This adventurista was in desperate need of a road trip -- all work and no adventure makes Roni cranky! -- and I finally got it last week to Nashville. It's not the beach -- always my preferred destination -- but it is halfway between Springfield and Cincinnati, OH, where DMan's best friend Ray and his wife Alahna live, and we try to meet up with them every summer for a long weekend if we can.
DMan and I hit the road Thursday night when I got off work and drove to Sikeston, MO, to get some miles behind us. After having a quickie glass of wine to kick off our vacation state of mind, we met some nice biker gals in the hot tub that were biking the Natchez Trace Parkway before heading back to their homes in Florida. We were fascinated by their biker tales, and DMan was tickled to share his farming knowledge as the gals asked him all kinds of questions about the fields and crops they had seen. Guess someone else's experiences always seem more interesting than your own. The gals also told us about Boss Hoss, a Harley one of their friends was riding, that is customized to look just like a 1957 Bel Air and packing a real V-8 engine. We had to see for ourselves, so we hit the parking lot at 10:30 at night in our swimsuits and started taking pictures. DMan and I weren't the only ones, either. Taking pictures that is, we WERE the only ones out there in swimsuits, but no one else gawking at Boss Hoss seemed to notice.
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| Boss Hoss with a real V-8 engine. The fin says Bel Air! |
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The next morning we were Music City (aka Nashville) bound, with a few wine stops along the way to break up the drive. In 2011 we met Ray and Alahna in Paducah, KY, and did a wine tasting at the Farmer's Market from a start-up winery called Glisson. There aren't many white wines we really dig, but Glisson had a Seyval Blanc that was mighty tasty, so we drove through Paducah to find Glisson and buy more. And we drove, and we drove, round and round through the Riverfront area and it's one-way and closed-due-to-construction streets until we finally just parked and took off walking. What a shock it was to find Glisson in the same gorgeous tiled courtyard, that had been empty in 2011, where DMan and I had posed for commemorative photos. The inside of the winery looks just as fabulous as the outside, continuing with the painted ceramic tiles inset in honey blond wood. We shared a tasting with a group of folks with ties to Glisson and got to learn more about their wines, including that "bunch rot" had wiped out their Seyval grapes and they hadn't had any of the Blanc since the batch we got in 2011. Bummer! Even Ray and Alahna, who aren't wine drinkers. had liked the Seyval Blanc. We settled on a 2011 Norton, a 2012 Chambourcin -- two wines that we normally don't care for at Missouri wineries -- and a Dolce Passione (sweet passion), a white wine with a tiny pop of sweet, that DMan bought just for Alahna since she likes a sweeter wine. (Glisson Winery, 126 Market House Sq, glissonvineyards.com)
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| DMan in front of the tiled courtyard at Glisson Winery, plus a shot of the gorgeous interior with artwork for sale. |
I did sort of get to the beach on this trip, Beachaven Winery that is. Just off I-24 about an hour west of Nashville, Beachaven has spectacular grounds, a huge tasting facility, tours of the winery, and offers a wide variety of wines for the connoisseur as well those that like sweeter, fruity wines. Unfortunately, we liked way too many of their wines and had to settle on only the Cabernet Sauvignon, Barrelhead Red, and the Chardonel white. Sometime we'd love to go back and join the huge crowds that show up for their Jazz on the Lawn concerts that run from May to October. (Beachaven Vineyards & Winery, 1100 Dunlop Lane, Clarksville, TN, beachavenwinery.com)
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| "The Only Private Beach in Clarksville, TN"! |
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| DMan at Beachaven -- too bad we came the wrong day for Jazz on the Lawn |
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| Roni posing with the spectacular grounds of Beachaven |
We hit Nashville by 3:30, only getting stuck in one traffic jam, which for Nashville is a miracle. Our hotel, the Sleep Inn, was easy to find on Dickerson Pike, and just as nice as it could be. The newly-renovated rooms were chic; the bathroom had a huge, well-lit walk-in shower; the comp breakfast was decent; the staff was super friendly and helpful; and the price was reasonable. Plus the hotel was close to Briley Pkwy and I-65, so it was easy to get anywhere we wanted to go. If you ever do Nashville, give Sleep Inn a try.
The four of us did a lot of hanging out around the hotel, playing cards, visiting out on the patio furniture under the trees, yacking and catching up. But we did drive all the way to Nashville, so we had to do some touristy stuff. Our first stop was The Parthenon, an exact replica of the real Greek Parthenon, that was built for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition and became so beloved by the folks of Nashville that when it was crumbling down they raised a stink and got it renovated. I'm sure glad they did because this place was awesome! Not only did I feel like I was really in Greece, but inside was a 42-foot 10-inch tall golden Athena with a shield as big as a tractor tire! I could barely get all of her in the picture with my camera. Plus the downstairs of the building houses old photos and memorabilia of the Exposition and the creation of the Parthenon and an art collection from a wealthy Nashville benefactor. All of this is smack dab in the middle of Centennial Park, with lush landscaping and ponds filled with ducks. A must see if you're in Nashville!
