Revisiting a Local Golf Course Clubhouse Grill…and More!

Another day and another restaurant… It was time for an early dinner and we didn’t feel like driving too far from home.  So we were off to a local golf course and it’s clubhouse restaurant.

This is a view of the recently renovated and enlarged Toqua Clubhouse with its golf store and the Toqua Sports Bar and Grill.  The Toqua Golf Course is one of 3 such courses to be found within Tellico Village, an ungated, open to the public retirement community, which is located in Loudon and Monroe Counties in Eastern Tennessee. 

Tellico Village was a Cooper Development that now stands on its own.  Of note is the fact that there is no minimum age restriction for anyone to live in the Village.  The Village, with a population of over 9,000 residents sits along several miles of shoreline on Tellico Lake, a Tennessee Valley Authority reservoir.  To learn more about Tellico Village, go to https://tellicovillage.org/. 

The Toqua Sports Bar and Grill has been greatly expanded in the last year.  The rebuilt restaurant is very spacious, with a nice fully equipped bar and plenty of seating.   Both this restaurant and the golf course are open to the public.   While the bar it’s self is well equipped with TVs for sports events, the dining area only has TVs along the walls so the impact isn’t too overwhelming for those who aren’t watching…just chatting with each other.  By 5:30 PM the Grill was hopping!

The Grill also has some pleasant views of the gold course itself…actually the driving range and practice greens.  In addition, there is a patio dining option for those who prefer fresh air and sunshine.

One recent addition to the staff of the Toqua Sports Bar and Grill was the owner/chef from Z’s Fish House in Loudon Tennessee.  Sadly, despite being featured on “Restaurant Impossible”, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and increased costs caused him to close his restaurant.  His addition to the staff at this restaurant should be a big plus.

With those facts in mind, Laurie ordered the Salmon Cake Salad for her entrée. ($15.00) That salmon cake was quite large and I had a couple of bites of it myself.  It was very flavorful and Laurie really loved it paired with this nice salad.

For my dinner, I decided on these Pastrami Sliders with a side of coleslaw. ($13.00) I liked them a lot!  Very satisfying indeed… While not New York Deli quality pastrami, the meat was better than I’d had anywhere here in East Tennessee in quite a while.  The meal’s presentation would have been better if the slaw had been served in a ceramic or glass bowl.

Our server Kelsey was very efficient and friendly.  Given the quality of the food, we will return to try other items in the near future.  We hadn’t eaten here in over a year but it has greatly improved.

Toqua Sports Bar and Grill is located at 200 Toqua Club Way in Tellico Village (Loudon Tennessee).  Phone: 865-458-1330.  This restaurant is on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ToquaSportsBar.

While we are eating out again more often than over the past 2 “Covid-19” years, we still look for simple items that we can prepare easily at home.  So, the other day while shopping at Costco, we came across a big package of chimichurri marinated skirt steak.  We decided that we’d have it for dinner that same night so I fired up the grill.  I used an iron skillet for part of the process and I put the meat directly on the grill to finish it. 

We both thought that it was very nice…lots of flavor and fairly tender too.  Love that chimichurri!  That marinade worked well as we dredged it up from the platter and poured in on our rice/vegetable mix as well as on the steak itself.  Best of all, I now have plenty of leftover skirt steak for breakfast or sandwiches!

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Kentucky Road Trip in October 2021 (1)

Following our road trip to Omaha, western Nebraska and St. Louis back in July, we stayed around our home in East Tennessee for about 3 months.  Then we got restless and decided to drive north up US I-75 to the area around Lexington Kentucky, stay for a couple of nights and check out some local attractions.

When Laurie mentioned to her sister Bonnie that we were going on this short adventure, a quick decision was made for Bonnie and her husband Bill to drive over from the St. Louis area and join us…

During our drive north up I-75, we encountered a lot of heavy fog… We took lots of fog photos but it turns out that fog is hard to photograph while in motion.  The first photo gives you an idea of how thick the fog was and of course, driving along at 70 – 75 miles per hour with limited visibility is a bit nerve wracking…

In the second photo, as we moved north and the fog thinned out, we spotted a fast flowing stream of fog coming right across the highway.  It was very much like a river and, while I’ve seen fog come across the coastal ranges of northern California, this bit of foggy action was quite different.

…and then we were in the clear!  There was some color in the fall leafs but for the third week in October, there was more green than usual.  It had been warmer and dryer than usual.

