Here we are at the airport in Newport News.
Two Years ago there was a lot of dirt piles and construction where you see the plane below. All of that is gone now.
Jackson this is a truck that they drive around on the airport. All of the carts are connected together, kind of like a train.
In the airport in Charlotte, NC they have an escalator/conveyor belt that you can stand or walk on and it will carry you through parts of the airport, kind of like our groceries in checkout.
Melissa jumped on one while I was taking pictures. I tried to get a picture of her surfing but she was blurry and the men behind her were in a hurry. We couldn't retake it. sigh.
There are even rocking chairs all throughout so that we can sit down and relax.
I thought the "tail feathers'' of the planes were pretty. (Yes, I know they aren't called feathers!)
We ate at Dale Earnheart's restaurant, "Whiskey River". This bull is in the front of it.
There is a belt buckle wall inside. Pretty cool.
The pink tool bag was just on display in the airport but I thought you guys would find it funny.
Melissa got a Cinnabon. She was very happy. She even showed her teeth when she smiled. She says she doesn't do that!
On the next plane, Melissa sat next to the Lead Singer of Christian Bands "The Aledo" and "By The Tree". Here's a song from The Aledo's new album. It's called Gypsy Heart.
 |
| The Aledo |
We landed. Henry & Melissa C. picked us up and we went to dinner.
Do you see the Neon Lights under the car? These light kits were pretty popular a long time ago. I haven't seen them in a while! Ethan, I don't know if you've seen them on Gas Monkey or one of our other shows...
At dinner Henry pointed at Melissa and said she was wrong. So, I gave him my mama finger for telling me to turn after we passed the turn.
Here's a neat light in our hotel.
Melissa H and I have rooms that connect.
This is where I slept (and typed). :)
We went to the office of 360 View. It's a software program that we use at work. They were fun group and had toys everywhere. In fact, the light gray area of this wall is actually made of legos. Everything you see with colors is made out of legos too. There's even a bucket of legos in the floor for you to jump in and make something.
The team here is really nice and a lot of fun. They fed us lunch every day and even had a cookout.
Most of the baked goodies were made by one man's wife and this isn't even all of them.
Here we are in class. It's a classroom kind of like yours. I know it's a dark picture but we're in the second row. Maybe you can zoom in.
Here are the T-shirts that they gave us on the way out!
Jackson, here's a crane, just like you asked. No, I didn't buy it.
Aren't Henry & Melissa C so cute?
(They've also earned the names Thumper and Cobra but they can tell you about that!)
There's a big street down here called Broadway. It's where most of the people come to hang out. You'll see a lot of different things from businesses, people, signs, even cars or ways that people get around. Most of it is music related because a lot of really great music came out of this area. So, a lot of new musicians still come here too to get their start. Most of the rest of us kind of come through to celebrate all that they've done! :)
There was a bear in one place. Thank goodness it was roped off. Melissa was scared!
I can't remember the guy's name on stage below. Melissa C. called him "Whiskers". Evidently, they had seen him a month before somewhere else and they were showing him a picture of himself. He thought it was funny.
Here we are with Elvis. The joke about pointing fingers has carried out through the trip. You can see it in this picture. This time, I put mine up Melissa C's nose. I think she liked it! Shh (There are also a few jokes about "shh cards" too that you can ask us about later.)
The Cumberland River runs on the other side of the street. The big building is Nissan Stadium where the Tennessee Titans play football.
You can see it across from the George Jones restaurant where we ate. He was a very big singer back in the day. You can also eat on the roof here. (Just like we did on our last trip.) The shot below is a little farther up the river but taken from the same place.
They had the BEST fried green tomatoes that I have ever had.
Henry managed to get 2 fingers in the picture this time.
I had pork shank and white beans (also with the best carrots I've ever had!)
Here's me and George. Hello/Goodbye.
There are a lot of fun statues, kind of like the one of Elvis and George. The one below is a giant boot!
