The Station Inn, Nashville, Tennessee, November 2015

Nashville is also the home of bluegrass music. And the principal venue for bluegrass music is the Station Inn. We had an excellent  dinner next door at the 404 Kitchen prior to the show.

The concert was by The Boxcars, one of the great bluegrass bands. A great night out!!

Octopus Terrine at 404 Kitchen

Rabbit stew .. yum

Chicken -- perfectly cooked, at 404 Kitchen

The Boxcars

Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, KY, November 2015

From Lexington in Kentucky, on to Nashville, KY. This is the home of country music and the center of country music is the Grand Ole Opry. Fortunately for us, at this time of the year it is at the Ryman Auditorium. I have always wanted to visit the Ryman and also the Grand Ole Opry. Having them together was a bonus. We are not really country music fans, but to be able to see some of the very best performers in the field was a high point. 

The Ryman Auditorium was a baptist hall originally. Every seat has excellent site line to the stage, which is very close. You sit on the original pews, so bring your own cushions.

The Grand Ole Opry started as a radio show in the 1920s. It still has this flavor.

Visiting Bourbon Distillery and Winery, Lexington, KY, November 2015

What could be better than visiting a bourbon distillery and a winery on the same day? Buffalo Trace is at Frankfort, KY, west of Lexington and on the bourbon trail. Our first visit to a bourbon distillery -- there is a free tour, followed by a tasting. We're not really bourbon drinkers (or any spirit, for that matter) but this was high quality booze in an ancient facility. A very enjoyable couple of hours. 

And then to Lovers Leap winery in Lawrenceburg, on the way back to Lexington. Reasonably good wines -- with grapes we do not see elsewhere. Most are 

Barrels of bourbon being aged

Old fashioned bottling line for high end bourbon

The Buffalo statue at the visitors' center

One of the many 19th century warehouses on the property

Grapes after harvest

The rolling country at Lovers' Leap

Canoeing, Lexington, November

From Sutton, due West to Lexington in Kentucky, We urban boondocked on the driveway of our friends Dan and Jan. Dan and I went out on a cool morning in a canoe on the lake at the end of the garden of their house. We saw several different birds including blue herons and coots.

Dan and the canoe

Lake at dawn

Dan porting from one lake to the next

 

Moving West, November

From Pennsylvania, we started to move West. We stayed in Sutton, West Virginia for a few days -- just relaxing. I rode my bike for the first time in a few weeks, coming back after injury (I broke my large toe).

We ate one quite good meal at the only local restaurant of any quality, the Cafe Cimino Country Inn, in a large Victorian mansion.

It was great to just relax for a few days.