Tennessee Vacation: Accomplished
Finally home! We went on a whirlwind vacation--my sister-in-law is in town from overseas on her annual summer journey, so we went to Tennessee to meet up with paladin's family. We had a wonderful time but I definitely have not so much as glanced at anything on Dreamwidth and don't really plan to do so until tomorrow, so. Yeah.
We didn't meet up with in-laws for as much of the trip as I think paladin would've liked, because I didn't have enough vacation time to do it the way that would've worked for that. So, we started out bright and early Friday morning to drive to Memphis. (I have now added one state to my "visited" list and three to my "passed through," the latter being Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky.) I ended up doing the bulk of the driving Friday because I got into a groove and then suddenly four hours had gone by. We hit a nasty storm in Arkansas (like, creeping along at 5 mph guiding myself by the taillights of the semi in front of me going oh god please do not drive off the road help how does this work) but it was thankfully short-lived. We made it to Memphis around 7pm, and checked into our hotel, which was kinda sketchy on the outside just from being an old building not renovated, but was perfectly clean and nice inside.
Since we were staying in the heart of the tourist district, we could walk to a lot of things. We went to Rendezvous for dinner on Friday, where I had beer and paladin had wine and we shared a big plate of BBQ. After that we pretty much went upstairs and passed out.
Saturday we got up early and headed to Graceland, which was one of those things where I didn't have an emotional investment in it (my knowledge of Elvis prior to arrival boiled down to "founded rock'n'roll" and "scandalous hips" and "people are convinced he isn't dead") but it's A Thing in Memphis so we went. The tour was kind of cool, although I didn't care for the way the audio jumped eras wildly in all directions - I was often confused about when we were actually talking about. The house was also interesting, and just standing in the hall where they had all of his gold records was amazing. After that, we went to The Majestic Grille for lunch, which was amazing. I had shrimp and grits, and paladin had smoked salmon hash, and then we had spectacular dessert.
Saturday afternoon we went on a riverboat tour on the Mississippi, where our tour guide was very sassy and entertaining. He told a number of stories about the history of Memphis and a lot of current information about the uses of the river and rules for using it and such. One thing he pointed out was the I-40 bridge from Arkansas into Tennessee. One side of it, the Tennessee side, has nice big curving structures making it look interesting. The Arkansas side has nothing. Our guide drolly mentioned that many riverboat captains call it the "Dolly Parton bridge," which got a good laugh out of anyone old enough to have any idea what he was talking about (which includes me.)
Anyway, that tour having been concluded, we walked back to the Peabody, which was one of the things I had really wanted to see. They have ducks! There are ducks that live in a fancy enclosure on the roof. At 11 am, the duck master parades them down the elevator and into the lobby, where they swim in the fountain until 5, and then he parades them back up to their enclosure until the next day. so cute and cool. Ducks! Ducks swimming in the fountain!!
Having indulged my inner five-year-old, we went back to our hotel for a short rest, and then met up with
batterwitch to adventure on Beale Street. We did a bit of shopping, and then we turned around and saw a sign at a bar that said "beware the Irish diving goats!" Well, nothing would do but that we investigate the goats. The bar was Silky O'Sullivan's, and there were in fact two goats. We didn't see them actually dive, but they did wander up and down a spiral staircase built just for them, and the food and drinks were tasty. Anyway, we had a grand time, and wandered the length of Beale and then back to the hotel, where we promptly fell over because wow that was a full day.
Sunday we took ourselves off to the Civil Rights Museum, which was...a lot of things. Encouraging, to see how far we've come; heartbreaking, to think how far we've yet to go; inspiring, thought-provoking, fascinating, horrifying, just. Amazing, basically. I left with an enormous mental list of topics to go badger my local library for, and a head full of thoughts.
