Day #1: Utah, Colorado
We started out on this wonderful journey by finishing something that I thought we would never actually finish: the basement. Day 1 was spent finishing up the house and dealing with some fun, unexpected things that happened. Like having to go into work, the vacuum exploding, the store being out of the tires we needed, and things like that. Needless to say, we did not actually get on the road until about 5:30 or 6:00. This altered some of our plans for our road trip but we did the best that we could and started East.
The car was so packed... I still don't know how he did that. We drove to Colorado where we passed through a huge storm, ran over a rock from a rock slide, and then stayed with Rusty's family in Canon City. The storm was cool; the rock, not so much. The next day Rusty, his brother, and his dad checked it out. Luckily, the rock went right in the middle of everything that mattered. Phew.
Day #2: Colorado, Kansas, Missouri
On our way out of Canon, I saw this little gem. Or I guess I should say big gem. The largest gem of a rocking chair in the world! Now this wasn't even planned, it was just an added bonus. :)
This is the World's Largest Rocking Chair. It is 21 feet tall and 14 feet wide, and weighs 9,100 pounds. It's not very old; it was built in 1990.
After seeing this beauty, we continued on our way. Day #2 had the most driving of any day. We drove from Canon City, Colorado to St. Louis, MO, with a stop in Kansas City on the way. This was about 13 hours, which entailed little more than driving through Kansas on I 70. All day. We got a little bored and antsy, and so we came up with all kinds of games. One of which, was Road Trip Bingo. There were things on there that we would have to look for on our drive, like a corn field, wind mills, and a person with a crazy mustache. (I am pleased to report that by the end of our trip, we did get a Bingo).
Fountains!
And more fountains!
Then it finally was time for our dinner. We ate at Stroud's and it did not disappoint. It was such a fun, friendly place. At first, we were nervous that we weren't dressed up enough to come here because we pulled up and saw a big, Southern-style, white house with a pond and fountains and swans in the back. We decided that because we were in Kansas City the fountains could be dismissed, but the swans? They kept us worried. There was also a little church in the backyard where there had been a wedding that day. It was really quite perfect.
Anyways, we went into the restaurant to use the bathrooms and when I was in there I heard two women talking back and forth. One asked the other if she was changing her clothes, and she replied, "Of course I am! Don't you know we are at Stroud's?" So this made me really nervous, especially when the first lady came out of the stall in a dress. It all changed though, when the second lady came out. She was now wearing jeans and a T-shirt. She had dressed down to come here! Now, that's my kind of place! We ordered the fried chicken meal with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans and let me tell you, it tasted just as good as it looks.
We love Stroud's!
Day #3: St. Louis
After eating at Stroud's, we drove the rest of the way to St. Louis (with that chicken and mashed potatoes at my feet I might add, because I had a husband that was pretty much in love with it and not willing to let it go). As another added bonus, our hotel was right by the original Bigfoot! I can assure you that I did not plan this when I made the reservations, but I'm pretty sure I got "wife of the year" for that one.
Our hotel also happened to be right next to the Boeing plant in St. Louis! Talk about prime location for our hotel! Rusty and I had talked about going there for the summer, or possibly moving there one day, so it was cool to actually see it.
Day 3 was the first day that I felt like I was not at home any more. People's accents were strong, the country looked different, and all of the fast food restaurants were for fried chicken. It was really cool to get to see a part of the country that I had never seen before. One our first day in St. Louis, we decided to sleep in, get some early lunch, and then spend the day at Six Flags. We ate at a delicious pizza place that had the best Greek salad I've ever had in my whole life, and they had the coolest flavors and toppings for their pizza. Definitely a win. At Six Flags, we wasted no time getting into the swing of things. The first ride that we rode was absolutely insane. I've never been so terrified on a ride in my life. You ride the whole track going backwards, literally going 70 mph. Then it takes you straight up so you are suspended in the air, and then you do the whole track forwards. The best part though, is that there was this big, big guy that was all strapped in and ready to go when he called the worker over and told her to get him "out of this thing." I guess it was just too much. For the rest of the day we rode the rides and played around. All in all, a success.
Day #4: St. Louis, Illinois, Nashville
On Day 4 we went into the city and did some touristy things, the epitome of which is the Arch. Now, to be honest, I wasn't that excited about the Arch. I didn't think it would be that cool, but I was wrong. It was much more impressive than I thought it would be! It is HUGE. And right next to the Mississippi River, and lots of cool buildings. And it only cost $10. Not bad, not bad St. Louis.
Fun Facts: The Arch was built as a monument for the Westward Expansion, and after deciding to build an arch as the structure, they realized that it was a "gate"; the perfect symbolism for expanded toward the West. Hence the name, "The Gateway Arch." It was completed in 1965.