Then there was a horse. Melissa said that we needed to rub the horse's shoes for good luck. They should be pretty shiney now. It took someone a long time to take that picture so we just kept rubbing. haha
The boat below is the "General Jackson". It's pretty big but there are a lot of shows on it.
Garth Brooks was also in town and he had a free concert in the local arena. However, you had to win the tickets to get inside. We didn't get tickets but we stood outside with MANY other people and listened to one or two songs. There were giant TV screens outside but the were hard to see. Melissa H. tried to zoom in with her fingers but the lights kept going white. (Just kidding.)
This was about the best shot that we could get of him. He was a WILDLY popular star when he first came out. You might like him. Here is one of his fun songs that I've always liked, it's called "Two of a Kind Working on A Full House"
Sophie you can't really tell but the top of this building is purple. It reminded me of a castle.
Another sign.
A band on the street.
Rows of Christmas lights down the street.
A pretty cool mural painted on the side of a building.
The Capital of Tennessee!
Cooter from Dukes of Hazzard has a museum here. Here's Cooter's truck and the General Lee. They are parked outside. Of course, this is also where your souvenirs came from. Well, sort of. Sophie, your's came from next door.
Inside the museum wasn't a lot of big stuff. Mostly just memorabilia.
Like things from the show or things that have been for sale over the years with Dukes of Hazzard pictures on it
Melissa H. needed .51 to use a penny pressing machine. I told her that I didn't usually have change but I thought I threw some in my purse earlier. I felt around the bottom and grabbed what I could feel. I told her if it was .51 it was a God thing.
It must've been, I pulled out exact change. We laughed.
The place next door was Willie Nelson's store. He is another big musician. It's one of my cd's that you hate but I love him anyway and I have seen him in concert!
This is a funny machine where if you insert money, Willie will give you a fortune. I didn't have any cash though.
I bet if I got one, it would've said something like:
or SURPRISE
Here's Melissa H. outside of a place that she really wanted to go in. We talked a security guard into letting us in. It ended up being a building full of businesses-- nothing too exciting but we had fun and laughed a lot. So, now she can say that she's been in it. YAY!
This sign was for Ernest Tubb. He's another musician you would hate but I loved to listen to your Great Grandpa Moe's cds of him. Mostly because I remembered hearing Papa sing along with Ernest on the radio when I was a kid. Your Granny Helen would dance with her index finger in the air, like she was pointing to heaven. I got excited when I saw the sign.
Here's the Bridgestone Arena. This is where the Nashville Predators play. They are the local Hockey team.
Here's a picture down the street where we walked.
Most of the places had live bands, like this one. Although, I don't know this band's name.
We ended the night eating dinner at Margaritaville with Mary Poppins. I will let Melissa C. tell you about that sometime. She says you should come over sometime too so maybe she can do it then. -But not right now, it's late and we're all pretty tired.
You know Sophie you asked me recently why I sing nearly everything I say to you guys. -I like being silly and happy but sometimes it just bubbles out. I don't even realize that I do it. Then later tonight I thought it would be cool to look up verses about music since everyone else here was a singer. I thought of you and that conversation when I came across this one. It starts kind of in the middle of a sentance.
"Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord" - Ephesians 5:19
I don't think this verse means that we should sing everything we say-- But with just as much passion as all of these other musicians had about their songs, and with just as much love and 'lightheartedness' as when I sing; we should also speak of our Lord to others. We should let him bubble out of us the same way. So that even if we're not speaking about God, our words to others sound just as sweet, attention getting, and inspiring. That sure is a good note to end on!
Besides, it's been a crazy long night. By the time you read this, I will be boarding a plane to come back to you all. For now, it is way past my bed time and I have one more day of class that I need to pay attention too. So, let's go to sleep.
Do like the sign says and "shh". Say your prayers and kiss each other. I la-la-la-la-lahve you! -All 4 of you. Thanks Colin for being you and being mine! <3
Click here to see other stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment