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Our trip from Nashville to Glasgow, KY took us right by one of Kim’s 1st Cousins, Eddie (and his wife Donna) along the way in Hendersonville, TN.  We visited with them for a few hours before heading to Glasgow, KY.  It was good for Kim to catch up, since she hadn’t seen Eddie in about 40 years.

We then made our way north, crossing into Kentucky, to our final destination, and nearly hit several deer along the way!  If you are in these parts, be careful driving at dusk, as there were a LOT of deer along the roadway.  The speed limit is 55 for a reason.

It snowed in Glasgow that night, so we woke up to a winter wonderland.  Here is a photo of the place we are staying, Main Street Bed and Breakfast.  If you find yourself here, this is a great spot to stay, and Cherie is a great cook and a wonderful host!

The official greeter for the B&B is Kodiak, a really fun dog that we got along with quite well.

Our first day in Glasgow we headed to Mammoth Cave National Park, which has the longest cave system in the world!

Inside the visitor center there is plenty of info on the cave system, so if you arrive early it’s worth visiting before your tour.  This model depicts the layout of a portion of the cave system.

We had signed up for what is likely their most popular visit, the “Historic Tour”.  The tour ended up selling out just before it started, so even in February you should likely book ahead to ensure you get on a tour!  It was 34 degrees outside, so we had a brisk walk to the cave entrance.  I originally toured this cave in 1986, while I was in the Navy and traveling cross country for Damage Control School in Newport, Rhode Island, so this entrance brought back some memories (without the snow).

Those are icicles, not stalactites!

The first open area you enter is The Rotunda, and it’s impressively large, hence the Mammoth Cave name.  Our guide said there are other rooms in the cave system that are much larger!

This is where the historic nature of the cave makes an appearance.  During the War of 1812 there was a need for large amounts of gunpowder, and one of the components of gunpowder is saltpeter.  Turns out that the bats that lived in these caves dropped large amounts of guano, and by filtering out that guano from the dirt you get saltpeter.  This section of the cave was worked for several years by slaves to filter out that necessary element, in this spot.

It was amazing to see what amounts to hundreds of yards of mine tailings in this area of the cave.  A little further along our guide lit up an oil lamp so we could see what it was like for tourists to visit before electrical lights were installed.  One of the guides ended up performing a song on his harmonica so we could get a feel for the acoustics inside the cave.

The rock formation in this photo is known as the Giant’s Coffin.

Our guide pointed out historic graffiti on the cave ceiling.  The large black lettering was created by holding up candles and making each letter dot by dot.

There are deep pits along the way created by years of rushing water breaking down the limestone.

They even have one called Bottomless Pit.  It’s like Injun Joe Cave in Disneyland (which Disney likely had to change the name of).  I couldn’t see the bottom, so perhaps they are serious??

You have to walk through one very tight spot called Fat Man’s Misery.  Lizzo was not part of our tour, thank God!

If was definitely quite narrow!

The narrow passage opens up to another large room, with more old graffiti.  These were actually placed here by bands that came here to perform in the cave before it became a National Park.  Luther Ewing String Band was apparently hot in the 1800’s!  Bust a move!

We ran across a spot that is normally high and dry, but with the recent rains (and snow), this area got quite muddy.  Our guide put a flashlight on a table pointed into the cave where you could see the water level.  Made for a pretty cool photo!

This section of cave is known as Mammoth Dome.  It’s so mammoth I can’t even see the top of it!

It’s hard to imagine the thousands of years of dripping water carving this out of the limestone.

Finally, near the end of the tour, are some actual cave formations.  There are apparently plenty of these in other sections of Mammoth Caves, but only this small section on the Historic Tour.

Just as we were nearing the end of our tour our guide pointed out this small bat sleeping suspended from the ceiling.  I was surprised with all of the people walking by that the bad didn’t wake up!

Back towards the entrance of the cave is a memorial to the fallen comrades of Kentucky and the American dead of the World War.

After 2 hours and 2 miles, we finally reemerged into our winter wonderland!

 

On our second day in Nashville we visited the Frist Art Museum, which was quite a bit better than expected!  You can see from Kim’s attire that the weather had changed dramatically from yesterday’s 64 degrees to today’s 34!  We even experienced a few snowflakes on our way to the museum. It was good to get inside!

Fortunately for us, the current Exhibition, Farm to Table: Art, Food and Identity in the Age of Impressionism was ongoing.  We love our Impressionist paintings!  First up was our favorite Impressionist artist Claude Monet  with a painting that we had yet to see, this one called “The Haystack”, from 1891.  Monet created more than 20 paintings of haystacks.  If somebody was going to paint a haystack, it might as well have been him!

