We totally fell for the falls!

 Late this morning, our friend Ken picked the four of us up at the campground for some sightseeing of the falls.  He told us to bring our passports because we were going to view them from the Canadian side, and I’m so glad we did!  The view is actually much better from their side! We had no difficulty at the border, and we were lucky to find a parking spot across the street from the falls.  Words just can’t describe how grand they are!  The power of that water was terrifying and mesmerizing at the same time.  

It was very hot and humid, so I looked forward to getting a little closer to the spray of the falls.  We all bought tickets for the 20 minute boat tour that takes you very close to the falls.  We then crammed into an elevator with about 20 other people and a baby stroller and went down several stories to where the boat was docked.  We were handed red ponchos and told not to put them on right away as it was too hot.  Several hundred of us then boarded the boat and jostled for standing room near the rails.  Off we went!  

Needless to say, it was MUCH windier than expected due to the power of the falls, and the spray was more like the worst rain storm you’ve ever been in.  It was really fun!  Seeing the falls from that vantage point was really amazing!  I think a heads up about not needing to do my hair in the morning would have been nice though!

From there, Ken drove us around a bit, and I really enjoyed seeing the river before it hit the falls.  The rapids there were impressive, and seeing the drop off at the falls was terrifying.  We all kept talking about the crazy people who have gone over those falls ON PURPOSE!  We learned that the first person to ever go over those falls and live was a woman in the 1800s and she did it in a barrel.  Steve offered to buy me one… I’m going to assume it was an offer of love.  😬

The whitewater approaching the falls

The ‘drop’

Tonight we are all meeting at a restaurant called The Dockside Bar and Grill.  We want to make an early night of it because all of us have a five hour drive tomorrow to Shodack Island State Park.  We will all be together that night and then Steve and I are peeling off to visit family in New England.  We will meet up again with everyone in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 24th! 

Niagara Falls

 Today we left Ohio, drove through Pennsylvania and made it to our RV park in Buffalo, near Niagara Falls. Our drive was a little interesting because somehow our navigation system turned off any routes that included electronic toll roads. So even though we should’ve been heading straight up I-90, somehow we exited and ended driving these little small town roads near Lake Erie. It was fun to see that, but I sure was wondering why we were wandering all over the countryside. We crossed I- 90 twice, but never got back on. Finally, after stopping for gas, we examined the navigation system more closely and saw what had happened. As soon as we turned that off, it routed us right back onto I-90 and we were on our way north again!

Our RV site is very nice.  We have a patio with chairs and a table and a large fenced area for Maggie right on our site.  She’s not a fan of being in there when we aren't with her and somehow managed to squeeze through the bars on the fence!  Even though we were sitting right next to it, she didn’t want to be in there without us.  

What was super fun about today, was we met up with two other couples we met on last summer’s caravan. Kelly and Kevin are staying here at the same RV park and Debbie and Ken live here in Buffalo. Tomorrow we plan to explore the falls and head over to the Canadian side.  Ken and Deb brought two bottles of champagne with them to celebrate us all getting back together again and that was really fun! The six of us headed out for dinner at a local casino. Steve and I both walked away with money in our pockets so it was a successful evening.  The six of us will be joining this summer’s caravan in Halifax next week! 

It’s always fun to try a different or local foods when traveling, and tonight was no different.  Deb introduced us all to a local favorite, called ‘beef on weck.’  Beef on weck is a roast beef sandwich that is local to Buffalo.  The bun is really the amazing part… it’s a Kaiser roll covered in salt and caraway seeds.  It’s called a kummelweck.  It is served with lots of horseradish (which I didn’t eat) and a jus.  I wish I’d taken a picture of it, but I ate it too fast! I tried to download an internet picture, but evidently this blog app doesn’t like you to use other people’s pictures, even if it’s just of a sandwich!  

Two Days in the Trees

Now, the title of this post might seem a bit odd but 1) yesterday’s blog mysteriously disappeared. We think it may have something to do with our recent travels through Roswell, New Mexico and Area 51 but we can’t say for sure? Anyway, Pam wrote and posted it and this morning it was gone - poof! AND 2) we live in Arizona. We read about trees. We see trees on TV. We really don’t have many to call our own in the valley where we live. The nearest we have are tall green lumpy things with arms and needles. So, we’re pretty excited about the real thing.

