”. The drive on 64 East out of Louisville wasn’t anything spectacular, but it was a gorgeous day except for the wind – clear blue skies and around 45F-50F. The wind made it pretty cold though…
Once we exited the 64 and got onto US 127 (I think that’s what it was — maybe Frankfort Rd), the scenery improved dramatically. The beautiful rolling green pastures with cattle and horses all over the place, mixed in with several little ponds and rickety old barns dotting the hills. We stopped for a quick bite at a Subway near the Four Roses Distillery, but we didn’t want to miss the 1pm tour so I ended up saving my sandwich until after the tour while Jean ate her’s as I drove those last couple of miles from the Subway to their distillery.
Like Woodford Reserve, Four Roses was out in the middle of nowhere. The first thing I noticed about the distillery was that all the main buildings were mustard colored and had a Spanish style architecture that reminded me of the homes in California – Spanish tiled roofs, stucco and even a few quasi-arched Moorish windows and doorways. It wasn’t a California Mission, but it wasn’t the rustic wooden structures you’d expect for a distillery in the middle of rural Kentucky either.
As we walked through the front door the tour was just beginning. We went to the left into a room where everyone was sitting down to watch a short movie that talked about Four Roses and the bourbon-making process. I held our little Rose while Jean got her camera and diaper bag all set for the tour. Zoe Rose was interested in checking out all the other folks who’d be touring with us, so she was quiet while I watched the movie.
Once the movie ended the docents explained that they would be splitting up our group of 20 into two smaller groups, so we headed out the door to join the first and smaller group.
The tour guide was MUCH friendlier and more articulate than the lady that harangued us about photography and sipping etiquette at Woodford Reserve. The entire tour of the Four Roses Distillery consisted of one building because they don’t store their barrels at that location (the warehouses across the street belong to Wild Turkey!), and they don’t bottle at that location either. I was still impressed with their distillery, but I wish we could have seen their hammermill in action – crushing corn, rye or malted barley into powder.
Another thing I noticed that was different about Four Roses than Woodford was that Four Roses seemed to be in the middle of production because all their fermentation vats were full and bubbling away. As soon as I opened the car door I could smell ‘em. I love that smell, and it makes me nostalgic, thinking about trips to Bardstown when I was little.
After the brief tour we waited in the room where we watched the video until the other half of the group got back, then the two tour guides brought us all over to a bar and doled out samples. Lots of differences were noted during this section of the tour. Compared to the atmosphere generated by those pompous biddies at Woodford, this felt like an ?AE 7-kegger.
Instead of cheap plastic shot glasses, we got actual glasses with four little roses sculpted into the bottom. Instead of a single sample the size of a thimble, we were given 3 samples (each still the size of a thimble). We were given a sample of their regular yellow label, a sample of their “single barrel” and a sample of their small batch brand. Another major difference was when Jean tasted her sample and didn’t want it, I took it from her and swallowed it without a single admonishment.
After our samples we decided to keep the sampling glasses, so Jean went into the gift shop and paid the $4 each. We paid $5 each for the Woodford tour and were given the “free” plastic shot glasses, but at Four Roses we took a free tour and paid the optional $4 for the glasses that are only available when taking a tour (not in their gift shop or anywhere else). We finally left the building, and while I buckled Zoe into her car seat Jean walked around taking a few more pictures.
Instead of heading directly home we took the 64 all the way into Louisville and got off just before the river because I wanted to check out Waterfront Park. I’ve read a ton of stuff about all the fabulous parks in Louisville, but we really haven’t had a chance to visit them yet because we’ve either been busy with other stuff or the weather wasn’t right. I thought we’d give it a chance, but in hindsight the weather still wasn’t right.
The park looks awesome, especially the huge playground we parked near. Z-Rose will love it in the not-to-distant future. I liked that the ground was all rubber in the play area, so hopefully that will help us avoid skinned up hands, knees and chipped teeth at some point. I also loved how this whole park runs along the Ohio River, so there are tons of great photo opportunities in the area. We only scratched the surface of this park because it’s over 80 acres and we only saw about 15% of the playground and one of the many parking lots!
We did walk over an embankment and down to the river, but it was incredibly windy, which in turn made it unbearably cold. Zoe didn’t have her heavy duty cold weather gear on, so we only checked it out for a minute. We’ve had a lot of rain recently and you could tell because the river was really high. We took some pictures of trash cans and benches that were submerged, and the river was so turbulent from the high winds that it looked more like the ocean than a river.
We’re home now, and Jean and I agree that Woodford Reserve had a better facility to tour, but the tour guides definitely make Four Roses a better choice if you’re only going to tour one of them.
Here are some pictures of Zoe Rose that Jean took this week, some of her attempting to feed herself, some of her playing and showing off her two teeth, and some of her in her bathtub this morning. The rest of the pictures were taken today at Four Roses and at Louisville’s Waterfront Park.
This week was normal up until Thursday. On Thursday afternoon I went out to a restaurant I dined at many times when we lived here before, but this time the food almost killed me. I’ve now had food poisoning 4 times in my life. Once in Boston, MA when some Chinese delivery almost did me in, once in Chihuahua, Mexico when I had to cancel a day at work because I couldn’t leave the toilet for more than 3 minutes in a 24 hour period, once in Lima, Peru when I was afraid that Carol and I would miss our flight home, and now a fourth brush with death in Carrollton, KY. I believe the stuffed pepper was to blame.
