Whirlwind Tour of Nashville

On Sunday, we rolled into Nashville before the rain began and got all set up at Nashville Jellystone Campground.  We headed over to my mom's around 5 and drove by our old high school, the house where I grew up, and junior high school where Chuck and I first met in 8th grade on the way.  She greeted all of us with big hugs and fed us some good ol' Bar-B-Cutie barbecue with all the fixins'.

We played a game of Spades and then we all played Up the River (or 7-Up).  We had a fun evening catching up on everything and playing cards.  And, of course, mama, had a delicious dessert for us:  her homemade strawberry cake.  Yummy!

The rain started while we were at my mom's and unfortunately continued about non-stop for the next 2 1/2 days.  On Monday morning, Chuck and I took the motorhome next door to Cullum & Maxey to get the hot water heater repaired.  We picked up Ken and Bonnie and headed over to Opryland Hotel.  We parked in Opry Mills parking lot and walked a short distance to the Delta Section of the hotel.

The hotel was busy decorating for their huge Christmas display.  There were 5 or 6 guys hanging from the rafters stringing up the lights and decorations inside.

They have 30 days to get all the Christmas decorations installed inside for Opry Christmas which begins around November 15.  I think Ken and Bonnie were amazed by all the beautiful plants and decorations within the huge hotel.  We got a little lost a couple of times trying to find our way back to the walkway to Opry Mills.

We went over to Opry Mills and did a loop around the Opry Mills Mall, our "normal" walking place when we are in town and then had a light lunch at Subway.

After lunch, Chuck and I picked up the motorhome which had been fixed.  It was the element on the electric hot water heater and a little bit of wiring had burned too which was the burning smell we encountered last week.  After getting the motorhome set up again at Jellystone, we picked up Ken and Bonnie and headed downtown.

We drove down Music Row showing them all the recording studios and by Vanderbilt and then out to Centennial Park to show them the Parthenon.

Next, we took Ken and Bonnie to downtown Nashville.  Because we wanted them to fully experience Music City, we walked in and out of several of the honkytonks on Broadway.

This group was our favorite and played a lot of Merle Haggard songs for us.

Chuck is pointing to a picture of his Granddaddy Hubert Gregory
who played with The Fruit Jar Drinkers on the Opry for over 40 years.

Inside the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

This was a Monday and a very rainy Monday at that; and yet all of the honkytonks had lots of tourists in them listening to the music.

After we left downtown Nashville, we picked up my mom and met Donald and Anna at Chuy's Mexican restaurant at Opry Mills.  We had a delicious dinner of Mexican food and lots of chips and salsa and a lot of good fellowship.  When we took my mom back to her place, we stayed and played another game of Up the River/7-Up before heading back to the campground.

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to more rain.  We picked up Ken and Bonnie and drove to Antioch and Rutherford County to show them where Chuck had grown up, where he and Jerry's cabinet shop had been located, and where we had lived in Rutherford County.  Then, we headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee, for a tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery.

It had continued to rain all morning and most of the way to the distillery.  We ate our picnic lunch in the car and the rain let up almost completely just in time for us to take the tour which was good because a lot of the tour involves walking outside.  Jason, our tour guide, was excellent.  He was so enthusiastic and gave us a lot of good information and history about Jack Daniels.

Jason is explaining how Jack Daniels makes its own
sugar maple charcoal for filtering its whiskey.

One of 87 barrel barns that hold anywhere from
20,000 to 60,000 barrels of Jack Daniels whiskey.

The barrel barns are all over the hills surrounding Lynchburg.

Fire Department for Jack Daniels.  The fire truck
on the right has a hand crank start and still works!

The cave spring where all the water for making
Jack Daniels whiskey comes from.

"Jack on the Rocks"

Original office of Jack Daniels.

Jack Daniels Distillery --
The first and oldest registered distillery in the US:  1866.

Jack Daniels produces around 145,000 gallons of whiskey a day and for every gallon that Jack Daniels makes, the US government gets $13.50.  Let's do the math:  87 barrel barns holding an average of 45,000 barrels each and each barrel produces about 50 gallons of whiskey.

87 barns x 45,000 barrels x 50 gallons x $13.50/gallon = over $2.6 billion in tax revenue.  

That's a lot of tax!  That's a lot of Jack!

After leaving the distillery, we drove to Lynchburg and walked around the town which didn't taken long.  The town of Lynchburg has a whopping population of 361.

What really makes all of this unique is that Lynchburg and the surrounding Moore County is a dry county.  The most popular whiskey in the world is made in a dry county!

It started to rain again while we were walking around Lynchburg and rained on us all the way back to Nashville.  We all went over to my mom's for dinner Tuesday night and enjoyed some of her delicious lasagna and strawberry cake again for dessert.  Mama watched as Bonnie and I skillfully defeated the men in a game of Pinochle.  She also listened to how "skillfully" the men explained how they let us win.  Ha! Ha!  :)

On Wednesday morning, we picked up mama and all of us drove to Loveless Cafe for a big ol' Tennessee breakfast.  The waiter brought out a big plate of their famous buttery melt-in-your-mouth biscuits and preserves to snack on before our breakfast.

