Up On the Roof....

Gulf Shores, AL     High:   79    Low:  56

I feel funny about writing about our life as of late..It's a very sad time for friends..Several of our blogger friends are struggling with severe illnesses and abrupt ends to retirement dreams....I feel guilty about writing about the latest place we went to visit, or where we ate at the local hotspot, or the latest about what my little grandson is doing, now 5 months old...(He's getting ready to crawl, rocking back and forth on his little legs and then crashing down on his tummy, hasn't quite figured it out yet but it won't be long!)

But it's our life at the moment and we need to relish each day and be thankful that we are still able to do things.....Someday we may be facing similar challenges, and having to make similar difficult, heart rending decisions...Our hearts go out to our friends and acquaintances who are struggling with health and financial issues...

It was a quiet day today. We did some chores..Who's that little person on top of the motorhome?

It's Sparky, washing and waxing the roof...Sparky insists that she is more surefooted than Eldy in this situation, so she clambered up the ladder and went to work while Eldy worked on the sides of the coach and getting the bugs off the front, a job that requires a lot of elbow grease when the buggies are baked on.

It took awhile to get that chalky residue off the roof....But we think we got the job done with an RV wash product...Then Sparky took Mop 'n' Glow to wax the fiberglass roof. That should help the white streaks that seem to come down the sides in the rains....

Sparky took a bike ride around the park...About six miles....Checked out some more sites so you could see what the typical park sites look like around the park....These lake sites are not available for monthly stays, only shorter term stays.

Some of the sites border fire ravaged areas that are trying to come back...65% of the trees in the park were devastated by Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina....Stark views, but starting to come back.....

Here is a typical park site that has shrubbery surrounding it, giving some privacy to your site....

There are three lakes in the park that you could kayak or canoe on....

We'll see what tomorrow brings...we plan on making this a low key stay...staying home more, enjoying the park more...not as much sightseeing or doing STUFF this month...BUT--that being said, Sparky will probably come up with a few activities to keep things interesting as the days go by......See you later......

Blue Angels Homecoming Show

Pensacola, FL      High:  80    Low:  61     It's the Blue Angels Homecoming blog for today! Welcome!

Fantastic timing on Eldo's part---We didn't know it, but the day we arrived here in Gulf Shores, AL, we found out that the Blue Angels Homecoming Show was Friday and Saturday at the naval air station in Pensacola. Woo-hoo! We had always wanted to see the Navy's Blue Angels, the "Blues", but just missed them last year when we were in Pensacola at Fort Pickens, we came in too late in the season. We seemed to be one step behind them on our travels this year, always just missing them. We did manage to see the Aviation Museum on base when we were in the area last year, and that was one of the best museum tours we ever have done. Photos today are all from the airshow....

So-o-o-o...off we went today to the Naval Air Station to see the FREE homecoming air show, and what a show it was! The lineup was incredible! Some of the acts we saw were: Team RV, the world's largest airshow team,  with 12 aircraft flying as close as THREE feet at times...wow! They performed "Cuban 8's", hammerheads, and barrel rolls and formed basic shapes such as the delta, arrow, and diamonds, something the Blue Angels do as well. At the end of the Team RV performance, they do a pivot turn on the tarmac in formation, blowing full smoke out behind them. Cool!

There was the famous C-130 "Fat Albert"--the C-130, David Martin and his Breitling plane that did unbelievable aeronautical contortions, Otto the Helo, a helicopter that did amazing feats, and the Black Daggers, who are the U.S. Army Special Operations Command Parachute Jumping Team. We saw a V22 Osprey with amazing maneuverability that had propellers like a plane that could be converted upright for operating like a helicopter..... We saw them change from full forward as the plane took off, to fully upright, hovering in mid air. Awesome!

Can't forget the Stearman Formation... and much more..The Emerald Coast Skydivers jumped in an American flag while the Star Spangled Banner was played. THAT was awesome!

One of the aeronautical pilots in one of the best displays of aeronautical talent was a 70+ year old guy!  For a more detailed lineup, you can click on the lineup link above for a more thorough explanation of each act. It was just amazing to see how these pilots whipped these planes around, twisting, curling, diving, climbing straight up, plunging straight down, defying laws of gravity and G forces with themselves and their planes, maintaining control all the while. Very impressive!

