Gaylord Opryland- birthday/travel blog

Hello, My name is Braddock Havey and my family took a trip to Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. We got there at about 12:30 because we weren't in a huge rush to go to the Hotel. It was my 14th birthday/X-mas gift! I went there because there is a new water park that opened there called Soundwaves. I took a friend named Foley there too. Our room was in the Garden Observatory which is a lovely atrium. It's a lovely view at night because there were beautiful lights, families walking around in matching pajamas  and carolers (Christmastime) singing. Anyway, my parents took us, me and my freind, to the waterpark and it was so much fun. If you go to the arcade located downstairs (The Basement) go there before you go in the water so you won't be wet and cold. We could find seats by the pool easily because the waterpark is designed to be a VIP package  if you get the package and stay in the hotel.They have lazy and rapid rivers there which were truly awesome.   Foley was truly obsessed with it, he doesn't like to do slides. I LOVED the slides! The wave simulator was totally worth it! They open up the simulator so only one person can go on it. I didn't even wipe out. Then, we went to an awesome pizza place in the Delta atrium.You need to go eat early because it's really busy during the holidays. We were tired of the waterpark so, we grabbed some dessert and watched a funny movie. Foley and I really had a great time!


Check out the pics below. I had the best birthday ever! (I didn't even tell you about the other things I did- Sperry's fancy restaurant with grandparents from New Jersey, went shopping and got some cool jackets, got highlights. went to a fancy sushi place in the "Gulch" called Virago with my parents and G-Bob and went to a Christmas concert at a church downtown where we got to hang out with friends backstage and the McCrary sisters even sang happy birthday to me!)

Happy Holidays!

My cruise trip 2018 - travel blog

Cruises are considered to be one of the most ultimate ways to go on  a trip. I went on a cruise to Cozumel on Royal Caribbean and let me just say, it was so, awesome. First, the port of call was Tampa and let me just tell you, it was so foreign like. The Westin was a great place to stay before a cruise. It has a great restaurant, that we went to after our flight got in and it has astounding calamari. You should also, take a trolley ride in Tampa because it's free and a great experience to see some historic sights like the aquarium and Ybor City. Some advice about Ybor City: you should always look for roosters when you take walks. There is also a great breakfast/gelato place near there that's good if you're going to the airport or taking a cruise called Fast Jacks. We took a lift and I just want to give a shoutout to the car we were in , before going on the ship. There is a great service they offer on the ship by taking your luggage out of your car/hands and taking it straight to the room.You should charge your phone before getting on the ship because it takes about 45 mins. to board the ship.  Me and my parents adored the buffet because it had an unlimited selection of food during our meals. You should go to Park Cafe for a late night snack because the buffet closes at 10. The shows on the cruise line are very amazing too because the have Vegas style acts preform every night. One of the acts was a juggling/acrobats duo and they were the highlights of the theater The Main dining room was pretty nice but, you should never go there more than 2 times b/c it gets a little boring. There are a few specialty restaurants that you can go to like Chef's table (gourmet) and Izumi (Japanese). Our first stop was Key West and it was so exotic and tropical. Hemmingway's house is so awesome because you can see the influences to his books and have an entertaining time with the tour guide. Their famous "Most Southern Point of U.S" is always crowded but still worth it for your Facebook page. selfie. I drank from a coconut and it makes the bottled versions way more futuristic. When you're back on the ship; a 30 min. nap is worth it before your dinner. Teens will also be excited because they have a free arcade night sometime on the cruise (selected games only). The captains gala/ body flop contest were two highlights of days at sea. It's tradition to decorate your room. We took magnets since the walls are magnetic and hung a pirates flag. We also had a balcony and saw dolphins swimming. Day 4 was in Cozumel. We woke up and went straight to the boarding area. You should never eat at the American restaurants in the port because you are in a foreign country...whats the point?! In Cozumel we went to this beach experience called Chakkanaab where we signed up for this dolphin encounter. We didn't swim with them but it was still worth it. They were very nice. We ate lunch there and it was really awesome. We also went snorkeling. It was really hard for someone who doesn't know how to use the mask.  Then it rained so we shopped for souvenirs. (Note: always be careful in a souvenir store because you break it you buy it!) Night 5 was fun because I had a fun dinner wth my teen friends from the teen zone. I really want to take another cruise with my family again, but I want it to be seven nights instead of five! I will hopefully have more travels to write about soon!

MY MAINE TRIP

I just went on an awesome trip to York Beach, Maine. I was there with all of my Havey family (Like cousins and grandparents). On my first  day we flew to Boston, Massachusetts. My Uncle Jay picked us from the airport. He and my Aunt Siobhan (Irish, I originally spelled it  like it sounds, "Shavan") were throwing a big party at their house near Boston in Glouchester. We stayed at a B&B in an old house called the Sally Webster Inn about 15 minutes from Jay's house in Rockport which was a seatown. I saw Nannie at their house too.We said goodbye and went to Salem before our "Maine spot".  Salem is known for being the place where they burned people they thought were witches. The museum we went to there was very interesting because they told us the history of witches in depth. We then went to our house in Maine which Grandee and Pepe got which was very nice. In York Beach in "Short Sands" there's a very cool arcade there called the Fun-O-Rama very near the cold beach (the water is freezing!). My favorite things to do at the arcade were skeeball and the gypsy woman (was like Zoltar in the movie "Big") . I got the rare 100 points while playing skeeball 4 times during my visit and it was awesome. I went to a place called Goldenrod's there which had salt water taffy, fudge and other types of candy. I loved the beach there but the water was very cold (#sickbro). One day I was at the beach for two hours and I was almost frozen when I got out of the ocean, my hands were tingly. I still loved bodysurfing though. At the house there was a dock on the river/bay and a big backyard and a fire pit where we made s'mores. We rented kayaks there and did it almost two times a day. There was a restraunt near by that we really liked called Cape Neddick Lobster pound.We took a day trip to a place called Oqunquick where we took a nice hike that went high above the cliffs and we also went to the beach. A really fun thing we did was an amusement park called York's Wild Kingdom. My favorite thing there was the go-karts. I got a tempoary.tattoo of a shark there, I really liked the family time there because I rarely see them. I really liked seeing my cousins, my Aunts, my Aunt Allison's fiancé and grandparents. A beautiful thing we did there was seeing Nubble Lighthouse and having ice cream nearby. On the way back our flight was delayed so we explored Boston where we saw graves of some historic people like Paul Revere. I really liked it and I encourage you to go to the coast of Maine.