We went to Rizzo's for brunch, where I had delicious sausage and grits, and then we went to the National Ornamental Metal Museum, which had been recommended by the riverboat guide. We got to see a blacksmith make a coat hook, which demonstrated a half-dozen different tools and techniques in the process, and then we had a demo of casting a lightswitch plate out of molten metal, which was fascinating. We got a bit turned around on the way out and accidentally found ourselves on the bridge across the river to Arkansas, which would've been fine except that there was an accident and traffic was at a horrid crawl. We eventually extricated ourselves from that and went back to the hotel and splashed around in the pool, and then we went to Flight Wine Bar for dinner. There's one actually quite near us, which we've always meant to go to and never quite succeeded, so we decided to go and we were not disappointed. We had delicious soups and salads, and a bunch of small plates for dinner, and some truly exceptional wine (the dessert wine flight was fucking great.) Unfortunately, we dined outside which meant mosquitos dined well on me, which I discovered the next morning to my great chagrin.
Monday morning we set off to meet up with paladin's family in Nashville. We arrived a bit after noon and met up with the family at the Harp & Fiddle, where we had a very tasty lunch, and then we walked down to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was the one thing on this trip that I really desperately wanted to see and I'm so glad I got to go. I had a wonderful time wandering through the history of country music and seeing all the acts who've been inducted into the hall of fame; it was like wandering through my childhood. I loved some of the design features of the museum, like how they had little circular...reflectors? I guess? so that they could play music and it was really only audible if you stood directly at the exhibit and didn't conflict with anything else. It was thoroughly delightful, and I left with a mental list of music I no longer have (since I used to scavenge my parents' CDs) and need to reacquire promptly.
We left there and visited the Johnny Cash Museum, which honestly I enjoyed much more than I expected to (and substantially more than I enjoyed Graceland, although that might've been due to having more context.) It's a really well-designed and interesting museum. I already knew a fair bit of his story, but the museum was very well set-up and had a good flow. The very last exhibit is the music video for his cover of NIN's "Hurt," on loop, and I stood there fascinated and entranced for at least two full runs of the video. It gave me chills. Super fucking amazing.
We went to Moto for dinner, and then paladin and I walked back up to the Harp and Fiddle with his sister and her husband, thinking there was live music (as the waitress had led us to believe there was at lunch.) There wasn't, but we sat at the bar and had drinks and talked politics and the state of the world, and then I staggered back very drunk at the end of it. Paladin and I had what started as a good conversation that inadvertently veered into sensitive territory and became a bit of a fight, but we resolved that with apologies and snuggles, and were OK by the next morning. Whereupon we all piled into the cars and headed for the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg. We had a tour and a tasting, and much to my surprise, I actually liked all five of the whiskeys (Original No. 7, Gentleman Jack, Single Barrel, Tennessee Honey, and Tennessee Fire.) The Honey was my favorite, surprising absolutely no one, and of course I bought a bottle to bring home. After that we meandered into Lynchburg proper (all 361 souls of it....) and grabbed lunch at the BBQ place and then ice cream at the pharmacy, and we had thought to stop at a state park and hike, but at that point everyone was just sort of like "what if not." So we found our way back to Nashville, and paladin and I went and splashed about in the hotel pool, and then we all went out to dinner at City Winery. Paladin and I split the cheese plate and the duck flatbread, and both were amazing.
At that point we were pretty well wiped out, so we went back to the hotel and packed up and flopped, and ended up falling asleep fairly early. We got up bright and early today, grabbed breakfast with the family, and then set out on the road home. I fell asleep for the entirety of paladin's second shift driving (oops), but we made it home with relatively little incident. The one issue we had was that one of my headlights broke its clip (or whatever holds it in), so we have to get that fixed soonish. Current plan is for paladin to drive me to the train tomorrow and drop it off, and then I'll pick it up on my way home.
It was a good trip, but wow, I'm tired and rather wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. But I am home, and Ganon has already forgiven us and Zelda is sulking. And my legs are coated in mosquito bites forever, such that I have basically commandeered paladin's tube of anti-itch cream because UGH I can't STAND it.
Oh, and while we were gone, Chicago had a truly spectacular storm that apparently flooded the hell out of our basement and lower floor.
goldmare was cat-sitting and she is an absolute treasure - she moved all the stuff that had been on our bookshelves up to the dining room, disassembled everything, moved it so it could dry, and mopped up. She is the best.
All in all, a good use of six days, but I'm already looking forward to the weekend and being able to pass out.
