We had a quick start in the morning - I grabbed some breakfast while Derek caught some more zzzz's. They were just putting stuff away, but as opposed to in Memphis last week, the lady was super nice and made sure I had enough of everything before she took it away. We decided against having a swim when we saw floaties on the surface (looked like the chemical reacting with something but still gross), so we were on our way very shortly.
About 2 hours later we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee.
A quick drive-by tour of the Parthenon, then to downtown Nashville to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We didn`t go inside the museum but checked out the gift shop and looked around for Stew Clayton`s name. Stew Clayton is from Manitou, and was inducted into the Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and 2001. We were told his name is listed somewhere here, but it appears it may actually be at a Hall of Fame in Anita, Iowa (or Le Mars, Iowa?). The names in the Hall of Fame on the museum tour of the big names, and the Walk of Fame across the street has stars on the sidewalk for other big names. Anyway, it seemed we were not in the right place. I had read in a guide book about a Musician's Hall of Fame and wondered after it maybe it would be there - but the building this was in across the street from the Country Music Hall of Fame was actually demolished last year and they are building an expansion for the Country Music Hall of Fame. The convention centre kitty corner to the Country Music Hall of Fame is also doing expansion/development, and apparently there is some controversy around this.
We continued up 5th street and stumbled upon the old Ryman Auditorium, then walked down lower Broadway where they have a number of bars with live bands playing, restaurants such as Margaritaville and Hard Rock Café and a kazillion little shops. Totally devoted to any tourist who happened along. What would I do with a t-shirt that displayed "NASHVILLE" across the front? It gets a little old - each city/attraction is all the same. As the distance between us and the beautiful sands of Pensacola increases, the more I look forward to getting back home.
Leaving Music Row, we continued up and over to the Grand Ole Opry, running into some rush hour traffic on one of the many interstates circling downtown Nashville. We eventually made it and did a quick stroll around the property. There was a show starting at 7pm tonight - including Trace Adkins and others. Apparently tickets range from $28 to $58, depending on seat location. The Cumberland River which surrounds the Opryland property flooded in 2010, and many of the buildings here had experienced damage. The Grand Ole Opry is back up and running, but the Opry Mills Shopping Center is still closed and being fixed. This area is highly touristy as well - with the mall, Imax, a marine land, the General Jackson Showboat, Gaylord Opryland Resort, etc ... all right there.
Moving on, we made a brief stop at the Hendersonville Memorial Gardens to see where Johnny Cash is buried next to June Carter Cash and other members of the Carter family.
Continuing north, we crossed into Kentucky, driving past Bowling Green and Elizabethtown into Louisville. We checked out their Fourth Street Live! which is a covered block of restaurants and shops (kind of like a small version of Fremont Street in Vegas).
We crossed the bridge over the Ohio River into Clarksville, Indiana and stopped for the night at the Holiday Inn Lakeside. We had found a coupon offereing a decent rate - the place was alright, but needs to be updated. A neat thing was that they gave us snack bags with water, cheezies, granola bars because we are Priority Members (signed up at Pensacola).
Somewhere between here and Nashville, we crossed time zones - they are on Eastern so 1 hour later than normal (Central) time. We will get that hour back before we get to Chicago. So weird. A little confused on what time it really is this morning, doesn't help that the clock in the room was set half hour fast. Time to get out of Clarksville!
Onward to Chicago and beyond today (Wednesday).
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