TGIF- 9/4/09

Labor day weekend- where has the summer gone? Hopefully a bunch of you are heading to the Bay Country Century tomorrow- ABRT has been putting that event on for years and they do an awesome job every time. I'd go myself but ... well, I'm kinda looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Vacation last week was much needed and exactly what the dr. ordered. On a whim, I went to Charlotte, NC, my favorite city in the US so far. (my caveat is that I haven't seen the west coast yet so it is "so far"). With a little research, I found Crowders Mtn State Park, where I spent 5 hours hiking one day and another couple hours cycling the next.

After refocusing and conquering a few mountains, I met up with Zim to head to Nashville, where we found ourselves at the Wildhorse Saloon, watching the Charlie Daniels Band. It was probably one of the best shows I've seen. I was raised on old country music and Charlie was old when I was young, so it was super cool to see him hit the stage with more energy than most performers I've seen.

We took a trip down to Memphis where we got to see Graceland - anyone who knows me knows I'm a huge fan of Elvis, so this was kinda a big deal to me. I was worried that it'd be super tacky but it was actually really well-done. I'm glad I went.

Zim and I spent the evening on Beale Street at the Rum Boogie Cafe. This is the place where national acts often randomly appear to jam on stage - they have a great display of guitars from artists who have performed there - Hootie, DMB, Aerosmith, AC/CD, Stevie Ray Vaughn ... very cool. There was a great blues band playing so we just enjoyed the atmosphere and people watching.

We started the next day by sharing mimosas at the Peabody Hotel, watching the marching of the ducks. I must be the only person that didn't know about this ... but in case you don't, here's a link to info.

All in all, it was a great week and a much needed break from the world. I managed to avoid the phone, emails and most text messages for almost 7 days ... that in itself is a novel idea.

Click on the photos above to link to my picasa album with more pics from the week ... happy to be back but really, really glad that I had the experience.

Happy Friday, ya'll ... enjoy the holiday.