Peace, Love, and Cupcakes

 Yesterday, was a gorgeous, unseasonable, fall day in mid October. We opted to go for a drive north to enjoy the changing colors of our trees and spend some time in a little town called Woodstock, NY. 

As we all know, the famous Woodstock Music Festival, was originally supposed to be held in the town of Woodstock but ended up taking place in nearby Bethel, NY. I had never been to Woodstock but it was exactly as I expected. 

A small town with a bohemian inspired vibe, filled with art galleries, book shops, a local wine shop where we picked up two bottles of a local wine, artisanal chocolate shop, music shops with an impressive collection of vinyl, vintage shops that include rock tees that you won't find anywhere else, apothecary and magical shops where you can find special teas, magical stones/herbs/essential oils and you can also ask about the next reading or where the next coven meeting will be held, they also had a cork board at the entrance where you can write/pin your worries and leave them behind tacked to that cork board as you left the shop, small cafes, plenty of little places to grab a bite to eat, we decided on "Sharkie's Meatballs, and so many little nooks and crannies where you can take a seat and just take in your peaceful surroundings. One of those little nooks included the shop "Peace, Love, and Cupcakes" where we had the most delicious cupcakes. I think it had to be the best cupcakes we've ever had. According to the Food Network, they were awarded the distinction of the best cake in the nation. We opted for the Blood, Sweat, and Tears cupcake and the Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin cupcakes, all very good. 

What a wonderful place to just relax and take in a beautiful fall day. 

My Dad was born on his father's birthday, #12 of 14 children. My grandfather used to call him the little pea, because he was tiny when he was born. 

While his older brothers were working outside of the home, he was left to pick up the slack back at home. He always mentioned how it took him two years in every grade at school because he was only allowed to go to school for half days. My grandfather needed him at home, to help with the land, and to shepherd the sheep. He would take them into the mountains for grazing. 

He was one of the youngest, so he spent most of his time with my grandmother, helping her around the house, listening to stories she would tell. They were very close.  

At the age of 18, young men had to report for active duty. At that time, Portugal still had mandatory draft in place. My Dad always felt lucky that he ended up being stationed in Timor Leste, SE Asia. It was during a peaceful time and he never saw war. Many of his friends were sent to Africa where they were sent to a war torn area and didn't make it home alive. It was an adventure, even though he says that the boat ride there and back, he was horribly seasick, they traveled through very choppy waters. He had the opportunity to travel and see a lot of the world. SE Asia, Africa (Angola, and Mozambique), the Suez Canal, Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea. While stationed he did catch Malaria, at the time he said he was so sick, didn't know if he'd survive. He also talked about attending a Chinese wedding while there, and I'm sure his love for mangoes was bred there. 

After he got home, he stayed with his parents a few more years while preparing paperwork to start the process of immigrating to the US to join the rest of his siblings that were already there. While home, he dove right back into helping his parents. 

He left Portugal while still single, and immigrated to New York and settled with one of his brothers, Jose and his wife Irene. 

 

Music City

 I just got back from a very long Columbus day weekend, celebrating my birthday, in Nashville. What a great time we had. My older two children months ago convinced me to take the trip. Although, they no longer live at home, they met me there for the Rolling Stone concert, and a few days in the Music City. 

Tennessee is such a beautiful state, my road trip from the east coast was magnificent. Traveling across 40 west, and driving through the Smokey Mountains, was just amazing. Needless to say, I did not regret the 14 hour drive. I'm glad I decided to drive instead of fly. 

We get there Friday night, I wasn't as tired as I thought I'd be, so we decided to grab a late dinner at a local joint around the corner from our hotel, named oddly enough "The Local". Great place, I love how every local joint in Nashville has a band playing at any time of the day. Food and drink was very good as well. As we got up to leave, and walked outside, I noticed a homeless man in a wheelchair parked right outside. I walked over and introduced myself, he was kind of surprised I think that I paid him any mind. His name was Roger, and he asked me how old I was. I told him that my birthday was actually on Monday and that I would be turning 51. He told me that he was 70, and that I wasn't showing my age one bit. Thanks for that, Roger. We spoke for a while and we said our goodbyes. 