Food poisoning is horrible… You literally feel like you are dying. I don’t want to be disgusting and give all the details, but fluids are leaving your body at a ridiculous frequency and volume. Besides expelling fluids, I was burning up according to Jean, but to me it was freezing. I had cold shakes and couldn’t get warm enough, even with socks on and multiple blankets and comforters. My legs and joints were hurting badly, I had a headache and my teeth were aching too. I didn’t sleep at all Thursday night.
Friday morning I got out of bed at 5:15am to try and get ready for work because I hadn’t visited the bathroom since 2:30am. I ended up running to the commode and throwing up. I felt a little better after that, so I decided to take a shower and see how I felt, but after the shower I was still miserable, so I sent a text message to my boss to let him know I wouldn’t be at work. I didn’t do anything all day long except for sip a gatorade and attempt to fall asleep.
Eventually I felt well enough to crawl out of bed, so I sat on the couch and watched Amazing Race Season 4 with Jean until almost 2am. I didn’t sleep much last night and I still felt crummy this morning, but I’m much better off than I was Thursday night.
I even felt well enough today to bundle up our little girl so that she looked like a Kentucky Eskimo, and head down the road to a park. We put Zoe in a swing, but she hated it. We sent her down a slide 2-3 times, but she wasn’t really crazy about that either. The only part she enjoyed was squatting down to mess with the little rubber flakes in the playground area. She must still be too young to care about playgrounds even though she turned 10 months old last week.
Here are some pictures from our trip to the park and a few from earlier this week:
Nothing too special this week, except that on Thursday afternoon Jean and Zoe met me at my job and we went to lunch together, where we met my friend Nathan, his wife Amanda, and their youngest son Kai.
Jean and I stayed up until almost 2am on Friday night, watching our new Amazing Race Season 3 dvd. I don’t understand why CBS has slowly released a handful of Amazing Race seasons, and it’s even more strange that they haven’t released them in order. First they put out season 1 about 7-8 years ago, then they released season 7 like 6 years ago, then season 2 a few years ago, now seasons 3 and 4 in the past month. I’m excited about Season 20 starting in about a month, on February 19th.
Yesterday we woke up late because we stayed up watching TAR until the wee hours, then at 1pm we headed down to Louisville to meet up with Nathan, Amanda and all three of their boys for lunch at Bearno’s. Amanda is 8 months pregnant with their fourth boy! We’re excited for them, but Jean and I agreed that we wouldn’t know what to do with that many boys. We had fun talking with them, and agreed that we need to do it again soon.
After lunch we drove straight up 71 to go over to my Aunt Mary Jean’s home. She was out of town when we had the family dinner in Elizabethtown just before Christmas, so we wanted to visit with her and let her meet Zoe. We were excited to also see my cousin Ellen and two of her four kids – Bella and Lyla. Bella and Zoe played together while the rest of us talked for a while.
Once Jean and I got home we continued watching The Amazing Race. We’re so addicted to that show! We watched this season on tv when it was first shown, but we were loving it, so once again we stayed up until almost 2am. Zoe has started eating little crackers that dissolve quickly, and she actually sat on the couch between us, watching The Amazing Race and eating baby cheese puffs.
We got a late start again this morning, so instead of continuing along the Bourbon Trail we drove up to Northern Kentucky to visit the Newport Aquarium. Carolyn and I visited this aquarium about 8 or 9 years ago when we lived in Florence, but we wanted to take Zoe. We visited the aquarium in Monterrey, CA with Zoe back in August, but she was really too young to care about all the cool creatures.
The weather was horrible in Northern Kentucky. Starting around Crittenden all plants along the road were covered in ice, the road had slushy ice on it in several places, it was really foggy, and it started snowing as we headed down the hill towards Cincinnati. We stopped along the river in Covington on our way to Newport so Carolyn could take some pictures of Cincy and the bridges, but her hands were freezing and it was almost too foggy to see anything on the Ohio side of the river.
We parked at Newport On The Levee and went straight to the Aquarium. We all enjoyed it, and Zoe actually noticed the sealife this time. I held her for a while, pointing out cichlids, jellyfish and eels, while Jean took pictures. At one huge tank, Zoe pointed out every yellow fish and squealed. She kept pointing at her fish until a faster yellow fish would come by, then she’d start pointing at it instead. Zoe enjoyed it so much that I ended up purchasing a year membership for Carol and I before we left.
Here are some pictures taken this past week, and some taken today in Covington and at the Newport Aquarium:
The Crimson Tide has done it again! Last Monday Alabama played LSU for the BCS National Championship in New Orleans, and I was there. Alabama outplayed LSU in every single phase of the game, and walked away with a 21-0 shutout and sealed their 14th National Championship.
I had read articles leading up to the game that some AP voters would keep LSU as #1 in the AP Poll even if Alabama won, but Alabama took LSU behind the woodshed and left absolutely no doubt as to who has the best team in the nation. Roll Tide!
On Friday evening (January 6th), we took off from Kentucky once I got home from work. We got in to Birmingham and stayed with Nancy on Friday night. Saturday afternoon we met my extended family at Lloyd’s Restaurant off 280 for lunch. Zoe’s cousin Truman decided he wanted to sit next to her, so she had a little buddy during our meal. I don’t want to review the restaurant, but I will say as far as hamburger steaks go, if you like it you’ll love Lloyd’s.
