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Published: December 30th 2015
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Howdy Folks!
After approximately 6 hours of sleep and a hot breakfast at the hotel to refuel, we decided to explore Knoxville some before we hit the road again. We strolled down to the site of the 1982 World’s Fair and home of the 266 feet / 26 stories tall Sunsphere! The general public was surprised when the “scruffy little town” of Knoxville, as it was known at the time, drew over 1 million visitors to the fair that year, making it the last successfully attended World’s Fair. Interesting factoid: Katie’s Dad actually attended the World’s Fair that year in 1982!
After taking a look at the Knoxville skyline from up above we set out in search a statue of Composer Sergei Rachmaninoff that was sculpted by Victor Bokarov of Russia in honor of Mr. Rachmaninoff’s last concert at the University of Tennessee on February 17, 1943. Katie had a total nerd moment as her piano teacher growing up taught her how to play Mr. Rachmaninoff’s music. Before leaving Knoxville, Caleb also had a moment of nostalgia, and just HAD to see a giant model of a Rubik’s cube! A life size model of the popular toy designed by
Hungarian Architecture Professor Erno Rubik was saved after being on display at the World’s Fair in 1982.
We finally got on the road and after several twists, turns, and mountain climbs, we decided to stop for lunch and some more site-seeing in downtown Nashville, TN. After a relaxing lunch of gourmet tacos at Batesville of Nashville (delicious, fresh, and awesome décor), we needed to take a walk-a-bout and stretch our legs. After passing by the Johnny Cash Museum, we happened upon Broadway St., also renamed by us as, the Nashvegas Strip with neon signs out the whazoo! We stumbled into a sleepy little record shop with photos and costumes of musicians from a bygone era and Katie got into the cowgirl spirit! We even passed by the Country Music Hall of Fame and got some coffees from the Ryman Auditorium, where countless legends have performed, since it was the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974. Before we got back on the road for good, we made a quick pit stop by the Parthenon Nashville at Vanderbilt University! This was my 2
nd time viewing the architectural wonder and Katie’s first time experiencing the full
scale replica of this famous Greek monument.
A few hours later we circumnavigated Memphis, TN via GRACELAND! For those of you who need a reminder, Graceland is the home of the King of Rock n’ Roll, Elvis Presley. Unfortunately, it was all closed down by the time we arrived, not that we would have had time to stop and take a tour anyway. However, we took the opportunity to get as close as we could and take some epic photos and experience the King in all his glory, including one of his private planes the Lisa Marie.
Eventually, we made it to Little Rock, AR by 12:00am and stopped for the night. After approx. 8 hours of sleep, we got on the road by 11am the next morning, Tuesday Dec. 29
th. Six hours later, we made it to Dallas, TX where Katie was excited to visit the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, the site where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly shot and assassinated President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. JFK was traveling by motorcade to a meeting when he was killed. Some believe a sniper fired the shots that killed the President from the
grassy knoll overlooking the street. However, no evidence was ever found of this. Whereas, shell casings were found near the sixth floor window of the southeast corner of a building formerly occupied by the Texas School Book Depository. Another conspiracy theory suggests that there were 2 snipers, one on the grassy knoll and another on the sixth floor. What do you believe?
Six and a half hours later we FINALLY made it to our intended destination for the night, Midland, TX after a slight detour when we missed our exit for the hotel due to lazy construction signage, ugh!! Until next time fair friends, Katie and Caleb have left the building!
Make sure you click on the ADDITIONAL PHOTOS button below to see everything, and there's more to come once I get them from Katie!
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