Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kentucky. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Signs

Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day


March 2025 - Louisville KY

The doors in a ladies' washroom in a casino featured Kentucky Derby hats!


Driving from Palm Springs 




San Diego


Akela NM


Kentucky



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Saturday, March 22, 2025

2025 Northbound Recap

 


Winter 2025 Southbound Trip Recap contains links to Day 1 - 8 posts.

The links above will take you to the detailed posts. 

Just kidding...


TOTAL DAYS DRIVE SOUTH - 8 (7 nights)
TOTAL DAYS PALM SPRINGS - 21
TOTAL DAYS LAS VEGAS - 20
TOTAL DAYS SAN DIEGO - 6
TOTAL DAYS DRIVE NORTH - 8 (7 nights)

TOTAL DAYS AWAY  - 61


STATES California - Arizona - New Mexico - Texas - Arkansas - Kentucky - Tennessee - Ohio - Michigan


Normally we would not have come home the same way as we went south, but we had no planned excursions.
We had initially planned to do several stops on the way home that would have taken us in late March. But as the tariffs were announced we decided that we wanted to get home as soon as possible. We had wanted to spend some time in Dallas, Louisville, Nashville and St. Louis but that was not off the agenda.
I had also hoped to visit NYC this year, no to that as well. We had talked about a golf trip on the east coast which also won't happen now.
Our money will be spent anywhere but in the States.




WEATHER


We never needed our spring or winter coats on boots.

CALIFORNIA


ARIZONA

NEW MEXICO

TEXAS


ARKANSAS

TENNESSEE


KENTUCKY

OHIO

MICHIGAN

SIDE TRIPS

Tucson AZ We've been here before. This time we managed to catch a Dumpster Must Go parade!!!




A stop in Mesilla NM where we've been before.



Abilene TX we enjoyed the Dr. Seuss statues. And some murals.



Memphis TN been here a few times. NEW Rock 'N' Soul Museum


NEW Louisville KY It's too bad, we had planned on a few days here to really see some stuff, but $hit    FELON47 (8647) happened!



HOTELS/FOOD NORTHBOUND
Best Hotel Brentwood TN Hilton Suites
Best Hotel Food Richardson TX Hilton Garden Inn

Worst Hotel and Food - Miamisburg OH Doubletree Hilton


SNACKS
Discovering great jerky (we'll ignore the fact that John threw it out thinking it was garbage LOL)
John now loves crystallized ginger. We had to stock up on Goo Goo clusters.



FOOD


We had one McDonald's meal, our only fast food on this trip.
We ate at Cracker Barrel twice on the way home.





BEST SIGHT!!!!




THINGS I LEARNED ON THIS TRIP

Red Rock NV the difference between a tortoise (lives on land) and a turtle (lives in the water)!

Tumbleweeds aren't native to the U.S. They accidentally arrived in South Dakota in 1870 in a shipment of flax seeds from Russia. Funny to think that such a staple in American West folklore is based on an invasive species. It could be argued that cowboys are an invasive species, so perhaps it's fitting.

The brightly colored balls on power lines, often orange, red, yellow, or white, are visibility markers, or marker balls, designed to make power lines more visible to low-flying aircraft and helicopters, particularly in areas where they might be difficult to spot.

All these years and so many Cracker Barrels in our travels but I never wondered where the name came from. Cracker Barrel's name comes from the 19th-century practice of general store customers gathering around "cracker barrels" filled with soda crackers to chat and socialize.

We love date shakes!!!

I owe John a bean dip like he had in Lordsburg.

Bringing a HDMI cable to stream our own shows from laptop to big TV worked really well!

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

It was not uncommon to see hospitality employees wearing masks. There were also quite a few tourists with masks.

American restaurant portions are way too big!!

Radio reception is nil driving through southern New Mexico and Texas. Funny enough, though, you can get Mexican stations and the bible thumper stations.

Texas has the worst construction.




I missed having two bathrooms!

I also miss my kitchen and stuff and trying new recipes.

I miss the frozen gluten free shrimp that we found.

I didn't miss housekeeping, doing laundry (sheets/towels), stripping beds.


SONG LIST















An English friend received my postcard!





