Sorry we never wrote about the end of our trip! It got kind of crazy and then we just kind of...eh...didn't do it. So...whoops!

We had a great time though! Let's do it again next year!

Vince Gill is Everywhere.

Lisa:

Well, we had a late night tonight, so we're not going to give the full rundown just yet. We'll give all the details tomorrow but here are some of the highlights:

• Touring the Ryman Auditorium - home of the original Grand Ole Opry
• Seeing the Nun Bun at Bongo Java - a spiritual encounter
• A big nap
• Nash Trash Tour - Whoa. Beyond words.
• Honky tonkin' - A bar where everyone knows your name. Or just calls you "hey, Texas girls!"
• Getting my car locked in a parking garage (Don't worry, we got it back.)

So stay tuned for all the fun. Tomorrow we leave good ol' Nashville and head on to Jackson by way of Birmingham. But not without another stop at the Loveless Cafe for breakfast. Yummy.

Viva Nashvegas!

Amber:

The first stop of the morning was the Country Music Hall of Fame. I was a tad disappointed that it had changed so much since I was last here, but that was "way" back in '94. Mostly I was just sad that we didn't get to see Alan Jackson's jeans from the Chattahootchie video! We got to see at least one thing from every landmark artist though. Highlights for me were Hank Williams' suit and guitar, Carl Perkins' blue suede shoes, Buck Owens' red, white and blue guitar, and a video montage of old TV appearances. Merle Haggard was rocking an impression of Johnny Cash in one clip! We watched a film about Tim McGraw on tour and saw Garth Brooks bawling like a baby talking about George Jones. We're still kinda weirded out about Garth now! We even found out that Trisha Yearwood used to work at the Hall of Fame - pretty bizarre.

I was bummed beyond belief that the week after we leave they are opening up an entire exhibit about Hank Williams, but we peeked behind the curtain and took some illegal pictures, so that helped. We ate lunch at the Hall of Fame, went to a fair trade store and set out for the rest of our day!





Lisa: After lunch, we headed off to tour the Belle Meade Plantation. We took a guided tour of the house and toured some other buildings on the property. This particular plantation was known for their racehorses, and Seabiscuit came from here! Our tour guide was also dressed in period clothing but somehow still managed to make jokes about the Jackson 5. He was pretty funny. And we also got to see the bathtub that President Taft got stuck in because he was so fat! Which was funny, because my roommates and I were actually discussing this legend recently and because it's just funny. But the house was really neat and we saw some interesting things inside, some beautiful, some ugly, some weird. Like a hoof of a rhinoceros. Weird.

Thinking about our tour guide, makes me think of another trend we've seen on this trip. Running into lots of people who are trying to "make it". The tour guide today was not only pursuing a Master's degree but was also an aspiring actor and stand up comedian. He said he's going on tour or is already on a tour or something, I can't remember. And our guide at Sun Studios was also a musician who looked like he could make it big. So if these guys do make it big, we can say we knew them when.

Batey:

After Belle Meade, we went to the Parthenon. Yep. That's right - the Parthenon - in Nashville, Tennessee. They have the world's only full size replica of the Parthenon, and it was pretty cool. Tiny Elvis enjoyed himself, as you can see. The park around the Parthenon was pretty cool, too. They had a big open field where there were people playing football and kids playing around - just kinda a neat atmosphere I thought. After this, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for a little bit, but not before stopping for a milkshake at the Soda Shop - the oldest restaurant in Nashville. We got 3 good ol' milkshakes while we looked at the songs in the old school mini-jukeboxes. Very cool and kind of made me wish I lived in the 50's.

After resting up at the hotel, we headed back out for the night. We ate dinner at Monell's - this restaurant in a farmhouse (not a barn like I kept wanting to say), where you sit at a long table with people you don't know and all the food is family style. As soon as you sit down, there is already some food on the table to eat, and you pour your own glass of sweet tea. It really was like eating at someone's house. You don't order anything - the waitress just tells you, "This is what's for dinner tonight." Needless to say, the food was AMAZING and there was a LOT of it. Also, we ate so much food - we were beyond stuffed. Thinking of the amazing food we ate tonight reminds me of the fact that we have eaten great food for every meal of this trip. We have found many of the oldest places in town, with some of the best food. And for any of you who know me, you know that I have therefore been very happy on this trip.

After dinner we strolled down Broadway in downtown Nashville and got a little taste of the nightlife. We were amazed that it was so busy on a Tuesday night. We didn't really go in any of the places tonight, but we are going back tomorrow.