The pieces of the Arch were made in Pittsburgh and the assembled in St. Louis. Cranes lifted pieces up onto the Arch and then they were welded together. Rusty, the welder, really enjoyed seeing this.
To get to the top, you ride in these tiny magic elevators. Just about the time you feel like you are going to fall on top of the strangers sitting next to you, it tilts you back upright.
The view from the top is pretty cool. Illinois on one side....
Missouri on the other.
Busch Stadium.
When we were there, the Cardinals were playing the Rockies! Wish we could have gone.
We didn't take any pictures inside, but I found these one online. They don't even begin to show how beautiful it was in real life.
After seeing the Cathedral, we went and saw some other really cool, old buildings. And also, some really cool street signs that made absolutely no sense.
"No Parking 2nd Thursday of Month 8:30 AM to Noon"
Well, obviously.
After that, it was time for our steamboat ride! We rode on a steamboat called Tom Sawyer up the Mississippi River. It was really cool to be on it; I felt like I went back in time. The views from the river were really cool too. It was the first time you could really see the whole arch.
St. Louis also held the World's Fair in 1904. They introduced all kinds of things like ice cream in a cone, cotton candy, hamburgers, and toasted ravioli. We ate hamburgers from a place called Steak 'n' Shake, honestly the best fast food hamburger I've ever had. And they have Rusty's favorite shake. Then we went and found a place to try toasted ravioli. We had to go to three different places, but third time's the charm. We finally got them!
We, uh, ate our hamburgers too fast to take a picture.
With our day in St. Louis winding down, it was finally time to start our drive to Nashville. We stopped at a few cool places along the way :)
The world's largest Catsup bottle.
We stumbled upon a town called Metropolis, home of Superman. So obviously, we had to stop.
And take lots of pictures with Superman.
We were so sad! The super-museum was closed for the day :(
Also, the largest grocery man. I'm pretty sure.
Finally, we got to Nashville! Every radio station here is Country. I loved my life. The first thing that we did when we got there was go to this bar where they had a free Bluegrass concert. It was so cool! Lots of plaid, lots of jeans, and lots of stompin' of the feet.
Day #5: Nashville
All in all, Nashville was our favorite place. Which is a little crazy because it's not like we did crazy cool things here. We just liked the feel of the city because it felt, well, homey. Our first full day in Nashville was awesome. When we were riding those death carts to the top of the Arch, we chatted with these two old ladies. One of them has a daughter that lives in Nashville so she was telling us about the city. She told us that we had to visit the Opryland Hotel; there's "like a botanical garden and stuff. It's pretty cool." Holy understatement of the year. I'm so glad Rusty and I went! We were a little skeptical, but because it was right next to the Grand Ole Opry we decided to give it a try. First of all, it's a beautiful building.
And then you walk in and see this:
Real life banana trees!
And to top it all off, a fountain show set to music.
Yep. It's pretty much the best place on Earth. It's like City Creek. But on steroids. And you can stay the night here. It's a giant botanical garden/rain forest/green house with a river so big that you can ride a boat and take a tour. And the whole hotel is humongous! Room after room after room. Different rooms have slightly different themes, but they are all beautiful. And the buildings inside of the hotel were stunning! Very vintage and well, that's my favorite look so I loved it all.
They even had fun surprises from some of my favorite movies!
So, that was stop #1. After that, we went to the Grand Ole Opry. The tours were expensive, and to see the show playing that night was $50 bucks a ticket, so we just looked from the outside. Where it was in our budget... meaning free. It was still really cool to be there and see the place that started it all for the Country world. That night, we went home and looked up some videos of shows that were broadcast from the Opry a long, long time ago. That was pretty cool to see the evolution of Country and to get to see what it was really all about.
When we were leaving, we noticed these lovely signs in the parking lot. If this wasn't enough, there was a security guard riding around on a segway. Nashville, I love you even more. Well played.
That night we walked around downtown, went to dinner, and then hit up another bar to see some more concerts. Walking around downtown Nashville at night is really cool. And really short. Their downtown isn't big; you can actually see the end of it on both sides. The lights literally just stop. But to me, this added to the charm. I like small towns and I like walking around downtown. So, this just kind of put the two together and I have to tell you it worked. When you're walking around you just hear Country music coming at you from every direction. There are SO many talented people in Nashville. You could not pay me enough money to do karaoke there. The waitresses, the hostesses, cooks, busboys... you name it. They all take a break and come up and sing on the stage and then go back to their job.
For dinner we went to Jack's BBQ. It was right downtown which added to the fun. When we got there the line was out the door (definitely a good sign). Standing in line wasn't even that bad because there were so many things on the wall to look at and wonder about. Before we knew it, it was time to order. It was set up Cafe Rio style so you just order and move down the line. I got pulled pork, baked beans and mac n cheese. Rusty got BBQ ribs and the same sides, and everyone gets a slice of cornbread. Now, this place is honest to goodness the best BBQ I have ever had. And Rusty agrees! It was so, so delicious. They had all kinds of different sauces you could use, but honestly you didn't need any. The meat alone was so good. And their mac n cheese! Ah man. If I could go back in time, that stuff would be served at my wedding.
