It was about 11AM on March 12, 1999 that I drove onto the on ramp of Interstate 78 and headed west across Pennsylvania on my way to the town of Bowling Green more than 750 miles away.
Building a life with Paula is the reason I moved to the Bluegrass State and my life today is wrapped in the love and family we share.
I could write a book about the way I've been blessed, the things that have happened, and what I've done in the relatively short time I've lived here. There is so much I can't even begin to whittle it down to just the highlights.
But I do want to write about something to acknowledge this significant anniversary. So I have decided to focus on geography and experiences.
So in this three-part series I'm going to celebrate just one of the differences that moving to start a life with Paula has made in my life. I'm going to list 15 things I've done over the last 15 years that I wouldn't have ever done had I not moved to Kentucky. They are my personal adventures. Some of them have changed my life.
In addition, I probably would not have done a lot of them without Paula going along as my travel companion or if she hadn't encouraged me to go on my own adventures.
These 15 things are not in any specific order I just listed them as they came to mind. I've also combined some multiple adventures into one because they have happened in one general area over a long period of time. So really there's a lot more than 15 but that's how they fit in with this series.
1. Singing On The Stage Of The Grand Old Opry
When I was a kid my parents watched the Grand Ole Opry show on TV every Saturday night. Their dream was to go to Nashville and visit "the Opry" themselves someday. They never got to go. So when I took the backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry House, which is next to the Opryland resort hotel in Nashville, TN, with my sisters it was a very emotional experience.
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| The Opry House On Opryland Drive in Nashville |
The occasion became even more memorable for me when our tour guide asked the group we were in if anyone wanted to sing in a special area of the stage. I quickly to advantage of the opportunity. I stepped forward and stood inside the circle that has the wood from the original Opry stage at the Rymon Auditorium.
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| The Circle of Wood: A part of the stage where Country Music Pioneers performed |
The next year Paula and I would return to the Opry House to attend a live Saturday night show.
In 2010, in a most unique experience, my son, Michael, and I were part of the audience for the taping of a 10 year anniversary special celebrating the "Blue Collar Comedy Tour." It was taped in the TV studio in the back of the Opry House building. The same studio where they taped the TV show, Hee Haw.
2. Going To The Rymon Auditorium
The original home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show broadcast on Nashville station WSM since the 1925 was the historic Rymon Auditorium in downtown Nashville. It was the venue that came on television at the time I was vowing to my parents that I would take them to the Opry.
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| Our view from of the stage at the Rymon |
3. Destination Louisville
The most southern northern city there is. That's what I call Louisville, Kentucky. It's only 90 minutes or so north of Smith's Grove. For 10 years I've been going there to take advantage of the great things it has to offer.
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| Half of the giant bat outside the Louisville Slugger Museum |
I've seen 4 baseball games at Louisville Slugger Field, home of the Louisville Bats, AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds.
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| Home of The Louisville River Bats AAA Team |
The trip to Louisville that will always be the most memorable to me happened last May. That's when we went with James, Brandi, and Aria to the Louisville zoo It was my grand daughter's first trip to a zoo.
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| Aria and Me taking a break during our day at the Louisville Zoo |
In June 2010 as part of my year long 50th birthday celebration Paula and I spent a day in Washington DC on our way to visit my family in Pennsylvania.
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| A "Selfie"taken on the National Mall while resting on a bench near the Washington Monument |
We spent a day on the National Mall visiting the buildings that make up the Smithsonian Institute. We went to the Air and Space, American History, Natural History museums.
We had planned on doing a lot more including a visit to the National Zoo on our way out of town. But the heat of the day and all our other activity tired us out. By the time we left our third museum of the day we headed to the hotel.
The next day the thought of walking around the zoo didn't appeal to us at all. We dismissed our plans and headed to visit my family.
We really wanted to see the other sights but there is so much to do in DC that it would take multiple trips to do it all. We'd like to go back but when it's cooler.
5. Two Walt Disney World Vacations
I was contemplating making these adventures the last on the list because they're probably my favorite and most surreal.
In 2004 and 2010 Paula and I went to Orlando, Florida for vacations at Walt Disney World. The first one was with our sons and the 2nd was by ourselves. Both trips were milestones in our lives.
In January 2004 we took our first trip as a family. We took a flight out of Nashville and spent 5 exciting and exhausting days in Walt Disney World. We had a lot of fun. It turned out to be the only vacation we would ever take with just the 4 of us.
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| Paula hiding between Michael and James Outside Mission Space in Epcot January 20, 2004 |
In 2010, at Paula's suggestion in order to celebrate my 50th birthday, just the two of us took a road trip to Orlando to spend 4 days there.
We went to all 4 Walt Disney World theme parks and spent a day at Universal Studios' Island of Adventure. While there we explored the new Wizarding World Of Harry Potter section of the Island of Adventure park.
The trip was also a triumphant return to a place we loved after our weight loss surgery.
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| The best picture from the best vacation ever |
Although it wasn't as detailed, I wrote down my recollections of that trip in a "book" as well.
There you have the first 5 of the 15 adventures I want to mention as a way of celebrating the anniversary of the week I moved to Kentucky.
There are 10 more to go. I'll have the next 5 in Part two tomorrow.
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