I've posted this at http://lassarina.dreamwidth.org/1152284.html and you may comment there or here. On Dreamwidth, this entry has
comments.
We didn't meet up with in-laws for as much of the trip as I think paladin would've liked, because I didn't have enough vacation time to do it the way that would've worked for that. So, we started out bright and early Friday morning to drive to Memphis. (I have now added one state to my "visited" list and three to my "passed through," the latter being Missouri, Arkansas, and Kentucky.) I ended up doing the bulk of the driving Friday because I got into a groove and then suddenly four hours had gone by. We hit a nasty storm in Arkansas (like, creeping along at 5 mph guiding myself by the taillights of the semi in front of me going oh god please do not drive off the road help how does this work) but it was thankfully short-lived. We made it to Memphis around 7pm, and checked into our hotel, which was kinda sketchy on the outside just from being an old building not renovated, but was perfectly clean and nice inside.
Since we were staying in the heart of the tourist district, we could walk to a lot of things. We went to Rendezvous for dinner on Friday, where I had beer and paladin had wine and we shared a big plate of BBQ. After that we pretty much went upstairs and passed out.
Saturday we got up early and headed to Graceland, which was one of those things where I didn't have an emotional investment in it (my knowledge of Elvis prior to arrival boiled down to "founded rock'n'roll" and "scandalous hips" and "people are convinced he isn't dead") but it's A Thing in Memphis so we went. The tour was kind of cool, although I didn't care for the way the audio jumped eras wildly in all directions - I was often confused about when we were actually talking about. The house was also interesting, and just standing in the hall where they had all of his gold records was amazing. After that, we went to The Majestic Grille for lunch, which was amazing. I had shrimp and grits, and paladin had smoked salmon hash, and then we had spectacular dessert.
Saturday afternoon we went on a riverboat tour on the Mississippi, where our tour guide was very sassy and entertaining. He told a number of stories about the history of Memphis and a lot of current information about the uses of the river and rules for using it and such. One thing he pointed out was the I-40 bridge from Arkansas into Tennessee. One side of it, the Tennessee side, has nice big curving structures making it look interesting. The Arkansas side has nothing. Our guide drolly mentioned that many riverboat captains call it the "Dolly Parton bridge," which got a good laugh out of anyone old enough to have any idea what he was talking about (which includes me.)
Anyway, that tour having been concluded, we walked back to the Peabody, which was one of the things I had really wanted to see. They have ducks! There are ducks that live in a fancy enclosure on the roof. At 11 am, the duck master parades them down the elevator and into the lobby, where they swim in the fountain until 5, and then he parades them back up to their enclosure until the next day. so cute and cool. Ducks! Ducks swimming in the fountain!!
Having indulged my inner five-year-old, we went back to our hotel for a short rest, and then met up with
batterwitch to adventure on Beale Street. We did a bit of shopping, and then we turned around and saw a sign at a bar that said "beware the Irish diving goats!" Well, nothing would do but that we investigate the goats. The bar was Silky O'Sullivan's, and there were in fact two goats. We didn't see them actually dive, but they did wander up and down a spiral staircase built just for them, and the food and drinks were tasty. Anyway, we had a grand time, and wandered the length of Beale and then back to the hotel, where we promptly fell over because wow that was a full day.
Sunday we took ourselves off to the Civil Rights Museum, which was...a lot of things. Encouraging, to see how far we've come; heartbreaking, to think how far we've yet to go; inspiring, thought-provoking, fascinating, horrifying, just. Amazing, basically. I left with an enormous mental list of topics to go badger my local library for, and a head full of thoughts.
We went to Rizzo's for brunch, where I had delicious sausage and grits, and then we went to the National Ornamental Metal Museum, which had been recommended by the riverboat guide. We got to see a blacksmith make a coat hook, which demonstrated a half-dozen different tools and techniques in the process, and then we had a demo of casting a lightswitch plate out of molten metal, which was fascinating. We got a bit turned around on the way out and accidentally found ourselves on the bridge across the river to Arkansas, which would've been fine except that there was an accident and traffic was at a horrid crawl. We eventually extricated ourselves from that and went back to the hotel and splashed around in the pool, and then we went to Flight Wine Bar for dinner. There's one actually quite near us, which we've always meant to go to and never quite succeeded, so we decided to go and we were not disappointed. We had delicious soups and salads, and a bunch of small plates for dinner, and some truly exceptional wine (the dessert wine flight was fucking great.) Unfortunately, we dined outside which meant mosquitos dined well on me, which I discovered the next morning to my great chagrin.
