Road Trip: South - Capitals Tour
Day 9: Thursday, May 25, 2017 - Nashville, TN
Weather: 77, partly cloudy
Steps: 12,433 (Steve); 12,864 (Linda)
Drove: 240 miles
Up to our fifth capital now. While on previous trips we usually visited locations and stayed for two or even three days, this one is a little different as, except for NOLA, we are only staying one night in each city. The driving at night around dinner has been working out well as it allows us to travel mostly when it is getting dark or is dark (thus, nothing to see) as well as when most facilities are closed (thus, nothing to do).
Today's breakfast was a light continental.
There is a lot to do in Nashville. We didn't do much of it, though, as we only had one day and options were limited. Plus we weren't going to do any of the standard tourist things and we aren't country music fans (not that there is anything wrong with it).
Linda was in for another surprise today (I'm so good to her, aren't I?!!?). Today was another food tour day, and the tour was scheduled
to start at ten. We drove past the start location so we'd know where it was and went looking for the capitol. The initial parking spots
we came across were either reserved for residents or for government employees. We finally found spots adjacent to the park (it was
supposed to be two-hour parking, but we took a chance) and headed toward the capitol. The capitol is at the top of a big hill.
There was one really long staircase that curves that is to the right (not visible above and was going to get a picture
of it later due to the time crunch, but we went another way and I didn't). After getting all the way to the top,
we crossed in front of the capital to find we had to climb another staircase that was to the left.
Then we found we had to go up another level to the capital - and that required going up another staircase.
Entered and got our stamp at the secuirty station.
Here are the book pages:
Of course we visited the senate and house. And it was a Thursday, so people had to work (to
quote Nelson from the Simpsons®, "ha ha").
Do you remember the song? "Born on a mountain top in Tennessee, greenest state in the land of the free..."
Bet that'll be in your head for a while now. You're welcome. And some other shots of the inside.
And the views from the balconies, including a shot of the gardens with stars - all made from the flowers, and a fountain.
In the interest of time, after looking about, made our way to the tour starting point. We met Courtney, from
Dabble Studio, at her location, and headed out. While on the tour,
we took some pictures of sites. It turned out it was a private tour as it was just the two of us. Yay.
Our first stop was at a location called Sweet
Creations (we learned that the owners just got apporval to have their pies be sold in the airport). They sell
pies and tarts. We got to sample pieces of the tarts and then we chose one to each (they are three inch tarts, so
not very big). Linda had the pecan tart and I had the chocolate chip pecan tart.
On the way to our next stop, we passed by the Parthenon. It was built 100 year
ago and has a statue of Athena in it that is larger than the one in Greece.
Our next stop was at Hog Heaven (which closed in late-2019). Across from here is Centenial Park
with a build in theater seating area. This park is different than the one we parked near.
What is funny is that this stop was another that I had selected to eat at should we be hungry or our plans changed.
We had pork sandwiches, potato salad, beans, and marinated pickles (they were spicy). We had three different types
of sauce too, including the white, regular and hot, on the side. Both of ours were the same.
The next location was Jack's Barbeque. Here they roast an entire pig each... day. We had hush puppies, brisket
and ribs (with a dry rub). We had four different sauces to try including a very hot one. All were pretty good
too. (Oviously some of the food was consumed before the photo was taken).
En route to our next stop was this artwork. It is supposed to represent arrows sticking in the groud.
But they are more than thirty feet tall... so those are some big ass arrows.
And next up was Pepperfire Hot Chicken where we
had a Nashville specialty called Hot Chicken (a woman was trying to get even with her cheating husband by making him
a really hot chicken dish for dinner but he wound up liking it). By default it is hot. So if you get mild,
it's hot. Medium is hotter. Hot is really hot. You get the idea. It was pretty good too, not
just a numbing feeling, but some flavor as well. Linda had the mild and I had the medium.
Before getting to our last stop, on the wall in the parking lot where our huttle stopped, was this funky mural.
Our final stop was at Three Birds (or something like that). We had a drink called a bushwacker.
It was light rum, medium rum, dark rum, coffee liquor, chocolate liquor and heavy cream, chilled to a slushy
like consistancy. It was especially good.
Since our car was parked next to the park, we decided to visit the park for a little and go back to the
fountain we passed before going to the capitol (we didn't stop for photos before the capitol because of time).
The state flag has three stars on it, each representing the three major
divisions of the state: West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee.
We returned to the capitol, via car, in search of the gift shop for our shot glass. I dropped Linda off and waited. A half hour later
we found out that they didn't have a gift shop. So we decided to stop at the big store to get one on the way out of the city.
But we weren't done with this city yet. Our next stop was the
Lane Motor [Car] Museum. There were a few very interesting cars and a
number of mini-cars. We didn't take too many pictures, but here are some (most were old cars [an MG, 1938 Georges IRAT 6CV, 1936
Panhard-Levassor 6 CS Panoramique, a large ampibious vehicle {that had an appearance on the TV show Gears, I
think it was}], but there were a couple newer ones; and a weird bike thing called the Mclean Wheel).
"Well, we're back in the car again." "But at least we're out of the hotel."
Off to Frankfort, Kentucky. And what state are we in, exactly? Delaware? New Jersey?
We chose not to exit here in case another masacre happened...
And another state line.
Due to the number of state lines crossed, 12 lines in all, we saw a number of mile marker 0 posts,
like above which is visible a little to the left of the "Welcome" sign.
At some point, one of us must have accidentally hit the screen on Google Maps because the phone said we were at our destination, but we clearly weren't. After a couple minutes we figured out what we did and headed on our way. We were only off by about ten miles. Considering we drove as much as we did, that was nothing. And the detour we had taken brought us through an area called Versailles. While it is spelled like the town in France, which is pronounced ver-sigh, this town is pronounced ver-sails. It was a VERY wealthy area as the estates had hundreds if not thousands of acres, one after the other. This was thoroughbred horse money. And William Shatner money, we were told, too.
We arrived at Day's Inn, a littlle late again. This room was probably the best we had so far. There were plug banks (two three prong outlets and two USB ports) on most of the tables. And the AC was really quiet. Off to sleep.
FUN FACT: Nashville's Grand Ole Opry is the longest continuously running live radio program in the world. It has broadcast every Friday and Saturday night since 1925.