We spent the past two days traveling across Kentucky, parts of West Virginia, and now a stop for the night outside of Canton, Ohio. We have been doing rural. Some of the past couple days were on the interstate but lots were on smaller roads winding through rolling hills, river bottoms, and tiny small towns. We got to see magnificent horse farms and poverty-stricken areas along the riverbanks. In Kentucky we passed Lincoln’s birthplace and discovered that Daniel Boone is a Kentucky hero with towns, roads, forests, and State Parks bearing his name. We visited a newly opened brewery. We stopped at a Civil War battlefield. We bought veggies in an Amish market and dodged the droppings left behind the Amish buggies on the back roads. We also felt compelled to spend some time with the wonderful folks who run Balance Distilling, maker of authentic recipe Civil War bourbon and several types of moonshine.

Up above I mentioned riverbanks. As Arizonans we were stunned to see rivers that actually hold running water. All this time we’ve been led to believe that a river is gash in the earth that holds sand - kind of a storage facility. Here rivers are everywhere and they are full of water. If someone told me there were fish in them I might even think it possible.

We left Kentucky and crossed into West Virginia where there were also trees and rivers. Fortunately we had a GPS burp and got routed along a one and a half to two lane road that wandered its way past tiny small towns.  Every little town sported signs cautioning us against Hell and encouraging us to give up gin and tonics. We aren’t sure how these folks are employed or where they might be. There was no sign of industry or employment opportunities - anywhere.  Now that we have the Big Beautiful Bill requiring folks to work to retain Medicaid it’s a mystery how that might be possible. Clearly, these folks are about to have an even tougher life.

We ended our travel day #2 not far beyond the Ohio River crossing from West Virginia to Ohio. We have a sweet little campsite with many, many sweet children to keep us company tonight. Maggie has a nice grassy area to poop in and we might even be able to sit out tonight. For the last many days we have been in the coach huddled up next to air conditioning vent. It’s been in the 90’s with humidity approaching 120%. Have any Arizonans told you about the wonders of dry heat? 

We are in our 11th day of travel. We have driven 2300 miles and spent about 50 hours on the road. In the next days we will meet friends at Niagara Falls, meet up in New Hampshire with sister Vicki and this guy she hangs around with and then spend four nights in Maine with brother Marc and with Karen, the lady who tries to civilize him.  Then, on to the Maritime Provinces and a slow and meandering journey down the east coast. See you all on the road 😁

The Amish, Civil War, and Moonshine

 I just love it when we have a free day and nothing planned. Originally we decided to stay an extra day so that we could explore Mammoth Caves National Park.  We felt like we got a taste of it yesterday so decided instead to explore the area around us today.  

We had noticed that there were several Amish stores and bakeries in the area so thought we’d see what that was about. The first one seemed to be kind of touristy, but it was fun to see the Amish people in their traditional dress working in the store.  From there, as we were driving along, we saw a sign for a Civil War battlefield.  We of course had to check it out. It was on a property that had been occupied by both confederate and union troops.  The fight was to protect and/or destroy a railroad bridge that was a major source of transport during the war.  It was only partly damaged during this skirmish and continued to be used throughout the rest of the war.  The property we visited was part of a plantation and the house and summer kitchen are still there.  With the exception of a young family, we were the only ones there.  It was so quiet and rural that it wasn’t hard at all to imagine what the family who lived there saw transpiring on the property in front of them.  This particular battle was the most important one that happened in Kentucky.  It was oddly moving to be standing in this place.  

As we continued to drive along, we came across another Amish market.  This one, being more rural, clearly wasn’t a tourist trap.  We watched the young Amish women making bread and donuts in the back, and the market had lots of homemade baked goods.  We picked up some pumpkin bread and a bag full of English muffins for $.99 We also saw an Amish couple come out of the market with their purchases in a shopping cart and load their items in their horse and buggy! So fun! 

From there, we drove through miles and miles of farmland and narrow country roads.  Kentucky is full of rolling hills, green green pastures, and very tidy farms.  We knew we were in Amish country by all the horse poop on the roads.  We saw several horse and buggies as we drove along, and actually got stuck behind one for a while.  We were in a no passing area due to curves, so we drove slower than Steve walks (lol) until the horse decided to pick up the pace a bit.  We were finally able to get around them, but truly I didn’t mind.  It was such an interesting experience.  And all the Amish folks waved anytime we passed them.  

