Thursday, July 10, 2008

Adventure 1: Nashville

The first leg of our vacation was Nashville, Tennessee. My husband and I can pack a whole lot of city into a short period of time—sometimes I’m not sure how we do it, but we do. We organized our Nashville touring plan of attack by city segments as follows.


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

Downtown


Photo © by June Scroggin 2008

  • Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Honky Tonks (more about these later)
  • Schermerhorn Symphony Center
  • Nashville Farmers’ Market
  • Customs House
  • Bicentennial Mall State Park
  • Nashville Convention Center
  • The awesome Victory Memorial and Woodland Street Bridges over the Cumberland River
  • War Memorial Plaza
  • Military Museum
  • War Memorial Auditorium
  • Tennessee State Capitol building
  • Tennessee State Museum

Music Valley Drive/Opryland


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

  • Grand Old Opry House
  • Grand Old Opry Museum
  • Opry Mills
  • General Jackson Showboat
  • Willie Nelson and Friends Museum (where I found the “Red Headed Stranger” letterbox)
West End Vandy


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

Centennial Park offers The Parthenon, an exact replica of the original complete with a 42-foot tall statue of Athena. Built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition, it serves as an art museum exhibiting works by Benjamin West, Winslow Homer, and others.

Honky Tonks


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

We stopped in almost all the honky tonks in the downtown area. They are clustered together so you merely wander up and down both sides of Broadway and stop in each club to enjoy their musical offerings.


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

At the Wild Horse Saloon, we heard The Rembrandts (famous for their theme song to the sitcom Friends “I'll Be There for You”). They opened for Gin Blossoms (their song "Lets Play Too" can be heard in Drill Bit Taylor starring Owen Wilson).

Food


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

In the midst of the honky-tonks, you’ll find Jack’s Bar-B-Que which won three Gold Medals at the 2008 National BBQ Expo. We ate lunch there so I could get the first of my barbecue cravings tamped down a mite.


Photo © by June Scroggin 2008

We tried the offerings across the street at Rippy's Smokin' Bar & Grill but Jack’s was better.

Hospitality


Photo © by June Scroggin 2008

It might be nicknamed Music City, but Nashville is a wonderful, hospitable city with much more to it than its honky-tonk legend.


Photo © by Dub Scroggin 2008

Even homeless folks playing music on the streets hoping to be discovered were nice. I sincerely hope this young lady achieves her dreams and gets off the streets soon. She begged my husband to take her picture, bless her heart.

14 comments:

Home ec new Haven said...

Welcome back June! I've missed you so much!!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

WOW! You and Dub certainly did a lot! I thought I was the only one who was a little frenetic while on vacation :-)

Nashville looks wonderful! I'd love to visit it someday. Did you go to the Bluebird Cafe? I've heard a lot about that place.

Everyone has a dream, and the music industry is so hard to get a break in.

Hugs, Pat

Thimbleanna said...

Hey! Last time I was in Nashville, I parked up against the wall right under the S in that Joe Knows Nashville sign LOL!!! We'll be back there next weekend to return TheSecondChild to school -- so hard to believe this will be his senior year and unless he goes to grad school there our visits will probably end. Nashville is an awesome city, and according to TheSecondChild, it's the fastest growing city in the US after Vegas!

Unknown said...

Wow, you were busy! Welcome back!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Oh, how sad to see such young ones on the streets. I'm sure your hubby made her day. She would be thrilled to know her picture was on the internet being viewed by nice ladies!
Be a sweetie,
Shelia :)

Niesz Vintage Home said...

Welcome home!
It sounds like you had a great time!
Mom and I did a "girls trip" to Tennessee a couple of years ago, but we didn't have time to do everything we wanted.
We're ready to go back! I found some great fabrics there, as I recall.

Kimberly :)

Anonymous said...

WOW! June what great photos of your trip..... They would be post cards.

African Kelli said...

I have never been there, but I'd love to go now! This looks like such a fun trip.

Anonymous said...

and bless your heart June.

June, you two really did cram in a lot but sounds like you had a great time, seeing and experiencing many wonderful and memorable things. I love the night photos your husband took - very well done.

I can imagine it was a delight to get some real southern BBQ. We had it for the first time when we were in Texas one year and oh my!! We sought it out anytime we could after that. We still crave it.

Thanks for sharing parts of your lovely getaway.

Diane

Unknown said...

Welcome back June! WOW! That is quite a list of places...whew! I am tired from reading all that you have done! Loved the photos!
Hugs,
Robyn

Caleen said...

WOW!! What a awesome trip.. I haven't been around lately.. I'll get better.. You have some great pictures and lots of memories too.. I bet the music was awesome.. See ya soon..

Mom IsAmagpie said...

Those are some wonderful pictures, it looks like a wonderful vacation. My oldest (the one that plans to move to Japan) LOVES country music so much. I never even thought to take her there, she'd like that more than Disney. I still remember when she came home heart broken and said, "Mom, no one here likes country music. Even the music teacher. Poor girl was heart broken. I should bring her there so she can see she's not alone. Sorry I'm rambling tonight.

Saucy said...

June, I am dying to see Nashville and you've made it even more enticing. Maybe I should show this post to Veto.

Safe travels, my dear.

Unknown said...

Come by and say hello and see me! I have posted some pics! Did something very new to me...eeekkk! Had some fun but thought I would give it a try!
Hugs,
Robyn