Texas or Bust, day 2!
We made good time on Day 2 of our journey -- which was helped along by the fact that we crossed into the Central time zone and got an hour back at about 12 noon. :)
We had a tasty breakfast at Perkins in Knoxville, spent a few minutes scrubbing the bugs off the windshield, and headed west on Route 40. This road basically goes all the way across Tennessee, through the major cities, so it gave us a chance to stop and be tourists.
Along the way, we saw signs for a winery in Crossville, TN (Stonehaus), so we decided to stop. Well, it helped that there was a small outlet mall on the other side of the highway, at the same exit. :) We bought a bottle of their Cumberland Gold wine, which has a decidedly peachy taste to it. Yum. The outlet mall was small and relatively empty. M got some fun Texas-themed underwear, which we will have to showcase for you later. ;)
We made it to Nashville around 1pm, and managed to find the downtown touristy area (Broadway and 2nd street, in case you're wondering). Since M is going there for her birthday next month with the fam, we didn't have to see everything, but we did walk around, and had to go into a boot store, where M tried on a variety of interesting cowboy hats. Thing is, she actually looks good in them!!
Left Nashville and got back on the road, headed for Memphis.
M's friend who lives in Memphis was actually in Pennsylvania this week, but when she called him, he recommended the Blues City Cafe on Beale Street. We managed somehow to skip Graceland (went the wrong way around their version of the Beltway), but found our way into town, and walked around Beale street and downtown for a few hours. I suppose we could have gone back to Graceland afterwards, but it was 20 minutes in the wrong direction (back towards Nashville), so we decided against it. Guess
I'll just have to go back to Memphis someday! ;) Here's a pic of Beale Street -- pretty deserted on a Tuesday night.
We also walked over to the Peabody Hotel and went inside. It's beautiful. M was a little skeptical when I told her about the ducks (we missed them, they parade through the lobby at 11am and 5pm). Across from the Peabody is Autozone Park, where the Memphis Redbirds play (STL Cardinals AAA farm team).
I think the park was designed by the same folks that did Camden Yards... the architecture and color scheme are nearly identical.
Driving west from Memphis, you cross the Mississippi River, past Mud Island River Park (if you saw "The Firm," Tom Cruise takes the monorail over there to escape the bad guys). The Tennessee/Arkansas state line is right in the middle of the river! (Unfortunately, I was driving at that point, so the picture of the "Welcome to Arkansas" sign is on M's camera and will have to be uploaded next week.)
We made it to Little Rock around 10pm. Again, without a map of downtown, we managed to locate the hotel and get ourselves checked in. Unfortunately, there was a basketball tournament going on in town this week, and one of the teams was staying on our floor. All around us. When they hadn't gone to bed (and were still screaming and cursing at each other in the next room) at 2:30am, M called down to the desk for the 3rd time. At that point, they [finally] offered to put us in a different room, but at that hour, who wants to move? UGH. I'm glad I had my trusty earplugs.
Needless to say, we were exhausted. Day 3 report, including the Clinton Museum, crossing into Texas and FINALLY getting to Austin, coming soon!
We had a tasty breakfast at Perkins in Knoxville, spent a few minutes scrubbing the bugs off the windshield, and headed west on Route 40. This road basically goes all the way across Tennessee, through the major cities, so it gave us a chance to stop and be tourists.
Along the way, we saw signs for a winery in Crossville, TN (Stonehaus), so we decided to stop. Well, it helped that there was a small outlet mall on the other side of the highway, at the same exit. :) We bought a bottle of their Cumberland Gold wine, which has a decidedly peachy taste to it. Yum. The outlet mall was small and relatively empty. M got some fun Texas-themed underwear, which we will have to showcase for you later. ;)
We made it to Nashville around 1pm, and managed to find the downtown touristy area (Broadway and 2nd street, in case you're wondering). Since M is going there for her birthday next month with the fam, we didn't have to see everything, but we did walk around, and had to go into a boot store, where M tried on a variety of interesting cowboy hats. Thing is, she actually looks good in them!!
Left Nashville and got back on the road, headed for Memphis.
M's friend who lives in Memphis was actually in Pennsylvania this week, but when she called him, he recommended the Blues City Cafe on Beale Street. We managed somehow to skip Graceland (went the wrong way around their version of the Beltway), but found our way into town, and walked around Beale street and downtown for a few hours. I suppose we could have gone back to Graceland afterwards, but it was 20 minutes in the wrong direction (back towards Nashville), so we decided against it. Guess
I'll just have to go back to Memphis someday! ;) Here's a pic of Beale Street -- pretty deserted on a Tuesday night.We also walked over to the Peabody Hotel and went inside. It's beautiful. M was a little skeptical when I told her about the ducks (we missed them, they parade through the lobby at 11am and 5pm). Across from the Peabody is Autozone Park, where the Memphis Redbirds play (STL Cardinals AAA farm team).
I think the park was designed by the same folks that did Camden Yards... the architecture and color scheme are nearly identical.Driving west from Memphis, you cross the Mississippi River, past Mud Island River Park (if you saw "The Firm," Tom Cruise takes the monorail over there to escape the bad guys). The Tennessee/Arkansas state line is right in the middle of the river! (Unfortunately, I was driving at that point, so the picture of the "Welcome to Arkansas" sign is on M's camera and will have to be uploaded next week.)
We made it to Little Rock around 10pm. Again, without a map of downtown, we managed to locate the hotel and get ourselves checked in. Unfortunately, there was a basketball tournament going on in town this week, and one of the teams was staying on our floor. All around us. When they hadn't gone to bed (and were still screaming and cursing at each other in the next room) at 2:30am, M called down to the desk for the 3rd time. At that point, they [finally] offered to put us in a different room, but at that hour, who wants to move? UGH. I'm glad I had my trusty earplugs.
Needless to say, we were exhausted. Day 3 report, including the Clinton Museum, crossing into Texas and FINALLY getting to Austin, coming soon!
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