We came across another farmers market, this one in an old barn, so we went in.  We got some beautiful veggies and fruit for $10.  All of it was grown on site.  So fun!  I can’t wait to bite into one of those peaches! We had some of the corn for dinner tonight… delicious!

At this point we were starting to feel a bit parched.  Fortunately, I had found a local, family run distillery nearby.  They’ve only been in business a few years, but they have the recipe for a bourbon that is the only one that had been legal before, DURING, and after prohibition.  Evidently it was considered ‘medicine’ so all people had to do was get a prescription and take it down to the pharmacy. In the 60s, the company went out of business, and it wasn’t until now that the recipe and label were put back into production.  We met the distiller, a young man named Luke, who got his training in Washington State.  He also makes moonshine, and hoo-boy am I a fan!  As I wrote this, I am drinking some Baileys mixed with caramel moonshine.  Yummmmmmmmm! 

We continued on and stopped again at the new taphouse that we visited last night.  They’ve only been open a few days so we were glad to patronize them as they get their new business up and running. 

By the time we got back to the rv we were hungry and Maggie was happy to see us.  We had some spaghetti I had made and frozen at home along with a salad and some of the corn we bought.  

Our timing was good because we had a brief but loud thunder storm roll through after we got back.  I was glad we were here for Maggie since thunder storms are right up there with fireworks as far as her fear-factor goes.  

Just a Big Hole In The Ground

(Steve, writing from Cave City, Kentucky)

Short day on the road today. Pam left early to pick up Maggie at Camp Bow Wow where she lived while Pam and I were acting outrageously in rooftop bars on Broadway in Nashville.  Turns out Maggie was fine. I wasn’t. However, even alcohol toxicity couldn’t keep me from closing up the RV and heading down the road to our next stop in Cave City, Kentucky.  Repeat after me ……. WHAT A GUY!

Cave City. Expected it to be a real hole (pun intended) 

 

but it turns out it’s a nice little town right outside of Mammoth Cave National Park.  We are spending two nights here at Singing Hills RV Park. It’s a small park behind an older home. After spending nights in gravel parking lots, having space between coaches, green grass, and very nice hosts is a pleasant change. We arrived in the late morning and settled in.

After arriving we quickly set up. Having our little truck is working out well. Now everything that used to require kneeling or belly-crawling to remove from the lower storage bins is easy - we just grab it out of the truck bed. Maggie seems to have recovered from her 4th of July fireworks trauma and was comfortable with the prospect of our leaving to investigate the cave and visitor center.

Once in the park we scored a new memento. We collect states and National Parks. We record the states we’ve visited by coloring them in on a little fabric map we have hanging in our kitchen/living/dining/bedroom area (cozy little rig). The parks are generally too large to bring home so, instead, we settle for a pin we can stick on our U.S.map. Pam found one with little bats that slide across the pin like they are flying. We got to add that pin and to color in the state of Kentucky. We colored it green. After all our time in the brown desert, green is a wonderful color. Kentucky has been a green drive. It’s really a lush state nestled at the foot of the Appalachians. 

This is the largest cave complex in the world with 460+ miles of mapped rooms and passages and around 600 miles of cave to yet be mapped. We had been debating which of the cave tours to take since Pam has bum knees that bother her on descents or going down stairs.  Some of the tours have upwards of five or six hundred steps along the way. Those didn’t sound pleasant so we opted for a self guided tour. In doing so we gave up seeing some of the more remote and spectacular sights but saved ourselves many hundreds of steps to climb and preserved Pam’s ability to walk the next day.

After our cave jaunt we spent a bit of time in the visitor center watching the films and looking at the displays that depict the geology of the area, formation of the caves, use by indigenous people thousands of years ago, early saltpeter mining by slaves, and final incorporation into the Park System in the 40’s. That all made us thirsty. Turns out a new establishment (Pourters Pub and Kitchen) just opened in town. Being new there wasn’t a lot of reviews to check but we looked carefully and discovered the letters IPA in the name of the place. We went, dined on ultra-processed cheese and chips, and awarded the place a B+. An A rating requires a bit more hopiness in the finish.

