CATCHING UP

I know, I know, I haven't written anything on this blog in a L-O-N-G time.  I've been busy and lazy.  Is that an oxymoron?  Anyway, we have been in the vicinity of H-town since Mother's Day and when I get close to H-town, my life tends to pick up.

We stayed with the grandkids while Son and DIL went on a trip.  We were with them for 10 days.  They keep us hopping!  But, they are great kids and I love every minute of it.  Of course, after 10 days, I again realize why God gives children to young people.  This Mimi was one tired puppy.

We then went to Marina Village RV Resort (we affectionately call it "the lake").  This is a private park where you have to be an owner/member to stay there.  This park is really a beautiful place.  The sites are spacious.  There are lakefront sites that you can step out of your boat and into your site.  There are 2 pools.  They are old and they are ugly on the exterior but this year, they are clean and refreshing.  Actually, there are a lot of things old and in need of work there.  The park opened in 1975.  Very few upgrades have been made since then.  There is a long story behind all of this and improvements have been started, but I'm beginning to think that it is too little, too late.  I will be heartbroken if the park closes down, but at this point, I can't see it staying open more than 3 to 5 years.  We have met and made friends with some really great people there.  My kids were raised going there and now their kids love going there.  It is a place where you can let your kids ride their bike without you or any adult having to ride with them. There is wildlife all over the place and lots of beautiful, big trees.  Now, wouldn't you hate for this place to close?

One of the twin fawns born in the park this year.

Beautiful sunset

One of the grandkids out on a slalom ski.

Mr. W's cousin fishing

Part of the playground

Camping area

Our campsite

If you are going to be in the area of Trinity, TX and need a place to stop, stay here and check it out.  It is an owner/member park. But since the membership is way down, they are offering a free 3-day/2-night stay to anyone interested.  If you want to come before Labor Day, you can come for 7-days/6-nights for $120 ($20 per night).  Just call the office at 936-594-0149 and make your reservation.  You can tell them that I referred you if they ask. It is also a Coast to Coast park.  If you are C2C, it might be a little out of your way, but worth the stay.

While we were there, the heavens opened up and it rained solid for 40 days and 40 nights.  Well, maybe not 40 days and 40 nights, but close!  Texas has been having its share of floods the past 2 years during April and May.  It has been crazy.  The lake flooded parts of the campground and it was Memorial Day weekend.  Needless to say, the park was no where near as crowded as it usually is.  What a mess. They are still cleaning up from that.

Girl-child and Squeaky had their dance recital that weekend at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in the Woodlands.  We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get there with all the flooding.  But, we did make it and the show did go on.  They were both so precious.  It was an awesome night.

We stayed there 30 days and then moved to Thousand Trails in Conroe, TX.  This is a busy park.  They have annual leases here and all of those people have taken the best sites in the park.  You read any forum or any reviews on Thousand Trails parks and everyone who writes one will complain about having annual leases and how all the good sites are all gone. People with memberships are not happy campers about that.  There are very few trees and with Texas heat, you need to have some shade.  We lucked out and found a site that the back part of our trailer is in the shade and it helps tremendously.  Again, Texas went from floods to heat!  We were having days of 98 and 99 degrees and a heat index of 109 to 113.  People, it is June.  This isn't even the hottest part of summer here yet.  The company that bought Thousand Trails has put quite a bit of money into the park and upgraded a lot of their facilities.  The roads are horrible, but all Thousand Trails parks have horrible roads.  The more we stay here, the more we enjoy it.  They are getting ready to add more sites to the park so they can have more annual leases.  They are only allowed a certain percentage within the park, thus the additional sites. Talk is that they are getting ready to declare this a "high usage park".  People with Thousand Trails memberships will understand what that can mean.  With our membership, we won't really have to worry about it.  But, some of the memberships sold recently may have to worry about it.

Playground

Pickleball courts - In case you don't know what pickleball is, it s sort of like tennis but for either kids or "older" people.

One of 3 basketball courts

The fire area and some of the cabanas in the pool area.

The pool

One of the bathhouses

Some of the cabins

Beach area to swim and play

Boat docks available to use.