To end the night, we saw some concerts. This was a cool bar because it had three different stages so there was a lot going on. And on one of the stages, was the "8 off 8th" which essentially means that 8 different bands that are up-and-coming get to play on the stage for a little while, switching on and off through the night. (The bar was on 8th street).
Day #6: Nashville, Alabama, Georgia
We had one more day in Nashville, or part of one at least, which was great because there still was a lot of things we wanted to see. We started out by going to Radnor Lake just outside the city. It was quite the little nature walk! There were deer, otters, ducks, and even an owl. The owl was just sitting at the bottom of a tree watching us. I have never seen an owl like that so close, and especially in the day! It was really cool.
After seeing the lake we went back downtown to finish seeing everything there that we wanted to. We walked around there, got some ice cream, saw the Hatch Print Shop, and the Cash Museum. The Hatch Print Shop is pretty cool because they have made posters for some really famous people, including Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Duke Ellington. They have been open since 1879 and are still in business making posters for contemporary artists (like Garth Brooks).
Also, they have store cats. Everywhere.
Walking around downtown in the daytime really does have its perks. You get to see all kinds of things that you don't see/notice when you're there at night. Like Elvis statues and magic boxes that play music.
Like this one. When you're walking around at night, you can hear all kinds of music coming out of the bars. In the daytime, there is still quite a bit of live singing in bars, but apparently if you cannot hear country music everywhere you are downtown, that's a problem. So they have these boxes on street corners that just play music. All day. It's hilarious. And awesome.
Then we ran into this guy. Rusty tried to do an impersonation, but was a little shy.
So I showed him how it's done.
These signs are outside of every bar or restaurant that has live music going on. But, pretty much every bar and restaurant has live music. So I don't really understand why that is not just assumed.
This is the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. The store-keeper gave us a little history lesson when we went in. Ernest Tubb was a singer that later opened up this shop, which he kept running until he died. Now it is still owned and managed by someone in his family. They have all kinds of records, CDs, and other items from country and bluegrass stars. It's really old. Like opened in 1947 old.
This is the Cash Museum and Shop. It was pretty cool.
Next, we went to Music Row and to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Similar story here, we didn't want to pay the money to go into the museum so we just went to the outside of it :)
Music Row was cool because Rusty and I really had no idea what it was, but in our research of the city we learned that it was a "must see." So, we went and wandered around... and looked at stuff... and took pictures of stuff we thought was cool. Finally we started reading the signs and realized that this area was all devoted to the music industry. Recording studios, producers, voice lessons, songwriters, you name it. It was pretty cool to see this side of the city and realize that this is where a lot of people's dreams come true.
All the streets were named after Country stars.
Hillary Lindsey is a songwriter (we walked based her building on Music Row) that has written songs with Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Martina McBride.
This is Studio B. Elvis recorded a lot of his music here.
More information on Studio B.
Well, it was finally time to leave Nashville and make our way to Georgia. In Tennessee we drove through Chattanooga and stopped at a lookout for tours for Ruby Falls. Chattanooga is definitely somewhere I want to go back! There was so much hiking and sight seeing to do. I wanted to tour Ruby Falls and see Rock City, but we had to keep on trekking. So, Chattanooga I will be seeing you again.
Later we drove though the Appalachians, which was funny because both Rusty and I commented on how that area was so beautiful and very hilly. It wasn't until after that that we realized that we had just crossed the mountains haha. Definitely not the mountains that we are used to, but they sure are pretty. We dipped down into Alabama for a while, then back into Tennessee and then finally made it to Georgia. In Georgia we went straight past Atlanta to Peachtree City to visit Rusty's aunt and uncle. We got there that night and had dinner with them and caught up. It was really great to see them!
Day #7: Atlanta
Atlanta for us was really busy (not like the others weren't, but it was even more so). When we lived in Seattle we came across this thing called a City Pass. It's a whole bunch of tickets to attractions in the area bundled together so that when you buy a group of them, it's cheaper. Well, Atlanta had a City Pass deal too! We checked it out and noticed that it had a lot of cool things we would like to do for a lot cheaper, so we decided to get it. Our first stop was the Georgia Aquarium.
