Camping – Page 6 – Meanderings & Mind Munchies

Graceland

No trip to Memphis would be complete without a tour of Graceland.

I guess?

This is another activity that had not been on my schedule, but the ladies in Nashville, the same ones who had recommended the National Civil Rights Museum, said that Graceland was worth a visit.

The Graceland website recommended 4 hours to complete the tour, and that was about how long it took us. It would have taken even longer, but we were both starting to feel drained. We skipped the section of the tour that included Presley’s planes.

The tour began with a visit to Graceland Mansion itself.

We wound our way through the rooms on the first floor and the basement. Happily, the tour guides allowed us to go at our own pace.

It was interesting to see what a celebrity in the 1960s and 1970s considered fashionable.

We also got to see the meditation garden, where Elvis and his family members are buried.

There were rooms upon rooms of memorabilia. It was actually overwhelming.

After a tour of the mansion, we went back to the main facility to tour some of Elvis’s collections… and view even more memorabilia.

There was his car collection…

His costume collection…

This display wrapped around three walls of the room.

And rooms dedicated to his costume designers, the artists influenced by his work, his military service, his record label, his movies… There was literally no moment of his life that had not been recorded and preserved for posterity.

I found myself wondering how he would have been remembered if he had lived another 20 or 30 years. Would interest in his life and music have continued to be so fervent?

And would his music have changed with the times? Would he have been able to stay fresh and original, or was his music only perfect for that single moment in time in which it was created? Would interest in him have slowly faded as history moved beyond the 1970s?

Despite the fact that I have only ever had a mild interest in Elvis Presley, I did enjoy the tour. It was worth the quite exorbitant cost that we paid for it.

After our tour, we went to a local laundromat to get some laundry done, and then Greg made us filet mignon for dinner.

National Civil Rights Museum and Sun Studio

We started our first day in Memphis at the National Civil Rights Museum.

This activity had not been on my original plan since I am not a huge fan of museums. However, some ladies we met in Nashville had highly recommended it, so we decided to trust them.

I’m so glad we did.

The museum is part of the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

However, the museum is not solely about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It is a fairly detailed recounting of the African American struggle for equality from the early days of slavery in the 1700s all the way until the 1970s.

It was incredibly moving and informative. As I was making my way through the exhibits, I marveled at the strength, persistence, incredible courage, and resiliency demonstrated by African Americans in this country as they have fought for basic human and civil rights.

And I couldn’t help thinking about what it could teach me as I struggle to oppose the destruction of human and civil rights by the Trump Administration.

I learned that violence is not necessary to effect change.

I also learned that it is important to hold true to my values and not let an unjust, immoral system keep me from doing what is right.

I also learned that there is power in numbers.

On the advice of someone we met earlier today, we gave ourselves about 4 hours to go through the museum. We needed every minute.

One of the last exhibits in the museum was the original room where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr stayed the night he was assassinated. It was eerie to look over the balcony where he was standing when he was shot.

Sun Studio

After touring the National Civil Rights Museum, we headed to Sun Studio for a tour.

This studio tour was similar to the Studio B tour that we took in Nashville.

In fact, we heard the same story about Elvis Presley’s first studio recording session, which prompted me to ask our tour guide which studio that event had actually taken place in. He assured me that it occurred here, not Nashville, and I believed him.

Apparently, Sun Studio is still in operation today. Our tour guide is one of the musicians, and he named some of the famous musicians who have recorded in the studio within the last few years. Pretty cool.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, RCA Studio B tour, and bar hopping on Broadway

Rain and more rain. I swear Nashville is trying to drown us.

We met up with Greg’s sister Debbie and her husband Paul in the early afternoon to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

The website says it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete a tour of the museum. I disagree.

I think it would take a minimum of 3 hours to do a reasonable tour. There is so much information, and it is very well presented.

Also, I should have paid the extra money for the audio tour. It’s impossible to gain an appreciation of music history, artists, and styles of music without actually hearing the music, and I’m not that familiar with country music, honky tonk, hillbilly, bluegrass, and rhythm and blues to know the difference between them.

RCA Studio B tour

Included with our admission was a tour of RCA Studio B, where Elvis Presley, Charlie Pride, and numerous other country music singers recorded their songs.

The building was not particularly impressive, but one would expect that from something built in the 1950s for $37,000.

Paul is standing on the X that marked the spot where the lead vocalist would stand because that spot was the most acoustically perfect spot in the room.