At the show, you could see old warbirds on display....

Most of the seating was totally in sun, but some people plopped their chairs down under the shade of the big wings of the aircraft on display.....

You could go inside just about all of them...cool!

Out on the tarmac, there was a Chevy pickup that had been outfitted with a JET ENGINE....Did he ever put on a fiery show! He demonstrated a top speed over 300 m.p.h. on the landing strip!

Later in the show that same truck created a wall of fire that we think some planes flew through, but everything happened so fast with a BOOM! we're not sure how that was done or if the planes DID fly through the wall of flames. There was a collective "WHOA!!" gasp from the cloud as the wall of flames and black smoke erupted.

The show was free, but if you want reserve seating, you can pay for "box seats"--very comfortable chairs which are the first few rows right by the fence front and center where everything takes place, for fifteen dollars a person for the entire day...Get up, walk around, go see the old planes, talk to cute pilots, (is that where you were for so long? wonders E.) come back and sit down for more of the show--your seats are reserved. For twenty dollars, you could stay for the day AND the early evening show. Plenty of choices of food to eat (Sparky said, "yay!" and that's where she was wandering around--checking out the food and not the pilots :-) and stuff for the kids, music by the Navy band, a FREE concert by Big and Rich for the Saturday night show if you came the next night......Fun time!

The old navy guys talked with the new navy guys....

It was LOUD, but they sold earplugs or people brought their own...

The Blues performed twice today for their homecoming show today...Fantastic maneuvers....Check this out....Two of them are upside down within a very short distance of each other....

All the acts had fantastic maneuvers...It was an amazing, patriotic display of aerobatics, skill and talent today...makes you proud to be an American! We're so glad we got to see America's Blue Angels...Welcome home, guys!   The end....  :-)

At the Gulf....In Alabama!

Gulf Shores, AL     High:  79    Low:  54

We've landed in Gulf State Park, in Gulf Shores, Alabama, after a 188 mile drive from Montgomery, AL today..Gulf State Park offers 496 spacious campsites with full hookups, 50 amp. It's a 6,150 acre big rig friendly park with lots of trails and walking paths. The roads are paved and the sites asphalt pads. There's an 18 hole, par 72 golf course owned by the park, 44.00 with a senior discount, a little too pricey for us. The park's fishing pier reaches 1,540 feet into the Gulf of Mexico....

When you come to Gulf Shores, it's first come, first served. You can make reservations, but if you are wanting to stay longer than just a few days, as it heads more into the winter season, you need a reservation to get in. It's that popular!  If you make a reservation it just guarantees you a spot, but not a specific one. We liked the park so much last year during a short stay, we went ahead and reserved for the season, just to keep our options open for the winter. Things change over a year's time, and we decided we will only be here the month of November. So when we checked in, we looked the map over, and picked a spot. We started out one site for 471.00 for the monthly rate. (Monthly rates are only available from October (?) thru March.)

Sparky decided after viewing our first spot, it was a little too secluded...a little too barren. Really blocked off by tall barren, dried out shrubs and dead trees..hardly anybody was in that wing of the park when we came in..She likes to be around people a little more...or at least a little scenery....If you don't like your site when you first come in, you have to leave your rig on the spot, then go back in the car and let them know you want a different one, so we drove around in the car and picked out this spot...It's a LOT prettier...and because it's near the water, it's a little more. For an additional 27.50 for the month, we have a beautiful view on a narrow lake on a roomy site.

This is a wonderful, BIG park with full amenities....

Fantastic Olympic sized swimming pool, 5,000 square feet! along with a splash pool..They also have a nice nature center and a boat ramp AND the beach is across the way...two miles of white sandy beaches...Too bad the pool is not heated..it's only 64 degrees right now...Too cold even for Sparky! She's afraid she will get leg cramps swimming laps...(There's always the ocean, right across the turnoff for the state park campground, Sparky. It's 74 degrees! reminds E.) Yep, and you just have to worry about sharks and stingy thingies, says Sparky. We'll see...Sparky doesn't like swimming in salt water much.  Picky, picky!

