Flick Journey 2011: Nashville, Tenn.

Left Jonesboro on Sunday, May 1 for Nashville, TN. We crossed the Missippippi (I-40) in Memphis. You may remember I-40 (Little Rock to Memphis) being closed later in the week.

Crossing Missippippi River at Memphis. River is about 2X+ its normal width.

Memphis in the background. Glad we crossed the "mighty" Missippippi on May 1!

There was some other excitement on the drive to Nashville besides the high water! While cruising east on I-40 an 18 wheeler blew a trailer tire and the cap settled in our lane. Left lane was full so didn't have any choses but to run over it, could have avoided it in the Z! Fortunately the incident caused minor damage, it caught the RV rear mudflap and tore it slightly. It also hit the tow hitch but just broke a tie wrap. Tie wrap replaced and mudflap has been repaired till PA. This one was close!

The rain stayed with us in Nashville. But it allowed us to complete our agenda +. Nashville was celebrating their 1 year flood experience of 2010. We are not Country Music fans but our goal is to see America and this town has history plus present day influence. Of course a trip to Nashville would not be complete without attending a show at The Grand Ole Opry.

Day 1- we did a downtown Trolley Hop tour which gave us an overview of the city past and present.
Tennessee's State Capitol looks much as it did when completed in 1859 . One of the oldest working antebellum capitols in the nation, several areas have been restored to their 19th century appearance.

State Capital

Down the hill from the Capitol is the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. It has a 200 ft. granite map, a walkway featuring the 95 counties in relief form, 31 fountains representing the major rivers of Tenn. and a very interesting History wall.

Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, The state is outlined showing the different regions. They did an excellent job on this park!

A full-scale replica of the (Greece) Parthenon was constructed for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition of 1897. It has been restored several times to keep its orginality. It's a beautiful building.

Music Mile, Just one of many music studios along the mile.

Of course, you need food, Bar-B-Que is a must! We had lunch at this established downtown site.

Cheryl getting into the tunes!

Cheryl must capture the flowers. This is outside cityhall.

Many Andrew Jackson statues around town.

New city architecture. Locals named it the "Batman Building"

Looking down on the Cumberland River which runs through the city.

Day 2 - President Andrew Jackson's Hermitage home. The guides wore period costumes welcoming us to the grand 1837 mansion.

Andrew Jackson began building this estate in his early years in Tennesse. He was a lawyer before going into politics. Now here is some news! Andrew and his wife Rachel lived together while she was still married to another man. A legal divorce was completed and then they were legally married. Thought this only happened in today's world! And this happened before he was elected president.

The current house was modified by Rachel and Andrew's adopted son, Andrew Jackson, Jr. and his wife, Sara. Fire destroyed part of the orginial home plus they added more rooms. Sara was originally from Philadelphia and bought most of the furniture in PA. The 1,120-acre farm has heirloom gardens made in the memory of his beloved wife. There are slave quarters and other historic buildings on the grounds. The tombs of Rachel and President A. Jackson, his son and his wife and other relatives are buried on the grounds.

House entrance. You could not take pictures inside.

House view from the rear.

Our visit was timely to the one year celebration of the 2010 Nashville flood. They pulled together a Grand Ole Opry show to celebrate and we were able to attend. The show included: Luke Bryan, Cherryholmes, Jimmy Dickens, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dierks Bentley, Trace Adkins, Charlie Daniels Band, Brad Paisley with special guests the group, Alabama. As you can see there were some well known perfomers. It was a live radio broadcast.