Nashville - the Mecca of Country Music

This city just oozes with downhome American values.  We started the day with a 3-hour tour (just like Gilligan) with Tommy of "Tommy's Discount Tours."  Tommy is a good ole boy who gives you, as advertised, a "smile a mile," as he took us all around downtown Nashville.  We had a stop at the Ryman Auditorium whe:re we saw the likenesses of Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl.

We then headed to the suburbs, all the while being treated with humorous stories about Tommy's brothers and other targets.  We saw the homes of ten country music stars and they were huge, huger, and massive!  Actually, we saw several neighborhoods, all with big homes on large plots.  We thought the money must be all from music, but no.  First is printing, then financial, then music.  Who knew?

Tonight we returned to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel for dinner and this was the view from our table:

After dinner, we walked around enjoying the gardens, sights and even a wedding!  Then we walked over to the Grand Ole Opry where we were treated to 2 hours of great country music.  Special guests tonight were Ricky Skaggs, Crystal Gayle (hair almost to the floor!) and Patty Loveless who joined the Opray dancers, singers and musicians.  Two of the biggest rounds of applause went to a group from Northern Ireland who sang 2 religious songs and the recognition of a group of soldiers from a nearby army base.  Fun night!

Peter would look good in an orange jumpsuit.

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On the road between Chattanooga and Nashville, we stopped for awhile to see "Stones River National Battlefield" in Murfreesboro.  While this is not a well known battle, (I don't recall reading of it before) it still was one of the bloodiest.  The national  cemetery contains the graves of more than 6100 Union troops, not to mention the wounded or the thousands of Confederate casualties.  So sad.

On a lighter note, as we were walking alone along a paved trail in the battlefield, I noticed a grey school bus parked about 100 yards or so ahead of us.  Joan asked about it and I said it looked to me like a prison bus used to carry inmates on work details.  Joan thought we should turn around, but I said, "What the heck....they're probably guarded."  Well, with a somewhat timid wife by my side, we proceeded along and passed the empty bus and continued on our walk.  However, on the way back as we drew nearer to the bus, we saw that it was surrounded by men in orange jumpsuits and what looked to be two deputies.  As we got closer, we saw the inmates were on the curb or right side and Joan decided to veer to the left into the street to go around the bus on the left where we encountered inmates also on that side.  At that point one of the deputies said, "OK guys, get on the other side."  We quickened our steps.  Not really a scene from CSI Nashville, but when we got back to the car Joan requested that I not use the restroom in the park lest they find my cold dead body in an orange jumpsuit and an inmate on the loose in my tan cargo shorts.

This evening we walked around the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and enjoyed dinner, a boat ride and a water show, as well as fabulous gardens.  Take note, Sam & Carol:  you would love the variety of plants and trees impecably maintained......it reminded us of looking across at your garden!

Rock City Redux

Two years ago, we visited Rock City and fell in love with it.  For those of you who don't know of  this place, it is a natural gathering of huge boulders on the side of Lookout Mountain.  As you follow the trail around, between, under and over these behemoths all the while hearing beautiful music and enjoying the gardens, it takes your breath away.

Whether it is crossing over a deep chasm...on a rope bridge swaying from side to side...carefully navigating your way between two huge boulders sideways because it is too narrow to walk straight... going down into the mountain and following an underground passage with sporadically placed cutouts in the side, lit to show fairy tale characters...or standing out on "Lovers Leap," a promontory jutting out in what seems like space, with only a railing separating you from doom......It's beyond words.  So we won't try to add any more but let our pictures give you a feeling.

 

Sorry about the duplicate photo of Peter holding up the huge rock!  Can't delete one.

In the late afternoon we had time to enjoy a "Duck" ride on the streets of Chattanooga and on  the Tennessee River.  This was our third Duck after Dublin, Ireland, and Seattle, Washington.  These tours always make us smile!

Revisiting the Civil War in Georgia

After 3 days of baseball and school plays, we left the Comerfords of Norcross this morning.  Heading north out of Atlanta on the first leg of our journey, it did not take long to divert from our original plan.  About 20 miles on the road, we saw the exit sign for Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, so we took it.  Good choice.

In 1864, General Sherman was on his way to Atlanta to start his march to the sea.  In his way was the rebel garrison on this mountain, so he had to take it.  We saw first hand how difficult this must have been.  We hiked up about a mile on rocky paths to the top.  As unsure as the stepping was, we could only imagine how much worse it was with people shooting at you as you slowly advanced.  Unbelievable!

Here Peter is at the top of Kennesaw Mountain:

Continuing on our way, we were close to Chattanooga when we saw the exit ramp for Chickamauga National Military Park.  Yup!  Off we went, since it was still early in the day, to check it out.  This battle was different from the previous stop.  It was much bigger and all on flat terrain.  We visited the museum and watched a film then drove the suggested route, stopping at marked checkpoints.  There were thousands of casualties on both sides; and after two days, the Union troops retreated in panic back to Chattanooga.  It was very sobering to be on the very spot such tragedy occurred....reminicent of Gettysburg.

Joan does not understand why people have to fight wars.  I would add that this war was the worst because we were fighting ourselves.

We continued on to Chatanooga and Peter tried to take a photo from the car of the "Welcome to Tennessee" sign but as you can see, the antenna got in the way and the billboards surrounding it took away from the impact Joan wanted:

We shall attempt this as we enter each state and maybe improve on the photos.

Tonight we returned to the Station House Restaurant behind the Choo Choo Hilton we so enjoyed in 2010.  It did not disappoint!  The wait staff take turns singing with the band to oldies.  Food  was delicious and entertainment enjoyable.

And Away We Will Go!

Welcome to our Blog for 2012.

Tomorrow we plan to be in the car singing, "On the Road Again" as we head to our first stop.  Here is a picture of Peter's map.  The blue pins represent our planned stops for this year.  The red pins are from our 2010 trip.

Below the map is a list of our planned stops and one of the attractions we hope to visit in each place.  We will be enjoying many more attractions and surprises along the way, but you'll have to read our adventures to learn about them all.

 

Chattanooga, TN - "See Rock  City"

Nashville, TN - Grand Ole Opry

Memphis, TN - Graceland

Hot Springs, AR - Buck Staff Bathhouse

Branson, MO - Shows! Shows! Shows!

Muskogee, OK - USS Batfish

Oklahoma City, OK - Cowboy Hall of Fame

Wichita, KS - Reconstructed Cow Town

Dodge City, KS - Long Branch Saloon

Colby, KS - Prairie Museum of Art & History

Boulder, CO - Rocky Mountain National Park

Colorado Springs, CO - Pike's Peak

Santa Fe, NM - Santa Fe Opera

Durango, CO - Mesa Verde National Park

Kayenta, AZ - Jeep 'Tour of Monument Valley

Cedar City, UT - Zion National Park

Salt Lake City, UT - Morman Tabernacle

Ely, NV - Nevada Northern Railway Museum

South Lake Tahoe, CA - Heavenly Flyer Zip Line

Reno, NV - Fleischmann Planetarium & Science Center

Boise, ID - Rafting on the Boise River

Idaho Falls, ID - Craters of the Moon National Monument

Jackson Hole, WY - Grand Teton National Park

West Yellowstone, MT -- Yellowstone National Park

Cody, WY - Buffalo Bill Historical Center

Billings, MT - Custer's Last Stand at the Little Big Horn

Gillette, WY - Devil's Tower National Monument

Douglas, WY - Jackalope Square Memorial

Rapid City, SD - Mount Rushmore

Pierre, SD - River Cruise on the Capital City Queen

Sioux Falls, SD - Stockyards Cafe

St. Paul, MN - Showboat on University of MN Campus

Des Moines,  IA - Adventureland Park

Omaha, NE - Omaha Steaks at Johnnie's Cafe

St. Joseph, MO - Pony Express National Memorial

Hannibal, MO - Mark Twain Riverboat

St. Louis, MO - Meet me in St. Louis for our 43rd Wedding Anniversary

Paducah, KY - Land Between the Lakes

Bolling Green, KY - National Corvette Museum

Williamsburg, KY - Cumberland Gap National Park

Home - Hey, it'll be good to be back home again!