Feb 16, 2011 Nashville, TN

We drove into Nashville by mid-day and decided to check into a hotel, the campgrounds were all about 15 min away and we didn’t want to drive after having a few drinks and listening to music.  The Best Western seemed like a reasonable option. Memory Foam beds and all---which neither of us actually cared much for.  After a bite to eat, we headed out on foot to explore the sights and sounds of Nashville, TN. We walked all over the downtown area, admiring the old architecture and wondering what they were thinking when they built the modern AT&T “Batman” building. It looked like Batman’s hood with the horns on the side—an ugly building in that city anyway.

Tennessee was added as a state in 1796 as the 16^th state in the Union. It is the birth place of Davy Crockett.  Tennessee is mostly famous for the rich music culture.  Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and B.B King are just a few musicians who got their start here.

Random things about Nashville: There’s a building replica of the Parthenon in Greece and some of the city buildings have a Neo-Greek style architecture. City Hall has a iron statue of Andrew Jackson on his horse, a replica Liberty Bell (Sonia rang it—and it almost deafened both of them).  There were peaceful Civil Rights Protests that took place here in Nashville during the 1950-60s. They were called lunch counter sit-ins. 400 Blacks, typically college students, sat peacefully at lunch counters for hours silently protesting for desegregation. Many were assaulted and many were arrested.  Management would usually refuse to server them  and would often close down businesses because of them. The Black protesters eventually, 10+ years later, won the fight and desegregation was allowed in public businesses. Many were beaten, hauled off to jail, and many even died during the Civil Rights protests here.  Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis, TN. It’s terribly sad all the suffering Black people had to endure but they fought for a cause knowing this would provide a better outcome for future generations. Those people are truly heros. We could go on and on but we’ll keep it short.

After a few hours of walking around, we were terribly thirsty and working up an appetite. Music was getting started on Broadway Ave. We tried some soul food at B.B King’s Blues Club. Fried Pickles, more catfish and more ribs for Jason. The fried pickles were interesting but not something we wanted in excess.   We had a drink and listened to this excellent Bluegrass/Country band , called Silver Threads, at Layla’s. The stand up bass player was incredible, Joe Fick—We can see him getting picked up by a record company some day. He was dynamic, fast and passionate. The Legendary Rich Gilbert was also playing in this band—he played guitar and pedal steel guitar—also very talented. He was recently on David Letterman and Conan O’Brian too.  We left and ended up coming back later-it was so good.  We barhopped late into the night, listening to country, rock and bluegrass.  For a Tuesday night, Nashville was hoppin! We met 2 young guys who were on a road trip from Baltimore to California—we traded stories and adventures. Fun. We walked back to the comforts of the Best Western Inn and hit the sack. Another fun day adventuring around.