Photography – Jay's & Pat's Adventures

Posted on September 16, 2021 by jayandpat · 6 Comments

FINALLY — THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!

YAY! Glen and Adina met us in Cleveland, TN, on Friday night, Sept. 10^th, to begin a weekend full of anniversary celebration. First, they surprised us with flowers and appetizers before the first of several anniversary meals!

Saturday, September 11^th, is now Patriots Day – a day of remembrance of the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001. Legion friends from home sent us a photo of an early morning solemn ceremony. We observed a moment of silence, but this date was OURS first, so we went on to enjoy a day of 55^th anniversary fun.

Adina and Glen treated us to a full day of river rafting on the Ocoee River in Tennessee. I had hoped to get some good photos, but the river was busier than I expected. Here are some shots I got in-between rapids:

Top to bottom: This is the bus that took us to the put-in point, up river. Then, we’re preparing to put the boat on the river. Then, we were moving down driver. There were a couple of places suitable for swimming, and Adina was the first in the water, shortly followed by Jay. Aren’t they cute floating along together? Then, Adina demonstrates that it’s harder to get back into the boat than it is jumping out!

And here are some shots by professional photographers set up strategically along the river:

We were pretty exhausted by the end of the day, but rallied for another great meal at a restaurant near our hotel. We got up slowly the next day and took our time getting on the road to return to Adina and Glen’s house.

Jay flew home on Tuesday, but I was able to change my flight in order to spend some additional mother-daughter time. I’ll fly home on Saturday.

Thank you, Adina and Glen. And thank you to all our wonderful friends who let us drop in for a visit. This has been a fantastic anniversary trip.

Give us a couple of weeks and we’ll be blogging about our Model A Touring Club visit to the “Ole Southwest”. See you down the road!

Posted on September 15, 2021September 15, 2021 by jayandpat · 1 Comment

Returning to Tennessee for Our Anniversary

On September 9th, we left Jack and Carol in Athens, GA, to return to Tennessee. We decided it was too long of a drive to go all the way to Cleveland, TN, where we were going to meet Adina and Glen on Friday, so we spent an evening in Lookout Mountain, TN. We stayed at a charming B & B (with a REALLY yummy breakfast) called the Chanticleer Inn.

Lookout Mountain is a beautiful town somewhat near Chattanooga, but remote and obviously full of artistic people. We had dinner at the Cafe on the Corner, which displayed a lot of local art. Here’s a piece that caught our fancy. (Fortunately it wasn’t for sale!) This was an actual chef’s jacket which the artist soaked in some kind of hardening chemical. She shaped it the way she wanted, laid it out to dry, then somehow painted it to look like bronze patina.

Here are a couple shots of the local natural beauty.

Since we had a short drive before meeting Adina and Glen for dinner on September 10th, we checked out some of the sights in Chattanooga. We spent quite a bit of time walking in the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park:

Next, we discovered the National Cemetery at Chattanooga:

After lunch, we visited the Hunter Museum:

*The Hunter Museum of American Art includes 100 years of architecture and the most complete collection of American art in the Southeast. We spent hours there.*

Before leaving Chatanooga, we purchased a special item for Jay:

It’s supposed to be a “guitar”, but it has only 4 strings, and the body is pottery. It’s intended to be amplified, but I’m not sure I’m keen on having application in my home! Jay can play it, but I think mostly it will hang on a wall! It’s very cute…

The next post will show our anniversary weekend with Adina and Glen.

Posted on September 13, 2021 by jayandpat · 3 Comments

Two Anniversaries!

We arrived at Jack and Carol’s new home in Athens, GA, on September 6^th. And Amy (the guitarist) came to visit from Tryon, NC, so we had a guitar fest on Monday! Lots of fun and lots of music, but I totally forgot to take photos of the musicians…

*Jay, of course, settled right in with his guitar (made by Jack) and you can see we had snacks, wine — and dinner — along with LOTS of music.*

Jack and Carol recently moved from Avondale, a pleasant subdivision of Atlanta, to Athens, GA. Athens reminds me somewhat of San Luis Obispo. The population is a couple times larger than SLO, but it’s a university town, and the flavor is very similar. After our day of guitars, our next activity was to visit the campus of the University of Georgia. The undergraduate enrollment is approximately 30,000.