MY SLEEPOVER AT FOLEY's

I had a big sleepover on Saturday. It was at my friends Foley house. For dinner,We had pizza and ice cream cones for dessert. We watched awesome movies called the Blues Brothers(jazz themed) and Strange Brew(beer themed).Afterwards, we settled into bed and listened to stand up of Bill Cosby.I didn't get good sleep so me and Foley woke up at 5:45 am. We first started our day watching the brilliant comedy piece by Mel Brooks "Blazing Saddles".Then we played an awesome game called Beat The Parents. I needed fresh air so we went outside to walk his two dogs Arrow and Lucy. I had a wonderful experience and I thank Foley and his parents for inviting me.

I will blog soon about my D.C TRIP

THE HISTORY OF DUTCHMAN'S CURVE

I just went to Camp Widjiwagen last week and I really want to blog about it. but it will take a while, so I will save that for tomorrow. But, I'm gonna tell you about something awesome I did today. 

Our friend Betsey Thorpe, who wrote a book, "The Day The Whistles Cried" was hosting a tour of the "Dutchman's Curve" at Richland Creek Greenland. It was about an event that happened 100 years ago (exactly on Monday) when two trains crashed into each other on July 9th, 1918. 

I learned several facts and here they are: 1) Near the same place where it happened 4 kids were scalped by a Native American because their families were taking over their land. 2) More Africans Americans died in the train wreck than white people because they were in the area closest to the front of the train behind the locomotive (the dangerous section). If it was modern day the death's (101) would have been more evenly divided. 3) I asked why they called it Duchman's Curve and our friend David Ewing who was there said that the people who built the railroad/bridge were from Germany and said in their German language that they were from "Deutschland" so the Nashvillian's thought they were Dutch and called it "Dutchman's Curve". It was really dangerous on that curve because the two trains couldn't see each other coming and collided head-on. It was the deadliest train crash in U.S history and it happened right here in Nashville. 

My Grandbobby actually in the 1970's or 80's interviewed survivors who were little when it happened (and old when he interviewed them) and it's very interesting. He put some of the interviews in a song he wrote with friend Rafe Vanhoy that is incredible called "The Great Nashville Railroad Disater" which G-Bob recorded and was also recorded by David Allan Coe. Hre's the link to Grandbobby's version of the song https://youtu.be/7ZauKqf3N7c  Betsey played it at her dinner event last night and some people cried because they heard the emotion in the recordings of the real people involved who were included in it. Grandbobby is donating the recordings to the Nashville Public  Library so people can hear that history.

I'd like to give thanks to Betsey Thorpe, Paul Clements (who led our tour and told us lots of interesting history about the area) and David Ewing.

                 PHOTOS:

    

MY SUPER FUN WEEKEND WITHOUT DAD

Me and my mom had an amazing time together while Dad was in the greatest city in the world (N.Y.C). We had so much fun one whole blog can not even hold my whole weekend of fun. But, I will try to tell some of my highlights of this past weekend in bullet point form

• We went to Bellevue so Mom could do an audition for a show at Chaffins Barn Dinner theater.When we were there, we met up with our adult friend Leslie. We were originally planning to go to Loveless Cafe (copyright) but because it was too crowded we went to a place called City Limits instead.

• I went to a jump place called Above All with my friend Foley.My favorite part of it was the Ninja Course which was a foam pit obstacle area. Afterwards, we went to the Maryland Farms YMCA to make up for a day we went there where it thundered. Foley wanted to go to the indoor pool and I was okay with it because we played aqua basketball in peace.

• I went to Fulins (sushi/Chinese place) with my friend Scarlet and her family. I loved the Godzilla roll because it was fried and my mom is a health mom and we don't usually order something like that. After, I hanged at Scarlet's  house for a few minutes while my Mom shopped at Target. I loved it.

•  I went to a Tex Mex place with my Mom and grandfather called Uncle Julio's. My favorite part of the restaurant was the table side guacamole. Then we went to an iced cream place next door called Jeni's. 

In summary I had a pretty fun weekend. We also went to see the Inredibles 2, but I will save that for another post/review. Next week I am doing camp which is awesome. Now I want to stop blogging for the day and go do something fun. Have a nice weekend, see you next time! 

Nashville Public Library Reading Challenge

I just entered the #NPLSUMMER reading challenge. You need to read 600 minutes over the summer and you can win prizes through reading or activities like me just now posting this hashtag...even as an adult! It's super fun and if you're in Nashville you should try it too!