After leaving New Orleans, we decided to drive all the way up through Mississippi to Memphis, TN. It was about a six hour drive. Once there, we checked into our hotel and then walked around Memphis a bit. We went to the Peabody Hotel where they have these resident ducks that swim in the hotel fountain in the lobby. Then at 5:00, there is a big ceremony as a red carpet is rolled out and the ducks waddle from the fountain to the elevator, where they ride up to the top deck for the night. Then in the morning, they come back down again! It’s pretty cute and funny. People were lined up like paparazzi, snapping millions of pictures of the little celebrities! After watching that, we walked up and down Beale Street, stopping and listening to live music along the way. There was this small park where a band was playing and people were dancing...it was really fun listening to them. Then we headed to B.B. King’s Blues Club and Restaurant for dinner - BBQ ribs and pulled pork...delicious! The next day we went by the Lorraine Hotel to see where MLK, Jr. was shot, then headed over to Graceland to see where the King lived. Then it was time to head on over to Nashville.
About 100 miles outside of Nashville, the tire light in our rental car came on. We stopped, added air to the tires, then continued on. About ten minutes later, it came on again, so we pulled off the interstate and went to this tiny tire shack where they discovered a screw in one of the tires. So we had to wait for this young guy to go get us a new tire and put it on the car. Oh yeah, and it was raining! The guys that helped us were really nice, and about two hours later we were back on the road again. We arrived in Nashville much later than expected, so we just checked into the hotel and went out to grab some food. We went down to the main downtown district that had a bunch of bars - or “honky-tonks” as they’re called - with bands playing. We stopped in one to listen for a while and have a beer and then found another for dinner, then off to another to listen to more live music! The next morning, we took a trolley tour of the city and saw lots of great things the city has to offer, like the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum and the beautiful Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. I really liked Nashville and was sorry that we only had one night there. It’s a place I would definitely go back to.
But, we had to head on, so head on we did. We drove east to Asheville, North Carolina, a very cute town. We got in pretty late, plus there was a time change, so we just grabbed dinner before retiring for the night. The next day we drove out and toured the Biltmore Estate, a huge secluded home George Vanderbilt had built back at the end of the 1800s. You can tour the house and the surrounding land...it’s beautiful. Unfortunately, it was raining off and on all day, but we didn’t let it dampen our spirits and decided to stop at the winery on the grounds for some wine tasting! We then walked around downtown Asheville for a bit before heading to dinner.
After seeing a little bit of North Carolina, we decided it was time to visit South Carolina, so we drove down to Charleston. It started raining like crazy on the way down there. Craziest rain I’ve seen in a long time. I could barely see in front of me and had to slow waaaaaay down! After checking into our hotel, we hopped on a trolley to go to the historic downtown area and get a bite to eat. The rain eventually let up a bit, but we decided to call it a night and get up early the next morning to take a trolley tour of the city. There is a lot of history in Charleston...in fact, it’s been really interesting being down in the South in general because there is so much history to be found here. I’m learning a lot more about our country’s past, especially regarding the Civil War, than I knew before.
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