Bar hopping on Broadway

After our tour of Studio B, we walked over to Broadway to get something to eat and listen to some live music.

We started at Luke Bryan’s, where Greg and I had been a few days earlier.

Our next stop was the Whiskey River bar.

I was so tempted to get on the dance floor and try out my new line dancing skills, but I chickened out.

Our final stop for the evening was Ole Red, Blake Shelton’s bar. This was the first floor.

We ended up on the top floor, where a different band was playing.

Most of the bars on Broadway had a different band playing on each of their floors.

I get the impression that Nashville is a popular place for bachelorette parties. We saw a number of young brides-to-be during our bar hopping.

Broadway is loud and energetic at any time, but I think Saturdays must be particularly wild. Every bar was jammed, and every building had a rooftop bar that was packed.

On to Memphis!

Stones River Greenway and Tennfold Brewing

After a quick trip to the grocery store this morning, we headed back to Stones River Greenway for a second attempt at a bike ride (see yesterday’s effort). This time, we went to the trailhead at the Kohl’s parking lot.

Stones River Greenway really is a lovely multi-use trail. But… the weather while we have been in Nashville has been terrible. And today was no different.

We got about 5 miles down the trail when I looked at the skies and decided it might be risky to continue. A check of our weather app confirmed our fears, so we turned around and raced back to the car. The pedal assist function and the turbo boost on my bike got quite a workout.

It started to rain while we were putting the bikes on the bike rack, and by the time we were on the road, we were in the midst of a deluge.

Dinner at Tennfold Brewing

Debbie and Paul joined us at the campground today. They had just come from Mammoth Cave. We decided to have dinner at Tennfold Brewing, a popular bar and restaurant near the campground.

Stones River Greenway and Grand Ole Opry

I woke up yesterday morning feeling unusually tired. Greg finally managed to drag me out of bed and away from my book around 2:00 p.m. for a bike ride.

We headed to the Percy Priest Lake trailhead and got on the Stones River Greenway. It is a lovely paved multi-use trail.

After 2 miles, we hit a snag. The bridge was out.

We turned around and headed back to the campground to get ready for our next adventure of the day.

After our backstage tour of the Opry House yesterday, we concluded that a trip to Nashville would not be complete without actually attending the Grand Ole Opry itself. ( I still can’t figure out what to call it. Concert? Radio show? Event?)

Anyway, Greg bought tickets online, and off we went.

It was a blast.

There were seven artists performing. Each one did three songs, so if you weren’t particularly fond of one artist, their performance didn’t last very long. These are the best of the best of country music, though, so there wasn’t a bad performer in the bunch.

As I was listening, I had what to me felt like a revelation. Good music is good music, regardless of the genre.

Opry House tour

We got out fairly early this morning because we had tickets to take a tour of the Opry House.

The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating its 100th year this year. Our tour guide claims it’s the oldest running radio show in the country.

Not being a country music aficionado, I had always thought the Grand Ole Opry was the name of a building where country music singers perform.

I have since learned that the Grand Ole Opry is a radio show and not to be confused with the Opry House, where the Grand Ole Opry is performed. (It seems like a bit of a distinction without a difference to me, but apparently some people really care.)

Anyway, Greg and I both concluded that the introductory video to the tour was worth the cost of the tour alone. By the time the video was over, I was a country music lover. 🤣

There’s nothing like hearing the best voices in country music singing Will The Circle Be Unbroken to bring tears to one’s eyes.

The rest of the tour was thoroughly enjoyable as well.

There were over 20 dressing rooms for the guests, all with different themes.

After touring Opry House, we headed back to downtown Nashville and walked across the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge.

We were looking for a scenic greenway to walk along but didn’t find anything appealing, so we headed back to the campground.

To be honest, I haven’t found Nashville all that enjoyable yet. The city doesn’t feel particularly safe to me, everything is so expensive, and there seems to be a dearth of green spaces.

Line dancing in Nashville

The campground where we are staying right now is quite posh, so Greg and I decided to spend yesterday morning hanging around our campsite and soaking up the ambience.

Greg also unpacked the bikes and we took a couple of laps around the campground.

After lunch, we headed into Nashville to take a line dancing class. Based on the number of people from Ireland, Scotland, and Australia, tourism is alive and well in Nashville.

The class was held in a bar on Broadway, a street in the heart of Nashville famous for its live music venues.

We had a blast. After class, we took a walk down Broadway and ended up at Luke Bryan’s bar and restaurant.

