Adam, entertaining everyone with his growling monster.
On Thursday, we headed out to historic Lynchburg, TN for a stop at the Jack Daniels distillery. Lynchburg is a dry town, which makes having the distillery smack in the middle especially ironic. In fact, nobody uses the terms “Jack Daniels, whisky, hooch, grandma’s little helper,” or any of the other terms you’d expect there. Everyone, and I mean everyone, refers to it as “the local product.” Quaint.
Lopez family at the distillery.
Masters family at the distillery too.
We milled around the distillery for a few minutes, but our actual destination was Miss Mary Bobo’s Boarding House in downtown. We booked several weeks in advance for a chance to have a big ol’ southern family style meal, and today was the day. We waited in the cool old house until the dinner bell rang at 1, when we were led to the basement for our table.
Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House....or the place where magical foods happen.
I was pretty pumped when I heard we would be in the basement, having heard that it was originally the kitchen 100 years ago, and had the most historic atmosphere. We were led to a little brick room under the house, which was surprisingly cool…in fact, the little kids found it darn near cold. There was no AC, and it was the most comfortable place we’d been, which was crazy for July in Tennessee. Our hostess for the meal was one Ms Betty Ann Nutt, and she had more southern one-liners than any how-to-talk southern style book could hope for. I won’t go on and on, but the meal was fantastic. Fried chicken, tomato casserole, creamed corn, country style ham, fried okra, baked apples (with the ‘local product’ in them,) green beans, biscuits, sweet tea, and a coconut chess pie for dessert…..of course, with whipped cream that had more of the local product. Miss Mary Bobo’s should offer napping rooms for their customers after meals like that.
In the basement of Miss Mary Bobo's, where Ms Betty Ann Nutt explains the lazy susan procedure.
The basement, from the other side. Just big enough for the table, and the fireplace.
After our meal we walked around Lynchburg for just a brief time, then back to the hotel where some of the kids decided to take a dip in the pool and work off a few biscuits. In the evening we headed back to the Masters house in Franklin for a light taco salad, fruit, and then a jaunt downtown to hit up the Ben and Jerry’s for dessert. Another great night of hanging out with our dear friends.
Tennessee has the craziest little bugs. These little guys looked like something out of Where The Wild Things Are.
On Friday, I got up and did a 20 mile ride through Franklin, and then met Blair for some coffee. We shopped at The Factory for a few, then for lunch we hit up a fantastic little BBQ joint called Mickey Roo’s and then headed up into Nashville. We took the kids to the Opryland Hotel, where I told the kids I once had a friend fall into the fountain in college, trying to get money for a Coke. If you’ve never been to the hotel, it’s truly amazing, with multiple gardens, stores, conference centers, and entertainment INSIDE the hotel. In fact, while we were there, there was an Irish Dance competition being held, and as Tori said, “big hair and high kicks were everywhere.” (To clear up any Twitter confusion from last week, Victoria was NOT actually competing, simply watching. Although I think she has a secret desire to learnsome Irish dancing.)
Blair's brisket tacos at Mickey Roos. Very tasty!
Too many pictures to even try to post, but you get the idea....it's really beautiful inside. Seven stories of incredible scenery INSIDE a hotel.
Big hair and high kicks were everywhere!
After the hotel, we did a quick tour of the Belmont University campus where I took some classes a million years ago, Music Row, Downtown, and the area I used to work in, which is now entirely changed. Blair and I gave the guided tour from the front seat, pointing out all the places we had hung out, played way too much Altered Beast, and generally had some great times in Nashville back when we were just kids. So much has changed, and so much is the same…it’s still such a great town.
The train station in downtown Nashville.
For dinner we hung out at the Masters again, had some George Foreman sandwiches, and smores for dessert. Chad and Kimberly Sugura also hopped over and it was great way to wind down on our last night – fire pit going, kids on the big tree swing, smores, cupcakes, and lightning bugs. We even brought in some mild Oregon temps and humidity to make it all very pleasant.
All the kids around the fire making smores.
Just before we left, Beth asked if Blair would play through one of her new songs she’s working on for piano, a song from the Twilight soundtrack, and Blair obliged. He’s ‘just Blair’ to us, but it’s pretty fun having a gold record winning musician/writer/producer playing through your piano lesson tunes when you’re a teenager. Heck, I’m an old guy, and I’m always amazed every time he sits at the piano, which we all talked about on the ride back to the hotel.
Blair playing music for the kids. Davey helping turn the pages.
As was expected, a fantastic, fun time in Franklin and Nashville! Thanks to our friends for making so much time for us!
The Epic Journey 