Elvis Has Left the Building...And Memphis.

Batey:

Day 3 of our roadtrip started out with breakfast at Blues City Coffee Shop, then on to the Peabody Hotel. The Peabody Hotel is a fancy shmancy hotel in downtown Memphis that, twice a day, has ducks that come out, go across the lobby and jump in the fountain in the middle of the lobby. We got there early and got a good spot to see (although Lisa kinda got kicked out of her spot), and, sure enough, at 11 o'clock three little ducks came out of the elevator, ran down a red carpet, and jumped in the fountain. The funniest part about the whole thing was that when the ducks were walking out, it literally looked like we were seeing a celebrity walking down the red carpet, there were a thousand camera flashes going off everywhere. Who knew ducks could be so glamorous?

After the Peabody, we went to the Rock N' Soul Museum, also in downtown. It started off great and was very thorough, but kind of ended abruptly, and we would have liked it if there would have been a little more at the end. But still it was a good thing to see and I'm glad we went. And now on to Amber to tell us about the next part of the day:




Amber:

On to Sun Studios! This was my most anticipated part of the trip, and my favorite place of the day. My nerdy/obsessed self has read a ton of books about this era of music and it was surreal to be there. Our tour guide was passionate and way entertaining. It was pretty overwhelming to stand in the same room where Johnny Cash and Elvis got their start. Everything was out and available, which was such a change from the museums we've been going to where everything is behind glass. There were guitars and drums everywhere. We pretended to play the actual Wurlitzer piano that Jerry Lee Lewis played on Great Balls of Fire. AND we sang into the microphone that all of these fellas sang into. Just one small room, but definitely amazing!

It was a great way to end our time in Memphis! Shaky start, but we ending up loving the city. Next chapter of the trip = Music City USA!



Lisa:

I feel like I have learned so much the past few days! I mean, just ask me how Johnny Cash got that unique percussion sound on Walk the Line, or who Dewey Phillips was, or which came first: Ain't Nothing But a Bearcat or Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog? I can answer them all!

With our brains stuffed to the brim with early rock 'n roll history, we headed off to our next stop: Nashville! We drove about three hours through trees and rolling hills jamming out to Amber's early country musical selections. Side story: we actually saw one of those weigh station things open that the big 18-wheelers have to stop at open and running. I have never seen those actually in use. Anyways, we stopped off to eat before we got into the city at the Loveless Cafe. Which is maybe my new favorite place to eat. We had good home cooking with some of the best homemade biscuits and preserves ever. We also had some of the pie too, which was amazing even though I was stuffed to the brim. Fudge pie...yum. You can see Elvis enjoying some of the creamed corn above.

So now we're unpacking and getting settled into our home for the next three days. Look out Nashville! We've been soaking up the rhythm and blues for the past few days and now it's time for some country. Bring on the Alan Jackson and the Randy Travis memorabilia.

Walkin' in Memphis

Lisa:
Whew. What a day! We started off bright and early at Graceland, home of the King. We took a guided tour of the mansion and it was pretty cool. Very retro. The 70s were a very interesting time period for home decor. I'm talking green shag carpeting on the ceilings, mirrors everywhere, and one room with a lightning bolt mural on one wall. And then there was the jungle room. Whoa. More shag carpeting, floor and ceiling, a waterfall, and the crazy carved wooden chairs with animal print everywhere. It was pretty groovy. I think we all learned a little more about Elvis today so it was definitely educational as well as entertaining.

We also saw some side tours of his cars, his airplanes, and one whole exhibit filled only with jumpsuits. Those were out of control. Was anyone besides Elvis wearing jumpsuits or was he alone on this fad? I mean, there were a ton of them and all of them with intricate beading and chains and belts and capes. Capes! I just kept picturing Uncle Jesse from Full House and that music "dun da dun, dun da dun." Maybe that's just me. But they were pretty crazy. And you could buy your very own jumpsuit in the gift shop for the low price of $3700. Practically a steal.

I'm so glad we got to experience that and Tiny Elvis certainly had a ball revisiting his old stomping grounds. I mean, look at that face!

We ate lunch at the Arcade Cafe, the oldest cafe in Memphis and we all got to experience the Elvis sandwich. You know, the fried peanut butter and banana. And let me tell you, the King was on to something with this one. This was a really cool cafe that we stumbled upon by the Lorraine Motel and I highly recommend it.