The guitarist was absolutely fantastic.

We enjoyed a drink and the music for a while. Then we headed back to the campground.

Greg and I have been so unimpressed with the food in Tennessee that we had no interest in having dinner out.

Instead, I marinated some chicken breasts, and we had those with rice and grilled brussels sprouts.

Rock City

This morning, we headed over to Rock City on Lookout Mountain. Rock City is an iconic tourist attraction in Chattanooga.

Greg and I both thoroughly enjoyed our time there despite its kitschiness. It is a cross between a garden, an amusement park, a trail, and a scenic overlook. I’m not sure how else to describe it.

However, it could be a little challenging for anyone with a fear of heights or closed-in spaces. 🙋‍♀️

Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite photos from today.

This fellow had been carrying a baby on his back, but he had to take it off in order to get through the rock passage.

This is how I went over all the bridges. I would have crawled on my hands and knees except there were people coming up behind me.

Just to give you an idea of how high up that platform is that Greg is standing on in the previous photo.

I felt more comfortable holding on to something. The height was giving me vertigo.

After Rock City, we came back to the camper to relax for the rest of the evening. The weather today has been absolutely perfect.

Tomorrow we head to Nashville.

Chattanooga Seafood Bash and Point Park

The sun finally made an appearance sometime after noon, and Greg and I headed back to Ross’s Landing in Chattanooga to check out the festival that we had seen the day before.

I have since learned that this particular festival is called the Chattanooga Seafood Bash, which explains the large quantities of seafood offered by the food stands there.

We decided to take a hike along the Riverbend Trail before indulging in the seafood.

There was a lot to look at during our walk, including various art installations, scenic views, and buildings with unique architecture.

I was so enchanted with this part of Chattanooga that I told Greg I could see myself living here. And then he reminded me of how hot it would get in the summer. Yeah, maybe not.

After our walk, we went back to the festival and shared a plate of jambalaya with a crab cake. Unfortunately, it was awful.

We have not had much luck with the food here in Tennessee.

Point Park

I suggested that on our way back to the camper we stop by Lookout Mountain and see what there was to see there. Once we were on the mountain, Greg saw a sign for Point Park and headed in that direction.

We discovered that Point Park is part of the Chattanooga and Chickamauga National Military Park. An important battle in the Civil War occurred here.

But I liked it for the great views overlooking Chattanooga and the Tennessee River.

Tennessee offers people many opportunities to kill themselves.

Greg and I briefly considered a hike to Sunset Rock but ultimately decided that our legs needed a break, so we headed back to the camper to rest up for our last day in Chattanooga.

Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Tennessee Aquarium

Our first activity of the day was another cavern tour, this time the Raccoon Mountain Caverns. Since we are staying at the Raccoon Mountain Caverns and Campground, getting to the cave involved a simple walk across the parking lot from our camper.

I enjoyed this tour more than the Ruby Falls tour. Plus, we got to see bats, salamanders, and crickets inside the cave.

Well, I didn’t get to see the crickets, but I was assured that they were there by our tour guide and the other folks on the tour (they must have better eyesight than I do).

Mr. Bat. He was about 2 inches from nose to tail.

Mr. Salamander. He was maybe 3/4 inch long.

Tennessee Aquarium

After lunch back at the camper, we headed to downtown Chattanooga for a tour of the Tennessee Aquarium.

This was Greg’s choice for how to spend a rainy afternoon. I am not really an animal or fish person — or even a museum person (too much information to absorb) — but Greg decided that my preferred activity, a train ride, would not be fun in the rain. He probably wasn’t wrong.

The aquarium is right on the river. There was an open air festival/market going on, complete with live music. The entire area gave off a lovely, family-friendly vibe. I hope to go back there this weekend to do a little shopping, eating, and music enjoyment.

Greg and I rode the escalator up to the top floor, where the start of the exhibits began, with a hundred rambunctious 4th graders. Luckily for us, they have the attention span of gnats, so they quickly disappeared ahead of us.

The aquarium comprises two buildings, one for freshwater critters and the other for saltwater. We made our way through both buildings.

As aquariums go, the Tennessee Aquarium is quite nice. I enjoyed it.

I frequently found myself wondering who was the one on display

This octopus and I had a stare-down. I think I won.

I loved the hardscaping outside the two aquarium buildings. It was very creative, and the kids had a great time running over the bridges and skipping across the artificial creeks.

Tomorrow the sun should come out again. Yay!