Emmett

I couldn’t get it all in one post – there was just too much to talk about.  So here you have the second part of our trip – beware, I do drop a few names in this one!    Don’t forget to click the pictures for the best view!

Wednesday morning we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  In case you didn’t know it, my uncle Stu is a steel guitar player, and has been on several records with many different country music stars.  He’s recorded with Louis Armstrong and Dolly Parton, played behind Porter Wagoner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley, Faron Young, Mandy Barnett, Dinah Shore, Marie Osmond and (for you very alternative rockers) Ween, plus a great many more (try Googling ‘Stu Basore‘ and see what you get).  He has also played with Riders in the Sky and won a Grammy for Monsters, Inc.  He’s spent over 40 years in Nashville as a studio musician.  So that means he knows a lot of famous people.  Which means he’s friends with people like Charlie Dick (Patsy Cline’s widower), who comped us tickets to the Hall of Fame.  -Ok, enough bragging about my uncle.

Wednesday morning we went to the Hall of Fame.  After we met Charlie Dick and he took us inside we ran into Brenda Lee having lunch with her grandson (who was also named Charlie).  Mr. Dick went to the ticket counter, talked to the lady and in we walked.  He stayed with us as we looked at the museum exhibits on the third floor (where we went to first), and then had to go to meet someone else.  So my family and I toured the museum and looked at the history of country music, Brenda Lee’s exhibit, Elvis’ gold Cadillac, The Williams Family Legacy exhibit and more.  It was a really cool museum.  There was music playing everywhere (of course) and so many cool things to look at.

Henry enjoyed watching Hee-Haw at the museum and listening to all the different songs.  The actual Hall of Fame itself was closed because of flood damages, but there were so many other things to look at that it hardly mattered to us.

We ate lunch in the museum and were surprised at how great the food was!  I had a fried-green tomato BLT with fresh mozzarella cheese, and it was amazing!  We also had to stop in the museum gift shop for a few souvenirs. 

Wednesday night we headed to a Nashville Sounds baseball game.  The Sounds are a minor league team and they were playing the Isotopes (just like in The Simpsons!).  It started late from a rain delay so we didn’t stay for the whole game.  But when we left, the Sounds were up 2 to 0.  We sat along the third baseline.  It was Henry and Emmett’s first ball game.  Henry ate a big pretzel while we had brats, and he tried cotton candy for the first time too.

Thursday, we originally planned to go to The Hermitage, where Andrew Jackson was born, but after all the running around we had already done over the previous few days, we were all too pooped.  Instead we stayed at my aunt and uncle’s house and played the wii and cards.  Maggie taught us to play a game called X’s and O’s.  It was a lot of fun, and my aunt Marsha gave us some extra scorecards to take home.

Thursday night however, was a different story.  Kelly printed us directions to a little tiny town called Leiper’s Fork, TN, where we were to go to a place called Puckett’s Grocery.  This was definitely a place you’d never know about unless you knew about it.  So we piled into the car with Maggie (it was a tight squeeze for her between the car seats) and drove an hour through the Tennessee countryside.  It was beautiful!

When we reached Puckett’s, Kelly had already gotten us a table for the shrimp boil and open mic night.  The little grocery was packed, and the food was so good.  We had beer served in mason jars, a whole basket of shrimp with potatoes and corn, a delicious BLT, and homemade peach cobbler.

All of the people who got up for the open mic night were pretty good too.  There was a kid who played the fiddle like sixty and some pretty great guitar players.  Emmett and Henry loved it – check them out!   *Also – although it looks really dark in there, it wasn’t.  The first video is Emmett turned backwards in his high chair dancing, the second is Henry playing a little air guitar.

I absolutely loved this place.  If I lived in Tennessee I could see going there with some regularity.  We bought Henry a t-shirt there, and I wish I would have gotten one for myself or the reusable grocery bag too.  I thought about my friend Rach while I was here as well – she would have loved it. 

Open mic night went until about 8:00pm and then Rick took the boys and Maggie back up to Madison (my aunt & uncle’s place), while Kelly took me out on the town.  When we were driving back from the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, I had noticed a bunch of neon signs on Broadway in downtown Nashville, so that is where we were headed.

Kelly and I walked around on Broadway, and she told me about all the different places.  We went into the Ernest Tubb Record Shop (the original) where they used to do the TV show from.  She showed me Tootsie’s, where the country music stars hang out.  It’s got quick access to the Ryman Auditorium, where the Opry was originally held – and is being currently held since it’s been temporarily displaced due to flooding.   We stopped in Robert’s Western World to get a drink (well, I was a wimp and ordered a coke since a drink probably would have put me under at that point) and to listen to the band.  And, of course, I got a picture with the King.