Monday morning we set off to meet up with paladin's family in Nashville. We arrived a bit after noon and met up with the family at the Harp & Fiddle, where we had a very tasty lunch, and then we walked down to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which was the one thing on this trip that I really desperately wanted to see and I'm so glad I got to go. I had a wonderful time wandering through the history of country music and seeing all the acts who've been inducted into the hall of fame; it was like wandering through my childhood. I loved some of the design features of the museum, like how they had little circular...reflectors? I guess? so that they could play music and it was really only audible if you stood directly at the exhibit and didn't conflict with anything else. It was thoroughly delightful, and I left with a mental list of music I no longer have (since I used to scavenge my parents' CDs) and need to reacquire promptly.
We left there and visited the Johnny Cash Museum, which honestly I enjoyed much more than I expected to (and substantially more than I enjoyed Graceland, although that might've been due to having more context.) It's a really well-designed and interesting museum. I already knew a fair bit of his story, but the museum was very well set-up and had a good flow. The very last exhibit is the music video for his cover of NIN's "Hurt," on loop, and I stood there fascinated and entranced for at least two full runs of the video. It gave me chills. Super fucking amazing.
We went to Moto for dinner, and then paladin and I walked back up to the Harp and Fiddle with his sister and her husband, thinking there was live music (as the waitress had led us to believe there was at lunch.) There wasn't, but we sat at the bar and had drinks and talked politics and the state of the world, and then I staggered back very drunk at the end of it. Paladin and I had what started as a good conversation that inadvertently veered into sensitive territory and became a bit of a fight, but we resolved that with apologies and snuggles, and were OK by the next morning. Whereupon we all piled into the cars and headed for the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg. We had a tour and a tasting, and much to my surprise, I actually liked all five of the whiskeys (Original No. 7, Gentleman Jack, Single Barrel, Tennessee Honey, and Tennessee Fire.) The Honey was my favorite, surprising absolutely no one, and of course I bought a bottle to bring home. After that we meandered into Lynchburg proper (all 361 souls of it....) and grabbed lunch at the BBQ place and then ice cream at the pharmacy, and we had thought to stop at a state park and hike, but at that point everyone was just sort of like "what if not." So we found our way back to Nashville, and paladin and I went and splashed about in the hotel pool, and then we all went out to dinner at City Winery. Paladin and I split the cheese plate and the duck flatbread, and both were amazing.
At that point we were pretty well wiped out, so we went back to the hotel and packed up and flopped, and ended up falling asleep fairly early. We got up bright and early today, grabbed breakfast with the family, and then set out on the road home. I fell asleep for the entirety of paladin's second shift driving (oops), but we made it home with relatively little incident. The one issue we had was that one of my headlights broke its clip (or whatever holds it in), so we have to get that fixed soonish. Current plan is for paladin to drive me to the train tomorrow and drop it off, and then I'll pick it up on my way home.
It was a good trip, but wow, I'm tired and rather wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. But I am home, and Ganon has already forgiven us and Zelda is sulking. And my legs are coated in mosquito bites forever, such that I have basically commandeered paladin's tube of anti-itch cream because UGH I can't STAND it.
Oh, and while we were gone, Chicago had a truly spectacular storm that apparently flooded the hell out of our basement and lower floor.
goldmare was cat-sitting and she is an absolute treasure - she moved all the stuff that had been on our bookshelves up to the dining room, disassembled everything, moved it so it could dry, and mopped up. She is the best.
All in all, a good use of six days, but I'm already looking forward to the weekend and being able to pass out.
I've posted this at http://lassarina.dreamwidth.org/1152284.html and you may comment there or here. On Dreamwidth, this entry has
comments.