A beautiful Sunday in downtown Nashville. We visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, walked by some of the many bars (most with live music) of Music Row (even stopped in one to listen and have a bite to eat) and toured the Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry. Deb had a chance to revisit her experience of a family trip to the Ryman back in the early 60's - even got to stand on the stage where most of her Country Music favorites stood at some point in their carreers. Even for those of us who may not be the biggest Country fans, there is no denying the historical impact of the Ryman and the influence of the Grand Ole Opry on the evolution of both Country and American popular music. It was quite an honor to be in such an historic landmark and for those of you who really are not at all fond of Country music, you should know that Caruso once performed at the Ryman [as did many other performers]. Be sure to see the photocaptions.
Monday and Tuesday we took a trip with Roger and Karen to Metropolis, Illinois. After getting out of the Nashville area, we enjoyed quite a pleasant drive North West for about 170 miles to the banks of the Ohio River and had a first-hand opportunity to view the extent of some of the flooding that has afflicted many of the river areas of this part of the country. As in Mississippi, we did not see any extreme damage resulting from the flooding; however, there was an incredible amount of water covering wooded areas and farmland all along the river. While at the hotel in Metropolis, we actually saw the water's edge reaching to tires of some of the vehicles parked in the lots surrounding the hotel. Oh, and how about some antique slot machines?
Wednesday saw us leaving Nashville and heading East to Knoxville, then North to Norris Lake, a spot rather high in the mountains of Tennessee and a bit unusual in our experience as you will see in the photos.
On Thursday we traveled from Norris Lake in Tennessee throuh part of Kentucky and on to Milton, West Virginia which is just a bit east of Huntington. Deb drove for the greatest portion of the day, taking us into KY and driving along the Hal Rogers Parkway through a part of the Daniel Boon National Forrest. It was a pretty drive and it was nice to be off the beaten path (and away from Interstate truck traffic) for a while, but the Parkway proved to be somewhat less scenic than we expected. Tomorrow we plan to find something a bit more interesting as we continue our journey through parts of West Virginia and Virginia on our way to PA.
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