Friday we packed and loaded the car.  We said good bye to Nashville and headed a couple hours south to Huntsville, Alabama.

Both my uncles and Aunt Marsh came with us to meet up with Michelle and Mike for the day.  When we got to Alabama, we stopped at the welcome center and took a couple of photos by the Saturn rocket there.

Then we drove way out through the country to Michelle’s house.  She had the day all planned for us – jam-packed full of fun.  Our first stop was the Early Works Children’s Museum in Huntsville.  Henry & Emmett had a great time playing and exploring, and I think the big kids enjoyed it too.  Emmett got to do a little “shopping” and Henry met Biscuit the dog.

After the children’s museum, we went to Cheddar’s for lunch, and then headed to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.  We got there about an hour before they closed, so we were able to get in for free.  Henry absolutely loved all the rockets and all the space stuff there was to explore.  The museum is really neat with a lot of hands on stuff.  My uncle Teke seemed to really enjoy himself too.  We were able to look at pretty much everything in an hour, and decided that we’d definitely have to come back again when the boys are a little older.

After we had explored the Space Center, we said goodbye to my uncle Stu and aunt Marsha and uncle Teke.  They headed back to Nashville, and we stayed the night with Michelle and Mike in Alabama.  We played a few fun games on their wii, mapped out our route for the drive home and then hit the sack.

Michelle made us a delicious breakfast in the morning, and then we started our drive home. We were able to see a lot of green as we drove through Alabama, Mississippi, Memphis, and Arkansas, where we stopped to eat dinner at a place called The Catfish Hole.  They had the most delicious hush puppies.  Mmmmmm.

All the time we drove, both on the way to Tennessee and on the way back, I read aloud a book called Little Britches by Ralph Moody.  We stopped for the night outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma and then drove north to Kansas and finally home to Denver on Sunday afternoon.

It was such a fun trip.  I think we all enjoyed it so much.  We were able to do many more things than we had thought we were going to do, and we just loved visiting with my family.  They really were so hospitable and knew just how to show us westerners a good time.

WARNING: Very long post!  Be sure to click the pictures for the best view. Ok, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I’ll get right to it.

Last Friday we left on our “big trip” (as Henry calls it).  We drove from Colorado to Kentucky, down to Nashville, Tennessee, and finally to Huntsville, Alabama.  What a trip!  We were able to see so much family and had a great time!

On Friday we drove through Colorado and Kansas, caravan-ing with my mom and grandpa.  We stayed overnight in Missouri, and then in the morning drove through St. Louis, as well as Illinois, and Indiana on the way to Louisville.  We made it to the Bluegrass State a little after lunch time and went straight to visit my great-aunt DeeDee, who was recovering from having her leg amputated.  She was in good spirits when we got there and I think she enjoyed seeing my boys and meeting Rick, as well as seeing my mom and giving my grandpa a hard time (as usual).

We only had one day in Louisville (it was a last minute addition to our trip due to my aunt’s leg), so we wanted to take advantage of the time.  My mom’s aunts and uncles sure helped with that!  My great-aunt Mary Janice organized a family cookout at the home of my mom’s cousin, Debbie.  It was so great!  I got to visit with all my second cousins and their families (some even drove in from Ohio!) as well as see my great-uncle Joe and aunt Mary!  We talked farmer’s markets and family, and my aunt Mary-Janice showed me her greenhouse in Debbie’s backyard (I was so jealous!). Unfortunately I only took two pictures in Kentucky and both were of Rick and Emmett.  I hope my mom took some more she can share with me when she gets home!

We stayed the night with my uncle Dan and aunt Mary Janice in Louisville (and had fun with the fact that Dan was a Great-Great uncle to Henry and Emmett).  They were lovely hosts and had fresh bagels with three kinds of cream cheese for us in the morning before Rick and I and the boys hit the road.  My mom and grandpa stayed in Louisville for another week and a half, while we drove down to Nashville.

We arrived in Music City a little before lunch time on Sunday and after dropping our things at my aunt and uncle’s home, we headed over to my cousin Kelly’s for a Memorial Day cookout.  We met her friends, and my cousin Michelle came up from Alabama with her husband Mike for the afternoon as well.  Maggie, my cousin’s daughter played with Emmett, and we all enjoyed the food.  Aunt Marsha made peanut butter cookies and two kinds of brownies, Michelle made buffalo-chicken dip and Kelly had a spread of honey-chipotle ribs, spring-veggie potato salad, and a bunch of other yummy salads and side dishes I don’t remember the names of.

