Graceland - thank you, thank you very much

Jerry here ...We left central Tennessee and headed west toward Memphis. Listened to the Elvis channel (Sirius radio 13) to set the mood. We arrived at the Graceland parking lot around noon and went inside to buy tickets. Yes, the Donald family was once again paying to see the house of a famous, deceased rich person. For a mere $130 your family of 5 can have the Graceland experience as well.

We first toured his airplanes. Gold plated sinks, blue suede apolstery, you get the picture. One time his daughter said she had never seen snow, so he immediately took her to Colorado, they played in the snow for a bit, then they flew back. Next came a tour of the house. He bought it in the late fifties. It was built in the thirties. It screams seventies. Green shag carpet in the jungle room should tell you all you need to know. We

saw the kitchen where his cook made him the famous peanut butter and banana sandwiches fried in butter (we tried them after the tour - not bad but a little goes a long way). Upstairs was off limits to the tour "out of respect." When you sell tickets to see his house and clothing the "out of respect" has left the barn.

Graceland has many other buildings besides the house. These were filled with artifacts from his career. One hallway, about 60 feet long, was decorated with gold record after gold record. He sold over a billion records. He had an amazing vocal range. Then there were exhibits from his movies, his office, etc. We also went to a building that showed a few of his motorized toys - Rolls Royces, a pink Cadillac, motorcycles, a John Deere tractor, a snowmobile that could run

on the grass (not much snow in Memphis). He liked to have a good time with his friends, known as the Memphis Mafia. His grave site is on the estate. He is buried beside his parents.

The museum seemed to have a good sense of

humor. The announcements and even the trash cans quoted Elvis' famous phrase, "Thank you. Thank you, very much!"

You have to give him credit for one thing - unlike more recent stars he made more money than he spent, which is saying something. He took care of his family and entourage, gave away lots to charity, and didn't die broke.

Ruby Falls and Nashville

Friday evening we drove out of Atlanta for about an 1 1/2 hours to Dalton, GA, before stopping for the night. I'm using the GPS to find hotels this year. I don't have internet access on my phone anymore, so I plug in the destination on our GPS, and then search hotels. The GPS gives me a list of hotels and their phone numbers. Isn't that cool!

Saturday morning, we started toward Chattanooga, TN, with plans to stop at Ruby Falls which was only about a 45-minute drive. I had found the idea of stopping at the Falls the night before searching the internet for things to do in and around Chattanooga, and Ruby Falls was a number one idea. Ruby Falls is a cavern with a 140-foot water fall inside of it. It was beautiful. We walked about 25 minutes into the cave before coming to the falls. Then we were able to walk behind the falls which was amazing. From the way the falls fell over the rocks above, it looked like you could see each drop of water falling down. I wish that I would have had a water-proof camera to get a picture of it. I did take a picture in front of the falls, but a picture is never as great as the real thing. The cavern had other neat formations that we looked at. The tour of the cavern lasted only about an hour, and we were glad that we stopped.

Then we drove to Nashville. We weren't really sure what to do there, since we really aren't country music listeners. I work with a lady, Sue, who's son lives in Nashville, so we followed her advice. First we drove to the Hillsboro Village district and shopped. That's were Molly got her Alice in Wonderland charm bracelet. We enjoyed looking.

Then we drove to downtown Nashville to the Crazy Horse Saloon. The saloon has in-line dance lessons every 45 minutes. We had great food; Molly and Brooke each ate 1/2 a rack of ribs! And Brooke and Molly danced. It was great fun watching everyone dancing. Then we walked around Nashville a little.

We took a 20-minute carriage ride and the driver pointed out interesting buildings as we went. We pretended to know who she was talking about and be impressed when she dropped certain names and explained how they were connected to Nashville. There were a lot of people by the arena that we drove past, and we found out that American Idol was holding auditions. One person in a car shouted, "I'm going to be on the next American Idol!" as he drove by!

