The Pink Bus and the Bluebird

---

Hello again! We drove the 200 miles from the Smokey Mountains on Thursday after our last (soaking wet) hike and were thrilled to check into a small suite at the Radisson in Nashville. It was a nice room, but just being dry, warm and indoors was enough for us. We collapsed the first night before spending two full days in Nashville.
Friday: We spent most of the day drying out and resting. We had booked the NashTrash tour that was supposed to be more fun than an ordinary tour. The reviews were totally right and we had the best time on the big pink bus. The Jugg sisters act just like they look in the pictures. They told raunchy jokes, sang some funny songs, sexually harassed various men on the bus and dished the dirt on the scandals of country music stars. Oh and we saw some of the famous sites of Nashville too. It was great. We had just as good a time at dinner. The sisters, in a rare serious moment, recommended a place called Monell's, so we tried it. It was authentic southern food served family style in a converted house in Germantown. They seat you with other parties at large tables so we met some people from Nashville while enjoying a great meal. They told us we had stumbled onto a uniquely authentic Nashville experience. All this and it wasn't too expensive either. A great meal to finish a good day.
Saturday: We slept in again (still recovering from all that hiking) then decided to go to the Hermitage: President Andrew Jackson's home near Nashville. It took a couple hours to do the tour and it was worth seeing. Jackson's home was great and the garden next to it was beautiful. Since it was over ninety degrees again, we needed a break and went back to the hotel to relax. We wanted to go to the Bluebird Cafe, which is a legendary small club that features famous or up-and-coming country songwriters performing their own songs in an intimate atmosphere, but we did not have reservations. We went really early and got two of the 21 unreserved seats they had. It was worth the effort. The performers were incredible. Chris Caminiti is a younger writer who has great talent, Lisa Hentrich has a real star quality and has had two of her songs recorded this year, AJ Masters is a veteran country writer who has had songs recorded by Faith Hill, the Oak Ridge boys and others, and Chas Sanford is a veteran writer/producer who has worked with Chicago and Stevie Nicks. They each did about five or six songs over two hours and the experience lived up to the hype this place gets. I don't even care that much for country music, but it was a great time. This is a must-do if you are ever in Nashville.
Sunday: We left Nashville, decided to skip Graceland in the interest of saving ourselves from a fourteen hour day, (see this link: http://rachelrebibo.com/rachel/the_trip/post_3.html ) and drove 500 miles to Texarkana on the Texas/Arkansas line.
Monday: We drove 400 more miles to Austin and checked into a hotel for the night where I am typing this message. We'll be camping and touring Austin for the next three days before going on to San Antonio then Tucson. More later...

---

Photos

The Country Music Hall of Fame
Look! It's shaped like a key board

Andrew Jackson's home
front of his home

Another pic of the Hermitage
the view from the back

slave quarters
Christine, take a close look at the head board!

The outside of the Bluebird
It's always packed! I'm so glad we made it in!

Hello and good bye Arkansas!
We drove right through and unfortunately did not have time to explore.

Comments

[BethandJim]

Christine-
I think it was one! i took a second pic seconds later to make sure, and the light wasn't there. PS. I looked through the Gettysburg pics, none there... Miss you all!