It’s Bristol Baby!! Visiting The Bristol Motor Speedway

Last week I had a three day meeting in Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. Bristol Virginia and Bristol Tennessee actually share a main street called State Street, where you can stand in both states at one time.

I left out early on Monday morning. I was coming in from the Tennessee side. It was about a 3.5 hour drive for me. I was having a meeting with our tourism attractions organization, Southern Highlands. This is a group of tourism attractions and we meet about three times a year. We visit other attractions and learn the different ways they do things within their organizations. It is such a learning experience. We discuss point of sale systems, websites, ticketing and lots of other things.

I got into Bristol Virginia around 11:30 AM. Our first meeting started at noon with lunch. After a short lunch we had our meeting for about 2 hours. When our meeting ended we boarded a couple of vans and took off for The Bristol Motor Speedway.

I had been to the Speedway twice before. But I had never ridden on the track in a pace car. The last time we went out on the track it was in a Ford Bronco. So this time was very different. I was a little nervous. Three of us could ride at one time so having a couple of friends with me helped. They let me sit in the front seat.

The driver started out fast and got faster in the straightaways where we were up to 95 MPH. My hair was whipping straight back behind me. We went around the track several times. It was awesome!!!! After the ride I climbed out of the car and my legs were shaking.

After everyone had a chance to ride we did a tour of one of the private suites belonging to one of the drivers. It was probably as big as some houses. It was very nice with lots of seating and a private bar and kitchenette.

You can see why my legs were shaking when I got out of the car.

We were there for a couple of hours and then moved on to the next stop, The Birthplace Of Country Music Museum. I will share that with you in a different post. There is so much history there.

A few facts about The Bristol Motor Speedway:

The Speedway is a 0.533-mile oval short track. Billed as the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile and has been a site of many memorable NASCAR moments.
It is actually located in Bristol Tennessee.
Opened in 1961.
Capacity is 160,000 some of the turns are 24-48 degrees.
Featured in Toy Story, specifically in the scene where the characters race toy cars in the “Race Track” sequence.

I hope you enjoyed this short adventure to The Bristol Motor Speedway. Check out their website, www.bristolmotorspeedway.com

Always remember

Love your day your way!!! N

A Busy Week And An Earthquake

Hello and happy Monday. It is not often that we have earthquakes in our neck of the woods but we had one Saturday morning. Yep you heard that right. I was cleaning house upstairs and hubby was cleaning downstairs. He had his headphones on as he usually does when he vacuums. I was in the bedroom and suddenly everything started shaking. We have a large armoire with mirrors on the front. It started shaking like crazy. The windows were rattling. I yelled downstairs and by this time hubby noticed it too. He yelled for me to come downstairs. It seemed like it lasted forever. My sister who lives thirty minutes from me called and they had also experienced it.

Turns out it was a 4.1 earthquake centered just about 10 miles from us near Greenback Tennessee. It was felt from Atlanta Georgia to parts of North Carolina. Wow!! I am hoping for no aftershocks.

I spent most of last week in Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia with the attractions group that my work is a part of. I will give you a more in depth post on that visit tomorrow. Bristol is about a four hour drive for me. I left early last Monday because my first meeting didn’t start until noon. It was a full couple of days. I got back to my house Wednesday evening and I was so tired I collapsed on the couch and didn’t move.

Because I was gone most of last week for my attractions group meeting I was only at work on Thursday. I came in and caught up on a few things. On Friday I went with my sister for her appointment with her oncologist. We had to wait almost three hours but it was okay because she is in full remission. That news was well worth waiting for.

We did a little shopping after the doctor visit. I bought two planters at T.J. Maxx.

***I added a couple of succulents to this kitty planter.***

***And I put one of my smaller orchids in this sheep? ram?***

I spent most of the weekend at home. I made a yellow Bundt cake. It stuck really bad. Note to self, please use parchment paper, I just put it back together and slapped some chocolate icing on it and it was fine. And of course I knitted and crocheted the day away. AHHH a good weekend.

***This is a picture of the side of the cake that didn’t stick to the pan.***

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day. My mama has been gone for many years. And we lost my little mother in law last July. It’s always a bit sad when we think of them no longer being with us.

My orchids are still doing very well even my miniature orchid, Ingrid, is blooming. I just love this color.

That was my week last week. I barely had time to do anything at home or on the blog. I did post a Wordless Wednesday. It was made up of sunrises and sunsets over the years. If you missed it you can check it out here.

Have a wonderful week and join me back here tomorrow for a new post on my time in Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee. I will give you a teaser. I got to ride on the Bristol Motor Speedway!!!! What????

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

A Wild Week And A Snowy Weekend

Happy Monday. This past week was a bit of a crazy one. Last Monday started with our four month check up for hubby in Nashville at Vanderbilt Medical Center. That is where he had the kidney transplant and returns three times a year for his kidney checkup.

As usual we go over the day before the appointment because it is about a four hour drive each way. We used to do the drive in one day but it is just too much. So we go over the day before and have a nice dinner and stay at a hotel five minutes from the hospital. It is a little costly, because the hotel rates in Nashville always are, but we get a small discount because it is a hospital visit and they work with Vanderbilt on that. When we had the kidney surgery, several years ago, we stayed at that same hotel for more than a week until we could both go home.