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Saturday, March 15, 2025

El Capitan Coffee Shop


Van Horn TX

Saturday

We slept in a little here in Richardson (Dallas) TX. Some moron had left the alarm clock set for 6 AM.
We had HIlton's Greek Yogurt bowls for breakfast, $10 each, but the server ran them up as cold breakfast at $6 each.
Rainy, cool morning, 9C, a big difference to 28C yesterday when we arrived.
Packed up and on the road around 9:30. It was a lot easier getting out of Dallas on a Saturday morning.

We took a couple of bio breaks, and gas ($34). 
Lunch was jerky, ginger, Goo Goo clusters, perfect road trip nosh.
We also took a quick trip to check out Bill Clinton's childhood home in Hope AR. We had a 30 minute delay due to an accident.
We still arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn at 3:30.





NEW - HOPE AR Named for the father who died shortly before his birth, William Jefferson Blythe III later became the 42nd President of the United States. In Hope, the experiences shared with his mother and grandparents in rural Arkansas developed the broad views on race relations, social justice, and public service that defined his presidency and life after the White House. For Bill Clinton, "Hope was home."




First Pentecostal Church North Little Rock.



We just relaxed until dinner.

We ate at the bar, strange server. 
John had the flatbread pizza and I had the shrimp tacos.


Sunday

We lost an hour due to Springing forward, to DST. 


Despite losing an hour we had breakfast and were on the road by 9.
Our first stop was in Memphis for 1.5 hours. 
We've been here before.
1992 Memphis Nashville TN

This was parked beside us in Little Rock.
















Leaving Memphis.




We passed by signs for Loretta Lynn's Kitchen, we had tried going there in 2017.

We made two bio breaks, including gas ($34) plus a Cracker Barrel stop for some gifts.
We got to the Hilton in Brentwood by 4:30. We were upgraded.




We went down to the bar in the hotel for drinks before dinner. The bartender was interesting, wanting to know about our travels, how old we were and even took a selfie with us to send to his dad in India. They advertise as a whisky bar and prices were ridiculous, $22 for 2 oz.
It is also a burger restaurant, but it was a standard frozen patty, too well-cooked for my liking.

Great hotel, photo from elevator.

.




Monday

Monday Mural  Tucson AZ




On check in I was told that we would have free breakfast. We found it in the Honors private suite, it was very good, scrambled eggs, bacon and fruit.
The plan was to leave at 8, it was 8:15 and the temperature was 9C.




Crossing into Kentucky.



First stop for bathroom and gas $19.




NEW - Next stop Louisville to stretch our legs.










We made a stop at the Louisville Slugger Stadium.
Louisville Slugger Field is home to the Louisville Bats professional baseball team, Triple-A Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. This beautiful ballpark was built into a historic red brick train depot station in 2000 and is centrally located to the Urban Bourbon Trail, Convention Center and city hotels.






We got back on the road and were warned of a delay of 30 minutes near Cincinnati so we made a bathroom and gas break $16. 


New billboards for Cracker Barrel.




Lux Mundi (Latin for "Light of the World") is a 52-foot (15.8 m) tall statue of Jesus at Solid Rock Church, a Christian nondenominational church near Monroe, Ohio, in the United States. Designed by Tom Tsuchiya, Lux Mundi replaced the statue King of Kings which was struck by lightning and destroyed by fire in 2010.
The statue shows Jesus stepping forward with a welcoming gesture, a pose inspired by the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John. Facing I-75, the statue stands on a foundation decorated by rocks with a cascading water feature.

Because of its pose and inviting quality (and in reference to its predecessor's nickname "Touchdown Jesus"), Lux Mundi has earned the nickname “Hug Me Jesus”.


Arrived at the DoubleTree in Miamisburg at 5:10 and I was not happy that a room was not ready, he quickly rectified that, but the room was musty and stale. Luckily we could open the window.
Dinner was a joke. Great server, but the food. It took thirty minutes to get our food.
John had a burger, requested medium and it was well done. Server said, "oh no, I told him 4 times it was to be medium, look there's no pink". I had a BLT which was so greasy, I said it was fried. Server said "yes, he did it on the blacktop". She comped the wine and took some of the meals, so we took care of her.


Tuesday

Looks like I did two SIGNS posts this week.



We had packed up last night, and it was still dark when we got up (DST!). We were on the road by 7:45. There was no way we were having their $16 per person breakfast!




242 KM to Michigan.



We went to a Cracker Barrel in Findlay OH around 10:40.



I also took this mural last March when we were in Toledo for the total eclipse last spring.


We visited Detroit on a quick visit in 2010.