Now, I was a little skeptical about this Aquarium because it is literally right downtown. In Georgia. That didn't seem too promising. But honestly, this is the coolest aquarium I have ever been to. It has the most water of any aquarium in the WORLD, with over 8 MILLION gallons! There are a ton of cool exhibits that have fish and animals from all over the world. Then, there is a giant tank that has a tunnel through it so you can walk underneath the tank. In this tank, there are a few whale sharks, manta rays, sting rays, giant groupers (which are ug), six different types of shark, and a bunch of different fish. The tunnel is cool and I was completely content to just stay in there, but a worker came up and asked me if I was liking the aquarium for my first time. Unsure how he knew it was my first time, I said I was and how wonderful this tank was. He told me that if I kept going there would be a much better viewing area, the largest aquarium viewing in the world. And wow. I'm so glad he told me that. It is absolutely breathtaking. The room is set up with risers so that you can sit down and look at it, and it is so peaceful and serene. I could have stayed there forever.
An exhibit of fish from the Amazon.
This aquarium also had beluga whales, otters, Japanese spider crabs, and penguins. The otters were so cute, and I learned about how smart they were. When I was talking with the worker she told me that when they go to sleep, they sleep on their backs. And so they don't float away with the tide and go into open waters where it is dangerous, they tie themselves to kelp. I couldn't believe that! That is genius.
I love dolphins.
Nasty huge Japanese Spider Crab.
Beluuuuuuuga!
Whale shark.
All of this stuff was awesome, but the real winner of the day was the Dolphin Show. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. In the show, there was a story line with actors and music. The dolphins would come out at their parts and do the coolest tricks! Dolphins are always so graceful and smooth, and that's why my favorite part was the first trick. A dolphin came out and arched his back the opposite way so that his stomach stuck out and then belly flopped. Over and over again. It was hilarious. Then they really did cool tricks like flips, diving with their trainers, waving, and spinning. Every time I see something like this, it makes me just want to volunteer at an aquarium.
After the aquarium, we went over to the World of Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola was developed in Atlanta by a man name Pemberton, originally as a medicine in 1886. Later it became a soft drink, and a very popular one. Many different companies tried to make knock-off versions of Coke and steal the formula. Here, we got to see a giant vault that supposedly holds the recipe, watch a 4-D movie, see the process of filling and capping cans, and some items from the beginning of the company. Then, we went into a big room full of Coke products from around the world. It was really fun to try all of the different kinds; some were surprisingly good (Watermelon flavor from China) and others were disgusting (skunk, awful flavor from Italy).
Cool Coke bottle.
This vase looking thing is really, really old. It was one of the first soda dispensers. If I remember right, you would put the flavoring in it and then add carbonated water. Then the soda would drip out from the bottom into your glass.
This is the vault that holds the secret to the goodness of Coke.
Cool old fashioned Coke machine.
The room of the Worlds of Coke. Hilarious.
The last thing that we did was we went over to the CNN Broadcast Building. Who knew that CNN world headquarters were in Atlanta? Anyways, we got to take a tour of the building and see the processes that everything goes through (like working with a green screen and teleprompter). We also got to ride the world's longest freestanding escalator (I think now they are just making things up so it can be the biggest in the world).
Yay for giant escalators!!
Day #8: Atlanta, Charleston
On our last day, we finished up some things in Atlanta and then headed to Charleston. Words cannot express how excited we were to see that sign! Don't get me wrong, the road trip was fantastic and given the choice, I would not have changed it at all. But after 8 days, we were ready to finally get where we were going. Not to mention, the anticipation of what Charleston would be like was killing me!
To finish up our City Pass in Atlanta we hit up a few museums. We saw a really cool museum of history that had a fabulous exhibit about the Civil War as well as tours of some old settlements and a beautiful house built in the 1930's.
This house was built in the 1930's for a family that was extremely wealthy. At the time it cost $100,000 to build (which is about the same as $1.4 million today) and the furniture and decorations inside were worth thousands more. It was cool to walk through this house and hear stories about the high maintenance woman who designed it and demanded things such as a standing shower instead of a bathtub (which was a new concept). She wanted her house to be decorated in a very European style, so she and her husband went on a year long honeymoon through Europe. Tough life. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but this is what it looked like from the outside.
Then we went to the Margaret Mitchell House, which is really an apartment, where she wrote Gone with the Wind. It was cool to see where such a famous book was written (which I am reading right now actually!)
After visiting these places, we were on our way again! Our journey to the south became clearer and clearer as the restaurants became all about fried chicken and the greenery around the highways got thicker. Also there was the ever increasing appearance of our friends the armadillo and the possum.
The best sign in the whole world. We were finally here! Pictures of the apartment and our Charleston adventures are coming soon :)
I. LOVE. THIS. AND. YOU.
ReplyDeletePeriods for added emphasis. But really, I was laughing out loud. Have the most fun!!!!! And enjoy the fried chicken!
i think you are so great for doing this! i bet it was a lot of work! holy smokes! i loved reading about nashville (and i'm totally jealous) and hey! you're reading gone with the wind!! way to go!! it takes a while and doesn't necessarily move that fast, but dang i love that story!! i'll be stalking you all summer!!!
ReplyDelete