We started our walking tour of the campus at the arch. Tradition says that if an undergraduate walks through the arch, he/she will NOT graduate. Jay and Carol checked out the chapel bell, which these days is used primarily to toll Georgia football victories. Nice campus with nice trees, gardens, buildings — and a special bench which we couldn’t resist!

While we were walking, we checked out some of the sights downtown.

Athens has a lot of good restaurants, and we checked out as many as we could. but one night was special, as it was Jack and Carol’s 48th wedding anniversary. Brought back good memories of when we were all much younger! Jay and I were at their wedding and Jay was even IN the wedding. (Jay and Jack have been buddies since their early Air Force days.)

*Even after 48 years, they still celebrate, and that dessert was unbelievable!*

When Jack and Carol bought their new home, it was missing a place for Jack’s workshop. (Remember he’s a luthier…) That problem was resolved while we were there. They had ordered a custom building which was erected in slightly over a day.

*Jack still has to do the insolation, wallboarding and then bring in his benches and tools. Seems like he’ll have plenty of room* for everything he needs.

The next post will talk about our visit to Lookout Mountain, TN, and the sights we saw on our way to meet Adina and Glen to begin our weekend of anniversary celebration. Stay tuned!

Posted on September 10, 2021 by jayandpat · 4 Comments

More Anniversary Fun

On September 3rd, we were up early to take the coast road (and two ferries!) down to Wilmington, NC. If we were “normal” people, we would have gone inland and driven for 4 hours, but we are COAST people, so we took the scenic route down the Outer Banks and spent 11 hours getting to our hotel!

Too tired to do much that night, but the next morning we checked out the North Carolina World War II battleship.

*The battleship North Carolina is a refurbished World War II battleship. She was equipped with some VERY large guns!*

Before we left Wilmington, we took a quick drive around the historic downtown and found beautiful mansions and churches:

*Amongst the gorgeous buildings, I couldn’t resist the tree with the typical Spanish moss. Beautiful, but probably deadly to the host tree.*

Next stop: Savannah, GA. We had reservations at the Kehoe House in the heart of the historic downtown area. Apparently Mr. Kehoe owned the ironworks in town, providing many of the decorative iron fences around town.

We took a carriage ride around the historic center, then toured the Davenport House, right across the street from where we stayed. This 1820 federal style house is interesting for at least a couple of reasons. Mr. Davenport was a builder – and carpenter. He built his home with a relatively plain exterior, but a lavish Greek Revival style interior, so he could impress potential customers with his talents.

I didn’t get a photo of the front of the Davenport House, but I remember how to recognize a Federal style house: “Five, Four and a door.” The style is very symmetrical,with five windows on the second floor, and four windows on the first floor with a door in the middle!

The Davenport House had been scheduled for demolition in the 1950s to make another parking lot, but a group of seven ladies stopped the demolition. It’s said that the women stood between the building and the wrecking ball – I don’t know how true that story is. However, the women saved the building and became the founding members of the Savannah Historical Society, which went on to preserve many more old buildings in the city center.

Next blog will cover our visit with long-time friends, Jack and Carol. See you there!

Posted on September 9, 2021September 13, 2021 by jayandpat · 5 Comments

Anniversary Adventures Continue…

We left Williamsburg, VA a little bit wilted, but ready to arrive in Currituck County, in the extreme northeast corner of NC.

The word “Currituck” means “Land of the Wild Goose.” Currituck is currently known for the wild horses that roam the beach, but the area actually earned its name due to its early population of wild geese when the Algonquin Indians founded it. To make things more confusing, we stayed in the town of Duck! To our east was the Atlantic Ocean and to our west was the Currituck Sound.

While we were on these Outer Banks, we walked on a delightful boardwalk through a maritime forest, visited the wild horse museum, the Currituck Lighthouse, and the Kittyhawk Wright museum and memorial.