We'll be posting lots more photos daily about Gulf State Park...It's awesome!

Tomorrow we are headed to the Blue Angels Homecoming show...Whoopee! See you there....

One Last Stop in Nashville.....

Nashville, TN     High:  60    Low:  33

We've had a little taste of Nashville...The Wildhorse Saloon,
walking the streets of Nashville at night a little bit, seeing Barbara Mandell's log cabin mansion, The Fontanel, but Eldy had just one more thing he wanted to show Sparky--- the Opryland Hotel, which is now known as Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center....Many years ago, he stayed there and remembered an atrium in the center of the hotel...He wanted to show Sparky how beautiful it was.....Now there are several atriums, the Garden Conservatory, the Delta, and the Cascades,....Ceilings of glass covering tropical gardens, fountains, waterfalls, and a man made river inside the hotel!.....When the Delta River (1/4 mile) was christened, they poured 1700 water samples from rivers around the world and every registered river in the U.S. into the water. Hundreds of rooms overlook the gardens...

WOW! This place is a destination! But you don't even have to stay here, you can just hang out. It's like a mini city....It's a little confusing to navigate around in, they say even the hotel employees get lost from time to time! Guess that's because they have added on a few times and there's no central navigation plan. You just gotta wander from section to section....Which is ok, because there is wonderful shopping here, great little places to eat, and just a wonderful tropical paradise to lose yourself in. But it's VERY warm and humid, naturally, to support all the plant life.

Sparky was entrance with the musical water fountain that changed colors and tempos constantly....

There is an amazing number of plant species inside the hotel...over 1,000 was the figure read somewhere....There were all kinds of exotic, blooming tropicals...air plants with beautiful blooms, staghorn ferns, HUGE tropical palms....

Beautiful waterfalls....

And lots of places to eat, but too expensive for our budget! But we did splurge and get a couple of slices of pizza....Rooms are pricey, too...$249-300+ a night...We'll just dream on......Or make another day visit the next time we come to Nashville!

Garden statue in the Delta Atrium

Great photo opps here.....We'll leave you with Sparky horsin' around again at the Opryland Hotel....See you later, partner!  Tomorrow we leave for Alabama....

The Parthenon is in Nashville??????

Nashville, TN       High:  58    Low:  37

Did you know there is a full size replica of the Greek Parthenon in downtown Nashville? Yessiree, there is! You don't have to go to Athens, Greece to see the Parthenon, you can go to Centennial Park off West End Ave.in downtown Nashville and see the REAL thing! Or close to it, anyway!
Four dollars a senior (62+), gets you into this amazing place. Your ticket buys you unlimited time to wander through a modern art gallery, read all about Greek mythology, the symbols that represent the history of Greece, and the history of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition, which was an amazing event back in 1897.  It drew over a million visitors in six months time!

Nashville built a whole mini city around the exposition event and celebrated the technological progress of the times during the Exposition. They even incorporated the exposition separate from Nashville which was dry at the time so they could serve alcohol! They called it "Centennial City". They had cool amusement rides...They had unusual dining facilities. One place, called the Cafe of Night and Morning, had live action scenes from Dante's Inferno. Diners sat at tables made from real coffins and overhead there were chandeliers made from skulls and crossbones. Sounds pretty macabre...

There were several buildings in addition to the Parthenon. They were built to last for about six months the exposition was open, and the replica of the Parthenon was one of the biggest hits. So big, that when the exposition ended, they reconstructed the building in 1920 of more permanent concrete material and it stands today..Check this out....Cool sculptures lining both sides of the massive interior hall...

A forty-one foot high statue of Athena that weighs twelve tons commands your attention when you enter the hall from the second floor. Athena is holding a 6'4" statue of Nike, the goddess of victory. Hmmmm...so THAT'S probably where Nike, the shoe company, derived its name from? Nike is holding a wreath and preparing to crown Athena.  Athena was added in 1990 and for twelve years, was a plain white statue. She was the ambitious project of Allen LeQuire, a local artist who won the commission to create Athena. The gilding of Athena was added in 2002 along with face painting details and color on the back of her shield.

