Once that ordeal was over though, we were off and running! We started Saturday morning with the yummiest brunch at the Loveless Cafe.
Allen and I used to sneak watching Dukes of Hazard because it was a no-no growing up. It was just a little too racy and too badboy for the comfort of Al and Liz. And yet, it's a total childhood memory for me, so Allen and I must have sneaked-a-peak on many an occassion!
In front of the "museum" is one of the original General Lee cars, as well as Cooter's tow truck.
Inside, the museum is full of memorabilia from the show, as well as all of the merchandise that was produced in the late 70s / early 80s. Honestly, it was like stepping back in time to see the sleeping bags, road trip games, lunch boxes, pajamas, posters, and other products all associated with the show. Above is Daisy Duke's original jeep, the sherriff's patrol, and Uncle Jesse's truck.
Gotta love the clothing line of "Daisy Duke" shorts!
From there, we went a little more high-brow Southern! Unbeknownst to me, President Andrew Jackson was from Nashville and his home, The Hermitage, is outside of the city limits. We decided to take in a little culture and I'm glad we did.
Neither of us knew anything about Andrew Jackson, so we spent some time in the museum reading various exhibit displays and watching a video. We then walked from the museum up to the housek, which is really lovely.
I couldn't get a great picture of the house because of the landscape and the weather (rainy weather = wet lawn), but this is the front of the home.
And this is the back.
We were able to tour the front hallway, living room, family / music room, dining room, President Jackson's bedroom, his daughter-in-law's quarters, the President's library, and the guest bedrooms and grandchildren's bedrooms upstairs.
His wife, Rachel, died shortly after he moved into the home, so his son and his wife and their two children lived with the President until his death.
One nice part of the tour was listening to how the president loved Rachel. When she passed, he buried her in her garden and created this tomb for her. Every day at dusk, he would walk out to the garden and sit beside her grave.
He's buried in the tomb to the left and Rachel is on the right.
Just outside of the fencing that surrounds their tomb is the grave of one President Jackson's slaves, Uncle Alfred, who was his personal attendant. Alfred died many years after President Jackson's home was turned over to a preservation society, but they honored Alfred's request to be buried by the president.
After The Hermitage, we ended our day visiting some Nashville institutions!
Katy K's Ranch Dressing clothing store, where Susan bought a cute red gingham cowgirl shirt. Following that, we set off for Broadway Street in downtown Nashville, which is lined with honky tonks. There was a ton of live music, partying and BBQ!
A stop at Jack's BBQ for some beef brisket, baked beans, corn and cornbread. My kind of meal! Then, we went to Mecca...the Grand Ole Opry!
We bought tickets for the Saturday night concert and backstage tour. We loved it! The concert was two hours, broken down into four 30-minute segments. Each segment featured three to four performers, so each performer sang two to three songs. It was just enough of everyone to be really great without getting old.
The most notable people we saw were Holly Willams (granddaughter and daughter of Hank Williams, Sr. and Jr., respectively), The Henningsens, The Band Perry and Scotty McCreedy. We absolutely loved being at an Opry concert!
We also LOVED the backstage tour! We saw the artists' entrance, their post office station and all of their back stage dressing rooms.
From here, we went on stage, and honestly, wouldn't you know it, both of our phones/cameras died right then. Unbelievable! So, no picture of us standing on the Opry stage, but we were up there! I thought the whole evening was so fun - a definite must-do again!
The next day, we decided to do something a little spontaneous that we weren't planning on - we drove to Memphis to see Graceland! We first fueled up at Noshville for some of their famous griddle cakes and silver dollar potatoe latkes, which were delish!
And then we headed three hours to the west to hit Memphis. We arrived exactly one minute before our scheduled 12:30 tour (I may have driven 10-15 miles over the speed limit to do so!), and we absolutely loved every part of it!
The mansion is surprisingly small, but mansion standards. It's really a lovely home and property. Although the decor of the home is woefully outdated - nothing has changed since the mid-1970s - you can tell that in the hey-day, this would have been the place to be!
When you walk in the mansion's front doors, immediately to your right is the living room with the famous 15-foot long white couch. Just beyond the living room is the music room.
Elvis' portrait at the base of the main staircase.
The main staircase in the front hall. The upper level is closed to the public.
Immediately to the left of the front door is the dining room.
A picture of Elvis' wife, Priscilla, and their daughter, Lisa Marie.
The kitchen
Downstairs, there is a family room with a huge sectional and three TVs, as well as a bar area.
Next door to the family room is the billard room. The walls and ceiling are covered in more than 350 yards of fabric. Talk about a dusting nightmare!
Check out the green shag carpeting that runs along the staircase from the basement back to the main floor. It's on the floor, walls and ceiling!! You've got to love 1970s interior design!
The famous jungle room/den.
Outside, across the back yard, Elvis built an office for his father, Vernon, and a swingset for Lisa Marie.
Side view of the mansion from Vernon's office. The jungle room is directly in front with the three windows.
The horse pasture
Inside the Trophy Building, which houses many of Elvis' gold and platinum records. This is called the Hall of Gold.
The pool area
Elvis was apparently a big fan of raquetball, so he built his own raquetball court (of course he did!). At some point, the court was converted to hold even more of his awards and concert outfits.
The meditation garden, just beyond the pool, is where Elvis and his parents are buried.
Once we were done touring Graceland, we went across the street to tour his car museum and his airplanes. The man was not afraid to spend money on toys!
Here's the Mercedes-Benz he bought Priscilla.
One of two Rolls-Royces
I LOVED this purple Cadillac covertible. Check out how huge it is!! Can you imagine parallel parking this thing...anywhere!?!?
And of course, the world-famous pink Cadillac, which Susan just loved!
From the car museum, we went over to his airplane, the Lisa Marie.
Elvis' motto was "Takin' Care of Business in a Flash" so TCB and a lightening bolt is on the tail of the Lisa Marie, as well as throughout all of the Graceland memorabilia.
The main restroom on the plane - how about a sink of 24k gold and a leather-padded toilet seat? Anyone? Not quite what our U.S. Air experience was on the flight to Nashville!
Elvis' bedroom at the back of the plane.
After three hours, we felt like we had a PhD in Elvis Presley. We completely loved the tours! It was totally worth the three hour drive to Memphis to check it out.
Following Graceland, we had a three hour drive ahead of us, so we decided to check out a local place that is considered one of the best fried chicken places in Memphis: Uncle Lou's.
Hmmmmm....we're wondering what Memphis residents see in this place. Our consensus: nasty.
We struggled to make a good showing of eating our chicken tenders, biscuits, fries and cole slaw. As much as I hate doing this, we threw away more than 50% of the meal. It was just gross.
We weren't deterred, however! We hopped in the car, hauled back to Nashville and ate a yummy late dinner at Chuy's Mexican restaurant, which is one of Tiffany and Emily's favorite restaurants in Dallas. We saw a Chuy's near the Grand Ole Opry, so that was our destination and it more than made up for Uncle Lou's. Give me chips and salsa anytime over nasty fried chicken!
All in all, I LOVED my Nashville weekend! Good company, good food, country music and loads of cowboy boots and cowboy hats. I'm all in!