After the ride we got ice cream and walked on a bridge that overlooked the river that had just flooded. You really couldn't tell that Nashville had recently suffered a big flood, although a few buildings were still not completely repaired. A few buildings that were still closed were pointed out to us on our carriage ride. From the bridge we got a great look at the skyline. People had gathered along the banks for a concert that was to be held. It looked like

the group was going to play on a barge on the river while the people sat on the riverbank. It looked like fun.

Then we got back into the van and drove. Jerry wanted to go for a while, but we were so tired that we only drove about 1/2 hour. Earlier we had driven into Central Time, so although we drove to what was 9:30, it was really 10:30 to us.

This post Is the girls thoughts on Nashville. We also did the ruby falls, but that will be posted later.

BROOKE Hey it is Brooke. I am writing about the Wild Horse Saloon. They kept playing different country music especially Taylor Swift. Then Molly asked if they could play the time warp and like usual they played it. Me and Molly danced to that than I learned the Catfish dance. It is very cool. It is easy to learn too.{ But you need to have cowboy boots to do it correctly. I have a pair but I did not bring them. Darn. } I had a sweet tea there. WOW!!!!!!!!! That thing is really sweet. Are they trying to keep you awake till 3:00 am?? I got to go. Bye. Brooke Donald

BLAIR Wild Horse Saloon was a nice place to eat once. Nashville was much nicer then Atlanta. The south has been interesting so far, but I think that I am going to be a northerner forever. However, its not terrible. Elvis tomorrow, hopefully that will be interesting. Then the Clinton library, for which I don't have high expectations. Fun for Dad though, I guess he needs some reward for being in a van full of girls for three weeks.

MOLLY So, Mrs. Routzhan you were right. I liked Nashville. Its had a lot of VERY cute clothing places and so little eclectic shops I liked as well. I even got a Alice and Wonderland charm bracelet because 1) I was just in that play, and 2) I genuinely like the Alice and Wonderland books. Then, when we finished in that part of town, we went to the Wild Horse Saloon, and ate. Then we went on a tour of the town by horse and carriage (the carriage was pink, too). After that WE got some very good ice cream, walked over the Cumberland river, and then drove to the hotel room. All and all, It was a very good experience and, although I wouldn't live there, would happily go there again.

July 15 and 16 - The Biltmore and Atlanta (Jerry reporting - hence no pictures until Beverly adds them)

We left Pigeon Forge on July 15 and headed east into North Carolina. We drove to Asheville, where the Vanderbilt family constructed the largest home in the USA, the Biltmore. It cost a mere $120 for us to see it,and that was with the kids getting in for free! There is something ironic about descendants of poor people paying decedents of rich people to see the family house. In any case it is some house! Over 250 rooms, some of them enormous in size. The main dining area had a table that could seat thirty and had a ceiling that was seven stories high! The house could have a

hundred staying guests in it for gatherings last could last up to a week. Besides the usual gardens, stables, etc., it also had a heated indoor pool and bowling alleys. Not bad for a house completed in 1895. No air conditioning, though, so it felt a bit hot at times. As for us taking pictures, the rule

was no indoor photography, but they were willing to take a family photo of us and sell it to us for $25. The Vanderbilt descendants must be a bit hard up.

We arrived in the evening in Atlanta. Apparently it is a busy season there, because a hotel room on a Thursday night was difficult to find. This morning we ate bagels at a place called Einstein Brothers. It was very busy. We then headed off to the Carter Presidential Library. It was Beverly and Jerry's third presidential library, after Kennedy a

nd Truman. All those people filling the hotels weren't there to see the Carter library because it was fairly empty. We learned about Carter's life growing up, his presidential years, and all the work he has done since his "involuntary retirement" (his words). We knew about his work on fair elections, peace, and housing for poor people, but we didn't know his work to eradicate diseases in tropical countries. His efforts to eradicate Guinea worms in Africa is quite impressive.

We drove downtown and toured the CNN Center near Centennial Park, where the 1996 Olympics was held. We enjoyed the CNN tour. Brooke got to read from the teleprompter and did a great job. We walked over to a Coca Cola exhibition building beside the park and paid to enjoy the Coca Cola experience. Security was much tighter there than at the Carter Library, where it was non existent. We saw a 4D movie and

drank samples of Coke products from around the world. The most famous one that we were encourag

ed to drink (by the tour guide at CNN) was "the Beverly". We tried it.

