Spring Break

We went to Nashville and toured some southern states for our Spring Break this year.

We started at our fabulous friends' home in Hendersonville, a beautiful community next to Nashville.  Here we are standing in front of the Conway Twitty home.

This is their home.  We just love the Ron and Debra Jensen family.  They are friends from our LA days when we were first married.  If you want constant fun and stimulation, a stay with them is a must!

Debra and Rio, a Rhodesian Ridgeback.  I am really having a "I love dogs" phase in life right now, going back to my childhood.  Rio is such a mild sweet animal and the way he sits in the golf cart is hysterical (hence the picture).  Debra says he sits like this in the car too.

You come across the most fabulous old homes driving around.  It was impossible to take it all in.  We just spontaneously stopped and took a picture of certain homes.  In the south they say "make a picture", which, when you think about it makes more sense.

This place started off as a potty stop at the Trinity Broadcasting Center, you know, the lady with the lavendar hair; Turns out through the back of the gift shop is a free tour of the Conway Twitty estate.  We are standing in front of his home in the first picture of this blog post.

Ford had a great time fishing with Ron on his boat.  Ron caught it, Ford got to pose with it.

We went to Robert's Western World to watch a great band in downtown Nashville.  I learned a new culture:  All of the clubs on Broadway and 2nd have no cover charge and just pass around a tip bowl during the performance.  Most people go from club to club all night checking out the different scenes.  The most unique part of it is the crowd: young, older (all the way up to their 70s), tattooed, bad teeth, good teeth, crazy clothes, conservative clothes, good dancing, drunk dancing.  The mix of people was nothing like I've ever seen.  Everyone mixes in having a great time.

The band plays from 10-2 am without a break.  The man on the slide guitar has a Rockabilly sensibility.  The band only played old country western songs I doubt dated past the early 70s, it was fabulous.

I have an odd relationship with county music.  Some I like and some I loathe. It may as well be nails down a chalk board with most of the songs from the 80s on.  I like the old music with it's very identifiable instruments, like jazz.  I also like Rockabilly.  I loved every minute of the show.

A visit to an antebellum mansion, Beau Meade.  Ford and Grace in their finery.

Beau Meade is in Nashville.

A Dairy worked by slaves.

We went to find Grandpa Brian's law school alma mater.  While driving around we came upon Fraternity row and this frat house a day after a party.  The kids were so shocked, a picture was in order. 

We found it!  The campus has old brick buildings and is very stately.  This building is more modern, but then so are we.

Nashville is called the "Athens of the South" because there were so many higher institutions of learning in the early 20th century.  I don't know if that is still the case, but they built a full scale reproduction of the Parthenon at Centennial Park to commemorate it.  Ford just finished studying about Ancient Greece the day we left for this trip.  Now he knows what it would have looked like back in ancient times.

When Grace found out we wouldn't be going to Graceland, she was bummed out big time.  We gave her every opportunity to get her fixation of Elvis out of her system.  This is in downtown Nashville.

At the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home.

The audio tours are very helpful with keeping the younger kids interested and not too whiney.  This particular tour had an option for kids to listen to a parrot narrate.  The Jacksons had a parrot and at Andrew Jackson's funeral it was close by and started swearing during the ceremony.

Our Easter was spent with the Jensens.  They live on lake Cumberland and have a huge yard.  They live on two acres.  The kids had a fun Easter Egg hunt.

Ford collected his eggs and then began to hide them again for Ron and Debra's grandkids.  He would walk around with them and point the eggs out.  He is so sweet with the little kids.

 
Grace held onto her eggs.  I had to tell her "when the basket is overflowing, you're done".

Madeline watching the egg hunt.

Ford and Grace Kayaking on the Lake.

The first stop on our tour:  Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore.

Biggest private home in the U.S., so they say.  After walking through it, I believe them.

Oh, I have serious garden envy.  This property went on and on with its many gardens.  It was so soothing and beautiful I could have spent most of the day in them.

We walked through the conservatory.  There is a Hot house and a Cold house.  The kids were fascinated with all the plant types and took lots of pictures.

The Tulip garden.

Now we are in Charleston, SC and stayed on the Isle of Palms.  I noticed that the people staying here all looked Californian, tanned, fit and refreshed.

The hotel where we stayed. 

This is the only hotel that we stayed in that had a charming look.

I love a beach with dunes.  I used fantasized about living near one back in the days when I was taking portraits.  They don't let you walk on them since they are an ecosystem.

We drove around the Isle and found a lot of fabulous homes.  This is right on the coast.

Kids at the beach.

I thought this house was too cool to pass up without a picture.  The man told us it rents for $14,000. a week in the summer.

We had to go into the Piggly Wiggly just to say we did.  We found an array of chopped ham blocks/loaves that Ford was intrigued with.

We took a horse and carriage ride through Charleston and learned so much and saw it at a horse's pace, which was nice.

We learned that the first shots of the Civil War were at Ft. Sumpter in Charleston, I didn't know that.

Charleston mansion.

Another.

Madeline and a can of Piggly Wiggly Cola.  We learned from Debra that in the south they don't say soda, they say Coke, as in "would you like a Coke?" even if they're offering a Sprite.

In a garden in Savannah (not the garden of good and evil).

On a river boat cruise.

Ford having a Tom Sawyer moment.

Grace on the cruise with the Savannah river front behind her.

We stopped at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo museum.  Most of the cars have been turned into hotel rooms.  We thought about staying for a split second, but I started feeling chlosterphobic and it was near the end of our trip when the kids were at each other's throats a lot.  We needed two large hotel rooms and four beds at this point.

Grace, ready for some caverns.

Ford bought a Daniel Boone cap and it suited him well.

Inside the Raccoon Mountain Cavern.  It is huge and it is beautiful and we somehow got a private tour.  

We came across 5 salamanders.

Panning for gems at the Raccoon  Mountain Cavern.  You buy a bag and pan.  Every bag has goodies inside.  You choose what you want to find.  Grace wanted gems, Madeline- Emeralds, and Ford- arrow heads.  The bags were loaded with things.

Ford found 7 arrowheads.

Grace had a full bag of gems.

They rode go-karts to let off some steam.

Ford was racing.  A little more freedom than Autotopia at Disneyland.

After Chattanooga we went back to Ron's and Debra's home.  The kids were so ready to go back to fish, kayak, and play.   The Jensens are the masters of card games.  They have a drawer in this table loaded with cards.  So much fun.

Ron, Debra, daughter Rahny, and grandson Keenen in their fabulous front yard.  I love all the Dogwood trees.

This is us on our last full day in the south.  Good Times.

The Opryland Hotel, it was as huge as everyone said.

Grace scores an Elvis doll, her bait through the whole trip.  Elvis was used many times to correct sassy behavior, thanks Elvis.

A bonfire in The Jensen's back yard.

We got a final boat ride at dusk from Ron to show us Johnny Cash's old home.  It is burned rubble now with a huge cement foundation on the lake front.  The Bee Gees bought it and were remodeling when an electrical fire destroyed it.  They are rebuilding, but you can't help thinking if the Johnny Cash muse can't be passed to any other artist.

We went back to Robert's for one last taste of Nashville.  It was fab.

We got back to the Jensen's at 2:30 am, slept for an hour and left to the airport at 4 am to catch our plane at 6.  We really packed it in.

Elvis at John Wayne Airport.

Ladies and Gentleman Elvis has left the building.