We left Gulf Shores around 11 on Friday morning and headed north on Interstate 65, our new best friend. We made a few stops/saw a few sights on the way…
Not one, but TWO Buc’cees Gas Stations (think truck stop, but with cars only with a retail store and pretty tasty bbq and really nice bathrooms. think also a lot of people, cars and congestion getting in and out)
Sonic for lunch and half price slushies. A rocket from the road at a rest area
Crossing through Alabama and into Tennessee – our first stop.
We drove around a bit in the evening, but mostly we were ready to get out of the car. Ellie and Jeremy swam in the pool. I thought it was too cold (which is nothing new), but so did Madison (which made me feel justified in my thinking!).
The next day was our 17th wedding anniversary. The girls surprised us with homemade cards that fit together like a best friend necklace.
We stood in line for 1 hour, 41 minutes to get a seat at the Pancake Pantry. We ordered plates of pancakes and rolled cakes as big as our heads to provide us nourishment for the day ahead.
From there we headed to Belle Meade Plantation. I had booked us a family tour. I didn’t realize that it would be just our family with a tour guide. It was actually really nice. We couldn’t take any pictures in the room, but she filled our minds with the history of the plantation and the family as we looked at various portraits and artifacts. The fact that sticks in my head is that the family bred race horses. They had a slave (who later chose to continue to work there after freed) who was so well-known for his work with the horses that his picture and name was actually printed in the paper when he passed. The one horse they had is also in the lineage of 13 out of the last 15 Kentucky Derby winners.
We saw the slave quarters. They had over a hundred slaves on their property, which I learned was uncommon and indicated wealth. I was under the impression that many plantations had that many slaves, but I think the guide said it was less than 5% of slave owners that had that many.
We finished the tour with time in the old milking parlor. We learned about various toys the kids made and were able to make a few “historical” things ourselves – tin punched candle holder, spinning toy, writing with a calligraphy pen and ink well, and trying on clothes from that era.
Oh, and Jeremy and I did the free wine tasting. I do not love wine. This was really not an exception. I am sure it was excellent for those that do like it.
After leaving Belle Meade, we did a little souvenir shopping – at the shop of the American Pickers people and other shops in that area.
We drove to the mall to eat at Rainforest Café – a throwback memory to eating there in Florida with Grandpa and Grandma Yoh years ago. There was no wait, so it made it even more appealing!
Then, we perused the mall for awhile. Madison discovered the brand names she has on clothing (Children's Place, Adidas, etc) have actual stores devoted to their brand. Yeah, I don’t really take them to the mall…
We ended the evening visiting a live music spot Jeremy had discovered on his “man trip” to Nashville last year. The place is called Station Inn. It is great. There are fairly well-known people that perform. The night we were there it was bluegrass – Shawn Lane and Richard Bennett. It is not a bar atmosphere; people are there to hear the music primarily. It got a little late, but I really enjoyed it.
The next morning, the girls took a dip in the pool before we packed up and headed out.
Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky was our next and final destination before home. We took the Historic Tour (2 hours, 2 miles) at 3ish. Our tour guide was informative and able to answer a lot of questions. There were quite a few people in our group, but it worked out just fine. This was one of the highlights of the trip for us. I think it was an unexpected hit . It is really amazing inside the cave, and we just saw a small portion of it…. careful not to take the tour that required belly crawling and tight spaces.
Just kidding when I said Mammoth Cave was our last stop. We visited the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln before leaving the next morning. Jeremy had a memory of going there when he was a kid. He said that it was their sole destination that day – a 5 hour drive for this place; his dad wanted to visit. We were underwhelmed ourselves, but it is also an interesting piece of history. The site where a replica of Lincoln’s cabin is looks like the Lincoln Monument in Washington DC, so that is kinda cool. Madison took a picture by the cornerstone put in place by another president. So, it is neat to touch history.
And that was that. We got home Monday evening around 6pm, greeted by a very excited dog, a super clean house (thanks, Mom and Lilli!), and all things familiar. Our trip was so much fun. We didn’t get tired of traveling or on each other’s nerves (too much). And we didn’t feel like we never had time to breathe. It was just right if you ask me.
