Louisville (December 26-December 31, 2012)

 Made a visit with Patty to see family and friends in Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Actually photo at left was taken from Indiana, which is just a short drive over three usually very crowded bridges just across the Ohio River. That is Louisville (well downtown anyhow). Feel like a tourist there, but I have been gone now some 14-15 years and easy to feel that way. Interesting city with a lot of fun things to do, especially during the weeks around The Kentucky Derby. That is the best time of year to really see Louisville come alive. Although, Christmas time in the area was really special for us! 

The Belle of Louisville is a very old steamboat. I have been on it a number of times, and it is a remarkable old boat. In fact read that in 2014 the Belle will celebrate 100 years. Mentioned Derby Weeks - one of the events is the Steamboat Race for the Golden Antlers (winning boat gets to display them for the year). Not sure it is always on the "up and up" as everyone seems to win eventually, but its sort of cool in a slow sort of way. The Belle is no recreation, its the real deal, and its a fun cruise up the Ohio in the Spring Summer and Fall (it is parked here in the winter).    

 This is the H+B factory, which is the home of the Louisville Slugger. There is a glass factory next door, liked what they did with the baseball at the right side of the photo. Nice museum there, and of course the big bat is a real attraction. Louisville is a very old city, which in a lot of ways reminds me of Richmond having the river, and being old. Like Richmond, Louisville reuses a lot of old buildings, but there is also a number  of new ones going up as well.
For the upcoming year, hearing that finally one of the planned bridges (planned since I was a small kid) may start construction. Growth over the decades have really made the three bridges that let people cross the river, packed! Traffic can be really bad, and hopeful that gets done soon.
Most people in Indiana (or at least a lot of them) work in Louisville which is the home to Ford, GE, Amazon, and UPS which has a giant distribution center at the airport in Louisville.    

I snapped this photo in Southern Indiana, during my visit we got some snow. Good snow in that being wet it did not last long on the roads, but really looked nice in the yards and on the trees. First snow I have seen in 2012, and made for a very pretty photo. Sure there will be more in the area, also expect to see some in Richmond during the upcoming winter.
We had a great time in the "other" River City (Richmond also shares that nickname) and enjoyed visiting family and friends, as well as seeing the many interesting sights. More photos can be seen on my Flickr Photo Page from the visit. 

Charlotte, Christmas Eve Eve (December 23, 2012)

 Took a short motorcycle ride to Charlotte on December 23, and it was rather brisk temperature wise, but a good ride nonetheless. Saw this statue in Uptown, thought it was pretty cool, and a nice view of Charlotte directly behind it. Rode around Uptown for a bit, made a quick stop at Mac's Speed Shop mon South Blvd (good BBQ and cold beverages of note) before heading out a little later. Got a photo of that place on my Racing with the Wind blog. There was a football game going on; Carolina played Oakland while I was there, so parking was hardly to be found, so mostly just cruised around for a bit while I was there. 

I did get a photo of this light rail train, I find them really interesting. Strangely, I have yet to ride on one, but hope to get out and check one out in 2013; think it would be cool to see what that is like. Seem to be pretty popular and a good way to get around Charlotte and the surrounding area. They are working to expand the service routes of the train - plan is to run it into the University area of the city very soon. I think they have obtained much of the funding for that project. All in all it was a very good day, nice to get out, always enjoy visits to Charlotte, it is a most amazing city, and offers a lot of things to see and do.

Kannapolis Lights (December 22, 2012)

Finally the rains have stopped, and the high winds have died down (been quite breezy the last couple of days here) and Patty and I got out in the car to check out some of the holiday sights and lights. We drove around quite a bit in some of the local neighborhoods, and got some coffee for some exploring. One of our stops was what was formerly known as "Cannon Village" but is now (mostly) some offices of the NC Research Center. While they have toned down the Christmas decorations I still enjoy the trees there, and its a nice place to drive around this time of year.   

Went by Village Park, which is quite the light display. It is located in Kannapolis, and has a number of really nice light displays. There is a small train which takes you around to see the lights, or you can walk along the trail. Seeing as it was pretty cold out tonight, and the line for the train was pretty huge, we opted for the trail. There are lots of other things to see there as well, for instance they had these talking and singing bears, which also moved and played instruments, which we thought was pretty cool. There were a lot of things to see in Village Park besides the many lights.    