*No, we didn’t climb the 220 steps to the top of the lighthouse. Too warm!*

*The inside of the museum was interesting, but the best were the life sized sculptures depicting the first flight!*

We also took a wild horse tour, of course. We had been looking forward to this expected photographic highlight, and yes, we found the horses. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and the horses, but we think he was not a photographer and didn’t understand a photographer’s needs. We managed to get some reasonable photos anyway.

*These wild horses are amazing. There are three subdivisions within the preserve area. Residents may find horses in their yards, under their houses, etc.!*

It was really warm and humid here, but our last day in Duck cooled down as we received the fringes of hurricane Ida.

More to follow soon. Having SO much fun!Wild

Posted on September 3, 2021September 4, 2021 by jayandpat · 12 Comments

Fifty-Five and Beyond!

September 11^th is our 55^th wedding anniversary, and we started planning this trip three years ago. Best laid plans of mice and men… We went through the planning stages four times for separate cruises, each of them cancelled by Covid. We finally gave up on the cruise idea, and settled on a road trip!

We started by flying into Nashville, TN, to spend a little time at Adina and Glen’s house, and this is where we’ll return for more family time after the road trip.

*Adina and Glen’s home in Hendersonville, TN, is VERY peaceful!*

We borrowed Adina’s car to see some of our East Coast friends. We didn’t have time to stop in Asheville this time, but spent a couple of nights in Tryon, NC. Had fun visiting Amy’s horse and mini-donkeys, plus Amy staged a performance of her trio – including a special arrangement of “our” song, Wind Beneath My Wings.

*That’s Amy on guitar, and her friends Fran and Barbara played keyboards and melodicas!*

After that, we drove to Appomattox, VA, for a little sight-seeing.

*Appomattox is where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 to effectively end the American Civil War.*

The next day, we stopped to tour Monticello on our way to friends in Arlington, VA.

*“Monticello” means “little mountain” in old Italian, and Thomas Jefferson built his home at the top of this hill, with a beautiful view.*

We were really warm and we were very happy to reach John and Pam’s home in Arlington, VA. It was too warm to do much sight-seeing, so we hung out and caught up with our friends and filled them in on happenings in Cambria. We also had a beautiful drive (in the air conditioned car!) through Arlington Cemetery.

*When I was 12 years old my family took a cross-country road trip, and the only thing I remember from that trip was Arlington Cemetery. It’s still just as impressive — and even bigger now.*

Leaving John and Pam’s house, we visited Williamsburg on our way to the Sanderling Hotel in Duck, NC, for 4 nights of romantic R & R.

Did I mention it was very warm? And humid? Thought I was going to melt, but Williamsburg is a premier center for the preservation and interpretation of American colonial history. Even today there are archaeologists digging, brushing and filtering dirt in search of more colonial artifacts.

The next blog will start with our arrival in Duck, NC. Hoping for some cooler weather…

Posted on October 17, 2019October 18, 2019 by jayandpat · 1 Comment

We’ve Come Full Circle

I forgot to show you last night’s luxurious hotel in Sheboygan:

Today is our last day of touring the Great Lakes, and by the end of the day we will have come full circle.

We had a morning tour of the Kohler Manufacturing plant in the town of Kohler.

No photos were allowed inside, but the Clausens provided photos from the Kohler Design Center taken on a prior tour:

This factory manufactures mainly toilets, bathtubs and sinks. They have an interesting artist-in-residence program, but this tour included only a small part of the art Kohler has sponsored over the years. The majority of the art is back in Sheboygan at the non-profit John Michael Kohler Arts Center.

We had a pleasant afternoon drive, with a few surprises: a little creek running through a town, murals and sculptures, and a FLAG!

This flag was part of a veterans memorial at the ACUITY insurance company headquarters. It claims to be the “world’s tallest symbol of freedom” and Wikipedia says it is the tallest flagpole in North America. The pole is 400 feet high, and you can see it from a LONG ways away, as the Hulstrom’s photo shows:

After lunch we had a quick visit to the Old Wisconsin Sausage and Smokehouse factory outlet. Lots of yummy samples!