I found this next painting to be quite interesting due to the subject matter.  This is Narcisse Chaillou’s “A Rat Seller During the Siege of Paris” painted in 1870-1871.  The rat seller, dressed in the blue, white and red of France’s flag, the young butcher represents French culinary nationalism during the food shortages of the Prussian siege.  The French are apparently quite proud of eating rats, which explains that whole “escargot” thing!

The next painting is by the famous Pierre-Auguste Renoir called “Field of Banana Trees” from 1881.  This depiction of Algerian banana trees focuses on a plant that could not be cultivated in France, evoking the economic drive that was central to European imperialism.  The setting for the painting was a garden that had been built by France in Hamma, Algeria, which was created to test models for colonial farming.

Another exhibit at the museum was based on Japanese art, but it was mostly focused on kids.  We did see one piece of artwork that we have seen previously.  This is by Katsushika Hokusai, called “The Great Wave off Kanagawa”, depicting three boats amongst the waves with Mount Fuji, Japan’s tallest mountain, in the background.  This has been described as possibly the most reproduced image in art.  The artwork was originally produced as a woodblock print, hence it’s easy reproduction.

After spending about two hours at the museum it was time for a beer, so we headed to see more honkey-tonks.  We walked into two that were simply jam packed with people and then finally found the rooftop bar at The Stage, with a pretty decent band.  We requested Drunk on a Plane by Dierks Bentley, and they performed a passable version.  For the official music video, click on the link above.  It’s one of our favorites!

Before heading to dinner we made our second stop at Ole Red, as the rooftop bar here seems to have the best setting with the best music that we have discovered so far.

We spent about an hour listening to Kelly and Sarah, who were excellent.  Their harmonies were exquisite.  Looking back on it I should have asked if they could have performed a Wilson Phillips song.  I highly recommend this spot!

On the way out I got a photo of Kim with the owner, country star Blake Shelton!  Despite the enthusiastic pointing he seemed a little wooden.

On our 3rd day in Nashville we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which is right in the center of Nashville.

After checking in they send you on the elevator to the 3rd floor, and you make your way through the top two floors.  It’s set up as a linear history of country music, with tributes to the biggest stars during their time periods.  You get a feel for how big the place is just off the elevator.

They have historic instruments from the early days of country, like this 1850 Martin guitar.  The coffin-shaped case was designed to protect the instrument during travel by stagecoach.

This banjo from the 1860’s was used for performances in minstrel shows.  Country music with guitars and banjos had some of their first audiences during traveling medicine shows, for “medicine” like Cherokee Chief (in the bottle on the left).

This is a photo of an actual medicine show for “Flagg’s Liver Pad”, whatever the hell that is, in Wilmington, NC in 1870.  They would play music to get people to gather around, and it worked as most of these people had never heard professional entertainment.

We’ll skip ahead here before I bore everybody to tears.  Here is look inside Elvis’ famous 1960 Cadillac, that was decked out with gold plated wheels, handles, knobs, a even a gold plated telephone (before cell service, just for looks?).  Not sure how good the reception would have been on that TV back in the day.

There was an excellent video montage on the 3rd floor before you head downstairs.  The linear part of the museum becomes lost on the 2nd floor, which is mostly there to give tribute to the stars of the 70’s (Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, etc.), as well as more modern stars up to today.  I was surprised to see they had the original Mechanical Bull from Urban Cowboy!

We are huge John Denver fans, and this is the only display for him.  He wore this outfit to the American Music Awards in 1976, where he won 3 awards.  The Yamaha guitar was custom made for John.

One of our favorite country artists, who we mentioned previously, is Dierks Bentley.  The pilot outfit in this display is from his performance in “Drunk on a Plane”, also mentioned previously.  I love it when a blog post connects with itself!

This guitar belonged to another of our favorite country artists, Toby Keith, who we unfortunately lost just over a year ago.  He used this guitar in his music video for “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”, a song he wrote and sang in response to the September 11 attacks.  Click on the link above for the music video.

Across the street from the museum is the Walk of Fame Park, that had numerous plaques for musicians of various types, not just country.  Here is one for a musician we’ve seen multiple times, Michael McDonald.  What a voice!

We spent that afternoon in John Rich’s honky-tonk, the Redneck Riviera.  John pays tribute to the military members and First Responders by splashing their badges all over the walls of his establishment.  It felt like home!

The band, “Ponder This”, was excellent and a whole lot of fun!!  The place was filled with ex-military and Firemen/Policemen.  My kind of place!

On the walk back to our hotel I got a better shot of what is known locally as “The Batman Building”.

Coming up, we depart Nashville and head north, meeting up with one of Kim’s cousins (and family) and then venturing to Glasgow, Kentucky for more adventures!