Touring Nashville - Parthenon and Hermitage #Nashville #birthdaytrip

On the day we were to head home (Tuesday), we stopped on our way out at the Parthenon (in Centennial Park) and at the Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's home).  We would have stopped at the Parthenon on the trolley tour, but the one day it's closed is the one day we took the trolley tour.  So it was postponed to the next day.

The Parthenon was very impressive.  Built for the centennial exhibition, it was originally out of wood and plaster.  Eventually, due to popularity, it was rebuilt in concrete.  The statue of Athena is to size as the original.

The Hermitage is an interesting side trip.  A chance to see an old plantation and hear some of the history behind it.  Not as much fun when it's cold outside, though.  You can't take pictures inside the home, but it was very nice.  You can see the family cemetery plot as well as slave cabins and the original home before the big house was built.

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Touring Nashville - Old Town Trolley Tour #Nashville #birthdaytrip @nashtrolley

Monday my husband and I took the Old Town Trolley Tour to see the sights.  They picked us up at Wyndham and dropped us off at the start of their tours.  During the tour you can hop off to check out the stop and then hop back on when a bus comes by.  Trolleys left the first stop every 20 minutes.  It took maybe 30 minutes from when we got off until the next bus came by.  When you get back on you show your ticket and off you go. Our first driver was Chris, he did a great job.  We had two other drivers, unfortunately I can't remember names.

The first stop we jumped off at was Bicentennial Park.  There's a farmer's market here that we stopped in at and got hot cider/coffee.  You can see the capital building on one end of the park and a carillon on the other end.  Various monuments and markers are located throughout.

We were goofy enough to brave the cold and walk to this stop.  You can also visit Antique Archaeology's shop here.  I was disappointed in the size of the shop.  The show (American Pickers) had me primed for it to be a bigger size.  The motorworks, though, was fun to check out.  Little shops and all are on the inside, with the history of the automaker too..

These are cars built by the motorworks.  They're located across the street, though.

Union Station.  It's a beautiful hotel on the inside.

Very convenient, we enjoyed the facts that the rivers gave us as we rode.  We got off at one stop to get lunch (labelled Hot Chicken on their map).   A nice farm to fork restaurant.  At the end, we asked for a recommendation for hot chocolate and was given a little ice cream shop just down from the first trolley stop.  Great hot cocoa.  I had spanish dark chocolate cocoa, my husband had peanut butter.  The trolley also took us back to the resort when we were done. 

It's a great way to check out the city if you're not sure where to go or start.  There's a two day pass for $10 more.  Some of the other riders used one day to just ride the circuit, not getting off.  Then second day went back to the sights they'd noted on the first day and did the hop on/off.

Touring Nashville - Gaylord Opryland Resort #Nashville #birthdaytrip

My husband took me on a short get-away for my 50th birthday.  We stayed at the Wyndham resort.   I shared some of the photos last week on my instagram account.  These are the photos I took with my camera.  We drove up Sunday, arrived around lunch time.  We had lunch at a place called the Aquarium Restaurant (pictures on my instagram).  After lunch we wandered over to the Gaylord to take a look.  If you go, park at the Opry Mills mall on the cinema side of the mall.  Parking is free (they charge $30 at the Gaylord) and there's a sidewalk that you can easily walk to get to the resort.

Gone Thrifting with @ThriftingAtlanta #thrift #clothes

My daughter and I went on the Thrifting Atlanta bus tour to the Goodwill Outlet in Chattanooga, TN. It was definitely an interesting experience. I love to thrift, so does my daughter. She finds a lot of the pieces for her cosplay while thrifting. We started at the Goodwill in Marietta, then rode a bus up to the outlet in Chattanooga. I knew going in that we'd be "dumpster diving" at the outlet, but I was still surprised by what was there. It wasn't as big as I was expecting, for one, but it was rather dark and musty inside with little air circulation. I was very happy when someone offered me some gloves to wear while picking through the bins. I also made sure to wash my hands when we were done. We didn't get as much as I was expecting, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. What we did get is shown in the photo below. 2 pair boots that were hiding in a cabinet, a few shirts, ballet flats, belt, and a Tchaikovsky album.

We visited another Goodwill in Chattanooga as well as America's Thrift store.  Both of those stores were well laid out and very clean.  The prices at the Goodwill in Chattanooga were better than what we find closer to home.  The America's Thrift prices items individually, not by the type, so the deals there vary.  Goodwill stores are located around and about, fairly easy to find.  There's another America's Thrift in the Marietta area.

This is the rest of what we got.  I won't break all that down individually.  The basket is the sum of most of the clothes my daughter picked out.

A couple of extra items we picked up.  One's a gift for a friend.

The clothes I picked out plus one of my daughter's shirts.

We also found a heavy leather/suede jacket as well as a Dooney & Bourke bag for $10.  I picked up 3 over size bath rugs (bigger than your normal bath rug/mat) that were new.  All together we spent about $100 for 11 shirts, 9 pairs of pants (including a Cabela's pair that has flannel inside that were new), several pairs socks, 3 bath rugs, 3 pair shoes, an album and 2 figures.  Not bad for a day of thrifting.

Travel Possibilities #MakeSummerLast in Tennessee

I was invited to attend an event for Tennessee Tourism to learn more about one of our great neighbors. I've been to Tennessee many times over the years, Chattanooga primarily. A great day trip to see things like the Tennessee Aquarium and more. It has been a long time, though, since I went further than that.

I had a blast talking with a Master Woodcarver from Dollywood. He told me various stories about items he's crafted, folks he's sold them too, kids he's seen in his workshop and more. LOVED him to death, I think he and I spoke for 15-20 minutes. I'd love to go to Dollywood just to visit him with a side trip to see everything else he talked about. He told me it takes him 1.5-2 days to carve one of these, it then takes 2-3 days for it to be painted by another artist. Beautiful work.

I also enjoyed talking to the Park Ranger. My family loves to visit the various parks, we have several on our docket that are here in GA that we haven't seen yet. My son's troop plans to go to Chickamauga for their reenactment later this year. She told me about a big conference they have coming up in October about the Civil War. It's the Tennesee Civil War Sesquicentennial Signature Event, from Oct 9th - 12th. You can get more info on this event at http://www.tncivilwar150.com. It's free, you have to register though.

After talking with these folks, I took a break and enjoyed the food that was being shared. Barbecue pulled pork, ribs and a WHOLE PIG.

The food was provided by a company called Hog Wild. Very tasty coleslaw and baked beans too.

There was beer and wine provided as well. I don't drink generally, I especially don't drink if I'm the one going to drive. So, I didn't sample any of those. I did get daring, though, and tried a shot of moonshine. While eating and wandering the various displays, there were various groups providing music. One was a group called Alanna Royale.

There were cupcakes and deserts to be sampled from a couple of different bakeries. A lady with a pewter casting company had items on display. One of the highlights, though, was a sample of items from Graceland (guard on duty next to display too).

I've never visited Graceland, though it's one of those items on my "to do" list. All in all a wonderful evening. It has added to my list of local trips I want to do.