Beverly said the Beverly wasn't terrible.

We took a cab ride back to the parking garage with the last $14 in cash we had, then drove to see the famous Atlanta Underground. Well, we saw it and were underwhelmed. It is a few of the old streets at the old street level, now underground. Besides that interesting fact it's basically the Fredericktowne Mall. We didn't stay long.

After fleeing the underground we drove north out of Atlanta towards the Tennessee line, where we spent the night. Our plan on the 17th is to go to Nashville then drive towards Memphis.

Great Smoky Mountains

We started our day by driving to the Sugarlands Visitors Center, which is just inside the park. No one complained about watching the 20-minute film about the mountains. The girls said that since this was the first national park and movie, they wouldn't complain. I was thankful.

There is a little museum in the vistiors center with animals, birds, plants, and such of the area. This log that Brooke is standing in front of is a yellow poplar. A family could make an entire cabin from one tree of this size.

We learned the the Smoky Mountains is the home of many different kinds of salamanders. We did see a blue-tail salamander in Caves Cove.

Then we drove to Cades Cove, which is an 11-mile one-way circular drive through an old 19th century Applachian settlement. The picture of the house is the first cabin built in the area. The wood used to build the house is yellow pine. Each log was cut so that the heart of the tree was in the middle. Once it dried, the log was as hard as iron or cement.

We could walk upstairs, but at the top of the stairs was this huge spider which was at least 2 1/2 inches long. Therefore, I didn't see the upstairs of this log cabin!

As we drove we saw turkeys and deer. At one stop we saw so many butterflies that we thought that maybe they had just hatched.

After driving the loop, we stopped for a picnic lunch by the river. After we ate the kids waded in the river. Some sort of water snake was right by the river where the girls first started to go into the river, so they moved down to enter from another spot!

We were hot and tired, so we decided to go back to the hotel to relax and swim. After resting for a while, we drove to Clingman's Dome, which is the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains, and the third highest peak east of the Mississippi.

From Pigeon Forge to the top of Clingman's Dome the temperature dropped from 84 degrees to 62 degrees. The walk to the top was up a paved path that was half a mile long and, as Blair said, about as steep as our driveway.

There were benches along the way for people to rest. Clouds somewhat blocked the view to the west but we had a good view to the east into North Carolina.

At the top of the mountain, there was a big parking lot, which you could walk around and see great views. Then there is a tower you walk to the top of from a curved ramp. It was a nice view, but the day was hazy, so the mountains seem to live up to their name.

On the way back to the hotel we drove through Gatlinburg, which reminded us all of the town of Niagra Falls, Canada. Both in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge there are a variety of ways to separate tourists from their money.

First day - Home to Pigeon Forge, TN

July 13th:

We left home a little after 8:30 a.m. There were no tears this year before the picture in front of the packed van. We arrived in the Pigeon Forge area around 5:oo p.m., and traffic was terrible. Our GPS told us we would get out our hotel at 5:15, but with the slow traffic, we didn't get there until almost 6:00.

We looked for dinner shows, but the ones we were interested in were sold out, so we just went to dinner. We ate at the Old Mill Restaurant which had a good rating on the internet. We had an hour wait, so we shopped in surrounding plaza. All of the stores had speakers from the restaurant, which called the next party of people to their tables. We began to wonder if the restaurant intentionally had a long wait, so that people would shop in the stores!

We were seated a little after 8:00 and didn't leave until almost 9:30, which was really a late meal for us. Then we got back to the hotel. Jerry, Molly and Brooke went to the pool, while Blair and I stayed in the hotel room.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the Smoky Mountains.

Packed and ready to leave!

It's 10:00 p.m., and I think we're about ready to go. I washed laundry and shopped for food while Jerry mowed the lawn and cleaned the house. I made dinner trying to clean out the potatoes, onions, and as many refrigerator items as possible. We are headed to the Smokie Mountains tomorrow. Hope to leave by 8 a.m. and arrive by early evening there. It's an 8-hour trip.