Lights however were a big part of the reason for going. They had lights as seen at left, light displays, moving light displays - all kinds of cool stuff to see. We did the train ride last year and even that is pretty cool. A nice event in a nice place, and made for a really good evening.
After Village Park we drove down Union Street, seeing some favorite houses. Still have not made it to the big light displays at either McAdenville, NC or Charlotte Motor Speedway, but hoping to get those in this year if possible. Always really neat (both of them) but also amazingly crowded with traffic. 

280 Miles Apart (December 19-20, 2012)

The Christmas holidays are nearly upon us, and for me the vacation period is underway. On the 19th, my last day in Richmond this year, went to see a motorcycle at Velocity Motorcycle. While in that area, also made a stop at The Diamond which is the home of the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Nice ballpark if a bit dated - the team and the city is working on a replacement site. Nonetheless, got to see the field while I was there; a sight to give hope as when I took this just two days away from the official start of Winter. Baseball is still a few weeks away as I write this.   

Not so far away is the start of the long NASCAR season. That cranks up in February, but today during a motorcycle ride in the Concord, NC area made a stop at Stewart-Haas Racing. Car on the left is Tony Stewart's, and the one on the right is Danica Patrick's...though as I could tell from the shop directly behind these cars there are quite a number of those cars for all these drivers, as they will, over the course of the season, crash quite a few of them. I put a few more photos from the ride today (and the motorcycles I saw in Richmond on my "Racing with the Wind" blog. Looking forward to some interesting days ahead - quite a bit coming up in the next few days and weeks to come. 

Tacky Lights III (December 15, 2012)

 Got out for a few hours, went back to a few of my favorite places, due to the forecast tomorrow (rain expected) this could be my last night to see the wonders that Richmond offers this time of year. I did get a couple of photos though on Monument Avenue, at left I was very glad to see "Santa's Cadillac" which is one of the very unique things that you can find here this time of year. I love this stuff, and was glad to see it again this year. I went by there a couple of weeks ago, but it was not out at that time. Thankfully, saw it on Richmond.com and headed out to check it out again.

Monument Avenue though is hardly "Tacky" as many, if not most of the houses look like this one. You really get to see some remarkable sights there, they really do a good job this time of year putting out lights (including a number of those "Richmond" trees that I am so fond of, and you can see some of those in the previous posts this month).
There is something really special about Christmas in Richmond, it is always a magical thing in my book. This one has been very good. All that said, sure would not mind seeing some more of it tomorrow, so will keep my fingers crossed.  Course, still a few days before Christmas, and will be bringing some sights from this area if possible, plus more from the Charlotte area, and hopefully even a surprise for the season.
  

During a Midlothian Turnpike Drive (December 15, 2012)

A short stop from "Tacky Lights" (which I will resume tonight) but made a visit to Midlothian Mines Park to see this structure which was put up like this last summer. It is a recreation of a device used to bring coal up (and men up and down) a mineshaft. Park has added a few items to the historic park - one of the first coal mines in the US. In the park the ruins of an old structure stand above the Grove Shaft. In February 1882, a methane gas explosion trapped 32 miners. Despite efforts to get them out, none were saved, and they are at the bottom of the shaft to this day.   

Speaking of rising from the ashes, this is the inside of the new Super Kroger which opened a few days ago at the site of the old Crossroads Mall. Always closed since I have been here, the old mall was demolished earlier this year and the new Kroger was built on the site. Certainly is the largest Kroger I have been in, and I believe it is the largest one in Virginia. Has food and many other items there. Good to see one of these old retail areas reused. Earlier posts have some photos of the old Crossroads Mall.
Looking forward to seeing some of the sights in the City of Richmond tonight!
 

Meanwhile....back in NC (December 8, 2012)

Patty and I did one of our favorite things, got out in the car, turned on some Christmas music, got some coffee, and drove around the area a bit to check out some of the houses during Christmas time. This is one of my favorites back home...one of the very old houses on Union Street in downtown Concord. There are some fine places there, and most of them are decorated for Christmas. Unlike Richmond, not really a lot of wild houses, it is a fine but different sort of thing there. Though, as I have noted, there are a few places that really pump out the wattage (and run up electric bills) in the area.  

Lots of nice houses, such as this one at left) in the neighborhood. Of course, it has not felt much like Christmas yet, being as it was last year, warm for this time of year (in fact on Sunday it got up to 70 degrees, which also is what is happening in Richmond, VA as I write this on Sunday December 9). The Charlotte area gets some snow (I read the average for a year is a bit over four inches) but normally the winters are pretty moderate (get a lot more winter upstate, especially in the mountains). This though has been pretty unusual. Nonetheless, it was a very good time, and a nice way to spend a Saturday night in NC.