So we continued on to the National Civil Rights Museum and spent a few hours in there looking at all the exhibits. There was so much information and there was no way we could see it all, but it was a really nice museum. I love when you get to see the actual spots where historic events took place. Standing in the room where Dr. King stepped out onto the balcony and was killed was a pretty intense feeling. That whole museum just reemphasized to me that all of these things really happened to real people. Very cool.

And now on to Batey...

Batey:

So after the Civil Rights Museum, we attempted to go on to Sun Studios . . . attempted is the key work there. We parked in downtown, and started walking in the direction we THOUGHT it was, but we were highly mistaken. We stood on the street corner trying to figure out where we were and in the process became very acquainted with the street folk. Good times. We finally realized Sun Studios was too far away from where we were and decided we would postpone it until tomorrow.

So, we found a fun little coffee shop and got some drinks and pastries and just hung out, rested, and talked for a while. I really liked this coffee shop and it had some really cool paintings of different places around Memphis. Amber and Lisa both bought a really cool print of one (which I kinda wish I had bought, too)

After the coffee shop, we went to a Crepe place to eat dinner and it was SOOO good. It was my first experience with crepes, and I was thoroughly impressed. After dinner, we were all pretty tired, so we headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, our goals are to see the ducks at the Peabody hotel, Sun Studios, the Rock n' Soul Museum (oh yeah), and then head on to Nashville!! Music City here we come!!

Have Mercy

From Lisa:
Welcome to Memphis. And what a welcome we have received.

We have a little mascot for our great adventure and he's featured in the above photo. Tiny Elvis! He waves hello to the open road! He will be accompanying us to all of the exciting road trip destinations. We had him stuck up on the dashboard, you know, so he could see out the window, and when I made a turn, he fell off and hit the ground. I called out, "Elvis! Have mercy." Hence the title of today's blog.

Truckin' across Texas, we stopped at the nicest Whataburger in the history of ever. I'm talking marble countertops, impressionist paintings, and no sign of neon orange vinyl anywhere. It was pretty amazing. We crossed the Natural State (Arkansas) and headed over the Mighty Mississip into Memphis. Bright lights and big city! We were super excited to get into town and we decided to grab some good ol' southern BBQ. Take it away Amber...


Amber:
In our quest for authentic local fare, we might have gotten in over our heads. According to the guide book, Dan Neely's Interstate BBQ is the spot for that "down home, funky feel," but they didn't tell the whole story. Here's a brief run-down. Potato Salad - delish. Waitresses - unreliable at best. Atmosphere - uncomfortably out of place. Bathroom #1 - whole toilet paper rolls in the bowl. Which brings us to Bathroom #2 - the door was unlocked, I walk in on our waitress who is holding a baggie of drugs. Seriously. I am 98% sure that's what those crystals were. We pay for the food and high-tail it of there.

My favorite quote of the day came from the gentleman with the grill in the parking lot: "Hey pretty little white girls, did yall just come from church?"

Luckily the night improved when we ventured downtown...

Batey:

So after all the BBQ/restroom hulabuloo, we headed downtown and found Beale Street!! I had downloaded "Walking in Memphis" specifically for this occasion, but I neglected to put the song on my iPod, so we just had to sing it ourselves. Beale Street was so much fun!! It was very busy and lively, and the 3 of us definitely were not dressed for the occasion, but oh well. We walked up and down the street, heard some GOOD live music featuring a female base player who may or may not have had teeth, took my picture with a stranger by the Beale St. sign, and saw a man literally doing backflips down the street. After all of this craziness, we were pooped, so we headed to the Holiday Inn, where we are now writing this. Tomorrow morning we are headed to Graceland - Tiny Elvis is so excited!

Read on tomorrow for an update of our day!!

Ain't Nothin' But a Road Trip

From Lisa:
So we are about to embark on a great journey. Through scenic and historic southern states, six of them to be exact. The major destinations for this road trip are Memphis and Nashville but we will not underestimate the fun to be had while driving through Little Rock, Arkansas or Birmingham, Alabama. Watch out!

We'll be updating (hopefully) fairly frequently to bring you the highlights and lowlights of The Road Trip. I'm sure Batey and Amber will be on here to give you their own thoughtful opinions and words of wisdom as well. And, Lord willing, we'll put some pictures up here too to better document our travels.

Even if you, Erin, are the only one that reads this!

First stop: Memphis!!