jubileegirl
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2004
- Messages
- 211
For years we have been saving up for our retirement trip. You know, that holiday old people take when life is drawing to a close, something sedate and decorous. In fact something that was light years away for a ‘young couple’ like us
So how come overnight we've turned into two nearly sixty year olds both going grey, one going bald, lots of wobbly bits, a tendency to say ‘pardon?’ a lot.......and suddenly no longer working ie RETIRED!!
I wouldn’t say we had nothing to do as we’re both really busy but we no longer have set timetables or working hours to stick to which means that we have been able to think about THE TRIP!!
Holidays for the past 20 years have been family based, beach or theme park focussed – so we’ve been to many holiday spots in Spain, Greece, Turkey, France.......and a few visits to Florida.
Now the kids are independent and we can plan a bit selfishly. What would we REALLY like to do?
So this is the plan.
We are very different but both love music and as children of the ‘50’s we can remember the early days of
We love
we adore
we always enjoy some
and of course wouldn't say no to a little bit of
so really there was no arguing – we just had to visit the USA and explore the roots of the music we grew up listening to and which in many ways defines our lives, even though I grew up in the UK and John was born in the Australian bush!
Music truly does link our lives. We often hear a song from the ‘60’s and remember what we were each doing on opposite sides of the world.
So....we plan to fly to Nashville in September, travel via Memphis and the Delta down to New Orleans, then train back to Memphis, pick up a car and spend 10 days or so in the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains before driving back to Nashville and then home.
I know it’s very early, still months to wait, but we've spent this week booking everything so it's all very fresh and exciting in my mind at the moment. I don't want to wish my life away and plan to have a great few months from now until September but this pretrip report will be fun to read every now and then, especially on a grey and rainy day!
Travelling on this adventure will be me, AKA Alison, already given the age away, retired teacher, now working for church mainly with students....and husband John, age also already known, retired policeman, lover of me (I hope) our 3 children and a big red motorbike.
Our exact schedule is
Nashville - 1 night
Sweet Magnolia Tours 'Music & Heritage of the Deep South' visiting lots of places including
and
where we might get to see
in Ground Zero Blues Club (I wish!!!)
and some history
and even some wild life
New Orleans - 6 nights
Train 'City of New Orleans' from N.O. to Memphis
Memphis - 2 more nights
Pick up hire car
Lynchburg, Tennessee - 1 night
(no samples as it's a dry county!)
Mountain cabin in Coker Creek (foothills of Smoky Mts) - 5 nights
B&B in Hot Springs, North Carolina, Blue Ridge Mountains - 5 nights
Nashville - 1 night
Home
We hope to laugh a lot, dance a lot, eat a lot, drive a lot, relax a lot, probably get on each other's nerves a lot......and have a ball!
So how come overnight we've turned into two nearly sixty year olds both going grey, one going bald, lots of wobbly bits, a tendency to say ‘pardon?’ a lot.......and suddenly no longer working ie RETIRED!!
I wouldn’t say we had nothing to do as we’re both really busy but we no longer have set timetables or working hours to stick to which means that we have been able to think about THE TRIP!!
Holidays for the past 20 years have been family based, beach or theme park focussed – so we’ve been to many holiday spots in Spain, Greece, Turkey, France.......and a few visits to Florida.
Now the kids are independent and we can plan a bit selfishly. What would we REALLY like to do?
So this is the plan.
We are very different but both love music and as children of the ‘50’s we can remember the early days of
We love
we adore
we always enjoy some
and of course wouldn't say no to a little bit of
so really there was no arguing – we just had to visit the USA and explore the roots of the music we grew up listening to and which in many ways defines our lives, even though I grew up in the UK and John was born in the Australian bush!
Music truly does link our lives. We often hear a song from the ‘60’s and remember what we were each doing on opposite sides of the world.
So....we plan to fly to Nashville in September, travel via Memphis and the Delta down to New Orleans, then train back to Memphis, pick up a car and spend 10 days or so in the Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains before driving back to Nashville and then home.
I know it’s very early, still months to wait, but we've spent this week booking everything so it's all very fresh and exciting in my mind at the moment. I don't want to wish my life away and plan to have a great few months from now until September but this pretrip report will be fun to read every now and then, especially on a grey and rainy day!
Travelling on this adventure will be me, AKA Alison, already given the age away, retired teacher, now working for church mainly with students....and husband John, age also already known, retired policeman, lover of me (I hope) our 3 children and a big red motorbike.
Our exact schedule is
Nashville - 1 night
Sweet Magnolia Tours 'Music & Heritage of the Deep South' visiting lots of places including
and
where we might get to see
and some history
and even some wild life
New Orleans - 6 nights
Train 'City of New Orleans' from N.O. to Memphis
Memphis - 2 more nights
Pick up hire car
Lynchburg, Tennessee - 1 night
(no samples as it's a dry county!)
Mountain cabin in Coker Creek (foothills of Smoky Mts) - 5 nights
B&B in Hot Springs, North Carolina, Blue Ridge Mountains - 5 nights
Nashville - 1 night
Home
We hope to laugh a lot, dance a lot, eat a lot, drive a lot, relax a lot, probably get on each other's nerves a lot......and have a ball!