We will be here until after the 4th of July.  We are going back to "the lake" because Son, DIL, and grandkids are going there for a week.  Towards the end of July, I am working for a week at my job that I retired from.  The first of August, Daughter and her family are coming for a visit.  Guess where she wants to go?  Yep, to "the lake."  So, we are all going then too. 

So, I might be writing other posts or I might not for a while.  Yes, I'm still alive.  Yes, I'm OK.  Yes, I'm busy.  And, yes, I'm lazy. 

DAINGERFIELD STATE PARK

We are headed back to Texas.  Actually, we are already in Texas.  However, on our way back, we discovered a GEM of a state park that we have never been to before.  We stayed there for one night on our way home.

When you drive in, it is typical east Texas piney woods foliage.  Each camping loop is very wooded with all of the natural vegetation left in place.  There was only one loop that they consider the sites big enough for us.  We have a 38 ft. fifth wheel.  All of the sites in that loop (10 of them) are the arced shaped pads. Sites 6-10 are on the side with the lake. However, almost all of the park has full hook-ups!  There was only one loop that was for tents only and that loop only had water,  no electric or sewer.  All of the sites are pretty small.  You can tell it was built by the CCC many years ago when campers were little. The bath houses were really nice according to Mr. W.  He thinks they have been updated since they were built.  He said they were one of the nicest bath houses in any Texas state park he has been in. He is pretty particular about bath houses.

The roads are very wooded.

Our site

The site across from us looking at the lake.

We went around to where the day use of the park was located.  They had 2 sets of swings, a meeting building, a store, volleyball net, canoes, paddle boats, and a fishing pier. They also have a swimming area in the lake with a swim platform. There are many hiking trails.  A fish cleaning station at the pier.  There is an amphitheater. Plenty of picnic tables, a couple of cabins, and this part of the park is well manicured.

One of the cabins

See how manicured?

The group meeting area and the store.  There is also a seating area under the opening with a big fireplace.  In the cool weather, you can sit by the fireplace and look at the lake.

This is a "deck" area on the back of the group meeting area.  That is the swim platform in the lake.

There is the volleyball net.  There are also picnic tables down by the lake.

The swings

Paddle boats and the fishing pier

They have T-shirts in their store and they are $10.50.  I went to buy one before we left and they only had size small.  The girl said they had ordered more shirts 2 days ago.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.  I would like to come back and swim in the lake.  Mr. W wants to come back and fish.  What a jewel!  It's not close to anything.  But, it is well worth a visit if you are travelling through.

THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM

Our next stop was Nashville, TN.  We went to Nashville 3 years ago and had never been before.  We covered a lot of stuff during that visit.  We went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was awesome.  We also went to the Grand Ole' Opry at its "new" location.  Everyone refers to the Grand Ole' Opry being at its "new" location which is kind of crazy because it has been at this location since 1974!  Being somewhere for 40+ years isn't really being at a "new" location.  However, most people associate the Grand Ole Opry with Ryman auditorium in downtown Nashville.

The auditorium opened as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892. Its construction was spearheaded by Thomas Ryman (1843–1904), a Nashville businessman who owned several saloons and a fleet of riverboats. Ryman conceived of the auditorium as a tabernacle for the influential revivalist Samuel Porter Jones. Ryman had attended one of Jones' 1885 tent revivals with the intent to heckle, but was instead converted into a devout Christian, and soon after pledged to build the tabernacle so the people of Nashville could attend a large-scale revival indoors. It took seven years to complete and cost $100,000 (equivalent to $2,633,704 in 2015). The building was originally designed to contain a balcony, but a lack of funds delayed its completion. The balcony was eventually built and opened in time for the 1897 gathering of the United Confederate Veterans, with funds provided by members of the group. As such, the balcony was named the Confederate Gallery.^[5] Upon the completion of the balcony, the Ryman's capacity rose to 6,000. A stage was added in 1901 that reduced the capacity to just over 3,000.

