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CALIFORNIA TRIP Short trip to California Sept 15, 2023 - Friday to Sept 17, 2023 - Sunday Bay Area USA Fly to the Bay Area and visited family. September 18, 2023 - Monday Lake Tahoe USA Drove to see the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier turned into a museum. It was good, although the Intrepid in New York was better. Long drive to Lake Tahoe. September 19, 2023 - Tuesday Lake Tahoe USA Did the Mount Tallac hike. It was nice hike, with good views over the lake. Also walked around the town a bit. September 20, 2023 - Wednesday Lake Tahoe USA Did a short hike to Eagle Lake, then drove all the way around the lake, stopping a couple places to get out and walk around. September 21, 2023 - Thursday Lake Tahoe USA Today I did the Rubicon Trail hike, which mostly along the shore of the lake. Found a small cove that was very peaceful. Weather started to turn on the way back, and was raining by the time I got to my car. September 22, 2023 - Friday Bay Area USA Drove back to the Bay Area. September 23, 2023 - Saturday Bay Area USA Fly Home. CARS, PRESIDENTS, and MUSIC Short trip to Kentucky, Nashville, and California June 15, 2024 - Saturday Nashville USA Flew into Nashville airport. Airplane was freezing, and no in-flight entertainment. Got rental car. Drove to hotel just north of Nashville, went to Walmart for supplies, had a decent dinner at a Mexican place. June 16, 2024 - Sunday Shaker Village USA Drove north to Bowling Green Kentucky. They have a few airplanes and helicopters outdoors at an aviation park. Stopped there for about 10 minutes. Then a short drive to the National Corvette Museum. This museum is really well done, between the cars and displays they have. I enjoyed this. More driving to Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace, where there is a display and a short walk around the area. In the visitor’s center I overheard the park ranger mention to another tourist that they are on eastern time. Nashville and Bowling Green were on Central, had no idea the zone line was around here. Guess I lost an hour today, but will gain it back in a couple days. Drove onwards to Shaker Village which is the site of an old religious community. Most of the old buildings remain, some of which have been converted into lodging.  Checked into my room, and then went around and looked at and in the old buildings. Watched the duck feeding time. Had dinner at the onsite restaurant, which was good, although overpriced. After dinner I took a stroll around the area, where I saw some bunny rabbits, deer, and lots of birds. I like Kentucky, very scenic. June 17, 2024 - Monday Shaker Village USA Drove to Raven Run, a nature area with walking trails. Spent about 2 hours walking around, almost all of which was in trees. Couple of streams/waterfalls, but not much water in them. After lunch, I drove to Midway, a small town outside Lexington that is very pretty, but 85% of the stuff was closed. Drove to another town, Versailles, but again, most stuff was closed. It seems Kentucky is closed on Mondays. Back to Shaker Village for the rest of the day. June 18, 2024 - Tuesday Nashville USA Drove to the Patton Museum at Fort Knox. Passed the Bullion depository on the way, wish we were allowed to tour that! The museum was okay. It had lots of his personal effects, including his medals. Not a massive museum though, and not a ton of information. It also had some displays on wars that occurred after his death, so in my opinion they could have done a bit more. I then drove south to Elizabethtown for lunch and to see some old cars at the Swope Cars of Yesteryears. Most cars are from the 1910’s – 1940’s, with some that are a bit newer. They sure made them prettier back then. Next I drove south again to the Mammoth Cave National Park, and did the Domes and Dripstones tour, which was roughly 2 hours long. It was pretty good, and the ranger leading the tour did an excellent job. Only saw a fraction of the cave though, so would have to take some of the other tours to more fully appreciate it. Finally, I drove to Nashville. Heavy traffic for some of the way. Staying by the airport because it is significantly cheaper then near the downtown area. June 19, 2024 - Wednesday Nashville USA I took an uber into downtown Nashville this morning instead of driving and dealing with and paying for parking. I went to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. Spent just under 2 hours here, roughly 30 minutes of which was watching a film on the history of country music on television - really well done. A big chunk of the displays on the top floor (there are 2 floors with exhibits) deal with early country music, and that did not interest me too much, but the lower floor had more recent stuff. They also had awards and outfits. For example, Shania Twain’s Grammy awards were here, and outfits from people like Taylor Swift, Toby Keith, and so on. Dolly Parton’s outfit was easy to identify. I then walked around downtown for a bit. It was a semi holiday, all the government offices were closed, so downtown was probably deader than normal.  Found a large food court with lots of food options for lunch. Broadway Street has all the bars with live music, I glanced in some from the street, but did not stay. I walked to the State Capitol building and saw the grave site of President Polk. Back to hotel. I went to the Bluebird Café for the 9pm show. There were 4 singer-songwriters sitting in the middle in a circle, with the audience sitting around them. Playing was Michael Logan (songwriter, nothing hugely famous), Cecilia Castleman (young lady trying to make it big), Leslie Satcher (wrote "Troubadour" – George Strait), and Tony Arata (wrote ‘The Dance” - Garth Brooks). Each of these people would tell a short story and then sing a song, and then the next person would go. Each did 4 songs total, and the show was about 90 minutes long. All of them were very good. My main complaint is my seat sucked. I had a view of the back of Cecilia’s head, and a side view of Leslie. The view of the two guys were blocked by other people’s heads. Still glad I went though, and would go again but try to get as close to the center as possible. June 20, 2024 - Thursday Nashville USA Did Andrew Jackson's Hermitage in the morning. After lunch did Creekside Gardens (very nice, but over priced).  Back to hotel for a rest before driving to the Grand Old Opry area. Had dinner first in the mall right beside the Opry. I walked over to the Opry. I had a ticket for the upper level. It was a decent seat, but when I showed my ticket to the usher she asked if I wanted to be upgraded. I asked to where, and she said 3rd row from the stage, and pointed out the seat. I said absolutely! She gave me a new ticket and I went down there. It was a great seat, I was at the end of the row, just to the right of center stage, with a clear line of sight to everything. The show itself was very well done. They had seven singers who did 2-3 songs each, and one comedian who did a short bit. Names are: Rhonda Vincent, Shane Profitt, Charlie McCoy, Charles Esten, Terri Gibbs, Arron Weber, Carter Faith, and Don Schilz. All of them were good. Don Schilz is a songwriter, and to close the show he told a story about selling his first song (without naming it), and then started to play “The Gambler”, made famous by Kenny Rogers. It was great. June 21, 2024 - Friday to June 24, 2024 - Monday Bay Area USA Fly to the Bay Area of California to visit family.  Then fly home.
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