A small Tour of Tennessee

M and I left St. Louis bright and early New Year’s Eve morning for Nashville. We arrived in time to clean up and head to the Nashville downtown area for the evening. After a couple of stops for drinks and dinner, we ended at BB King’s place for the evening. The music was good, the beer was cold, and every time I stole a glance at M he was smiling. Gosh that makes a gal feel special!

Not much was open on New Year’s Day, though we did walk the grounds of the Grand Ol’ Opry, play a round of glow-in-the-dark mini golf (very fun), and stroll by the Parthenon. The pond in the photo is in the same park as the Parthenon and the shadows, of course, are ours.

January 2 we headed to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniels Distillery (highly recommended) and then on over to Memphis to experience Beale Street for the evening. We drove the back roads from Lynchburg to Memphis, which made for a long day, though we talked the entire trip. At one gas stop the clerk behind the counter told us to make sure and come back. As we walked out I looked at M and laughed and said, “Sure, I’d come back, except I have no clue where we are!”

Beale Street was as much fun as Nashville. Great music, cold beer, lots of people out and about.(There was a bowl game in town that day so we were among plenty of other tourists.)

Before heading back we made one last stop – to tour the Gibson guitar factory. We also said hello to the ducks at the Peabody Hotel and M had Memphis barbecue for lunch.

Everywhere we went in Tennessee the people were great. They were friendly and helpful and never too busy to answer a question or chat for a few minutes.

The trip itself - so awesome. Gosh, M was the perfect traveling companion. Willing to explore, talk to people, and generally relax and have fun. Such a treat! I will say it again --- I am a very lucky gal.