The first week of October my mom, sister and I headed to Tennessee for a girl's trip! My mom had been wanting to go to Nashville for some time and thanks to my sister's travel planning skills we were able to hit up Memphis on our way! I have to say, this is by far one of the best vacations I have been on! It was so fun and we were able to see so many iconic things. Definitely a trip I would recommend to anyone!
We left on a Tuesday morning and got to Memphis mid afternoon. Our first stop was Mud River Island Park. It is a small peninsula surrounded by the Mississippi River which pays tribute to the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful day out to walk along the park view the scale model of the river and how it affected the course of American history.
Our second stop was the famous Peabody Hotel. We got there just in time to watch the ducks make their way from the hotel lobby fountain back up to their coop on the rooftop, all orchestrated by a duck master, red carpet treatment and all!
Next we headed to world famous Beale street, home of the Blues. We spent the rest of the evening lounging at bars and restaurants listening to some amazing music and feasting on southern food!
Wednesday morning we headed to Graceland, home of Elvis Presley. When my sister put this on our travel itinerary I was skeptical but went along with it as I knew it was at the top of my mom's bucket list. We grew up with Elvis on the record player so I knew a little about him and his music, and my mom shared she went to one of his last concerts in June of 1977 in Omaha with my aunt Shirley, sitting in the top row, back before mega tron and big screens, barely getting a glimpse of him. Can I just say, after spending 6 hours there ( the tour guide said a typical tour is 3 hours..we didn't want to leave) I am in love with Graceland and Elvis! It was definitely the highlight of our trip! Such an amazing place with so much history. I've read 3 books about him since we've been back, so I may just be the newest Elvis groupie!
Front door
Back of the house
"Man cave" notice the 3 televisions? That's so he could watch all 3 TV stations at one time! He was obsessed with TV and even had TV's in many of his cars.
Game room. The walls and ceiling are all pieces of fabric.
A very small collection of his iconic suits.
His final resting place along with his infant twin brother, his parents and his grandmother.
The Lisa Marie, the larger of his 2 airplanes. We even got to go inside to take a look.
On to Nashville! The following day our first stop was Andrew Jackson's presidential home, The Hermitage. Andrew Jackson purchased this estate in 1804 and has truly been well preserved. We toured the mansion and the grounds which consisted of cabins that housed the slaves, the cotton field, the smokehouse and barn/carriage house as well as the meditation garden where Jackson is buried. The tour guides were completely amazing telling stories from Jackson's presidential days. I tried to imagine myself living in this time era and all the struggles this family faced. It makes me realize how much I rely on modern day technology and I am a little ashamed!
Front of mansion with circle drive leading up to it.
Back of the house
Log cabins the slaves lived in. It was said Jackson had many long term slaves and he was very good to them.
Jackson's tomb
Our next stop was Fontanel Mansion, the worlds largest log home, built by country superstar Barbara Mandrell and her husband Ken. They no longer live there, scaling down from the 27,000 square foot home to a 10,000 square foot home in North Carolina. The mansion is complete with indoor swimming pool, shooting range, 19 fireplaces and a soda fountain. The 3 bears in this picture represent the couple's 3 children.
Next up was the Grand Ole Opry House! We were actually there twice, once for a guided backstage tour ( super cool) and then again for their 90th anniversary birthday bash. We just missed Darius Rucker by a few minutes the day of our tour!
This is the original floor from the Ryman Auditorium moved to the Grand Old Opry. To be a member of the Grand Ole Opry and to be able to perform on this famous circle is one of county music's most crowning achievements.
The evening of the birthday bash my sister scored us some great seats! The live radio broadcast show included The Gatlin Brothers, Joe Diffie, Diamond Rio, Lorrie Morgan, Old Crow Medicine Show, JT Hodges, Riders in the Sky and Little Big Town!
The next day we devoted to Country Music, touring all the historical landmarks!
Ryman Auditorium
Country Music Hall of Fame
Historic RCA studio B
In between the tours and stops, we spent time on Broadway. This famous street is filled with bars, restaurants and shos filled with anything you can imagine! It was fun bar hopping and listening all the amazing raw talent Nashville has to offer!
Turns out through facebook my classmate Jen Litton let me know another classmate recently moved to Nashville and I should look her up! Sure enough I did and she met us for breakfast at the hotel one morning. Melissa Gude and I go way back! I have know her since elementary school and we spent our first year in college at NWMS together and transferred to ISU together our second year. I honestly think it's been about 20 years since I have seen her! So fun to catch up with her!
Rolling Jamboree is a pimped out bus tour with 2 raunchy tour guides and an extremely talented guitar player/singer who sang, poked fun of the tourists ( us) and give us a tour of the city. My stomach hurt so much from laughing! Such a fun time!
Last but not least, the famous Bluebird Cafe. My poor sister had to log on to the computers at an ungodly hour to get in line for tickets to this place. It has gotten much tougher to get in to it since the hit show Nashville has made it even more famous. The only seats available were at the bar and they were the best seats in the house! The concept is cramming as many people as you can in this small cafe to listen to singers in the round. They were all completely amazing!
Old Dominion's Brad Tursi
I am so thankful I could get away and make these memories with my mom and sister! It was completely amazing! Special thanks to my sister for planning the WHOLE thing and to the hubs for holding down the home front!
