Jemser's Photos

[Helium]

Helium, I sold a lot of SUN Records. Brilliant stuff. Music I still play

Yes Bugs when Jemser mentioned Sun I was thinking of Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, etc. Run by Sam Phillips as you know and you probably know as much on the subject as my brother who quotes dates, etc. at me while I can just about keep the names in my head. Roy is my all time favourite since the 60's and my brother then got addicted even more than I did. When I was out in Glasthule with him last week he was telling me about a track called Tennessee is My Home by Roy (hope I got the name right) that I never heard of!

[Denis Cromie]

Sounds great Jemser. Enjoy.

[keeper]

I am NOT jealous or anything like that Jemser you might as well make us REALLY jealous with some of your lovely photos, enjoy your trip

[Jemser]

OK onto Sunday and Graceland and Sun Studio day. My son and his partner joined us in Memphis to go on the tours, we caught the free shuttle for Graceland at 11:30am and headed for the King. We took the mid price tour for 40 dollars per person and were issued with iPads and onto another shuttle to bring us up to the house.We entered the house through the front and toured the entire downstairs, the public are not allowed upstairs. Then you go into another section which Elvis had constructed for his memorabilia, there are hundreds of gold and platinum discs, golden boot awards, humitarian awards, costumes etc etc in this building. After this you go into his outside office area and on into the paddock area where he kept horses. Then into the Memorial Garden where all the family are buried, it is very quiet and peaceful. Then we went to see the car collection and you can do further exhibits and gift shops, but we didn't because they only seemed added at a later date to extract dollars from tourists. So we got the shuttle back to Sun Studios and did the tour with a fantastic enthusiastic young female guide called Lydia. She was a mind of information and encouraged the crowd to get involved and sing as we went around the studio. After a little while you enter the inner sanctum into the recording studio, the first thing you see are lines of instruments and the drum kit U2 left there after their recording. They have an X on the floor where all the greats stood when they recorded there including Elvis. She then produced the original microphone that all these legendary singers used to record their sounds. She said we could step up to the mic and do our thing and actually hold it and sing if we desired. Well I wasn't going to miss this and did my Elvis version of Wonder of You and got a round of applause. We moved away from the mic but I didn't hear anyone else sing, but a big high five from Lydia was my reward. It was amazing to see the place and feel the atmosphere. Back to Memphis and we went to the Central BBQ again for dinner with my son, afterwards we went to the Peabody hotel to show it to my son. While in Lansky Brothers shop, they make clothes for the celebrities, we bumped into the guy from the TV program Mythbusters, his name is Adam Savage. Then my son left to head home and we went out for a drink to the Rum Boogie Cafe bar on Beale Street. We luckily stumbled upon a great jam session with twenty plus musicians queueing up to play on the stage. It was absolutely stunning, saxophones, trumpets, guitars, harmonicas, drummers and vocalists made it a session and night to remember. From the nineteen year old base guitar player from Texas to the seventy eight year old lead guitar and vocalist it was a super session. Smoking is still allowed in bars here and the smoky atmosphere, complete with dancing couples and wonderful blues music was so great. We had a couple of drinks and the session ended around 11pm. We walked home to the hotel admiring the Christmas lights of Memphis. I think that is enough for the moment, just to say that I do have photos, but forgot to bring an adaptor for my laptop, so can't upload at the moment. Also it is Wednesday afternoon here in Martin, Tn and we are heading up to Fort Donelson National Battlefield site to see the Bald Eagles that are nesting there, hope to get some pictures, but we will have to see. Off soon to a ladies basketball game at the University of Tennessee, where my son works. More later y'all
PS I have no idea where the words in capitals NOT YET came from above, when I go to edit they are not there????

[Micheál]

. . . Well I wasn't going to miss this and did my Elvis version of Wonder of You and got a round of applause. We moved away from the mic but I didn't hear anyone else sing, but a big high five from Lydia was my reward . . . .

Repeat performance on the 9th please!

M.

[grammer]

Lucky basket.

[bugrock]

[Denis Cromie]

Good on ya Jemser,sounds great.

[Strum]

PS I have no idea where the words in capitals NOT YET came from above, when I go to edit they are not there????

And what were you trying to edit?



Great description of your rambles Jem.

[Zirco]

. She then produced the original microphone that all these legendary singers used to record their sounds. She said we could step up to the mic and do our thing and actually hold it and sing if we desired. Well I wasn't going to miss this and did my Elvis version of Wonder of You and got a round of applause. We moved away from the mic but I didn't hear anyone else sing, but a big high five from Lydia was my reward.

Great Jemser, Tks for sharing. The tours sound marvellous, especially the Sun Studios one.