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| The Parthenon in Centennial Park |
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| Statue of Athena |
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| Alahna, Ray, and DMan at the pond in Centennial Park |
Despite not being Country music fans, we ventured Downtown to 2nd and Broadway to check out the bar/music scene and honey, it was hot! Literally, H - O - T! Walking around on all that concrete made the sweat pour off my head in rivers down my back. Luckily most of the bars were open to the street, so we would get a little cool blast when we walked by. We talked about going to Hard Rock Cafe but we can do that lots of places, so we picked Rock Bottom Brewery to cool off and have a nosh. Typical sports bar atmosphere, but the Summer Honey ale was cold and smooth and the appetizers were major delicious, especially the jalapeño pretzel bread with cheesy spinach dip!
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Rock Bottom Brewery, Downtown Nashville
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The Downtown scene was loud, with different Country tunes blasting out of every bar on the street, which was nearly every business on the street, mostly from live bands. Big guys hawked at the passersby to beckon them into the clubs just like I've seen done outside of strip joints in the movies. One guy's line was, "Best music in Nashville, coldest A/C in Tennesee," shouted over and over. The sidewalks were jammed with folks trying to get into a bar or just looking around like us. I'm a people watcher and there were plenty of quirky folks to see, but I especially noticed all the chicks in cowboy boots. Young and old chicks, wearing everything from micro-short Daisy Dukes to flower-power maxi dresses, everybody had cowboy boots on. My feet were sweating in sandals, I don't know how they could stand the heat in those boots! We saw every hokey kind of tour bus you can imagine down there (Hick Chicks Tours, Good Ole Nashville Tours, Segway tours), but the weirdest thing was the Pedal Tavern. Yes, people (mostly young drunks from the looks of it) actually pay money to pedal an old trolley car around Nashville and are served drinks while they pedal. Un-damn-believable! Finally we'd had enough heat, music, and crowds and called it a day to take a nap in our cool, quiet, and private hotel room. Ahhh!
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| The pedal tavern in front of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, a Nashville landmark. |
On our last day we got to do something we'd been waiting to do for a long time: go to Trader Joe's. You see, we don't have Trader Joe's in Springfield, MO, so we have to travel to Kansas City or St. Louis to partake of the reasonably-priced (okay, cheap!) fine wines for sale at Trader Joe's. So we drove to the Green Hills area, a ritzy neighborhood, south of Nashville to find Trader Joe's. DMan and I grabbed a cart, went in the front door practically licking our wine-hungry lips, looked around for the normally huge wine shop, and . . . no wine. A polite employee explained, as we gaped with our mouths open, that grocery stores can't sell wine in Tennessee -- "Welcome to the home of Jack Daniel's," she added. I guess whiskey doesn't want wine to get too big for it's britches in Tennessee. Then she also broke the really bad news: Tennessee doesn't allow ANY alcohol sales on Sunday! So not only no wine from Trader Joe's for us, no wine from any store for us!
Thank heavens we were already on our way to Arrington Winery, in Arrington, TN, about 30 minutes south of Nashville. Started by Kix Brooks, of Brooks & Dunn, Arrington is 75 acres of gorgeous vineyards and landscaping, with a huge permanent tent for live music on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We did a wine tasting picnic style -- they give you four 2-ounce pours for $10 to take with you -- and liked the Stag's White enough to drink two bottles. We also bought a bottle of the white and a Red Fox Red to take back to the hotel -- way more pricey than what we usually spend for wine but dammit, Trader Joe's left us no alternative! This was the only place that could sell wine! There was a big crowd picnicking on the grounds, sipping wine, listening to the jazz band. A fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon -- if it wasn't 97 degrees in the shade. (Arrington Winery, 6211 Patton Road, Arrington TN, arringtonvineyards.com)
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| The vineyards of Arrington Winery |
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| Main tasting building and patio of Arrington Winery |
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| Roni and DMan sipping (and sweating!) at Arrington Winery |
Our last night we had the best food of all -- real Tennesee BBQ! Not far from the Sleep Inn was Jack Cawthon's BBQ (334 W Trinity Lane), which I'd seen on billboards and read about in the guidebook. We cruised in the door three minutes before they closed, but they were kind enough to let us order anyway and even eat in the dining room. We all ordered something different: smoked turkey for Ray, fall-off-the-bone beef ribs for DMan, brisket for Alahna, and a pork shoulder sandwich for me (yes, I ignored my vegetarian ways and pigged out on some pork!) with cole slaw (Southern vinegar-type slaw!) and baked beans. OMG was everything GOOD! The place was cute as a bug's ear, too, with kitschy t-shirts and signs and statues of flying pigs everywhere. I loved it!
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| Inside Jack Cawthon's BBQ |
Now the trip is over and all that remains are the memories. And a few bottles of wine we had left over. And these pictures. And dreams of Jack's BBQ, oh that heavenly BBQ. I'd nearly drive to Nashville all over again just to get more of that BBQ!