Finally we completed the full circle of our tour at our original hotel in West Allis (suburb of Dearborn), WI, and a group dinner at Mader’s German Beer Hall where we had our welcome dinner 3 weeks ago! Some of us dressed up, some of us didn’t. And not only did we have our accordionist, Cyndi Krill, but we also had our own trumpeter, John Hulstrom. And we had several presentations to Marcus (and Mary in absentia) for the wonderful tour they organized for us.

If you’ve been reading our blogs, you know how much fun this group has had this month. There were also trying times… A couple of Model A’s didn’t make the entire tour… Below are photos of the Biebecks’ break-down which could have been really serious. Fortunately, it did not occur when they were traveling at speed.

I believe the Dickensons had an issue that caused them to put the car on the trouble trailer, but I have no photos. Oops! Correction, the Dickinsons were fine — I’ll report the trailered couple when I confirm the correct name! Other cars had relatively minor problems, but the group came together to and multiple mechanics fixed most problems. It’s amazing what a group like this can do.

All in all, it was a very successful tour. Hope to see you down the road!

Posted on October 16, 2019October 16, 2019 by jayandpat

Snow and Football

The Great Lakes Model A Tour is approaching it’s end. This is the 20^th day of the tour, and we started driving south. We have had relatively good weather… At first, we had pretty warm weather, then we had periods of rain, but still not too cold. Then, suddenly, the temps dropped. On the first part of our drive today, we had rain and even some snow! Can you see the snowflakes?

Our main stop of the day was in Green Bay, WI, where we toured Lambeau field, home of the Green Bay Packers.

As we waited for our tour, a retired Packer posed with us. Sorry, I can’t remember his name, but he sure was BIG!

Toward the end of our tour, we entered the field through the same tunnel the Packers use for home games.

We even got a little cardio in…

Not to mention portraits by the Packers’ goalpost:

Here’s a shot from the Hulstroms:

And several from the Clausens:

From Green Bay, we continued South to our hotel in Sheboygan, WI. Our friends Michael, Lisa, and Julie live nearby, and we met for dinner. This night was the night of the Hunter’s Moon, which is the last full moon before the start of the hunting season. I think it’s also called the “orange” moon, although it wasn’t really orange.

Tomorrow, we complete our drive South to Milwaukee, where we started the tour. We will have come full circle. Check out our final activities tomorrow.

Posted on October 15, 2019October 16, 2019 by jayandpat

Ferry Crossing and Unusual Food

This is our 19^th day of the Great Lakes Tour (Sat., October 12). We started the day with an early morning 4-hour car ferry crossing of Lake Michigan. We departed from Ludington, MI, and landed in Manitowac, WI.

Some passengers didn’t enjoy the motion of the waves at the beginning of the sail, and although it got smoother as we approached Wisconsin, some were VERY happy to step on land again.

Here are shots of the ferry taken by the Krills:

The USS Badger is the last coal fired ship/ferry still sailing the Great lakes and it has been designated a National Historic Landmark. Our crossing was the next to last of the season.

We met a long-time friend, Michael, for lunch across from this courthouse in Manitowac.

From Manitowac, WI, we ambled northward toward Door County and our hotel in Sturgeon Bay, WI. Here are a few pix along the way:

For dinner, we all gathered at Scaturo’s Baking Co. for an authentic Door County “Fish Boil”. It was cold and windy so we gathered inside in the warmth.

Then we stepped outside to view the actual boil-over. The Hulstroms got this shot of most of us as the boil was about to happen.

Other shots of the process:

And, the final results:

Posted on October 12, 2019 by jayandpat

One of Our FAVORITE Museums

Today we drove about 17 miles to Hickory Corners, MI, to visit the Gilmore Car Museum. The docents arranged special parking for our Model As on the lawn of the facility.

We had a tour of the Model A Museum (the largest in the world), a vintage diner, various period displays, and over 300 vintage autos and motorcycles.

Our car clubs had contributed to the new museum and received acknowledgement in the form of engraved bricks.

Tonight’s hotel is in Ludington, MI, on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan because we’ll take a car ferry across the Lake tomorrow morning. See you then!