Golfing at Crow Creek

Yeah, we finally were able to golf at Crow Creek.  After trying for 2 years and getting flooded out by hurricanes, we were finally able to golf here.  The course was very enjoyable and not quite as long for the ladies.  I would definitely do this course again.  They warned on the carts not to feed the alligators or snakes but we didn't see anything.  We did see a huge spider though.

Today was not Ralph's day as Thor decided to go for a swim.  I humbly welcomed him to my club.   Grace and Lawrence still have their protected ball.

We made a pit stop at our favourite store Chicos on the way home and picked up a few items on sale.

When we got home we enjoyed watching the birds fly by our balcony.  We had around 5 Osprey flying around and a couple of times we had a bunch of Pelicans fly by.  Was pretty cool to see.  Can you tell how much I love the wild life?

Ralph made us a wonderful pasta for supper.  After dinner Lawrence and I enjoyed a hot tub while Grace and Ralph stayed in the room.

Now to relax a bit before going to bed.

Myrtle Beach Weekend

We did the drive from Nashville to Myrtle Beach.  It took us around 10 hours to get here.  We arrived around 7:00 pm, did a.bit of shopping to get us through till after golf on Saturday and enjoyed our first drink on the balcony.  We were on the 21st floor which was the top floor of the building. 

The weather has been very hot.  We had a little bit of rain on the drive here.  We didn't want to wake up to late because we had our first round of golf booked for 8:10 at Wild Wing Avocet. 

We were up at 6:00 am on Saturday and by 6:30 we headed off to the Sea Captains Restaurant for breakfast.  We were seated at Michelle's table.  We became quite friendly with Michelle over the past years of coming here.  Grace and Ralph had heard she had cancer and was going through radiation and chemo treatments.  She was very positive about everything.  She mentioned after her first chemo treatment she was starting to lose her hair which upset her a bit but she went out and got herself a captains hat and has kept on going.

We enjoyed our first round of golf at Wild Wing Avocet in Myrtle Beach.  Ralph and Grace had given each of us a Marvel ball which was a ball we needed to protect for all the rounds of golf we play.  Grace got Captain America, (which she renamed Captain Marvelous) Ralph got Thor, Lawrence got Black Panther and I got Spider Man.  Round 1 - Teresa is out of the game.  Everyone suffered mosquito bites trying to find my ball.  Oh well.  The pressure if off for me now.  The course was enjoyable to play but it sure was hot outside.  We had made our lunch and enjoyed it after our round with a nice cool drink. 

After golf we did some grocery shopping to get us through 3 days.  We finally had time to update our blogs.  At least I tried as I was having difficulty uploading pictures.  We enjoyed some Nasi made by Ralph.  It was a little different then how I make it because we added cabbage and mushrooms and peppers, but the taste was delicious.

Sunday morning we went to the Faith Presbyterian Church.  We were welcomed there along with a number of other Canadians visiting the church.  We went back home for a coffee and got our camera's ready to go to Huntington Beach and check out the birds.  The temperature was 34 degree Celsius.  Whoa was that hot.  For lunch we grabbed a grilled cheese sandwich and then went to Huntington Beach.  There were not very many birds at this time.  Not sure if it was because of all the heat.  We saw some crabs in the water and also a couple of spoonbills eating.  We also saw perched on a dead tree a Juvenile Osprey.  Ralph got an awesome picture of it with his camera.  The claws really impressed me.

Osprey courtesy of Ralph Helmus

Nashville

It has been a long while since I have posted last.  I will update Nashville in one post.

We woke up early on Monday morning all set to go for 5:00 am.   We were pretty excited to be heading off to Nashville.  Grace had picked up some chicken and salad so we could stop along the way and enjoy a quick lunch at one of the rest stops.

We arrived in Smyrna Tennesee at around 7:00, brought our stuff to our room and headed out to dinner at Hickory Falls.  After dinner we headed home, had a nightcap and headed off to bed.

On Tuesday we decided to go to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg.  We really enjoyed the tour by Ben and especially enjoyed the 5 flavours to test at the end of the tour.  It was very interesting to see how the whiskey was made.  Not too keen on the Fire Ball as it tasted like I had filled my mouth with Cinnamon hearts.  After the tour we enjoyed some lunch in town at the Barrelhead BBQ.  It was really cool to see the tables and walls of this restaurant.

After lunch we headed off to Nashville where we had reservations for dinner at Ole Red (a restaurant owned by Blake Shelton).  They had a live band which was enjoyable to watch.  When dinner was done we walked through the town.  There were tons of  live bands playing at every restaurant.  If you walk the streets it is very noisy but still fun.  We were a bit caught off guard by the price of parking but oh well, what do you do.  We headed back home and enjoyed our usual night cap and headed off to bed.

Wednesday morning we didn't rush out of bed but  enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast and made a pitstop at the golf course we were playing on Thursday.  We headed off to Opry Mills Mall where we spent the day shopping.  The Grand Ole Opry was right beside the mall.  We headed there at around 6:30.  Took a few pictures by the guitars and enjoyed the show.  We started the show with a group called Riders in the Sky.  There were 4 senior men playing in this band but they were quite comical in their singing.  The next person we saw was making his debut at the Opry.  His name was Jameson Rodger.  Next we saw Jeannie Seely who was a singer and a DJ on Willies Roadhouse on Sirius.  Next we saw the SteelDrivers.  I had never heard of them before but they were quite energetic in their music, especially with the fiddle.  After they played we had a 15 minute break.  Next in line was TG Sheppard.  He had just created a new album and was signing copies after the show.  We saw a comedian Chonda Pierce.  She had us in stitches.  Note to remember - Lacey Depends still smell (lol).
Last we saw was the Charlie Daniels Band.  Boy could he play the fiddle still.  You could tell Charlie Daniels was very patriotic.

Thursday morning we had breakfast and headed off to Nashville to see the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  We took an audio tour and spent approximately 2 hours exploring the different guitars and outfits and musicians that have made it to the Country Music Hall of fame.  It was another enjoyable morning and you certainly learned a lot by reading all the items at each site.  We went to the Diner for lunch and headed off to the Gaylord Springs Golf Resort for our first round of golf.  It was a beautiful course but unfortunately it got dark before we could finish our game.  We did get 16 holes in.  We headed back to Smyrna where we were staying and went to Cheddars for dinner and then picked up something to eat for the drive the day to Myrtle Beach.

It was a wonderful time in Nashville and now we are looking forward to the next leg of our vacation in Myrtle Beach.  Tomorrow we will go through another 10 hour drive of travel time again.