Well, we’ve been as far East as we’re going to get on this trip so it was time today to head South…on to Tennessee. We’ve been to Tennessee previously, but only the tiny corner of it that Memphis is in, so in the next couple of days we’ll be seeing a little more of the state.
However, we weren’t quite finished with Kentucky yet… from Lexington we set off South-West and stopped briefly in the town of Bardstown, it’s claim to fame is that it is the “Bourbon Capital of the World” as it hosts the annual Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Makers Mark and Jim Beam distilleries, among others are very close by. It’s other claim to fame is that in Bardstown is the fine Federal era home that inspired Stephen Foster to write the song “My Old Kentucky Home”.
A poor shot taken from a moving car of “My Old Kentucky Home”
We also hadn’t quite finished with Abraham Lincoln because in Hodgenville, Kentucky we visited the “First” Lincoln Memorial. It looks remarkably similar to the one that stands in Washington D.C., but this one was built on the exact location of the tiny log cabin in which Lincoln was born. They’ve erected a replica inside the memorial.
From humble beginnings…
Not far south of Hodgenville, we suddenly found ourselves with an extra hour up our sleeves when we went back into Central Time. It seems so strange to me that Kentucky ( and a few other states) have different time zones within the same state! In this part of Kentucky we also struck something we’d not seen anywhere before on our travels, tobacco farms! In this shot you can see the plants at the side and next to them the ones that had been tied up ready to dry out.
Our final stop in Kentucky was one of our beloved American National Parks. Mammoth Cave National Park preserves the cave system and a part of the Green River valley and hilly country of south central Kentucky. It’s the world’s longest known cave system, with more than 400 miles explored! As we drove closer we encountered something that isn’t very common in the Western National Parks but is, I understand, quite common in the Eastern ones, row after row of tacky souvenir shops and wacky attractions. In the photo you can see that as well as Mammoth we could also have visited “Jellystone Park” and catch up with Yogi bear for a pic-i-nic basket lunch!
Like Jenolan Caves you can only get inside the caves on a guided tour so we bought tickets for the 11.30 “Dome and Dripstones” tour. We took a 10 minute bus ride to one of the cave entrances and for the next hour and a half we climbed down and up a long series of stairs, ladders and rocky paths. We both found it a very unusual cave because so much of it is “dry”,meaning that there are huge chambers and narrow tunnels with many rockfalls…but there were very few of the limestone formations ( stalagmites etc) that we’ve seen on every other cave we’ve visited. I think Neil had to duck his head on this tour than any other one we’ve done too. Our guide was outstanding, he cracked jokes and kept us well entertained for the whole time.
Waling into the sinkhole to the cave entrance
One of th big galleries. There were 50 people on our tour, in busy times they take 120!
Neil getting ready to duck again
Finally some limestone formations!
After the tour we stopped for our coffee and snacks then headed off for the final 2 hours drive into Tennessee and on to Nashville. The city was buzzing today because the first game of the Tennessee Titan’s NFL season was played at 1pm in Nissan Stadium, which is just across the river from downtown. When we walked down to 2nd street to have dinner tonight we saw heaps of people decked out in either Blue and White Titans gear or Purple Minnesota Vikings shirts. Sadly the local team ( the Titans) had lost!
When in Nashville the natural thing to do is to find a southern food restaurant and I’d already picked out one with an excellent reputation only a block from the hotel. Unfortunately, despite it being Sunday, the “Game” meant that there was a huge crowd of people in town all looking for a meal and my choice was booked out. However we found a great place downtown that specializes in Brazilian BBQ. We paid a fixed price for appetizers, all we could eat from a HUGE salad bar and as much as we wanted from a selection of 14 different BBQ meats. These were brought around the restaurant on massive skewers, if you fancied the look of something you waved the waiter down and he carved a hunk straight onto your plate – everything from BBQ fish, to chicken hearts, to peppered pork and the most amazingly tender sirloin steak.
Our waiter was an interesting young man, he’d recently graduated from college in soil biology and told us some interesting things about what he hoped to do with his degree and was interested to hear about Australia and the culture etc. He was taking a gap year , enjoying the music scene in Nashville before settling down to a future in further studies of dirt!
On the way back to the hotel we detoured up Broadway, known locally as “Honky Tonk Row” – this is where the bulk of the live country music bars and touristy country stores are and it was certainly buzzing! It’s “neon central” in Nashville but as it wasn’t quite dark I don’t think we got the full benefit of the display. We passed a couple of shops selling stetsons and cowboy boots ( buy 1 get 2 free!) but I couldn’t persuade Neil that he really needed a pair of boots. Maybe I’ll get some for myself!
Tomorrow we have lots of local sights to see… and maybe just a little more shopping!