Why Not an Extended Birthday Celebration?

OK, here’s the deal… My better half celebrates all of her birthdays for at least 2 months!  So, given that this was a fairly significant birthday for me, I decided that I would try to at least get a week’s worth of celebration and attention from this event.

While I did fairly well with this objective, there is and was no way that I could hope to equal Laurie’s annual celebration.  My one edge beyond the birthday itself was the visit from our family, flying in all the way from Omaha.

Of course, the fact that is that our son David II reads my blog and therefore wanted to experience and actually visit several of the places I’ve covered in my various posts.  Combine that with the need/desire to keep our 18 and 21 year old grandsons ‘involved’/’occupied’, and we were out and about to several familiar locations during their stay…

I’ve reported on/covered all of these location and activities before so I won’t bore you further with extensive details.  The first stop on David II’s list was Sweetwater Valley Farm, a significant tourist attraction near Philadelphia Tennessee.  It’s a large dairy farm and cheese making operation that also features a restaurant serving a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches…plus a gift shop.

I marked our visit to Sweetwater Valley Farm with this photo of David III, Emmett Lee, Laurie (aka Nana), Amy and David II.    

There was a bunch of kids touring Sweetwater Valley Farm and I couldn’t help myself when they posed for their parents or teachers in front of the Farm’s café and gift shop.  Very cute photo!  I wonder if they did the full tour of the dairy operation…

As for our visit, David II and Amy bought a pile of various cheeses, most of which we didn’t eat during their stay.  Consequently, Laurie and I have enough cheese to last us for a long time… We did have a charcuterie board while they were here but it barely depleted the stacks of cheese.

Sweetwater Valley farm’s website is found at Sweetwater Valley Farm.

Grain Bin Commodities near Sweetwater Tennessee was our next stop.  I’ve covered this entrepreneurial operation before as well.  It is a bakery with an adjoining antique/décor barn right next door.  They advertise on Facebook with regular updates regarding what bakery items are featured.  We loaded up here as well…and satisfied our son’s curiosity at the same time… (This photo was taken back in April of this year)

Grain Bin Commodities is open Wednesday thru Saturday.  It is off the beaten path which is part of its charm.  They are on Facebook and their website is found at About | Mysite (grainbincommodities.com).

One of the first things that we did at our next destination was to take a ‘selfie’ of our happy little group.  David III got to hold the Smart Phone to take the photo because his arms are so long… For a selfie, this effort came out pretty well.

So where were we this time?  Note the Smoky Mountains in the distance as well as the grape vines in the middle of the photo.  This is the Tsali Notch Vineyard and event center.  It is located a bit off TN Hwy 68 just a little east of Sweetwater and not too far from Madisonville.  The views are relaxing and hard to beat…

This is the tasting venue/room at Tsali Notch Vineyards.  In Eastern Tennessee, the grapes of choice are mostly Muscatine, and this vineyard is the largest producer of bulk wholesale Muscatine grapes. 

Muscatine grapes are actually indigenous to the Southeastern United States.  These grapes are high in antioxidants.  This means that the vineyards doesn’t have to use insecticides, fungicides or other chemicals to protect the vines and/or the grapes themselves.  Tsali Notch actually grows 6 different varieties of Muscatine grapes…

The tasting room is situated in an attractive reconstructed log cabin.  The server/wine merchant in charge was happy to pose for a photo.   David II did the tasting…trying 3 or 4 different varietals on behalf of the group. 

While in the tasting room, I noted that one of Laurie’s favorite vendors, Udder Joy Farm, had a sizable representation of their goat milk based creams, soaps and cleansers displayed for sale. (Third shelf down at the right of the photo.  Udder Joy Farm is located quite close to Tsali Notch Vineyards. 

For information about the products that have been developed and are sold by Udder Joy Farm, go to Contact - Udder Joy Farms.  

I took the photo of the family around a table just outside Tsali Notch’s tasting cabin.  David III did purchase a bottle of wine which he shared with the others…Emmett and myself excluded as he’s too young and alcohol conflicts with my meds.  It’s hard for me to accept the fact that David III is now old enough to drink wine with his parents…

Laurie snuck up on David III and myself sitting at a picnic table in the shade.  I don’t like my photo but I’ve included it as I’m sure that I was imparting ‘elder/patriarchal’ wisdom to my oldest grandson. 

To learn more about Muscatine Wines, jellies and the Tsali Notch Vineyard, go to Tennesee Muscadine Wine - Tsali Notch Vineyard.

And so ended this exploratory journey, at least for one day.

Back at our house, it was easy to see why keeping the grandsons involved is so important.   They promptly ‘chilled out’ and their electronics took over!  Not that they had stopped using them as we drove through the countryside.  I will say that David III and Emmett are close and they really do like each other.  It gets a little wild but interesting when they play board games or compete with each other via their smart phones.  They are good boys…young men…and Nana and I are proud of them.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave