On the road, pt.II

On day 2 of our road trip, we woke up to a sweltering day in Nashville. After our breakfast at the Marriott (w00t, Priceline!), which included oatmeal & grits and freshly baked waffles, we headed down our street in the direction of Broadway.


We stepped into Gruhn's Guitars for a quick look... and then scurried out feeling like the employees could just smell our lack of musical talent from afar.


Then we visited the Country Music Hall of Famel, where we learned lots about country... but mostly, that we know virtually nothing about country.

They even have Elvis Presley's golden car down there. Pretty impressive collection.

A tour of a famous recording studio, Studio B, is included in the hall of fame's visit. Apparently they call it the 1000-hit studio, since at least 1000 of the approximately 50,000 songs that were recorded there became top 10 hits.
Dolly Parton recorded 'I Will Always Love You' there, and Elvis crooned his gospel songs here accompanied by this Steinway piano.

From there, we drove to Centennial Park to get some lunch in Calypso Café and to check out the perfect replica of the Parthenon that was built there for some world expo or other. Paris has the Eiffel tower, Brussels the Atomium, and Nashville, well... the Parthenon.

Squirrels in parks. They remain cute.

From there, we drove to the Grand Ole Opry House, a concert hall located some 20 minutes outside of downtown, which hosts country music's most famous live radio show on WSM radio: the Grand Ole Opry. We hoped to do a backstage tours there, but the tours were sold out for that afternoon. But a friendly cop saw us sulking on a bench and got is into a tour anyway. Thanks, friendly cop!

We were told we could take all the pictures we liked, as long as we didn't approach the artists. At one point, Darius Rucker walked right past us onto the stage to souncheck. (That was before we knew who he was... our bad.)

After the tour, we hung out on the plaza before the Opry House, because a little later there was a free concert by Jerrod Nieman.

It was at this point that we had the convo I posted to my Facebook with three 50-something ladies that were sitting close to us (and who took the picture of us below). One asked me "What state (!) are you from?" and before I could answer, another said "Why, she's from Tennessee of course!".

Minnie Pearl and Hank Williams lookalikes were posing at the entrance as the crowds piled in for the 7pm Grand Ole Opry Show. We had been informed earlier that it was sold out... but we thought, the backstage tour was sold out and the friendly cop got us in... so why not try our luck again? We went to the ticket counter... and whaddayaknow, 2 tickets had just freed up. Top seats. It was our lucky day!

So that's how we got to see a teeny tiny cowboy who recently turned 90 play country music...

... as well as Darius Rucker, former frontman of Hootie and the Blowfish (we are now fans. seriously.) ...

... good ol' Jerrod Nieman...

... Lady Antebellum (those guys of "It's a quarter after one, I'm a little drunk and I neeeeed you nooooow)...

... and Carrie Underwood. (We sorta laughed when we found out her first hit song was something about Jesus driving her car. But other than that, this lady has lungs. Hiya.)

Needless to say, we had a great night, and we felt very lucky to witness such an institution from country music live. When I get an iPhone, I'll surely download the Grand Ole Opry app to I can listen to the future shows too.

The next day, we still made some time to visit the Ryman auditorium, which is where the Grand Old Opry was housed before it moved to its present location. This is where Johnny Cash and June Carter met. Where Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner made their début. Where Patsy Cline once sang 'Crazy'. This place breathes country.

After that, it's time to get on the road. Luckily Jesus is watching over us, or so Carrie Underwood's song would have us believe.

Aaaah, Americans... they seem so normal. Until you see a sign like
this.

The coolest car followed us all day. We have much love for the green-and-orange beetle (or whatever car it was. It was cool.)

We totally forgot to take a snapshot of our cool little red chevy. I think this pic is probably the closest picture we have. Our car, obviously, was not that long.

From Nashville, we drove to Gatlinburg, a little town just outside the Great Smoky Mountains national park. This is rural Tennessee... and you know it.

We stayed at a gorgeous little inn just outside of town called the Buckhorn Inn. If you ever go to the Smokies, stay there. We had a breathtaking view of the Smoky mountains from our bedroom window.

The view.

Heaven. I could stay here forever. In this rocking chair. Watching that view.

Or figuring out the meditation garden.

Or sitting in the plush sofa reading.

And with this melancholic note, I leave you... two more road trip installments to go!

On the road: pt.I

It's been almost a week since I've been back home in Belgium, and still no blogpost on our epic roadtrip through Tennessee and Georgia. Scandalous, non? So let's get to it!

Two mondays ago, Kobe and I hopped into a tiny red chevy and hit the road. They say all roads lead to Rome, and apparently they actually do, but we decided to skip that exit and keep heading north.

Fireworks. Apparently a big business in the Georgia-Tennessee-Alabama border area.
The landscape of Tennessee is gorgeous to drive through. I'm sure the picture says it all.
Teehee. Although I've been seeing these all over Atlanta for 3 monhts, it's still funny.
Our first destinations comes into view!
As whisky lovers, we had to tour the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee (population: 350).
Piles of fresh wood are burnt to charcoal, which is used to mellow the whisky.

Our tour guide was, well... impressive. (If he grew a beard he could have played Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies). And he had a Tennessee twang that even I could barely understand.
One of the things that sets Jack Daniel's apart is that all their whiskey is made with spring water that gurgles out of a cave near the distillery.
And there is the man himself... Jack on the rocks! (Yup, tour guide made that joke.)
Too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the distillery buildings showing the production process. That barrell house with hundreds of oak barrels with Jack Daniel's whisky stacked a couple of metres high sure was impressive. But then again, you want to go and smell that instead of seeing it in a picture.
The visitor center still has the original bar from the bar that was located at the distillery before prohibition closed it down in 1909. Ironically, Moore county, where the distillery is located, is still a dry county to this day, meaning that at the end of the tour, you are offered some fresh lemonade instead of a sip o'jack. Bummer!
After the tour, we walked to the tiny town of Lynchburg and had lunch at the Iron Kettle, one of those delightful small town restaurants where pretty much everything is fried and there is ONE meatless item on the menu (grilled cheese). You would think we're deep in the backwaters of the US now... but the couple sitting in the booth behind us were Dutch. Sigh... globalization.


We also walked the short distance to the corner of Church Rd and Cemetery Rd, where, appropriately, Lynchburg cemetery is located. If a cemetery could ever be cute, that this one surely is.


And here's where the famous man, Jack himself, is buried. Legend has it that he died from the complications of an infected broken toe after he kicked his safe one day when it wouldn't open.
After stocking up on some Jack Daniel's merch in the hardware store (which, let's admit it, is more a Jack Daniel's souvenir store than a hardware store), we hit the road again. Destination: Nashville.
The skyline of Nashville as we approach it on the highway.
We get to Nashville late in the afternoon, and take a walk in historic downtown. Time seems to have stood still in some places.
Live music bars line the narrow Printer's Alley.

Broadway, the main street of downtown Nashville, is the heart of Music City USA. There are honky tonk music bars, famous guitar stores...
... and (presumably) famous people (if you know anything about country, that is - we soon learn that knowing Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash does not a thorough knowledge of country make).

You can just walk in and out of bars where artists are playing, and stick around if you like the music.

We ended up setlling for a garden burger and sweet potatoe fries in a little bar with live western swing music, that also appears to double as a cowboy boot shop.

And that was day 1 of our road trip! And now I'm exhausted... (dang you unimaginably slow computer!). Stay tuned pictures of the rest of our trip!