We ate so many biscuits that we were almost too full to eat our breakfast!

The rain had finally stopped as we began our drive down the Natchez Trace.

The famous double arch bridge over Hwy 96.

A lot of the trees had begun to brown but there was still some showing their color.

After driving about 12 miles, we got off at Leiper's Fork to check out another small Tennessee town.  We went into Puckett's Grocery (which is actually a country restaurant) and Ken found out where Carrie Underwood and one of the Judds lived and where Justin Timberlake is building a house.  I also got some fried cornbread for Ken and Bonnie to try.  We were still so full from Loveless but I think they liked it.  :)

We ended up driving around Leiper's Fork for a while looking for the homes of the stars.  I don't know that we found any but we did see a lot of beautiful and big homes all the way back to Franklin.  We drove around Franklin a little bit and then headed back to Costco on Charlotte Pike to pick up a few groceries.  This was my mom's first trip to a Costco!  I'm sure she was very impressed!  :)

We took my mom back home and said our good-byes with lots of hugs and then headed back to the campground to rest for a few minutes.  We decided to go back over to Opryland Hotel after dark so Bonnie and Ken could see how it looked inside at night.  When we walked in the door, Elvis was there to greet Bonnie.  :)

We were a little disappointed because we thought the trees would be lit up more..

...but the landscape and waterfall lighting was still very pretty.

But then we were surprised by a musical water fountain and light show that began shortly after we walked in.

We sat on the steps and watched the show that continued for about 10 or 15 minutes.  It reminded us of the water fountain show in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

What a great way to end our whirlwind tour of Nashville!  Tomorrow, we head for Atlanta!  

Sharing a Tennessee Blessing

On Friday morning, we left Bluff City, and drove to Spring Lake RV Resort in Crossville, Tennessee.  Chuck and I had stayed there years ago and it was even more beautiful than we remembered it.

View of lake from our site.

Ken & Bonnie's site.

Friday was a very relaxing day.  We enjoyed sitting outside in the swings and doing a little reading and snoozing.

We drove to Cookeville for an early dinner where we met some friends of Ken and Bonnie's that they had met when traveling through Cookeville earlier in the year.  Lois, who is an RVer also, had invited them to spend the night on their travels through Cookeville and while they were there, they went to dinner at Cheddar's and met Rachel who works at Cheddar's.  We enjoyed meeting and talking with Lois and Rachel over a delicious dinner at Cheddars.  It's always fun making new friends!

On Saturday, we left the campground around 8 am and drove to Fall Creek Falls State Park which is about an hour away from Crossville.  We parked at the Nature Center in the Cane Creek area of the park where we began a 3 mile hike around the gorges and waterfalls of the park.  Chuck and I had done the hike previously but it had been many years ago.

We first walked out to the Cane Creek overlook...

...and then up to the Cascades.

We explored the bottom of the gorge between the Cascasdes and the top of the Cane Creek Falls.

Our hike "officially" began behind the nature center as crossed the swinging bridge.  They only allow 6 to 8 people on the bridge at one time so we had to wait a few minutes before we could cross.

Next, we began a climb up several steps...

...and hiked through the forest filled with autumn color.

We walked out to another overlook for Cane Creek Falls off the trail that really gives a better view of the falls.

We walked out to the Rocky Point Overlook which required some climbing.  But we were rewarded with spectacular views for the Fall Creek Falls Gorge.

We continued walking stopping at the main overlook for Fall Creek Falls.

After taking a rest and eating a snack, we began hiking to the base of Fall Creek Falls.

The IceBox

I forgot how many steps and rocks there were to
climb over going down to the bottom.

We reached the base of the falls and were very careful because the rocks were wet in places down here.

We told Ken and Bonnie that years ago we had hiked behind the falls like the people in the below picture.

After a few minutes rest, we began our ascent back up to the top.

Bonnie stopped to build a small rock cairn to show she had been there.  We'll have to see if it's there the next time we come to Fall Creek Falls.  :)

There is a huge overhang here that probably makes a good place to get out from the wind and weather if you happen to get stuck down here in a rainstorm.

We made our way back up to the top and began hiking back to the Nature Center along the Woodland Trail.

After eating our lunch at a picnic table near the Nature Center, we drove Ken and Bonnie around the campground and different sites we had camped on over the years and more recently when spending 4th of July up here with Donald & Anna and family.  

We stopped at Buzzard's Roost and told them how special our family church services are out there.  

We continued our drive around the park showing them the Inn, General Store, and the golf course.  We think the autumn color made the park about the prettiest we have ever seen.  

Yep!  Fall Creek Falls is definite a Tennessee blessing.  I think they understood why our family has always liked this park and camped here off and on over the years.  

And blessings are always better when shared with friends!