Laurie and I had timed our drive so we could arrive at the Kentucky Horse Park at about the same time as Bonnie and Bill.  Laurie and I last visited the Kentucky Horse Park ca. 1987…and it sure has changed…expanded since our last visit.

On our previous visit, Secretariat (1970 – 1989) was still alive and we had a chance to see this beautiful champion Thoroughbred race horse in person.  He not only won the American Triple Crown, he still holds the fastest time record for all three races.  The Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.  He actually won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths!

Our first stop after buying our tickets and looking around the Vistor’s Center and displays at the Kentucky Horse Park was the International Museum of the Horse.  This museum occupies over 60,000 square feet and it is the largest museum in the world that is dedicated to understanding the history of all horses and their impact on civilization.

Among the first exhibits we viewed were recreated scenes of early ancestors of Equus, which includes today’s horses, asses and zebras.  ‘Dinohippus’ is thought to be the last direct ancestor of today’s members of the Equus family.  It lived in North America from about 13,000,000 to 5,000,000 years ago.  Dinohippus had the ‘stay’ apparatus, a safety feature that helped the horse to stand for long periods of time with little expenditure of energy… Consequently, it was one of the first horses that could sleep while standing, a valuable ability when it comes to evading predators.

A number of early horse drawn conveyances are exhibited in the museum, including this full size reproduction of a 2-horse Egyptian chariot that was found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun. (1320 BCE) Another exhibit featured a heavy and comparatively crude Sumerian Battle Wagon modeled after pictographs from tombs dated back to 2600 – 2450 BCE.  Both of these horse drawn war machines were effective in assisting their respective armies in conquering neighboring kingdoms…

I love dioramas!  The International Museum of the Horse features many dioramas showing the use and impact of horses through various periods of history.  The first diorama shown above depicts Attila’s cavalry attacking the town of Constantia near the Danube River.  This event took place in 441 A.D. because the Romans neglected to pay their agreed upon tribute which had heretofore caused Attila to refrain from attacking Roman settlements.  FYI, the tribute amounted to over a ton of gold each year…

Among the many other dioramas there was this detailed ‘picture’ of life in the winter here in the USA along the frontier.  This is just half of the diorama but it shows horses being used on a small homestead as well as a 6 horse hitch pulling a Conestoga wagon across a crude log bridge.

Other dioramas included Knights jousting, early frontier horse races, and a very large city scene.  The latter showed horses pulling farm wagons, carriages, a stagecoach, freight wagons, delivery carts, and a horse drawn bus as well as a horse drawn trolley. 

There was a lot of attention paid to thoroughbred horses and their heritage.  The first photograph shows the 3 horses that are considered as the foundation stallions of today’s thoroughbred horses.  The horses across the top are the “Byerley Turk”, the “Darley Arabian” and the “Godolphin Arabian”. 

All 3 stallions have certain things in common.  They were all Arabian horses that were imported to England where they were bred with existing English stock.  The 3 horses at the bottom of the first photo are famous descendants of these 3 foundation stallions.  FYI, the Byerley Turk was captured in the late 1600s by Captain Byerley at the siege of Buda in Hungary and this stallion was the first of these elite horses to breed in England.

The Arabian horse originated on the Arabian Peninsula.  It has a distinctive head shape and holds its tail high.  One of the oldest horse breeds in the world, evidence of horses resembling modern Arabians has been found that dates back 4,500 years.  Arabian horses have been used to add speed, refinement, endurance and strong bone structure to other breeds and now Arabian bloodlines are found in almost every modern breed of riding horse.

I like transportation related vehicles include airplanes, trucks, automobiles, ships…and horse drawn conveyances.  Among the many horse drawn vehicles I noted was this full size Concord stagecoach and a model Sears, Roebuck delivery wagon.    

Other wheeled vehicles on display were a hearse, a skeleton wagon, (basically a light frame with light wheels and a seat), a Conestoga wagon and of course, a surrey with the fringe on top.

The museum pays tribute to the Buffalo Soldiers.  They originally were members of the 10^th Cavalry Regiment of the US Army, formed in September of 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  The nickname was given to the Colored Cavalry by Native American tribes who fought in the Indian Wars.  The term “Buffalo Soldiers” caught on and became synonymous with all of the African-American regiments formed in that time period.  A little recognized fact is that 23 Buffalo Soldiers received the Medal of Honor during the Indian Wars…

Horse racing was the most popular sport throughout the early history of the United States.  Its popularity was concurrent with the institution of slavery.  It’s a fact that the care and training of race horses was largely the purview of enslaved men…

Laurie and I love these gentle giants…the draft horses!  The Shire, Percheron, Belgian, Clydesdale and the Suffolk Punch are the 5 largest horse breeds in the world.  All of these work horses can reach weights of over 2000 pounds.  A couple of these breeds are fairly rare.  They include the Percheron and the Suffolk Punch.  We’re all familiar with the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales and if you’ve never seen them up close and personal, it should be added to your things to do list!