After lunch we headed back to my grandparents home and all hung out there for several hours. Zoe spent her time chewing on a few dozen smurf toys that I played with when I wasn’t much older than her. Truman and Riley played outside in the garage while Nola hung out with her mom. My Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue were there, and was great to see them and I think they were impressed by our little girl’s dance moves. Zoe will start dancing as soon as she hears music, and she showed off some of her moves on Saturday. My mom was also in Birmingham, so it was great to see her too, even if it was only for a few hours.
Eventually we left to go over to the Birmingham airport to rent a minivan. We got another Chrysler Town & Country, which I’m really starting to love. I drove back over to my grandparents’ house while Jean took Zoe back to her mother’s house to hang out with that side of her family. I stayed up late on Saturday night, talking to my mom, Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue.
On Sunday morning my long time buddy, Scott Bell, showed up at my grandparents’ home. Scott visited me in California for the 2010 BCS National Championship when Alabama beat Texas in the Rose Bowl, and he would be joining me for the trip down to New Orleans to watch Bama again.
Shortly after Scott arrived, Jean and Zoe showed up and we loaded up the minivan and took off for New Orleans. It was raining really hard from Birmingham to Tuscaloosa. We pulled off in T-Town for a bite to eat and to check out campus. Carolyn and I couldn’t believe all the new development along University Blvd near 15th Street, and we were equally as surprised to see all the devastation on 15th Street from the major tornado that hit last year. Several businesses that we frequented during our years in Tuscaloosa were completely gone. 15th Street was almost completely bare until you got down near McAlister’s Deli.
We drove around campus and the roadways are so different. A new building stands next to the Electrical Engineering building (Houser Hall), where a road led out past Bryce and to the rec fields. You can’t go through that way any more. You also can’t get to the parking lot behind my first dorm, Palmer Hall, at least not by driving between Palmer and Paty Halls and then taking a right just past Somerville. I looked up Palmer Hall today and was blown away to find out that it’s now a co-ed dorm. The only co-ed dorm at Alabama when I lived in Palmer Hall back in 1996 and ’97 was Rose Towers.
We also drove over to Bryant-Denny Stadium, where Jean snapped a few pictures of the plaque in front of the stadium that lists all the players from the 2009 team that won the 2010 BCS NC in Pasadena. Roll Tide!
We stopped by Guthrie’s for lunch before leaving town, then we got back on the highway and headed into Mississippi. Rain poured down on us until we reached Slidell, LA. Instead of going straight to our hotel near the airport in Kenner, we decided to get dinner because it was like 5-6pm by the time we got down there. We went to Drago’s because my Uncle Mike had said their chargrilled oysters were unbelieveable. Unfortunately Drago’s was closed on Sunday, so we ended up going to the ACME Oyster House. I’ve been to ACME in the French Quarter with my dad and Jean before, but we went to the one in Metairie; the food was just as good but you avoid the long wait in line outside the building.
Zoe spent most of the meal watching Scott. We had plenty of oysters, raw and chargrilled, and I had an excellent shrimp po-boy with a side of jambalaya.
After dinner we checked in at our hotel, the Days Inn across the street from the airport. The parking situation there was ridiculous… We decided to go into the French Quarter the following morning, so Jean stayed in the room with Zoe while Scott and I walked next door to the Hilton to relax in their bar.
On Monday morning we drove to the Cafe du Monde in Metairie for some hot beignets. After a couple more stops we finally made it down to Canal Street, where we ended up valet parking at Harrah’s Casino for $50. You could park in their garage for $50, or you could valet at the front door for $50. We played musical baby while each of us went inside to use the restroom and test out the slot machines, then we walked into the French Quarter.
We had literally only gone a couple of blocks into the French Quarter when just before crossing another street Jean turned to me and asked, “Hey, is that the team?” Right across the street from us, the entire University of Alabama Football team was quietly marching along the wall of their hotel (Marriott), across the road and down the other side of the street. The very front of the line was crossing in front of us just as I looked up, and I saw Saban and Trent Richardson leading the team. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but it was something like, “Holy $hit! There’s Trent Richardson! And there’s Saban! Quick, get your camera out!”
Jean pulled her camera out of the bag and started snapping pictures, while I stood there with Scott and watched. Surprisingly, only 15-20 other people were standing in the street watching and they were all silent. After 30-45 seconds of silenece I finally yelled out “ROLL TIDE!” and a couple of people clapped and said it too, but the silence basically continued. I waited another minute while Jean snapped pictures and I was telling her, “There’s DJ Fluker, get him. There’s Kirby Smart, get him. There’s Jeremy Shelley, get him too!” Jean wasn’t as agressive with the picture taking as I’d hoped, but you can still clearly see Fluker, Shelley (who scored almost all of Alabama’s 21 points later that night), and Kirby Smart. I saw Hightower and Upshaw, but didn’t see them in the photos Jean took.
Just as the end of the line walked by I got tired of the serenity and yelled another “ROLL TIDE!”. By that point a larger crowd gathered and after a few Roll Tide’s were yelled back, several LSU fans started chanting “Tiger bait!”
Once the team walked by we continued on to Bourbon Street. Bourbon Street was busy, but it was only about 11am, so it was still only a third to a half full. We took it all in, walking down the road and seeing all the Alabama and LSU fans. We eventually stopped at Pat O’Brien’s for lunch. Zoe asked the waitress for a hurricane, but she ended up just as happy with some milk and smashed up gauva. The alligator was excellent, and I couldn’t finish my muffaletta because it was so enormous. We ended up trading in our hurricane glasses for little shot glasses that are shaped like the traditional hurricane glasses.