We went over on Monday. I worked half a day. And then came home about 2:00 to leave for Nashville. And of course the threat of bad weather was hanging in the air. It always seems to be when we have to travel this time of year. We had been watching the incoming snow carefully and had planned to postpone the appointment if we needed to. We didn’t. The weather stayed pretty clear just cold!!!! We did run into a little snow going over but nothing on the roadway.

***This was a little rest stop about halfway to Nashville.***

We got to the hotel and had dinner. We always eat at the Commodore Club at the hotel. They have wonderful food and nightly entertainment.

We had an early morning doctor appointment on Tuesday morning and before we knew it we were headed home. Unfortunately hubby is going to have to have a couple of blood tests repeated but he will be able to do that locally.

It was back to work on Wednesday and we had snow in the forecast for us on Friday. The local weather was predicting 3-5 inches. This probably wouldn’t make most of you excited but we are in the south. We don’t know how to drive in snow. We know how to go to the grocery store and clean out all the bread and milk but we just haven’t learned how to get around in the white stuff.

I went to work on Friday morning and I knew snow was coming. No matter what the weather man, Doppler or whoever, I knew it was coming. When I was growing up my mama and daddy always taught us how to predict snow by the way the way the clouds moved together and the sky would take on a smooth gray coloring. When that happens You know snow is coming. Remember back in their day they didn’t have a weather channel to watch. Doppler Radar did not exist.

As I said I went to work. There was only about three of us there when the snow started at 9:00 AM. We called all the staff and told them not to come in. Finally everyone was gone and I was there alone. I felt confident I would be okay. I had planned to only stay a couple of hours. I had been on the phone with my husband and he said we hadn’t gotten hardly anything at home.

About an hour later he called and said I should come home. I had finished everything that had to be taken care of at work. I headed out. And let me tell you I had almost waited too late. I have an all wheel drive car but many people don’t. There were cars all over the road. It normally takes me about 20-25 minutes to get to work and back home but Friday it took me almost an hour to get home.

***Views from my office window and you can see it was really coming down.***

So we had a great snow weekend. That is after I got home safely and made sure all the loved ones were in safe and sound. Hubby was off all weekend so that worked out great. I was so lazy during my snow days. You know you’re not supposed to do anything when you have a snow day or two. We went out and took pictures and took the drone up to get some shots of the lake and other areas. I knitted and read and listened to some of my audio books. It was such a wonderful relaxing weekend. A lot of the snow has melted but it was fun while it lasted.

Some of the drone photos:

How is your week going is it cold and snowy? I know some of you, in different parts of the country, are experiencing some really nice warm sunny days. I know ours will be here before we know it. Have a wonderful week!!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Home Again, Home Again

Hello and happy Monday. I just got back from a week long trip to La Crosse Wisconsin. What a beautiful city La Crosse is. La Crosse is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in the southwestern part of the state. I was there for a work trip. I foolishly thought I could churn out a blog post or two while I was there, but people, it just didn’t happen. There was no free time.

It all started last Monday morning when I left my house at 5:15 AM. I had about an hour’s drive to the airport and my flight left at 8:00. I was very concerned because I only had a 45 minute layover in Chicago O’Hare airport. I considered only taking a carry-on but I was going to be there for a week and I just couldn’t do it. So I had to check a bag and then I was worried my bags wouldn’t make it.

Luckily, All of my flights were on time and getting through O’Hare was a breeze. I have flown through there several times and I am getting very familiar with the layout of the airport. Even my bags made it to La Crosse. The hotel has airport shuttle and they picked me up outside the airport. Easy peasy. Remember my post a few weeks back about travel? If not you can check it out here. I did follow a lot of those suggestions but sometimes I think it is just the luck of the draw when dealing with time zones and flights.

I got into La Crosse at noon on Monday. There was a one hour time difference. I took a little rest in my room and then met one of my friends for lunch. She had arrived for the meeting the day before. We walked into town and found a neat little restaurant, Bodega’s. We then spent some time walking through the town and visiting some of the little shops. We went to an amazing book store that was connected to a coffee shop. There was a young man playing a piano inside the book store and singing softly. It was just precious. We also got Ice Cream at a shop called The Pearl. It was so yummy. Oh and I almost forgot to tell you the temperatures that week were mid 60’s F. It was lovely. The trees were golden and had changed color much more than here at home.

Monday night we had an opening reception. This is an annual meeting so I was reunited with some of my friends that I don’t get to see often. It is always so much fun catching up. The following days were filled with meetings, seminars and a day trip into Minnesota where we toured two different caves. More on those in my next post. Let me tell you it was an exhausting, exhilarating, learning, and sharing week. Whew.

Before I knew it, it was Friday morning and my flight left at 6:00 AM. I was okay with that. I like early flights because that means I get home early. I did cringe a little when the hotel told me the shuttle to the airport would leave at 4:15 AM. Oh well, who needs sleep?