Weekend Thoughts - 1/31/2010

Well, as many of you probably saw on the news, the Southeast was hit with a pretty good size snowstorm on Friday. Initially expected to hit overnight between Thursday and Friday, it didn't really start snowing until mid-day Friday. And then it just kept on snowing. When we woke up on Saturday morning, it had gotten to somewhere between 8-10" of snow.

We also had some friends visit over the weekend, getting into town before the snowstorm hit. All in all, a very fun weekend. You've got Brynn and Audrey feeding the giant cow outside of Sirloin Stockade here. (It wasn't quite as hungry as you would think a cow that size would be.)

The state of Kentucky and all the local groups did very well with clearing the roads of snow, so we actually took them around a bit of western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Right across the border from Paducah, KY is Metropolis, IL. The town of Metropolis is best known for being the home of Superman. So they have gone for it, with a Superman museum and a statue in one of the town's squares.

Strangely, this statue (which is about 25 feet tall), is not even the tallest statue in this town. There is a giant statue (probably about 50-55 feet tall) in front of a grocery store of a giant grocery clerk. It was a bit strange to see actually.

Metropolis is also home to a riverboat casino (Harrah's), which was fairly standard of a casino. (Also got $20 of our money as well, so definitely a standard casino).

We also made our way back to Paris, TN, in search of their Eiffel Tower that we had heard about. After a bit of searching (and following the signs), we did find the Tower in a park in the center of town. It was not nearly tall enough to be seen from anywhere else in town, which wasn't really a surprise. The town is hilly, and the park was in one of the small valleys of the town.

All in all, a very fun weekend for everybody, in spite of the snow.

Weekend Trip - The Grand Ole Opry

After leaving Clarksville, we were bound for the heart of country music, Nashville, Tennessee and the Grand Ole Opry.

Some history about the Opry - the short version anyway (You can find the long version here): The Grand Ole Opry was the brainchild of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company. They wanted to start their own radio station back in 1925, and they started a program on Saturday nights called the WSM Barn Dance. The program was broadcast from a studio in the Insurance Company's building. Over time, the show's popularity grew, and eventually required a move to allow for the live audience. They spent until 1974 at the Ryman Auditorium, when they moved to their new home at the Opry House. The Opry is actually a radio show that is broadcast nationwide now, and also includes a television show as well.

We were there to go on a backstage tour of the Opry. The Opry House is a part of a larger complex, which includes the Opry Mills shopping mall. So we made our way over there. Fun with the GPS unit reminded us that while the thing is usually pretty good with directions, it's not always quite right about pronunciation. As we drove up, we "arrived" at the "Grand Oh-Lee Opry". Not quite. The more interesting thing on this road was this:

Yup. That is a 24 mile per hour speed limit. Not a 25. Not a 20. 24 mph speed limit. The things you see sometimes.... Anyway.






As we walked around, we saw that they had a Charlie Brown on Ice program nearby. The program had ended in early January, but was still setup on the outside. Can anyone guess what this picture is supposed to represent?

Once we were done with the Peanuts, we headed to the tour of the Opry.  The tour was lead by a very nice elderly woman who was most likely in her 80s. The funny part to us was the fact that she had been good friends with both Minnie Pearl and Roy Acuff.  Minnie Pearl is to your right. And both her and Roy, sadly, have been deceased for almost 15 years. So it was a bit unusual to see a person that knew them both, and was still working at the Opry. Both were Opry performers, but Pearl was probably a little more famous, known for having left the price tag on her hat (which you may be able to see in the photo).


Some of you may recognize this next picture. The following is the stage at the Opry. It is pretty well recognizable at this point. There is also a round portion from the original stage of the Opry that they placed near where the spotlights are pointing. We didn't get to walk on the stage, since they had just finished polishing and redoing the floor.

Every year, the Opry, from November through January, returns to their previous home at the Ryman Auditorium to allow for some maintenance to be done at the Opry House.

The thing that I really found interesting with the Opry is that they don't really have any specific criteria for admitting new members. Musicians from multiple genres have been admitted, but there is no set timeframe, career length, or success level that determines how they get in. As they put it, it's basically a relationship that is built between the artist and the Opry. So you'll see artists who have been around for only a few years (Carrie Underwood) who are in, but artists that have been around for a long time may not be (Faith Hill). Opry artists, by being admitted, are making a commitment to perform at least 10 times at the Opry each year.

All in all, it was actually a very interesting tour. I didn't really think I'd enjoy it particularly, but I was pleasantly surprised. A big piece of history there.

Tomorrow: The last of this weekend's trip posts: Mammoth Caves

Weekend Trip - Clarksville, TN

Since we are going to be leaving the Kentucky/Tennessee area sooner than we had hoped, we decided to do some semi-intense exploring. Over the remainder of this week, I'll be writing up our travels last weekend:

• Today's post: Clarksville, TN
• Coming soon: Nashville, TN
• Coming soon: Mammoth Caves, KY

Clarksville is home to Fort Campbell, which is home to the 101st Airborne Division. The road into town off Highway 24 runs parallel to the main edge of the base, and leads you past what seems to be an unending string of small strip malls. You see many half-vacant sorefronts and buildings. This road eventually leads into downtown Clarksville.

Downtown Clarksville is not a particularly large area, probably only encompassing a 4-6 square block radius at most. We stopped into a local brewpub to eat a snack and try their beer. They had a reasonable mix of brews, but nothing really that stood out as worthwhile of making the trip back to Clarksville. The food wasn't terrible either. All in all, a reasonable expectation of a brewpub. Probably wouldn't not go back there if we had to do it over again.

Walking around downtown Clarksville, we stopped into Blondie's Sandwich and Coffee Shop. It was a pretty standard coffee shop, except for one thing about the coffee cup itself. On the left side of the lid, is an open-close switch. For those of you who have seen that before, that's wonderful. But it was new to us, and we thought it was awesome.



The downtown area is a lot of brick buildings, some of which appear to be extremely old. A plaque near City hall said that the town was founded in 1785, making it almost 230 years young. Prior to leaving town, we drove past Austin Peay State University. Quite a bit more brick buildings, and we could clearly make out which ones appeared to be dormitories.