My Bucket List Summer

My suitcases are officially packed away in the hall closet, where they will sit for awhile since there are no travel plans anywhere in the near future. But its all ok, because I have had the summer of my lifetime!  I didn't get to mark just one thing off my bucket list..but two! (and one more that I didn't know should have been on there!)

My summer kicked off with a weekend trip to New York City with my son's girlfriend, Loren. Some friends from church had signed up for a charter bus trip and asked us to come along. It was a great way to experience our first time in the Big Apple. We had a blast! We packed so much sightseeing into two days.

 We were dropped off in the middle of  Time Square.

From there we headed towards Central Park via Fifth Ave.

Our first day we packed in Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Ave, Central Park, National Museum of Natural History, and Empire State Building.

Day Two began with me marking off an item from my bucket list. Visiting the Statue of Liberty.

We loved it!!!!! After visiting Lady Liberty, day two consisted of 911 Memorial, Little Italy, China town, Macy's, New York Public Library, Grand Central Station and MORE!  We crammed in so much touristy sightseeing stuff it was crazy. I really wished one of us had wore a step counter to see how many miles we actually walked. This trip packed in so much stuff it will need its own blog....which will be soon after I write this blog because I really want to share all the details.

In the meantime here is some video I shot during the trip.

As soon as I got home from NYC, I had to start packing for a weeks stay in Honduras. This was my second trip to Honduras with a missions team. We  spent the week at an orphanage while also visiting surrounding villages.

I wrote a complete recollection of this trip here on my blog as soon as I returned home from this trip . Please go check it out and read about my life changing experiences in this country.

As soon as I got home from Honduras my son Tabor proposed to Loren. So she officially

became my future daughter in law and the wedding planning has begun!!!

Once I got home from Honduras I spent a couple weeks at home before my next adventure. In those weeks we celebrated Loren's birthday:

And my birthday. Here is a pic of my delicious cupcakes that my friend Mashonna made for me! Mashonna is a very busy surgeon and the fact she took some time out of her hectic schedule to make me cupcakes for my birthday meant the world to me!

The day after celebrating my birthday with Mashonna and her husband Sam, Tony and I packed up and headed to Nashville for four days. The purpose of this trip was business in that we were there for the NAMM conference. Tony is a part owner in a music store named Mountain Music Exchange and we would spend the next four days visiting and meeting vendors to learn about their products. Tony and Kevin (business partner) played amps, tried out new guitars and learned about all the new stuff for this year.

While Helen (Kevin's wife) and I followed them around. We were able to just hang out and of course take selfies!

But it is Nashville and  I love Nashville. So even tho we were there on business, we had a ton of fun! We attended a VIP party for a guitar company at the famous Printers Alley.

We shopped, listened to good music and ate a lot of great food. The Old Spaghetti factory was one of our favorite meals this trip.

Doesn't my crab ravioli look divine? Well..It was!

The four days went by fast and we really hated to see our time in Nashville with Kevin and Helen end..but our traveling fun was not over! In the couple weeks before we left for Nashville, Tony informed me that he needed to go to Chicago to drop some vintage keyboards off to a guy who was going to restore them.  And of course me being me answered with, " Yeah , lets go!"

The problem was we just couldn't find the time.  After looking at our calenders we realized it would be better if we drove to Chicago from Nashville. It would eliminate the time of driving back to Pikeville, then driving to Chicago. So we packed our bags in Nashville and headed to the Windy City.

Driving thru Indiana was HORRIBLE. Our trip was delayed by 2 and half hours thanks to road construction. After a long day we finally pulled into the beautiful courtyard of the Waldorf Astoria.

Let me jump back a little and tell you about this hotel. As soon as Tony and I decided when we were taking this trip I started looking at rooms. I am Hilton Honors member and book all my rooms through  Hilton. I came across this hotel and an offer for a really, really good price using some of my points.  I booked it....and I was very excited about booking it. It's the Waldorf Astoria dang it!  I was already pumped about this hotel not knowing it was only going to get better.

Upon arriving at check in, I was informed we had been upgraded....THREE LEVELS!! I am pretty sure I was in shock when I walked into this room. Hands down the best room I have ever stayed in.

It had a large bedroom,

A huge bathroom.

A spacious living room with a balcony.

It even had a half bath!

I really enjoyed sitting out on our balcony with the John Hancock building as my view.

The Waldorf completely spoiled us! The service was beyond excellent. Honestly, I marked something off my bucket list that I wasn't even aware of needing to be on my bucket list until I stayed here.

Once we were home we jumped straight into getting ready for a big milestone in our lives. bt Media Group, our very first company turned 15 this year. We celebrated at the East Ky Expo with the people that helped make bt Media what it is today!

I also got to enjoy being a groupie for Tony. I spent some time on the road while he did the rock star thing.

My final summer trip was our family vacation with Tabor and Loren. I love being able to travel with these two and love our family vacations. This year we chose to spend two days in Cleveland and visit the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Tony and I were here a few years back and always said we needed to bring Tabor some day.  Here they are checking out Jimi Hendrix's original hand written lyrics to Voodoo child.

After leaving Cleveland we headed for Niagara Falls. Another bucket list item for me. I chose to stay on the Canada side at the Hilton Falls View. This hotel was great. Our room had a awesome view of the American Falls.

Which gave us an excellent view of the fireworks.

While there we did the Journey Behind the Falls tour, where they have made tunnels behind the Horseshoe Falls.

We had a fantastic Family Vacation. Just getting spending quality time with them is the best part. Getting to experience new things is just icing on the cake!.

I am home now. Concert season is getting ready to start back up and my traveling will be limited. But I do love traveling and I am currently planning our spring cruise where Tabor and Loren will be joining us this year.

There has been one MAJOR bad point of my summer. With all of my travel I missed a lot of time with my niece and nephews. I always enjoy spending time with them in the summer swimming, eating popsicles and just hanging out. So I have vowed to make it up to them now!

Thanks again for joining me on my adventures. This has truly been one of the best summers of my life and I was excited to share it with everyone!


                                                                                                      The Boss Lady