10 Observations So Far
From Trip to Tennessee
We're on our second night in Nashville, and the trip has provided the usual ups, downs and surprises that any road trip will provide.
* The highways have been a pleasant surprise. Not only do they seem to be an extra lane wider than necessary in most places,
they're very well kept and up to date.
* The drawls are mixed. Some are easier to understand than others. One guy at a gas station was not only impossible to make out, he also had a big zit or boil on his lip just below his nostrils. Very distracting!
* The scenery has been good, but not great. Wish we could have gone farther east toward the Smokies.
* Ryman Auditorium was classic. We saw Elvis Costello give a revival-like performance in a former church. The original wooden pews serve as seating. It's intimate
and has an old-fashioned wooden smell to it.
* Andrew Jackscon's Hermitage Mansion was fascinating. Most of the house is original, and the grounds have great historic stories to tell.
* Tennesse people seem very friendly, though a guide at Stones River National Battlefield poked fun at us when he saw
my Wisconsin Badgers T-shirt.
* Stones River was solid, but still ranks behind most of the other more famous sites I've seen. A highlight: Walking on rocks that served as protection for Union soldiers in Hell's Half Acre.
(Couldn't find a bullet :-(
* The Tennessee Titans are VERY popular hear. Their game against Denver Sunday was on a dozen radio stations and all the papers had them on the front page in some form or fashion.
* A major mall, called the Opry Mills Mall, was obviously an abandoned one. But workers seemed to be on hand. We later found out it was a major victim of the Nashville Flood of May 2010 and isn't fixed up yet.
* The biscuits at a nearby Cracker Barrel Restaurant filled up both Kris and I during our dinner meal tonight. Very good, too.
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