Look at that Canadian flag on the GPS!

Never so happy to see that sign!!!


The border was so quiet, no one in front of us. Great customs guy, just asked what we spent, how long we were away. We said how happy we were to be home. He asked if we had any firearms, always a strange question to us. We answered, no we're not American and he replied and WE never will be!!


Highway 401 rest areas, ONRoute.


A little snow remains, but the temperature was good.




Home Sweet Home! I am waiting for John as I hadn't taken my keys with me.
We didn't take everything out of the car, that can wait.



We were going to order dinner, but we had a couple of steaks and I picked up onions, peppers, mushrooms downstairs, along with milk for morning. I had a cranberry pumpkin (gluten free) loaf in the freezer.
We sorted all the mail. Woo Hoo we received our Ford bribery cheques $200 each.


Wednesday we whiled away the morning on our laptops, caught up on news, Wordle, crossword puzzle.
I went out to get a haircut. It was a gloomy cold day totally unlike yesterday which felt like spring was in the air.
Dirty snow piles are still hanging around, they need some good sunshine to melt them.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of hype St. Patrick's Day produces. As we drove north through the States every other small town was having parades etc this weekend.


Found in Union Station, which was packed with spring breakers.




Billboard as I walked through the financial district.



I grabbed a few items at Longo's and they are clearly labeling Canadian products.



I went into the LCBO (liquor store) to see if it was true that the shelves had been emptied of US products, yes!!! But there are no empty spaces, there are plenty of local and international wine on the shelves.

John emptied some more stuff from the car and did some laundry. 
And our water cooler died, so we ordered a new one.

Thursday John did a grocery order to tide us over. Almost all products were from Canada, I was surprised that the dates were grown right here in Ontario!
Broccolini was from the States, well, we love our vegetables. We are not going to deny ourselves when we can't find a Canadian alternative.
BTW eggs were $4.69 a dozen at Metro.

John set up our new lamp we bought in Masilla NM. The only thing I bought for us other than a Palm Springs mug.


More stuff got put away and I emptied my suitcase. 

We received a couple of items, crossbody bag for John, as the small backpack has a habit of being left behind, he can also store his ballcap that often stays behind as well.



I got a small camera, I love using my phone but worry about the battery running out, yes, we have battery packs. I do not enjoy using my big DSLR when we are away, it is too bulky.


Friday


I replaced my weekly rant with a new title "The "EH" List - Made in Canada (and some ranting)"

I added this to my e-mail signature line. John added the other one.


Elbows up!” The phrase is often said to have been inspired by Canadian hockey legend Gordie Howe, who threw his elbows up in the rink to defend himself. In addition to the viral phrase, many Canadians are showing resistance against the U.S.'s policies in other ways.


A gorgeous almost springlike day and John took this photo as he went for a walk along the lake.
Inukshuks are popping up.



I went downtown to the $ store and it happened that ComicCon was on. The bus was early so I snapped photos from the bus, not the best seat though, I should have moved.
No, I don't know who any of these characters are.








In local news the Eglington Crosstown LRT opening is delayed (yet again) until September.

COOKING


Saturday flatbread pizza and shrimp tacos                
Sunday burgers             
Monday  burger and BLT              
Tuesday   HOME steak and sauteed vegetables
Wednesday  curried chicken - requested by John              
Thursday  haddock with lemon mustard sauce and broccolini               
Friday steak with broccolini

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WATCHING

We watched a 2025 miniseries Zero Day. In the midst of crisis: how can we discover the truth when it seems that the world is being destroyed by uncontrollable forces? Also, to what extent are conspiracy theories our own inventions or products of our imagination?

All the Old Knives is a 2022 American spy thriller film directed by Janus Metz Pedersen and written by Olen Steinhauer. It is based on Steinhauer's 2015 novel of the same name. In Vienna, Veteran CIA agent Henry is reunited with his former colleague and lover Celia.
I wondered why are spies labelled as knives? Spies are often associated with knives, especially in fictional contexts, because knives are small, concealable, and deadly, making them effective tools for silent assassinations and close-quarters combat, which aligns with the spy's stealthy and tactical nature

Striptease 1986 A stripper and single mother gets dragged into a dangerous situation after a congressman takes a fancy to her. 

Woo Hoo I'm watching season 15 of The Great British Baking Show.


READING



I started Forward Slash, a scary thriller that would make the boldest stay away from Internet dating.
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