Athena's shield has many symbols on it and there is an exhibit nearby that explains the symbols....It is really something to behold in its entirety.....The whole thing, building and all!

You can read all about the sculptors who recreated the friezes on each end of the building...

There is definitely a LOT to see here and learn about.....Sparky is sorry she doesn't have more information to share about Greek mythology....She vaguely remembers studying this stuff in high school, but it was all Greek to her!  Heh, heh, heh....

Don't miss the Parthenon when you are in Nashville...We highly recommend it!

Finding Fontanel

Nashville, TN     High:  56   Low:  36

Oh, wow...where do we start? We were checking out the top ten things to do in Nashville on Trip Advisor, and up came the Fontanel Mansion, former home of Barbara Mandrell, country music star, and her family for 14 years. Barbara Mandrell started touring at the age of 13 with Patsy Cline, George Jones and Johnny Cash. She played many instruments, but blew people away with her skills on the steel guitar.

When the descriptions of Fontanel said "the largest log cabin in the world", Sparky said, "C'mon, Eldy, we gotta go see this!" So we did!

The cost was 16.30 for seniors with a 15% AAA discount....We had a WONDERFUL tour guide today, actually, a couple of people made our day very special...Marc Brown, our guide that brought us to the mansion, was one of them. He gave an introduction as we were riding up the drive, and revealed that he was a banjo player for a band called the Cow Dudes...He's traveled all over the country being a tour guide at the national parks and all kinds of places and then played banjo at night. He played for Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Remember them, you boomers? He turned the house tour over to a capable gal by the name of Cheryl Jackson. She was a Minnie  Pearl impersonator/tribute gal in Nashville and a stand up comedienne as well as being our tour guide at the house!

Fontanel Mansion is the name of Barbara Mandrell's home, country music star Hall of Famer..How did Barbara name her home? According to our tour guide, doctors said she would never have a baby after she suffered traumatic injuries in a car accident. She did, she had a son. Fontanel is the name of the soft spot on a baby's head, and after she had her son, Barbara said this home would always be a soft spot for her family...

The formal dining room with 1200 crystals in the chandelier

This was one of the best tours we have ever done. You can touch things, open drawers and closets and look inside, and you can look through personal memorabilia from the Mandrell's and the current owners, who manage today's hot music stars. We looked through Barbara's personal address book, picked up guitars owned by country music stars, and sat on the furniture. You can even lay on Barbara's bed. Sparky did!

Eldy tried on Kenny Chesney's jacket that he left behind after a party at the house.

Barbara's home was 27,000 square feet of timber, high class elegance, amazing features and lovely views of the surrounding forests. Check out one of the views from one of the nine porches!

And here's a view of the pool, which has been covered with plexiglass for insurance purposes since they started doing tours a year and a half ago. They still keep the pool filled with water and use it as a dance floor when they rent out the house for weddings and corporate shindigs....We walked on water today! It was a little unnerving.....

Barbara's bathroom? The tub tailor made for her petite frame....Marble walls everywhere....

Barbara's family had a shooting range in the house...They were good shots..Guests Kid Rock and Hank  Williams, Jr., took an AK-47 when they were partying hearty, and shot up the walls of the shooting range! With all the holes we saw in the side walls, they weren't very good shots!

We explored the entire house....Lots of personal family stories are shared on the tour as we went from room to room. Some of the big log pole posts have signatures of the famous guests who have visited the Mandrells. Barbara had people sign the log poles in the living room when they visited. ..Oprah Winfrey, the Statler brothers, Bob Hope, and the signatures of many many more...Speaking of logs, Barbara's husband, Ken Dudney, had 42 logging trucks bring in logs from Montana to build the home.

Center living room/entertaining area

You can also tour Barbara's tour bus rig for an additional five dollars. We did. It's an Eagle coach made back in 1993. It was very interesting to tour a high end coach from that time period. At that time it was a half a million dollar coach. Barbara had faux ostrich leather covered walls from ceiling to floor! Tons of storage, it was surprising to see that. Some of her show gowns are still hanging in the closet. For a 30 year old RV with over 3 million miles on it, it was in excellent condition. Everything was black and white...

A thoroughly enjoyable tour...A glimpse into another world of the rich and famous.....We highly recommend it!