After the sun set, Henry had a blast chasing lightening bugs in the back yard.  We got a short video – it was so fun to watch him.  He LOVES bugs and these were a special treat!

On Monday, Kelly had the day off and she and Maggie took us around town to see some of the sights in Nashville.  Our first stop was Bicentennial Mall, which is a park where you can read through the history of Tennessee along a marble walkway.  Here’s where we confirmed that Tennessee was dubbed the Volunteer State back in the war of 1812 (not the Civil War, like I thought).

The river fountains at the front end of the mall were all turned off due to the flooding, but Henry got a picture near the huge flag poles there.  We had a fun time chatting as we strolled along, learning Tennessee history, and got a few good shots where the mall ends at an amphitheater that offers a great view of the capital building in Nashville.

Next to the mall is the Nashville farmer’s market.  We looked around at all the stalls and ended up with some strawberries and some peaches that were from South Carolina.  They we delicious, and we split a whole basket with Kelly and Maggie.

After the farmer’s market, we headed to Centennial Park.  This was a great big urban park with places to eat and a lake and lots of things to see.  In the middle of the park is a replica of the Parthenon.  We walked all around the outside and went into the lobby to cool off.  They charge to tour the inside, but there really wasn’t much to the interior except a giant golden statue of Athena, so we looked at the picture on the brochure and called it good.

We headed to lunch at a little barbecue shack called Hog Heaven.  We had spicy BBQ pulled pork with pickles, a cornbread pancake, baked beans, turnip greens and sweet tea.  And we heard a motorcycle pull up playing ice-cream-man music.  We all wondered where he was keeping the ice cream, until the real ice cream truck came around the corner.

After lunch, we walked to the other side of the park to look at the train engine that is parked there.  On the way, we had to stop for snow cones.  It was Henry’s first one – and BLUE!

After we were done playing at the park, we headed back to Uncle Stu and Aunt Marsha’s (or Aunt Marsh, as Henry liked to say).  My aunt made ham and these amazing baked beans (they were so good).  And she had more cookies for us, oatmeal-cranberry.  Yum!

We finished the night by playing cards.  We had coffee and Sock-It-To-Me cake.  De-lic-ious.  We played a card game they taught us a few years back called Hand and Foot.  Maggie and Stu; Marsha and Rick; versus Kelly and me. I don’t remember who won, but it was a great time.  And my uncle told jokes with funny accents. 

In the morning, Rick made pancakes, and my uncle and I headed to the airport to pick up my other uncle, Terry (er, that’s Teke to me).  We decided that after he got back to the house, we’d all head to the Nashville zoo. We all grabbed a ham sandwich before we left and hit the road.

The zoo in Nashville is beautiful and we had a fun time.  We ate ice cream cones and saw all the animals.  I got lots of pictures of everyone looking at the exhibits.  Henry loved all the snakes and frogs and lizards and bugs in the tropical pavilion (I don’t know what it was called – the one in Denver is called Tropical Discovery??).  There were also fish and giant turtles, as well as bats and things.  Maggie carried Emmett the whole time and he loved it.

In the outdoor exhibits we saw blue macaws and monkeys, alligators and tigers… all the fun zoo animals.  Emmett LOVED the alligators, and we got a video of him enjoying them.  It even sounds like he’s trying to say “alligator.”

Those zoo photos document the last time my uncle Stu got to wear his blue hat.  He let Henry put it on back at the house, and Henry seemed to steak his claim.  He only removed it when he slept, and then, only because we made him.  My uncle autographed it, and gave it to Henry to keep before we left.

My aunt roasted a turkey for dinner on Tuesday night, with all the fixin’s (and baked us more cookies!), and Kelly ate with us as soon as she got off of work.  I made a peach tart with the peaches from the farmers market for dessert, and after we ate, we all played my aunt and uncle’s Nintendo Wii.  I’ve mentioned before how, as my BFF’s little sister, JoAnn, says, “Wii: It Brings the Family Together.”  And again, I have confirmation that this is true!  Seriously, Nintendo needs to make it their slogan or something.  Seven of us, from ages 13 to 73 played 100 pin bowling, wake-boarding and Frisbee.  And my uncle Teke, who is 66 by the way, beat us all at bowling, and it was his first time. I only wish I had gotten pictures.

This is turning out to be a VERY long post, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to hear about the second half of the week!