We walked back down Bourbon towards Canal and eventually ended up at Harrah’s again. We had them bring the car around and took off for our hotel. We spent about 2 hours relaxing at the hotel before Scott and I caught a cab back down to the Superdome. Our cab driver was a friendly young Iranian guy who had only been in the US for a year, studying biology at UNO.
We walked up to the Superdome and smashed our way through the crowds. Getting through the pat-down security checkpoint took forever, and once we went up a couple of floors we ended up crammed into this large hallway where nobody was moving. It was insane!
We made it up to our seats about 35 minutes before kickoff. We were up towards the top, near the endzone, but you could see the entire field without any problem. I won’t go into details from the game because it is well documented on the web, but I will say that it was the loudest game I’ve ever been to. I don’t know if it’s because the walls and ceiling are metal and they reverberate or even amplify the sound, or if it was just because Tide and Tiger fans were that loud. Either way, my voice was gone by the end of the game and my ears were ringing, but it was INCREDIBLE!
I couldn’t have asked for a better game. Bama’s defense was amazing… After the game we stuck around, along with the other 40% of the stadium that was wearing crimson, and watched the trophy ceremony. Courtney Upshaw’s comments were perfect.
Once the ceremony ended we walked outside and followed the crowd down Poydras Street and eventually to Bourbon Street. At the corner of Bourbon and Canal was a large brass band, jamming to familiar tunes while the crowd danced. It was electric. The crowd that packed Bourbon Street was at least 90% crimson, so plenty of high-fives, hand-shakes and hugs followed us as we slowly made our way down the famous street. We made plenty of pit stops along the way, and around 3:30am we headed over to Harrah’s Casino to catch a cab back to the hotel. We shared a cab with a girl from Kenner who was with two out-of-state friends, and at 4am we made it back to the Days Inn. We were hungry, so we stopped at Denny’s for breakfast before going to our rooms.
A few hours later we woke up and drove back to Birmingham, where we said goodbye to Scott and dropped off our rental minivan. We continued up 65 and made it to Louisville around 2am on Wednesday morning. I slept for about 3 hours before getting up to go to work. I only had about 11 hours of sleep over 3 days, but it was well worth it.
I’ve been very lucky to get the opportunity to watch Alabama beat Texas at the Rose Bowl and LSU at the Superdome for the 2010 and 2012 BCS National Championships. I’m really happy that I could enjoy both games with family and friends, and only wish my brother-in-law and dad could have joined us in New Orleans. Thank you Uncle Mike for getting the tickets to both of these spectacular games, I have wonderful memories from both.
Here are some pictures from our trip down to New Orleans to watch the Tide roll over the Bayou Bengals:
Big news on the Zoe front… Today Jean was leaving Wal-Mart and putting Zoe into her car seat when Zoe started laughing about something and Carolyn noticed that a tooth has finally broken through her lower gum! Zoe’s first tooth!
I was pretty excited about seeing it, so when I got home Carolyn woke her up, but Zoe refused to let us peek in there. Instead of opening her mouth we put her back into her “cage” (playpen) and she started wailing and crying because she wanted to be held. Perfect! I took a peek in her mouth while she was yelling and sure enough, a tiny little tooth barely poking through her bottom gum.
Pretty soon she’ll be biting Tank and chewing on Cheerios.
On Sunday we did Churchill Downs to cover Kentucky’s Thoroughbred Horse racing history, and today we went about 50 miles east of Louisville to Versailles so we could visit Woodford Reserve to cover Kentucky’s Bourbon industry. Once we take a tour of Rupp Arena we will have the trifecta: horse racing, bourbon and basketball.
This morning while I was dragging the trash cans from the road to our garage I noticed a couple of tiny snowflakes blowing around. It was freezing outside, like 28F, and when I got inside I told Jean that it was starting to snow. About 20 minutes later she took the dogs outside and yelled “Whoa! It is snowing really hard!” I came to the door and couldn’t believe how much it had picked up. You couldn’t see further than 75-100 feet because it was solid white beyond that. The wind was blowing pretty hard and snow was coming down so fast. It was sticking to the grass, the road and to Carolyn.
I went back inside and got my video camera while Jean bundled Zoe up. Once we were ready, we went back out into the snow storm so Zoe could see what she thought about it. At first she just squinted and sat there while snow was blowing into her face. Eventually she started smiling and I filmed her trying to pinch snow out of my hand.
We had wanted to go to Frankfort to take a tour of the Kentucky State Capital Building, then go visit some bourbon distilleries, but the heavy snow made us think twice about that plan. I checked the weather and it said it wouldn’t be snowing beyond 1pm, so once it slowed down around 11am we took off. We stopped in Frankfort at the capital first, and it was absolutely FREEZING. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the temperature was around 24F. After trying to get into the building for about 10 minutes we finally found out that it was closed for the holidays even though people in business attire were constantly streaming out of the “Visitors” doorway.
Whatever, we’ll try it again in the future. Next we headed down the hill in front of the capital building and decided to stop at this candy store that advertises a factory tour. Rebecca Ruth Candies is just a few blocks from the capital building in a little unassuming building. The parking lot was empty, but we headed inside anyways. On the way in I was really surprised to read the little Kentucky Historical Society plaque out front that said the lady who started this candy business was the person who invented the bourbon ball. I’ve been eating bourbon balls for decades – I love them! I just had some bourbon balls over Christmas. In fact, my Aunt Nancy gave my dad a box of bourbon balls and once we went inside the Rebecca Ruth building I realized that she had given him Rebecca Ruth brand candy.
