Day 15 – 4th of July: Nashville to Savannah, GA

Likely this home belonged to someone who was going to have an enjoyable 4th!

We tried…

We started off on the wrong foot this morning. Kids were tired, I wanted pictures that we took extra time to get, we drove into downtown Chattanooga to find something for lunch…everything was closed. We actually went back an exit just to find a Subway. (A note: this is an interesting route on the hwy. We left Tennessee, entered Georgia, went back into Tennessee territory, and finally into Georgia again–not that that added time, but interesting how the hwy. is routed.)

Trying to keep the spirit by having the kids buy red, white, or blue goodies along the way.

We booked a hotel in Port Wentworth, a suburb of Savannah, thinking maybe we’d have an easier time finding a fireworks display, maybe even some fireworks for the boys to buy, and then get to see a bit of Savannah in the morning. But when we got into Port Wentworth we found out there were no fireworks to see. And, the only fireworks we could find to watch were down by the River in downtown Savannah. There was “discrepancy” over whether we should go back to the hotel and call it a night, or venture out to see what we could still salvage. Guess what? We made a wrong turn only to meet the traffic of the lucky ones who did see fireworks. Not a little traffic, hoards of cars–we weren’t moving! Guess what else? We had kids who needed a bathroom…NOW. Our car was the last place any of you would have wanted to have been at that moment. It’s not that we were yelling, it was just really tense and really uncomfortable–more for those who needed bathrooms, of course. And we were in traffic, for two hours!! At one point we found a Thai restaurant, closed, of course, but they still had customers. I offered to buy a cup of coffee or..anything! But our hostess must have been a mother; she didn’t hesitate to let our two kids (the ones who needed it) use the bathroom, free of charge.

If you stare for 2 hours at this, the constant braking eventually kind of looks like flashing fireworks.

To top it off, we finally arrived at our hotel, not having seen any fireworks except the last spurts of the one show, from a distance; not having bought or lit any fireworks of our own; and not having had any meals fit for drowning sorrows. Our hotel left something to be desired…it was…dark, worn, and nothing like home. The wallpaper was peeling, the shower was cracked, and the toilet didn’t flush, much.

Goodness, we tried. But today we felt the strangeness of being in a new city, on a holiday, away from the rest of our family and friends, and feeling our most road weary. Thank goodness for another day.

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Day 13 and 14 in and around Nashville

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!

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Day 12-Birmingham to Nashville, Tennessee

Wednesday is the day Paul got to meet his Bike Skirt blog buddies and see parts of Birmingham on their bike tour. The nicest gals, doing so much good for their community, full of fantastic eatery ideas to keep us fueled for our trip, and wonderful hosts and educators in all things Birmingham. (Paul’s blog post here.)

Adam loves to ride the luggage cart.

After a quick driving tour of one of the beautiful neighborhoods in Birmingham, we followed one of their leads to V. Richards, a terrific, local grocery store with some fresh options for our lunch on the road.

Some nice healthy, organic, natural options at V. Richards in Birmingham.

The kids all doing Adam's monster growl.

If you put your feet up on the console next to me, and fall asleep when there's Fruit Loops around....well....

And, thankfully, our path to Tennessee was quick. I think we packed as many stops as we do on longer driving days (we know how to turn a two hour drive into four hours like nobody’s business!). And we made it into Franklin in time to check into our hotel before heading to the our good friends for dinner. Everyone should be greeted so warmly by friends!!

That's Blair right there thinking, "I didn't plan for no camera!"

The main street in downtown historic Franklin.

We had a great time, having a home-cooked meal (Karthi’s poppyseed chicken), visiting old downtown Franklin, and seeing lightnin’ bugs for our first time!  And, before we got into town too late, or the pool was closed for maintenance, we finally got to swim at the hotel pool–our first trip into the pool!

The kids caught some lightning bugs in a jar. A fantastic, fun evening for our first night into town!

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