The Grand Ole Opry was first broadcast from the Ryman on June 5, 1943, and originated there every week for nearly 31 years thereafter. Every show sold out, and hundreds were often turned away.
During its tenure at Ryman Auditorium, the Opry hosted the biggest country music stars of the day, and the show became known around the world. The entire show was broadcast on clear-channel station WSM, where it could be heard in 30 states across the eastern part of the nation. Portions of the show were also broadcast on network radio and television to a wider audience. Melding its then-current usage with the building's origins as a house of worship, the Ryman earned the nickname "The Mother Church of Country Music", which it still holds to this day.

The Ryman lacked a true backstage area. There was only one dressing room for the men, while women were relegated to an inadequate ladies' restroom. The shortage of space forced performers to wait in the wings, the narrow hallways, and the alley behind the building's south wall. Thus, many performers often ventured across the alley to Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and other bars, where they would drink alongside and sometimes perform for patrons. This practice enhanced the notoriety of the honky-tonk bars along Nashville's Lower Broadway.

Despite the building's deteriorating condition, the lack of air conditioning, and the abundance of unsavory surroundings in its urban neighborhood, the show's increasing popularity would often lead to crowds too large for the venue. So, in 1966, plans were started to move the Opry  to a new location.  The plans, announced in 1969, centered around a larger, custom-built auditorium that would provide a more controlled and comfortable atmosphere for audiences and performers alike, as well as better radio and television production facilities. The company purchased a large tract of land in a then-rural area a few miles away, where the new Opry theater would serve as the anchor of a grand entertainment complex. The development became known as Opryland USA, and came to include the Opryland theme park and, eventually, the Opryland Hotel.


Following the departure of the Opry, the Ryman sat mostly vacant and decaying for nearly twenty years as the neighborhood surrounding it continued to see increasing effects of urban decay. However, the building continued to stand with an uncertain future. Despite its regressing condition and the absence of performances, Ryman Auditorium was never shuttered, and still held such significance as an attraction that it would remain open for tours.

On August 30, 1979, following a tip from a citizen, the Nashville bomb squad discovered and disarmed a massive bomb that threatened to damage or destroy a three-block area of downtown Nashville, which was likely to have included the Ryman. A nearby strip club had been the target. The device was disarmed less than twenty minutes before it was timed to detonate.

In October 1992, executives of Gaylord Entertainment announced plans to renovate the entire building and expand upon it to create modern amenities for performers and audiences alike, as part of a larger initiative to invest into the city's efforts to revitalize the downtown area. In September 1993, renovations began to restore it into a world-class concert hall. In the renovations, the auditorium's wooden pews were restored. They are original to the building and continue to serve as the auditorium's seating. Both far-reaching ends of the U-shaped balcony (which had previously extended all the way to the building's south wall) were removed, and new backstage facilities were built inside the original building, while a new structure containing a lobby, restrooms, concessions, offices, and a grand staircase leading to the balcony was constructed and attached to the east side of the auditorium. This also resulted in the Ryman's main entrance being moved from the west side of the building (Fifth Avenue North) to the east side (Fourth Avenue North), where an outdoor entry plaza, complete with a large statue of Thomas Ryman, also greeted visitors. Notably, the renovations resulted in Ryman Auditorium becoming air-conditioned for the first time.  The Opry has returned to the Ryman for November, December, and January shows every year since 1999, allowing the production to acknowledge its roots while also taking advantage of a smaller venue during an off-peak season for tourism and freeing the Grand Ole Opry House for special holiday presentations.

So, there you have a small part of the Ryman Auditorium history.  They do have shows here every Tuesday and Thursday during the peak season.  We went to a Thursday night show which was Classic Country at the Ryman.  Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers were there and Larry Gatlin was the emcee of the show.  He did a great job.  He was funny.  He knew a lot of stories about the other performers.  He got the audience involved.  He sang a lot of his "made famous" songs.  Larry Gatlin, you rock!

Larry and his brother Steve.  Steve had just had a hip replacement surgery 3 weeks ago.

The other performers were The Riders in the Sky.

Ashley Campbell (Glen Campbell's daughter)

She is very talented.  Larry Gatlin told a story about her Dad.  You can tell everyone was very sentimental when he told that story.

Also was a new, young guy named Mo Pitney.  He is 24 years old and already known as an accomplished song writer.  This show was labeled as "Country Classics" so he sang classics.  He blew the place up!  He was awesome!  I am telling you, pay attention to this guy.  He is going to be famous.  I have not listened to any of his original songs, but I'm going to.  He sang a song by Ray Price and one by Merle Haggard.  His first song was one by someone famous but I can't remember who. (I hate it when that happens.)  The Merle Haggard song, he played totally with his acoustical guitar and that was the only instrument.  OMG......spectacular.  He has written a song with Larry Gatlin.  He was on a show the other night that was an honors show in country music. He was on it for his songwriting.  His voice is crazy good.  Can you tell I really liked this guy?

He and Larry sang the chorus of a song together.

The last performer was Lee Greenwood.  He sang some of his top songs.  We all know his most famous song is "God Bless the USA".  However, did you know the other voices on the recording of that song were Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers?  Neither did I.  You learn something new everyday.  Of course that was the final song of the night.

Lee Greenwood

L-R: Steve Gatlin, Lee Greenwood, Larry Gatlin, Rudy Gatlin
Singing "God Bless the USA"

When we left the Ryman, we decided to detour through the strip to get back to the parking garage.  It was Thursday night and this busy.  Imagine what Friday and Saturday night look like.

CHATTANOOGA, TENNESSEE AND HARRISON BAY STATE PARK

Our last day in Chattanooga was spent going downtown to see and walk on the world's longest pedestrian bridge. Now, that is according to Chattanooga.com. But, I read a review that said this bridge is 1/2 mile across and there is one in New York that is 1.3 miles across.  So, who knows.

Built in 1890, the 2,376 feet Walnut Street Bridge was the first to connect Chattanooga, Tennessee's downtown with the North Shore. According to a plaque on the bridge, Edwin Thacher was the chief engineer for the bridge. The bridge's superstructure was assembled by the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo, Ohio, which was a prolific late 19th-century bridge builder.

The bridge was closed to motor vehicles in 1978 and sat in disuse and disrepair for nearly a decade. Repairs and structural modifications have been made to turn the bridge into what is now a pedestrian walkway. The Walnut Street Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1990. The 2,376 foot pedestrian bridge sits near the heart of a massive and recently completed urban renewal project.

The Tennessee Aquarium, Creative Discovery Museum, Hunter Museum of Art, Bluff View Art District, Coolidge and Renaissance Parks, Tivoli Theater, and the newly revitalized waterfront are all within close walking distance of either side of the bridge. Also accessible are several hotels, over 50 restaurants and bars, and several shopping areas. The free electric shuttle can connect you to the Choo-Choo and other Southside attractions.

We walked across the bridge and back.  We went over to the Hunter Museum of Art but didn't go in.  We walked to where the Aquarium was and ate lunch on some tiered concrete seats by the river.  It was a great day with some beautiful sights. They do have 20 miles of hike/bike trail long the river.  The next time we come to Chattanooga, we will do some of the hike/bike trail.  It looked pretty level and you can even ride your bike across the bridge.

Walkway to the bridge

The bridge

Looking at the Tennessee River from the bridge

Some Stand Up Paddleboarders

One of the park areas by the bridge

Fun splash pad for kids and kids at heart

The paddleboat passengers waving at us.

The first structure of the art museum

This statue grouping was named Full Count.  Being a baseball fan, I had to take a picture.

We stayed at a state park, Harrison Bay State Park.  You can pick your site when you make your reservation.  Mr. W has gotten really good at using Google Earth to check out the sites before he books.  This state park was awesome.  It had a marina, restaurant, huge swimming pool, playground, and fishing piers galore.  When we are in the area, we will definitely stay here again.  The site we were in was pretty awesome.  But, we did find another site that we checked out.  We will pick that site next time.  I'm not telling you what site it is either.  You might try to book it when I want it! :) They have water and electricity but no sewer.  They have 2 dump stations that I saw.  The restaurant had a good menu.  The sites are not very level except in one of the loops and that loop costs more than the others.  It was very reasonably priced.  You need to check it out.

Looking from our patio

Looking out from the side of the patio