If you are a true horse racing fan, there are many exhibits showing famous race horses, jockey’s, breeder’s colors, trophies, victory photos and much more.  Horse shows themselves are another major focus of the exhibits.  While we do enjoy an occasional horserace, with us it’s all about the horses themselves.  We prefer them in a field doing what horses do…

Back to transportation…by horse of course!  There even is a collection of sleighs.  The first photo includes at French Carousel Sleigh from 1780.  The sleigh next to it is a doctor’s sleigh from 1890.  The second photo is of a bob sleigh from 1905.  I never thought about it but it is probable that a sleigh or early sled was the first transport vehicle used by man…boughs or branches being towed across the ground with whatever was being transported on top of the branches.  

So…enough about this piece of the International Museum of the Horse.  There was much more to be seen at the Kentucky Horse Park!  To be continued...

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Merry Christmas to all!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie

Happenings, then Continuing with Our Road Trip

Since I will be posting details of our July road trip for some time to come, I thought that I would break it up a bit with things that are going on at home and in the wider family as a whole.

…starting at home.

I noticed a couple of brown spots in our lawn a few days ago…and I assumed that it was the norm as we always see a few such spots in late summer.  Then we looked out the window a couple of days later and this was what we saw!  The lawn was headed downhill fast…

Our neighbor Sherry told us that it might be ‘army worms’ and that they can kill a lawn in just a few days.  Laurie sent a photo to our lawn conditioning service and he showed up the next day to treat the condition.  He verified that it was army worms, telling me that until this year he’d only treated one lawn for the problem…but that now, his phone is ringing off the hook with the same problem. 

That night, our local news stations featured a bit on the problem…as it seems to be everywhere in the greater Knoxville area.  Time will tell how our lawn recovers.  Another treatment is needed in 3 weeks to kill the eggs and then we will likely have to re-seed the lawn.

This is what the area across the street from our house looks like…with plenty of trees and brush.  It shelters our home from the late afternoon sun and it provides shelter and browse for our local deer, turkey and other critters…  

Wait, what’s that yellow sign behind the mail box?

More bad news!  The sign on that lot right across from our house is a ‘for sale’ sign… The price is $25,000 but given the rush to buy and build homes here in our area, it will probably sell and sell soon!  As of the end of July, 275 homes were under construction and our POA sold 60 of the lots they own in July alone.

We’re not looking forward to losing our woods, the evening shade and the critters, but we knew that it was inevitable.  We just ‘can’t wait’ for the early morning and day long sounds of construction...so much for going to bed late and then sleeping until 9 AM… 

…back to our July road trip.  We were still in Omaha Nebraska at this point.

Mixed in with all of our adventures and exploration while visiting our son and his family, we did take a break to eat from time to time.  In this case, we stopped and tried a place in Omaha’s Blackstone District called “Cheeseburger’s”.  This store front operation is definitely a ‘joint’, with customers ordering at the counter and then being called up to pick up the order.  It was bit dark and dingy for my taste.

Here is a close up of Cheeseburger’s menu board.  It’s simple and straight-forward with burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers (3 ways), French fries, fried onion rings, fried pickle chips, homemade chili, milk shakes, malts, soda and beer.  Prices are reasonable as one might expect with relatively low overhead in this type of operation.

None of us ventured beyond the burgers and fries although I was tempted to try the spicy chicken finger sandwich.  The fries were fairly good and the burgers were credible if not great.  They are definitely better than the usual fast food burgers.  I just had a hard time getting past the ‘dinge’ and the feeling that I was in a cave.  It was quite busy so perhaps I’m just too fussy.

It should be noted that seating was somewhat limited in this smallish retail space, but Cheeseburgers does proclaim upfront that they are “a take-out joint”.  There are 2 locations in the Omaha area.  This restaurant is located at 4007 Farnam Street.  Website: Cheeseburgers- Omaha - A Takeout Joint (ineedcheeseburgers.com).