You walk into a little store with a couple of Kentucky souvenirs and some really expensive candy. The candy all sounded delicious, but it was like $1 per little piece of $20-$30 per pound. I asked the young lady working behind the counter about the factory tour and she said it would cost $2 per adult, so I paid the $4 and she led us into the back. The sales girl led our little private tour. It was kitschy but interesting. The factory has all of 3-4 auxiliary pieces of equipment and 1 simple conveyor system for coating the candy and putting the designs on to the candy. Nothing was running except to mixing bowls with some chocolate in them, but hearing how Ruth ended up buying out Rebecca’s half of the business after Ruth’s husband of only 3 years passed away and left her struggling with a business and child during the depression was interesting. The best part of the tour was after the 10 minutes in the back you go back to the front and get some type of candy that tastes kinda like divinity, and you get a bourbon ball! Jean turned her bourbon ball down though…
After we left the bourbon ball Mecca we headed down several little back roads in search of the Woodford Reserve Distillery. We thought we’d get there really early because the tours only start on the hour, we were 8 miles away from the distillery at the candy factory, and it was like 1:20pm when we left the parking lot for Woodford. We didn’t pull into Woodford Reserve until 1:55pm. It took us 35 minutes to go 8 miles because our GPS got us lost and because the snow was coming down so hard on those windy country roads that I couldn’t go faster than 20 mph safely.
When we got to Woodford they directed us over to a desk where we paid $5 a person for the factory tour. I’ve been on the Maker’s Mark tour several times and they don’t charge anything, so I was surprised that we had to pay $10 for this tour. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised because Woodford charges about $45 for a 750ml bottle while Maker’s Mark charges about $23 for the same thing, and they are similar quality. Woodford is overpriced, both their tours and their whiskey.
The good news about the tour was that before it began a nice guy walked over and was apologetic for having to go back on what he originally said about allowing us to take Zoe’s stroller on the tour, and he followed that up by telling us that free bourbon flavored coffee and some bourbon balls were on a table near the bar. I hightailed it back there and had several bourbon balls before the tour began.
The tour starts with a movie and then the group loads into a bus and rides down the hill to the factory. We were told about the ingredients, shown where the product ferments (nothing was in the cypress vats), then we went into a room with three empty copper distillation kettles. After looking at the empty copper stills we briefly talked about how they char oak barrels for aging the whiskey, then we headed through their barrel warehouse, and finally we went into their bottling building where nothing was running and the rude tour guide told Carolyn to turn off her flash. Carolyn’s flash wasn’t on, it was the metering light that comes on so that the camera knows how to adjust the shutter speed and aperture. When Carolyn told her, in front of a crowd of almost 20 people, that her flash wasn’t on the lady insisted that it was and said “this is the worst possible place for it to be on”. Ahhh, no, the distillation building where the whiskey is at its highest proof would be a lot more volatile than a bottling building, and I’m betting static charge from walking around would be more probably so throwing a spark than an LED bulb behind a thick plastic cover. The tour guide was rude and incorrect, but it’s her show so Jean put the camera away.
After the tour we went rode in the bus back up to the main building, where we were given “free” shots of their whiskey. Again, the hosts were rude when she told me it was sipping whiskey and then gave me grief when I swallowed the 1/2 full shot. Ahhh, it may be priced like something precious, but it isn’t anything I’d consider more special than Jim Beam white label. Plus, how in the hell do you sip a thimble full of whiskey? These people need to step back and look at how pretentious they are when they’re at a distillery in the middle of nowhere and pushing a brand that has only been in existence since 1996! If it was from a 20 year old barrel at a distillery that had been producing the same brand with the same yeast culture for 100+ years, I’d consider it “sipping” whiskey, particularly if they gave you a lowball glass with enough to actually sip.
I’d had enough of the schmucks at Woodford so I resolved to earn our $10 admission back by eating Tank’s weight in bourbon balls. Their own little overpriced store was selling two pieces of this candy for $2.75! Two dollars and seventy five cents for two tiny balls of chocolate with a dab of bourbon and a walnut on top? Really? Well, I must have eaten $45 worth because I sat at the bar counter smiling at the “only sip it” lady while tossing those babies back the entire time Jean was in the bathroom changing Zoe’s dirty diaper. When Jean came out I had her grab some for the road, and another $5.50 worth left the building with us.
The other upshot to the tour, besides the bourbon balls, was that you get to keep the little plastic shot glasses they deliver that sippin’ whiskey in; wouldn’t something that nice deserve glass? Jean didn’t want her whiskey, so in the singular altruistic display by the Woodford Reserve staff we were told to walk away from the bar and not let the bartender see Jean hand me the second shot because I wasn’t supposed to have it if she saw Carolyn gift it to me. I slugged that second thimble full of whiskey back just like the first one and ran back over to the bourbon ball table just to spite the snobs running this joint.
After about a half an ounce of whiskey and 20 bourbon balls, we got in the car and left. We plan on visiting all the major bourbon distillers in Kentucky, so I’m glad we got Woodford out of the way first because I’m betting they’re the most pompous of the bunch.
Kentucky is known for Thoroughbred horse racing, bourbon and college basketball. Perhaps the state is also known for tobacco, but really the other three are the main things that come to mind when someone brings up the Bluegrass state.
Today Carolyn, Zoe and I visited the Mecca of horse racing, Churchill Downs. Churchill Downs is home to the “Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports” when the annual Kentucky Derby is ran there each year. We have already visited Keeneland in Lexington, the more beautiful of the two famous Kentucky tracks, but Churchill Downs is the more famous of the two. Churchill is in downtown Louisville, across the street from the University of Louisville. You can actually see the U of L football stadium from the grandstands in Churchill.
We started out the day just wanting to get some neat pictures (Carol blew the dust off her fancy camera), but first we ran a couple of errands. After everyone got ready, we loaded up Zoe’s “chee” into the back of my truck and took it down to the Home Depot in Louisville where I bought it. Luckily Zoe was asleep when I heaved it into a dumpster in their parking lot because she would have been sad to see her “chee” go. She pointed at that tree dozens of times and loved to be picked up and carried over to it so she could get a closer look and touch the needles. I loved hearing her yell out “chee” when she’d point at it with her entire hand.
After getting rid of the chee we drove to a Mediterranean restaurant named “Shiraz” that my boss’ wife had recommended to us. We were over at my boss’ home yesterday to watch the UK-Louisville basketball game (go Cats!), and she said that Shiraz made their hummus fresh and that it was the best she’d ever had. We have to agree with her, the hummus was excellent. The lamb and chicken were also superb, but the rice pilaf, pita and garlic spread weren’t even in the same stratosphere as our favorite place in the IE. In the pictures below, check out how bored Zoe was by the time we finished our lunch. She was all slumped over with this “please get me out of here” look on her face, the same way she looked when we were at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green a while back.
After lunch we drove back home and switched cars, then drove down into Louisville. We had planned on going down to the Bernheim Forest for some nature photography, but they are only closed 2 days a year – Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Thank goodness for smartphones because we were able to find this out before driving an hour down there. Instead we got off the freeway in Louisville and drove through the University of Louisville campus, which was deserted, and went over to Churchill Downs.
Churchill Downs has a museum on-site, but we decided to skip it and instead walk around the track instead. We went into the part where the simulcast gambling takes place and I asked the guy at the turnstile if we could just take a look at the place and he let us through without having to pay the small entrance fee. I think it was something like $3 a person and from what we saw there were a couple of hundred visitors there, but only three to do anything other than betting. Zoe, Carolyn and I started making our way into the park when an older gentleman walked by and I asked if he worked there. He said, “Yessir, what can I help you with?” I was pushing Zoe’s stroller and motioned to Jean and said “we’re looking for a good spot to get a picture of those famous spires”. He smiled and asked what kind of shot were we looking for, up close, both together, the track in the background, etc. I told him we just wanted to get a good look at ‘em. The guy says, “I probably shouldn’t let you do this, but take that elevator over there to the sixth floor, go around to your left and our double glass doors. You’ll come out on a balcony and the spires will be right there.”
I thanked him and shook his hand, and this guy goes on to say, “If the doors are locked, my office number is xxxx. Give me a call in a few minutes and I’ll see what I can do.” UNBELIEVABLE!! I believe in giving credit where it’s due, and this guy deserves plenty of credit. I hate that I didn’t catch his name, but he couldn’t have been more friendly or helpful. If you’re reading this and happen to be the guy who helped us see the spires up close, THANK YOU!
We took the elevator to the top floor, floor #6, and just off the elevator I saw the sign that read “Millionaires Row“. I’ve heard about it before. I’ve seen the fancy hats the ladies sitting up there during the Derby wear, and seen on tv where A-List celebrities are up there during the Derby. A single seat for the 2012 Derby in Millionaires Row is $4,999.
When we walked out of those double glass doors, the spires were literally right there. This huge balcony overlooks the home stretch and the famous twin spires. We took several pictures, then we went inside through this fancy room and to the Millionaires Row grandstand area. We took some more pictures from there and then on our way back to the elevator we saw a little gold room that is a simulcast gambling area for members only, and just outside the room is a concession booth. Jean asked the lady how much for a Pepsi and the kindness continued! The lady said the drinks are free to the high rollers, and when Jean said we were just there to have a look and we aren’t members, she said “go ahead and get yourself a drink anyways”. Kindness is a lot more prevalent in the South than it was on the West Coast. I missed people like this for the past 6 years…
Well, now that we’ve covered horse racing, tomorrow we’re planning on trying to check out a second of the big three, perhaps bourbon. We still need to go to a live horse race, but we’ve seen the two main tracks and enjoyed them both. I don’t really want to go to a race with Zoe because it’ll be packed with drunks and smokers, and Zoe doesn’t need to be around all that. Perhaps Jean and I will go to the Derby some day, but for now we’re happy to just explore the tracks while nobody else is around. There were people around today, but only in the simulcast area – the entire remainder of the track, including everything outdoors, was empty.
2011 was the best year of my life, and I believe I can say the same for Jean. Our first child, Zoe Rose, was born in March. We are over the moon for Zoe. We couldn’t be happier. Zoe is absolutely amazing!
Besides Zoe coming into our family, we moved back to Kentucky, leaving a California that we’d become very fond of after 6 years. Kentucky is great though, so we’re happy to be here too. We just need to explore our new state more…
My new job is going very well, so it is all positive thus far. We are also excited to live so much closer to family; we’ve been able to visit with Jean’s family from Birmingham 3 times in only 3 months, and that is a huge improvement over the frequency when we lived in California.
2011 wasn’t all great. My grandaddy had some health issues. Charlie’s health continues to decline. We’ve been missing my dad a lot for the past 3 months. After having lived with him for a while there is now a noticeable emptiness in our home without him around, and Zoe misses him a ton too. Oh yea, even though it isn’t the same magnitude as these other things, it still disgusts me that Auburn won the BCS National Championship at the beginning of 2011.
I have no idea what 2012 will hold but I don’t see how it could possibly top, or even come close to, 2011.
My hopes for 2012 are that Zoe will continue to progress just as wonderfully as she has so far, and that she’ll continue to be a smiling and laughing little girl. I hope Jean and I will get in better shape. I hope to spend more time with my mom. I hope my dad will move back in with us in March. I hope we have many opportunities to visit with both of our families throughout the year. I hope to travel a little bit. I hope to explore Kentucky and I also hope to help Jean further expand her photography interests. Finally, I hope Alabama beats LSU for the BCS NC on January 9th.
Here are the final pictures from 2011. Happy New Year from Matt, Jean and Zoe!
We stayed up late on Christmas Eve, watching Home Alone and then National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. We eventually went to sleep and when we woke up the next morning we discovered that Santa Claus had visited us to bring our sweet little girl some Christmas gifts!
Zoe walked from our bedroom all the way out to her “chee” where Santa had setup her gifts. She was overwhelmed. She was smiling, laughing, clapping and walking round and round in circles before she plopped down and crawled over to her first selection. My dad her open up some of the gifts while I videotaped and Carol took pictures. Zoe’s modus operandi was to find the smallest gifts and attempt to eat them. She tried to put every single one of them in her mouth, but once she realized that most of them weren’t meant to be eaten, she decided instead to carry them around and dance when they played music.
It was great to see the Zobug all excited about these little pieces of plastic. She walked around and played non-stop for about 3 hours before her little body ran out of energy and she fell asleep on my dad. After the majority of Zoe’s gifts were opened, Jean began working on our Christmas dinner. Jean spent hours and hours in the kitchen making macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, chicken and dressing and some deviled eggs. Everything was delicious!
We ended up relaxing at home for almost the entire day, other than a quick ride into the country that my dad and I took in search of lunch while Jean was cooking. Nothing was open, so after 25 minutes we returned home.
This morning we woke up and I convinced everyone to brave the 28F morning chill so that we could walk over to the little pond down the road. Tank really enjoyed the walk; there is a cute little park surrounding the pond and it has a playground that I’m sure Zoe will love by next Fall. A bunch of Canadian geese, swans and several different types of duck were in the water, and I was surprised Charlie didn’t bark at them.
Once we got back from the pond my dad and I drove down to Louisville to run some errands while Jean and Zoe hung out at home.
Here are the pictures of Zoe’s first Christmas, Jean’s fantastic Christmas dinner and our walk to the pond:
We went to Bardstown today to visit family. We went to my grandmother’s home first, and while we were there my cousin Jon, his fiancée Jenny, and their son Lucas came by. Lucas was born 4 days after Zoe, so he is the closest in age to Zoe of any of the children in either Carolyn’s or my family.
Zoe started out being a little bully by pushing Lucas over and then pulling his hair, but she wasn’t being mean – just curious and maybe a little rough. She honestly wasn’t being bad, she was smiling and happy to see a little person like herself and just doesn’t know that she can’t push and pull on them like she does to her mommy and daddy. Lucas was very patient and didn’t get upset at all, instead he was really calm. After a while they both sat on the floor together and played with a couple of plastic bottles.
Carolyn and I are going to start going to a local church soon so that Zoe can spend at least an hour a week with other little kids because she needs to learn that playing with little people has different rules, such as sharing and not pulling hair.
I don’t want to sound like I was upset with Zoe because I wasn’t. I was ecstatic to see her so happy – she was smiling and laughing the entire time. She has even started clapping a lot lately, especially when you clap for her first.
My grandmother made some chili, which was delicious, and after we ate and watched the babies play for a while, we went over to my Aunt Nancy’s home and hung out there for about an hour before heading back to our place. On the way home we stopped at Wal-Mart and bought Home Alone on blu-ray because we wanted to watch a “Christmasy” movie on Christmas Eve.
It was really nice to see everyone again, and Zoe absolutely loved it.
Before I start rambling, here are the photos from our trip to Bardstown on Christmas Eve 2011:
Last Saturday we went to Nashville to celebrate Carolyn’s birthday with her family, then on Sunday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn and snuck out of the house to run some errands. While Jean and Zoe slept I made my way down to Louisville to do some shopping for our daughter and I also picked up our Christmas tree. Next year I’ll hopefully pick it up much earlier, but I got a good deal on it and it is a cute little 6ft tree.
When I pulled back into our driveway 3 hours later Carolyn was out front with the dogs and started laughing when she saw the tree tied down to my truck. I unloaded the tree and within an hour we wrestled it into the stand and had it up in our living room. We used the tree skirt my mom made us a long time ago, and after admiring it for a while we partially decorated it. I bought 2 strands of C6 multicolor lights, thinking 50 ft of lights would be plenty, but we were still at least 1 strand, if not two, short by the time we ran out of lights.
We ended up going to Target, Meijers, Wal-Mart and Home Depot in search of more C6 multicolor lights, but they were all gone. In the end Carol ended up spreading out the 2 strands we have more and filled out the tree, then she hung ornaments, including Zoe’s ornament that Anna got her for Christmas.
We like our little tree, and we’ve watched over Zoe as she checked it out for hours. We said “look at your tree” so many times that this past Thursday she pointed at the tree and yelled out “Chee!”. We were amazed and started laughing, and she started clapping and laughing too. Now at least 20 times a day she will point her hand or a single finger at the Christmas tree and yell out “chee!”. Zoe loves her chee.
On Monday night we drove down to Prospect and had dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant for Carolyn’s birthday. We found out that Zoe does not like hummus at all. I put just a tiny dab of hummus on her lips and after her first taste she started dry heaving and making the worst faces. Mental note, no more hummus for the baby…
Also this week my dad flew from South Florida to Louisville for the holidays. We picked him up Wednesday evening and stopped by Zaxby’s for dinner, then came back to the house. On Thursday we all loaded up my truck and drove about an hour and a half south to Elizabethtown for a family dinner. A bunch of my cousins, their significant others and several new babies were there, plus some of my uncles and aunts and my grandmother too.
It was great to see everybody, especially all the new babies. Sydney Rose is less than a month old and has more hair than Zoe does now, Bella looks exactly like her mother, Lila and Max are absolutely adorable, and Braylon is such a handsome little man. Two of my other cousins had babies this year too, so hopefully Chris and Jon will show up in Bardstown with their babies over the holidays. Thank you Jean (Grandmother Jean, not Carol Jean) for a great dinner and such a wonderful time on Thursday night!
Zoe has obviously warmed up to the idea of being held by “strangers” because she was fine with people holding her and didn’t cry at all. Her head was on a swivel as she watched Ellen’s eldest daughter, Bella, run around, and by the time we got back in the truck she passed out and didn’t wake up until we got home.
Today, Christmas Eve, we’re heading down to Bardstown to visit family, then tomorrow we plan on relaxing with Zoe as she plays with the gifts Santa Claus brings her. She’s definitely been good this year.
Yesterday morning we hopped into Jean’s car and made our way 3 hours south to Nashville. Our plan was to meet Carol’s mother, two of her aunts and her cousin for lunch and a little site-seeing. The occasion was because it’s almost Christmas and Jean’s birthday is tomorrow. Carolyn hates when people combine her birthday and Christmas, but this trip really was so we could see her family for the Christmas holidays and to celebrate her birthday too.
Our little family made it to Nashville an hour early, so we went over to the Parthenon, which is a copy of the Greek original. It costs $6 per adult (Zoe made it in free!), and that includes a tiny art gallery on the lower level and a room upstairs with a gigantic golden statue of Athena. Another plus was that they have clean bathrooms.
You aren’t allowed to take photos downstairs, but it is fair game in the Athena room. I pushed Zobug around while Jean took pictures, and I took a few shots with my iPhone.
We spent about an hour at the Parthenon and then headed over to Joe’s Crab Shack, just across the river from LP Field where the Tennessee Titans play. We did a couple laps around the block until we found a parking lot with a reasonable rate (several wanted $15 for the day), and just as we got out of the car all of Carolyn’s relatives showed up. We all walked over to Joe’s Crab Shack and sat down for lunch.
We really enjoyed seeing everyone, and Zoe had a big time too. Zoe ate some crayons, she tried to pull her pacifier off of Jean’s shirt, the Zobug danced when the waiters and waitresses all started singing, and she also tried to steal a handful of Carol’s chocolate cake more than once. I was really proud of Nancy and Anna for trying both steamed mussels and calamari.
After lunch we all headed over to the Opryland Hotel. I was born in Nashville and went to the Opryland theme park many times when I was tiny – I still remember the Wabash Cannonball log flume ride, but I don’t remember ever going into this mammoth hotel. The hotel reminds me of a Southern version of The Venetian in Las Vegas, except without all the bells and whistles from the slot machines. The hotel has several gigantic atriums with lush landscaping and flowing rivers. I really loved the orchids.
We made our way through most of the hotel to a 48ft Christmas tree and Santa Claus. I was really surprised at how short the line to see Santa was since there had been much larger crowds waiting to get on the river boats and to see Shrek. Carolyn took Zoe up to see Santa while the rest of us watched to see how she’s like it. I took pictures of Zoe’s first Santa experience, some of which are posted below. As soon as Jean plopped her down on his right leg, Zoe reached up to touch his beard. Zoe didn’t cry at all and was mostly wondering why lots of people were yelling at her – Carolyn, the hotel cameraman and her daddy so that she’d look at him too. After a few photos, Santa leaned over and gave our little Zomeister a kiss on her forehead. Several people standing near me all said “awwwww” and took pictures of Zoe being kissed by Santa, but as usual the camera I was using refused to snap at that moment. If you’re reading this and you are one of the people who took a picture of my daughter being kissed by Santa Claus at the Opryland Hotel on Saturday, please forward me a copy of the photo.
After a little shopping, we parted ways with Carolyn’s family and left Nashville. We made it back home in about three and a half hours because we made a few stops to pick up mail from our PO Box and to get some groceries.
This morning I woke up early and snuck out of the house so that I could go pick up a few things. About 2 hours later I rolled back into the driveway with our Christmas tree on top of my truck. Jean and I just finished wrestling it into the tree stand, so now we need to decorate it.
I still have some Christmas shopping to do, and as usual I’ve waited until the last moment because I’ve been really busy and because I hate shopping. My dad arrives in town this week, so we’re really excited about seeing him.
If you have a chance, make sure you wish my wonderful wife a happy birthday tomorrow. JEAN, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Here are some recent pictures, including some from Nashville (Parthenon, Joe’s Crab Shack & the Opryland Hotel):
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