Next day, Saturday, we drove into downtown Nashville and walked up and down "Honky Tonk Row" and experienced many of the honky tonks on that strip. The excitement and merriment are just contagious, it brought us back a few times during our weekend. Like I said, music going on all day and most of the night, drinks, friends and sometimes new ones. Even traveling music establishments are very common, all kinds of open topped vehicles with music blaring and parties going on, mostly bachelorette parties, just turned 50 parties, or just tourists getting a feel of the aura that is Nashville.  A friend of mine from high school, whose brother lives in Nashville and performs on the strip, recommended that we visit the Bootleggers Inn, and the Whiskey Bent Saloon and catch his brother while we were there. We were lucky enough to catch, Rocky Bottom, at both venues. Great artist, great voice. Wishing him lots of luck on his journey. We walked around some more downtown, through Printer's Alley, The Gulch, for some stereotypical tourist photos with murals (the angel wings are very popular), and we even hit up the Gibson guitar shop. We then crossed over the Pinewood Social Pedestrian Bridge to get to Nissan Stadium for our concert, second time seeing the Stones btw. Great concert as usual. While at the concert, Mick tells us that he was singing Karaoke that same day while at Printer's Alley. I wonder if we happened to be there at the same time? Sorry we missed you there. 

Sunday, we took a self guided walking tour of Music Row. The tour is lined with informational plaques with the names of all your favorite musical talents that have recorded in Nashville on Music Row. We even got a glimpse of a few unknown interesting facts and tidbits on our walk. We passed the house where Dolly Parton recorded her first album, the last honky tonk bar on Music Row that is still open, an apartment building that used to be a hotel, that came with a pool shaped like a guitar (you can take a peek and see it), the bar where Kris Kristofferson worked as a bartender, Amy Grant's church and the little place where she would perform (it's being renovated at the moment) but we were still able to see inside. Lots of great history. After that, we drove over to 12 south. Took another photo by the famous "I Believe in Nashville" mural, and we stopped at Edley's BarBQue for some Nashville Hot Chicken, and some football. Woowee that was hot and delicious. I had the Hot chicken tacos, strongly recommend. After dinner, we were exhausted, decided to just hang out by the outdoor pool in our hotel. 

Monday, we decided to go over to Cumberland Park to see the Parthenon. It is an exact replica of the Parthenon in Greece. It is grand and absolutely beautiful, complete with the goddess Athena inside. My daughter, has already visited the real Parthenon in Greece so this was a nice addition to her experience. We then visited the Hatch Show Print, they are the ones who have always printed all the posters for events, esp at the Ryman Auditorium. With general admission, you can experience the printing first hand and print something yourself in their studio. We then went over to the Johnny Cash Museum, can't miss that, I love Johnny. We then decided to go back to the Bootlegger's Inn for some moonshine, lots of flavors to choose from, I tried the blackberry. It was delicious, dangerous if you ask me. 

We then drove about 15 minutes to Cooter's. I grew up watching the Dukes of Hazzard and Cooter's is a small free museum established by Cooter himself, Ben Jones. It is full of memorabilia from the show, including the General Lee. If you're a fan of the show, or were, it is worth it. 

That night, we had my birthday dinner at The Pharmacy. One of the can't miss restaurants in the Nashville area. It is a restaurant/beer garden and the food was amazing. They also have an extensive old school soda fountain list of floats, ice cream sodas, milkshakes and phosphates. It did not disappoint. After dinner, we decided to go over to Cumberland Park again to walk off dinner. We were surprised to see how many people were still there. The Parthenon was even more beautiful illuminated at night, we strolled around the structure a few times, and then called it a night. 

Our last visit was to Hendersonville, TN, to the Johnny Cash home. Just had to do a drive by. We pulled over, and took some photos of the property. 

Nashville is now on my list of cities to visit again. Still so much to see and experience.