[Jemser]

Just looking at the last post in this thread and I promised to put up the photos of the Memphis trip, sorry I forgot. For now I have a few photos from last weekend in County Donegal, where I spent the May Bank holiday weekend. It is such a beautiful county, stunning beaches, coastal walks and drives. In my opinion it is the most beautiful and wild county in Ireland and if you can manage to get a bit of fine weather it is well worth a visit.


This is Fanad Head Lighthouse taken from the roadway leading to the Lighthouse


Dunaff headland taken from the lighthouse compound.


Inlet beside lighthouse compound.


Same inlet different view


Fanad Head Lighthouse Tower.


Boat landing at bottom right a good climb to the lighthouse.


Close up of the lantern.

More to follow.

[Jemser]

These next few photos were taken the very next day and the weather had changed. Just look at the difference. We went onto the Inishowen peninsula and visited an old haunt, the lighthouse at Shroove point. The Irish Lights used to rent out this Lighthouse for holidays and I rented it a few times for family holidays. It has two beaches adjoining the Lighthouse compound and was a fantastic holiday spot for the children. My children still talk of the wonderful times they had there.


View from large beach accessed from front garden of Lighthouse, down the slope onto the beach.


Lantern from the front beach.


Tower shot from the slightly smaller but more sheltered back beach.


Lighthouse from the local pub.

Hope you liked them.


A Baa lamb and mother on roadway near Lighthouse.


Trawler at Rathmullan Pier.

[Zirco]

Lovely photos.....Thanks for sharing Jemser...

Shroove Point sounds idyllic.

[Strum]

Fantastic Jem, thanks for the tour.

[Denis Cromie]

Great pics Jemser. Anytime we were in Donegal it rained so we dldn't see it as the most beautiful, certainly not before Wicklow.

[Snowhite]

Great Photo's Jemser

[Sinead]

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Sinead

p.s. did you get my pm Jemser

[Rocker]

Jemser as usual top class. Never been to Donegal

[grammer]

Great photos Jemser.

[Jemser]

Hi all, I'm back a week already from Vancouver, Canada. We had a great time there in Vancouver, Whistler, Vancouver island and a place called the Sunshine Coast. The Sunshine Coast is only accessible by Ferry boat from Vancouver, it is facing the East coast of Vancouver island. We stayed on the sunshine coast with some Canadian friends that we met in 2012 while travelling in Peru. As usual I would like to share some photos of our trip to Western Canada. We really loved the laid back vibe of Vancouver and it's near neighbours.


This is Capilano Suspension Bridge, a short bus trip from Vancouver, for a days adventure in the rainforest.


Another view of the bridge and the height of 70m, 230ft above the river.



View of the treetop walkways that are all over the rainforest walk.


View head on of the full length of the bridge, 140m 460ft.



One of the glass floor walkways high above the river bed.


Back in Vancouver, some of the formal gardens in Queen Elizabeth Park.


Another view of Queen Liz Park.

More to come from beautiful Whistler.

[Jemser]

These are some shots from Whistler Ski resort, about 200 kilometers North of Vancouver. We spent three night up there and it was great. We went up in the Gondolas and hiked the upper trails to the top of Whistler mountain. Then we went on the Peak to Peak Gondola from Whistler to Blackcomb mountain, took the bus up to the Glacier and came back down to Whistler village in a couple of chair lifts. We spent an entire day going up and down, back and forth and hiking. Whistler Mountain is 7,160 feet and Blackcomb Mountain is 7,992 feet. It is the biggest ski resort in North America, the Peak to Peak cable car holds the world record for the highest and longest unsupported cable car span in the world. The weather was great and we only had to wear t shirts and shorts.


This is Black Tusk Mountain, it's tusk is the remnants of a large Stratovolcano.


More mountains surrounding Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains.


This is the symbol of the Winter games held in Vancouver in 2010. A man like figure called Ilanaaq and based on the traditional Inukshuk symbol of the first nation Indians.


View from one of the chair lifts on the way down.


Getting closer to terra firma.


Down to the river swollen with meltwater from the Glaciers.


Back in Whistler Village at the Olympic Rings, time for a drink.

More pics to follow, probably next week, hope you all enjoy these. Have a great weekend.

[Denis Cromie]

Fantastic.

[Rocker]

Jemser,

Just altered my bucket list to add Vancouver. Looks fabulous but, I don't think I'd be any good at those cable cars and heights!!

[Strum]

Wow what an amazing journey Jem. Excellent photos, history etc as always.

[Sinead]

Thanks Jemser, I am beginning to wonder if you ever work? Life seems to be one big
holiday, you make me jealous when you post these fantastic pictures. Love looking at
the evidence of your wanderlust.

Sinéad