Back at the RV we set up chairs and sat a bit - given the heat and humidity since we left this was the first time we were able. Lots of birds! Nature came to visit with the bird calls, sound of crickets, and wind blowing through the trees. We also heard laughter and voices nearby. Turns out there were kids riding bikes and doing the stupid things you’re supposed to do as a kid - including playing together. No video games, no social media, and no oppressively over-protective parents negotiating play dates. If these parents aren’t careful their kids might grow up to be normal.

All in all, a good day.

  

Country music and rooftop bars

 Day two in Nashville did not disappoint!  We took our time getting up and going which is always nice when we can do that.  We ate breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, which I’m not a huge fan of, but Steve likes their breakfasts.  I liked not having to cook it. 😁 We made a quick trip to Camping World, then back to the RV to wait for our shuttle back downtown.  

We started at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  It’s an absolutely huge building, very modern, and filled with all kinds of memorabilia.  It is three stories high! We saw LOTS of guitars, gold and platinum records, and my favorite… stage wear and costumes.  Elvis’ gold plated Cadillac was in there, too.  We spent a couple of hours just wandering around.  It wasn’t super crowded, so that was nice.  

Dolly Parton’s dresses

The interior of Elvis’ car

After leaving the Hall of Fame, the plan was to jump on one of the trolleys that drives all over town and let’s you hop on and off to see various sites… unfortunately, by the time we had a cold beer and went to the stand to buy tickets, they had stopped running for the day.  We were super disappointed because we really wanted to see the area and have someone narrate what we were looking at.  Oh well… back to honky-tonk row.  No bad days in Nashville! 

Being there later in the day and into the night was a whole different vibe.  The caliber of musician goes up (hard to believe that’s possible) and the rooftop bars open. We found a great one called Redneck Riviera.  The music wasn’t super loud and we had a great view of South ‘Broad’.  Geez, sounds like we are getting old!  

Redneck Riviera

After leaving here, we went to Whiskey Bent, another bar just a few doors down.  Again, the live music was amazing.  We really enjoyed listening to them.  So much talent in this town! 

Now we were getting hungry, so we went across the street and back into the Garth Brooks bar where we had some dinner and listened to the band on the first floor.  It was starting to get dark, so we headed up to the roof and got seats right on the railing looking over the street below.  It reminded us a bit like a combo of the Vegas strip and New Orleans.  Lots of traffic, people, party busses, and holy cow the noise and music!! On the roof where we were there was a DJ and at first he played a great mix of old and new country and rock.  As time went on, it switched up to hip hop and the 20-somethings appeared.  It was quite entertaining and the people watching was exceptional.  Finally, our ears just needed to be done and we headed back to the shuttle stop to take us home.  It was a fun night and I was ready for bed when we got back.  We will definitely return! 

Friends in low places

South Broadway at night 

Lucky Bastard Saloon

Hip hoppin’ behind me

Nashville!

 We arrived in Nashville yesterday.  There wasn’t too much to write about as it was just another travel day.  Steve was very glad to get here as he has done all the driving and we’ve gone over a thousand miles already.  He’s pooped and glad to be here for three nights.

We knew we wanted to do a lot of exploring while here, so we decided to board Maggie.  We really didn’t want to leave her alone in the RV for hours and we didn’t know how easy or far it would be to check on her.  She is at Camp Bow Wow.  It is a chain and we have one in Tucson that she has been to.  She’s not a fan, but we know she is safe and well cared for. I feel like I can relax a bit myself.  

After dropping Maggie off, we drove back to the RV park and then called a shuttle to take us downtown.  It dropped us off right in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame, which we plan to visit tomorrow.  We were hungry, so we walked a block to Honky-tonk row, also known as S. Broadway.  The first place we went was Garth Brooks’ place called Friend's in Low Places.  A year or so ago we watched a documentary on how he and Trisha Yearwood built the place, so it was fun to see in person.  We ordered some wontons filled with collard greens which were delicious, and we shared the ‘tower’ of chicken tenders.  Wow, were they good, and it was way too much food. We were actually kind of embarrassed when it was delivered and the people at the table next to us were really laughing!  We also enjoyed the live music that was playing.  Evidently you could scan a QR code and for a mere $20 you could request a song!  That was a first for me… and people were doing it!  I was perfectly happy to save my $20 and just listen to whatever they sang.  Turns out most of the bars do that.  

We then went to three more bars to listen to music.  They were all excellent.  There was no cover charge, you just walk in and enjoy the show.  We had a bit of excitement when one of the bartenders somehow lost control of one of the taps filled with mixer and it shot about 8 ft.past us and hit another table.  It did shoot across my back so I got wet too.  The bartender was super embarrassed and of course comped our drinks.  It really wasn’t a big deal… clothes dry off after all.  I think the bartender was relieved we didn’t overreact.  lol

Just me and Trisha hangin’at the honky-tonk 

We plan to go back tomorrow night to experience all the neon and hit a few more bars.  The ones we were in today were Garth Brooks’, Jason Aldean’s, Jelly Roll, and Miranda Lambert’s bar.  Super fun.  

We then headed back to the rv for a very short nap and then drove to,The Grand Ole Opry House which is only a mile and a half away from the rv park.  This was our first time and it really was fun!  Each act sings 3 songs, and we had a great variety.  Everyone was so talented, and we got to see someone perform who was there for the first time so that was fun.  We also saw John Foster who was a runner up on American Idol… it was his 19th birthday.  Wow, what a talent! 

Well, off to bed… another big day of country music again tomorrow! 

Don’t be cruel…

 (Pam) we are now in Tennessee and staying at the Graceland RV Park.  The name of our street is Don’t be Cruel Dr. and it intersects with Blue Suede St.  The RV park itself is on Elvis Presley Blvd.  We got here about 1:00 after a fairly uneventful drive.  Steve is starting to get tired of the long days of driving so we just relaxed for a bit once we got here.  The temperature was in the low 90s with humidity even higher.  OMG, I really don’t think I could live in the south.  

We walked over to the Graceland complex after a bit.  The RV park is right next-door. Our site is right next to the gate so we were able to walk right through the parking lot. Holy cow was it hot! It was almost like walking underwater. We went into the main visitor center to see if there’s anything we wanted to do. The cheapest tour was over $50 a person, and to tour the house itself was $84! Needs to say, we passed on all of the above. The complex almost looks like a strip mall, except each store is actually a different aspect of Elvis‘s life. There’s a storefront for when he was in the army, there was one about his daughter, Lisa Marie, another about his early life, etc.  Across the street was the actual home, Graceland. We decided to just walk over there and figured we could walk around the house and maybe take pictures from the outside. We were stopped at the gate. The guard was very nice, but told us we couldn’t go any further.

So, back to the RV to wait for the pink Cadillac to pick us up for dinner.  There is a family owned bbq place about a mile from the rv park and they will send a pink Cadillac to bring you for dinner.., so we did it!  It was very fun, and our driver was friendly and shared things about the restaurant and how Elvis used to hang out there.  He also saw the license plate I had made for Steve that is on the front of the rv and thought our last name was Coddiwomple! HAHA! He also drove us home and we had been impressed that he remembered where we were staying as well as our site number, and it was then that he was trying to remember  our ‘unusual’ name.  That was so funny and I think it embarrassed him a little when we sounded confused that Carlson seemed unusual.  For those of you who don’t know, coddiwomple means to travel purposefully towards a vague destination.  

So, back to that bbq place.  We started out with fried green tomatoes and I will continue to eat them with every meal while visiting the south.  I love a good red ripe tomato, but those green ones are pretty wonderful, too! I also tried a dish that many restaurants in Memphis serve, and that is bbq spaghetti.  It’s still pasta on the bottom, but instead of a tomato sauce and ground beef or sausage, it’s bbq sauce and chopped pork shoulder.  It was pretty good…probably not something I’ll feel the need of duplicating at home though.  Steve had a half rack of ribs, and we both enjoyed the baked beans.  

Maggie is scared again to come out of the rv.  The routine seems to be that she doesn’t come out until we are on the road and stop to get gas.  Then she seems fine.  Once we get to our new spot for the night she typically comes out then, and that is when I walk her.  After that she doesn’t want out anymore.  Last night Steve had to push while I pulled to get her out.  She has only eaten twice since we left on the 3rd. She clearly is not a travel dog.  We love her, but she wants to be loved at home I think.