Laurie took this photo of yours truly with our oldest grandson and my youngest namesake, David III.  He's now back at New York University for his Junior year.

…now skipping from our trip back to a notable family accomplishment.

This little girl, armored for battle, is Laurie’s great niece, Charley Kate.  She is only 6 years old but she is a ‘killer’ on the ice.  She loves hockey and she is an aggressive competitor.  She was recently named as a key member of a local St. Louis Missouri area, formerly all boy’s hockey team!

I don’t know if she lost this tooth playing hockey or not but we do love the fierce look on such a sweet face!  Score lots of goals… Go get them Charley Kate!  Perhaps there is a college hockey scholarship in her future…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Missing Family Visits…Looking forward to 2021!

Like many older folks with a higher risk of complications from Covid-19, we haven’t been able to hit the road to visit family nor have they been able to visit us.  Safety first…with the only visitors this year being Laurie’s sister, Bonnie and her husband Bill.  Kids can be ‘carriers’ while being asymptomatic so they present a real risk for older folks, especially since school has started up.

Nevertheless, we do miss all of our family!  What follows are some recent photos of our family that have been sent to us.  The kids are growing up, that’s for sure!

This is Laurie’s nephew Marc, his wife Tammy and their oldest daughter Abby.  Abby has just started her first year of college at the University of Missouri.  Marc is Laurie’s sister Karole’s son.  Marc and Tammy have 2 other daughters as well…Regan and Cate. 

This is Charley Kate!  She loves the camera.  She is one of Laurie’s great nieces.  She is Laurie’s sister Bonnie’s granddaughter.  Bonnie’s daughter Kasey is Charley Kate’s mom. 

This is one of Laurie’s great nephews.  Collin is a baseball standout!  He’s accompanied by Charlie Kate at the right of the photo with her sister Elliot Jane at the left.  Elliot Jane is obviously star struck!  Collin is one of Laurie’s sister Bonnie’s grandsons.  The other one is Keaton.  Bonnie’s son Kyle is both boy’s dad.

Charley Kate sure gets into a lot of photos!  She’s taken up hockey and she is excelling in the sport… In the second photo, she's with her dad, Kevin.

This is Elliot Jane and she looks very happy.  She was at her grandma Bonnie’s house and she’d just been shown these dolls that she and Charley Kate can play with whenever they visit.  The dolls and doll clothes were my mother’s and she’d made all those outfits…one of her many creative phases.  Since Laurie and I don’t have any granddaughters, we thought that this was a fitting home for the dolls.  They have joined a miniature tea set that we’d passed down to Bonnie from my grandmother’s belongings.

Both of these young ladies are Bonnie and Bill’s grandchildren too.  They are Kasey’s daughter’s Avery and Delaney.

Elliott Jane and Charley Kate were excited and ready to go to school.  Love the uniforms and that sign…

These are all of Kasey’s girls…and all of Bonnie’s granddaughters.  Avery is holding Elliot Jane and Charley Kate is standing next to Delaney.  There were photos of all of them in masks in preparation for school and that is important but these photos are more enjoyable.

Laurie’s sisters and their extended families all live in the St. Louis Missouri metropolitan area… We will be St. Louis bound as soon as possible! 

Now for one of our grandsons… The redhead in this group photo with the Track and Field t-shirt is our grandson Emmett Lee.  This summer, he and the rest of this group had volunteered to coach elementary school kids who were interested in track and field.  Emmett was bummed out that all of his sports were cancelled this year…but at least he was able to get out there and help others.

This is a recent photo of Emmett on the deck of the family’s home in Omaha.  He is tall and lean!  This fall he’s a junior in high school and he’ll be 17 in November. 

I’ll end this family photo session with a couple of selfies that were sent to us from New York City.  David III is a sophomore this fall as New York University.  Unfortunately, both school and the city are greatly changed from the first part of his freshman year.  He’ll make the best of it though just because that’s the way he looks at things.  He had to check into his apartment 14 days prior to classes starting.  Coming from a state that New York had labeled as a coronavirus hot spot, he had to go into quarantine.  Facetime, video games, meals delivered…and boredom!  He took the first photo as soon as he was ‘free’ to leave solitary confinement.  The second one shows the view from his apartment.  I was impressed that I had to actually ask him to take a photo for us without a mask… He’s following the rules!

We miss our grandsons…as well as their parents, Amy and David II.  We hope to see everyone by mid-2021!  Waiting for a vaccine…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Stay Safe and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave