Nashville, Tennessee - January 2018

On the way to Alabama in late January, we stopped for 2 nights in Nashville, which was about the halfway point. We had a good time doing the usual tourist stuff. Our hotel was at the edge of downtown and we took advantage of the free trolley route that goes throughout downtown. 

I had visited the old Country Music Hall of Fame in 1979, and the new venue is much larger, with modern technology. We learned a lot about the country music artists of past and present. 

We took the self-guided tour at the Ryman Auditorium, and learned the history. The venue is currently used for music concerts of many different genres.  

The older part of the building.

The new addition to the building. Statue is life-sized Little Jimmy Dickens. 

Nashville Convention Center

I visited the Frist Center for Visual Arts and saw a unique exhibit by the artist Nick Cave (who is not the same person as the musician by the same name).  

The installation on the upper right is composed of strings of beads hanging from the ceiling. It looked completely different as you walked around the piece. The lower right sculpture is made from many tiny sock monkeys. 

The popular "honkey tonks" are along Broadway St. in downtown Nashville. We stopped for a bite to eat and listened to some live music at World Famous Nudie's Honkey Tonk, which boasts the longest bar in Nashville (over 100 feet). Nudie Cohn was a tailor who created costumes for Hank Williams, Gene Autry, Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Roy Rogers, Elton John and many others. On display is a photo of him with Elvis Presley, wearing his famous gold lame' suit. 

We heard great live music at Layla's and Roberts, also on Broadway. 

Snowbirds: Exploring & Fishing in Alabama

I never thought I'd be a "snowbird", but since I recently retired and Garry is self-employed, we decided to escape the cold and rented a small cottage for the month of February in Perdido Beach, AL. It proved to be a great idea, and we had a wonderful time exploring "the real LA" (what the locals call Lower Alabama), as well as nearby Pensacola, FL.

Our cozy cabin had all we needed. 

We arrived shortly before dark on February 1, 2018 and met our host, whose family has owned the property, which includes two larger homes and the guest house we rented, for almost 100 years.

When we walked down to the dock, we saw our beautiful view of Perdido bay. Dolphins came to welcome us, swimming within 5 feet of the dock. They came by almost every morning and evening during our stay.

Dophin Pair with Young

Yay! I'm not wearing a parka. 

Blooming Camellias were a bright surprise from the snow & cold we came from. 

The nearest town was Elberta, AL. pop. about 1500. It is home of the Baldwin County Heritage Museum. Being a retired museum employee myself and museum geeks in general, of course we had to visit. It was very interesting and much larger than we expected. We met volunteers who were snowbirds from Wisconsin (the first of many we'd meet over the month).

I'm a fan of antique clothing, so I had to take these photos. 

Our tour guide at the museum asked us "Did ya'll eat at the Roadkill Cafe yet?". It's the most popular place to eat in Elberta; and has the Alabama Crimson Tide elephant painted on the window. It's also the first restaurant I've seen that is only open two hours a day - 10:30 a.m. to 12:30, six days a week. They serve a family style Southern buffet with fried chicken, chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, red beans & rice, green beans, corn, corn muffins, biscuits and gravy, and the popular sweet tea. Dessert of cake and ice cream is included. Seating is at group tables, and when it gets busy, people are encouraged by the owner to "quit your jawin' and yappin' and move on out so others waiting can get a seat". It's good they weren't super busy when we were there, because I'm a slow eater!

When paying at the register, you have a chance for a free meal by picking a poker chip out of a bag and if you get the red one, your meal is free. We weren't so lucky and paid ($11 each). The owner Mike, decked out in Alabama Crimson Tide shirt, took our cash. They don't accept credit or debit cards, and Garry heard him tell a guest that if he didn’t have cash, he could bring it back later!


We brought our fishing equipment, and spent a lot of time fishing off of the dock on the property where we stayed. It was a bit early in the season for redfish, but Garry managed to catch a nice one, which gave us 2 tasty meals.

Garry caught a nice redfish off of the dock!

He also caught some stingrays, which he carefully threw back. 

Catfish, which also was returned to the water. 

Great Blue Heron

Pinfish

We fed the pinfish to the herons.

Atlantic Brown Pelican

Loons

Other posts from the month-long trip are in the archive list at the right of the page. 

I needed to do something with the photos Garry takes! 

Wildlife Photography for Sale

Great Blue Heron

As a hunter and taxidermist for over 45 years, Garry has taken many wildlife and nature photos. With several trips to Africa, South America, Canada, Europe and the U.S.; from Arctic Alaska to the Gulf Coast and Florida Keys, he has accumulated thousands of photos. 

We've decided to offer some matted prints in our Etsy shop  www.etsy.com/shop/RusticDecorAndDesign. 

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

I listed a few today, including some Turkeys, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep from Montana, aToucan, Spiny Iguana and Loggerhead Sea Turtle (taken underwater) from Belize, and a Great Blue Heron from our recent trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama. I'll be adding more soon.

Turkeys

Toucan