Deep South Road Trip #3

Monday 16th April

We took our time getting up and enjoyed breakfast on the cabin porch.  We eventually packed up and left at about 10am and set the SatNav for the US Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  The drive wasn’t too bad and after two hours we started to see rockets looming into the sky as we approached.  This museum was Mia’s choice being a bit of a sci-fi fan but I think I probably enjoyed it just as much.  The first exhibitions were more to do with climate change and the history of the center itself.  We had a trip on a flight simulator (haven’t been on one of those for decades!) and grabbed lunch, then headed to the main event.  The Rocket park has 27 rockets and missiles including Saturn I.  From there we entered the Saturn V hall which includes one of only 3 Saturn V rockets in the world.  It was suspended horizontally which gave much more of a sense of the size and scale than the vertical rockets outside.  I think being inside made it seem even more massive - I actually gasped when I first walked in!  The hall detailed the full story of the Apollo missions from Werner over Braun’s beginnings developing the V2 Rocket for Germany in World War 2 to his progression to creating rockets that could send men to the Moon.  Among the artefacts were a chance to sit in the shuttle cockpit (it’s rather snug) and the Airstream that was used to quarantine astronauts on their return from the Moon.  The whole place was fascinating and really gave me a completely new perspective and understanding of the missions and the people behind them.

Before we left we walked around the Shuttle Park which includes the world’s only fully-stacked Space Transportation System that includes two solid rocket boosters, genuine space shuttle main engine nozzles and a genuine external tank.  This probably fascinated me most as it’s the style from the 80s and therefore how I often visualise a space rocket.  The shuttle park itself is a tribute to the Challenger disaster of 1986, one of my earliest “news” memories.

The drive onto Nashville was fairly easy although seemed to take us more on single lane roads rather than the Interstate.  Once we got into our apartment and settled in it was 8pm so we followed our hosts top choice for dinner at Taco Mamacita.  It was a great choice and only 10 minutes walk away.  Our apartment was nice – the bathroom needs some love but there were two very comfy double beds and it was nice not to have to make up a sofa bed for a change!

Tuesday 17th April

We hadn’t had the chance to pick up anything for breakfast so 20 minutes walk away was the highly recommended Pancake Pantry.  About time I had bacon and syrup pancakes!  There was a bit of a queue but it was worth the wait.  We then took the bus into Downtown.  This is where we noticed how poor the bus information was here.  Very nondescript bus stops with no timetables or any detail of what buses would stop there.  The bus station was near the Musicians Hall Of Fame which was my only must-do in Nashville so we went to tick it off.

The Musicians Hall Of Fame has two sections.  The first takes you through the histories of some of the big music centres of the USA.  In addition to Nashville it profiles Memphis and Detroit.  I really liked that they didn’t just focus on the big stars but profiled the session musicians who played on hundreds of hit records from the major labels of Sun, Stax and Motown.  There are lots of artefacts and instruments with information of what songs they appeared on.

The second part is the Grammy Museum Gallery which was a huge amount of fun.  As well as information on the history of the Grammys this was mostly an interactive experience.  There were opportunities to play guitars, keyboards and sing, simulations of recording studios and DJing.  There are video interviews with top performers and producers which give a fantastic insight into the work that goes into creating a record.

From the Hall Of Fame we took a walk along the Cumberland River towards Broadway.  We came through Fort Nashborough, a replica of a fort that stood nearby during the American Civil War.  The sun was shining and it was nice to stroll along the river but we were definitely ready for a drink when we reached Broadway.  This is the main drag of bars in Nashville with live music pouring out of every open window.  We took to a rooftop bar for a beer and some fries – it was very windy and I was worried that even my pint would blow over!  We continued our walk down Broadway and then took a left towards the Country Music Hall of Fame and Walk of Fame.  We wouldn’t have time for the Hall of Fame itself but had a look at all the stars so we could at least tick it off!

Back to Broadway we stopped at Rippy’s for some ribs and a terrific acoustic duo.  We then walked back towards the bus station and the War Memorial Auditorium as we had tickets to see Weird Al Yankovic as part of the Nashville Comedy Festival.  Emo Phillips was a very funny opening act.  Weird Al was brilliant too although as a lot of the humour is lyrical we sometimes found it difficult to hear the words.  He closed with a medley of his spoof covers and a full version of his Star Wars inspired version of American Pie.  Post show we waited an age for a bus home but eventually made it back.

Wednesday 18th April

We had breakfast at the Pancake Pantry again – I don’t generally like to go to the same place twice but surely it doesn’t count if you eat something different?  We decided to stroll around the south of Nashville today.  Firstly we headed to Belmont Mansion.  As the next tour wasn’t due to start for 20 minutes we walked around Belmont University first which stand on the what used to be the grounds of the mansion.  It’s a very beautiful and I can imagine an inspiring place to study.  The mansion was built by Adelicia Acklen who was a wealthy widow after her first marriage.  It was built during her second marriage (she eventually married three times and outlived her third husband too).  The house was used as a school after Adelicia’s death and many of the lavish decorations were destroyed and artworks were sold or passed onto Adelicia’s family.  Painstaking work and effort has been put into renovating the house as closely as possible to how it would have been in Adelicia’s day.  Sadly the stairs were being repaired and we couldn’t see the upstairs rooms but they showed us a video of the bedrooms so we didn’t completely miss out.  It’s a project of real care and passion and our guide was enthusiastic and knowledgable.

Our next destination was to walk to Centennial Park which contains a full size version of the Parthenon.  The park was nice enough, we spent a little time lazing and listening to a violinist who was practicing across the lake from us but it was quite windy and a bit chilly.  We finally found a supermarket and grabbed a few supplies (sadly no tea for Mia though!) and returned back to our apartment to rest for a while and get ready for a night out on Broadway.

We took the bus into town and hit the first bar we came to.  The drinks here are really strong – doubles in small glasses with just a splash of mixer.  I’ve definitely got a taste for Jack and Coke (if anything it’s just dead easy to order).  Food was needed and it was raining so we went next door to Jack’s BBQ.  The queue wasn’t quite out the door but it was very busy and we met with someone who used to work there so we figured it must be good.  It operates like a fast food joint, you collect the food then find a table.  We took our food upstairs to view the passers by and both went for brisket which was delicious (I don’t think we’ve actually had any bad food yet!).  After food we crossed the road and took in a bar with a band who were just finishing, then onto a karaoke bar.  Karaoke had to be done at some point!  It was very quiet so we got plenty of songs in and we tried to choose songs that reflected the trip (Proud Mary, Black Velvet, Run Baby Run and Mia even took on some country).  Then we went all disco with a duet of Enough Is Enough.  We got chatting to a group of guys who were in Nashville on business and joined them on stage for Don’t Stop Believing.  Even thought it wasn’t very busy we had a great time and unsurprisingly we were there until it shut!

We went back to Rippy’s mainly because we had their Wifi code and could order an Uber from there.  I couldn’t get Uber working though so I quickly downloaded and registered with Lyft instead.  Our Lyft was already outside and very friendly – a great first experience!