Window to Our World: Below the Mason Dixon Line

We headed out in early May,

on a tour of the great states below the Mason/Dixon line.

First stop, Little Rock, where we like to revisit this historic

Old Mill Park, to relax and unwind.

It's a great stop for weary travelers, and it stays about

ten degrees cooler than the rest of town!

Our hotel was right downtown, walking distance to the River Market,

so that's what we did...walked over to the Market area!

After that bit of nature,
and the walk,
we hit Big Whiskey
for some cold
beverages and
tasty nachos to share.

Can't say why,
but she loves to
snap me with food,
so here I am,
and I'm going in!

Next stop, Memphis!

We've been here before, but this time we visited their wonderful

Botanical Gardens for the first time.

It's still early in the day and we can't check in at our hotel yet,

so why not? We love gardens...

because they always give us ideas about our own garden...

and this place has a huge Children's area
which is one of our favorite things!

Hmmm...I just so happen to be working on a treehouse
back at home, so this is inspirational!

We could've spent
all day at this place,
but my tummy clock
was just about to go off

so we headed out...

And by accident
we found the
Soul Fish Cafe:

It was just our kinda place,
and they make some scrumptious
Po Boys, N'awlens style!

Our Memphis hotel was just across the street from Graceland,

the legendary home of the King of Rock and Roll--Elvis!

And this place was all about "his majesty"!

Even the pool was shaped like a guitar!

The lobby and the breakfast area was just covered with
Elvis photos and gold records!

In the early evening we hopped on down to Beale Street,
Memphis' famous stretch of night spots and blues joints,
and just about a block from the Gibson guitar factory.

So, naturally
there's gonna be
a lot of serious
blues men here,
to go along with
the cold brews
and Memphis
BBQ!

I don't know why,
but we picked the
Rum Boogie Cafe
to pull in and
dust off!

Oh, now I remember: I'm a sucker for any place that
hangs a bunch of guitars from the ceiling!

That was a good evening, and later: great Memphis-style ribs
at Marlowe's Ribs & Restaurant.
Check out the pink pig shaped bus they keep out front:

Mmm Mmmm and Goodnight!

From Memphis we headed over towards Nashville,
stopping just 15 miles south, at Franklin, Tennessee.

This is one of the cutest small towns in America

... with lots of historic charm.

And if you go around lunchtime,
be sure to stop for a sandwich at Merridee's!
You might find yourself rubbin elbows with Reba
or Tim and Faith!

This trip we booked a couple of nights here, at Suite Melissa's B&B.

Nice, nice nice place, in a quiet and charming neighborhood
just outside of town. In fact we were just minutes from another,
even smaller berg, Leiper's Fork. The only reason this town is noteworthy
is because it has become popular among several recording artists who
want to live in the country, and be close to work (Nashville).
The new kid in town is JT, who is building a home on his 120 acres!

We spent the afternoon on a tour of the Carter House Civil War
museum, which was the site of the Battle of Franklin.

The Union army and the Confederacy met here,
at the Carter family's farm, and fought for over five hours.

The buildings look peaceful now, but the battle was vicious,
at close range, and much of it was hand to hand.

Carter men fought for the South, and the women and 14 children
hid down in the cellar while the fight was on.

If you have good eyes,
you can see tons of bullet holes in this out building!

One of the girls later wrote when the battle ended,
and they came back out, she could not walk from the house to
the edge of the farm without stepping on a dead or dying solider!
The grounds were completely covered with casualties from both sides.

By now you probably know, the Union won the war
so the history lesson is over. Who wants some pizza?

In downtown Franklin we found Pieology
which is "the study of custom pizza".
They make it any way you want it - for one price!
And we wanted it goood:

Good morning! We had the run of the house

downstairs at Suite Melissa's, so we had breakfast...

while watching the birds and chipmunks outside
our dining room window.

After that, we drove into Nashville to visit

country music's famous Music Row.

Some people refer to the six blocks stretch on Broadway,

right downtown, as Music Row. Not exactly.

There you can hear live country music starting at about

10 am every day, and going til sometime tomorrow..

But Music Row is really out in the burbs, where blocks and blocks

of converted residential homes now serve

as recording studios and music publishing houses!

Every place that can brag about one of their stars,
hangs out a banner to tout their success

But enough of that. We soon got back to our main purpose
for the trip: shopping!

And we just had to include a picture of a place that reminded us of Spencer:
The Idea Hatchery, where you can bring your ideas, and try 'em out.
Because that boy has a ton of ideas!

On our way back to Franklin, we hit Leiper's Fork,

just in case JT was grabbing a late lunch. Nope.

And to say Leiper's Fork is a one-horse town would

only be true if they could borrow a horse from somewhere!

And we're back:

The next day we went up into Kentucky, and along the way

we passed this stone fence; not the kind a neighbor

might sit upon to share some gossip:

We headed to Bardstown, for two reasons. First, Linda had read

about Mammy's Kitchen, a popular cafe serving southern dishes!

Yum Yum

And after lunch, we toured Barton's 1792 Distillery,

the makers of this stuff:

It's amazing
how far the industry
has come, from the early days of moon-shiners.

Our guide was great, and took us through the entire process,

including a sample of the 180 proof White Lightening,

a product of the process, before the hooch is moved to age in oak barrels.

Each barrel holds 55-60 gallons, or about 300 "fifths" of whiskey
(a "fifth" of a gallon). Aging provides richness of taste, and the amber color.
Very Old Barton is aged six years, and costs $ 4500 per barrel,
and that includes the volume discount!

After the tour, and because we were so close to Louisville Ky,
we realized that today was the day of the Kentucky Derby!
If you watched the 2018 running, you know it rained all afternoon,
so sorry, no good pictures til tomorrow!

Ok, it's tomorrow
and we're headed across
the Cumberland Gap.

That's the
Cumberland River
in the distance.

We stopped at a visitor center at the edge of Kentucky

for some directions, and met Col Harlan Sanders.

I hear he's a huge fan of Linda's cooking!

Then over to tobacco country, in Winston-Salem N Carolina!

These are twin cities, like D-FW but on a smaller scale.

And some of you may recognize a couple of old school

cigarette brands, Winston and Salem...yep, they're namesakes!

Well, Salem has preserved a quaint old section of town,
called Old Salem, since 1766...back before the revolution!

These are shops and houses (and museums) still in use today,

Salem College, where you can earn a degree in wagon-wheel-making.

If you know us, you know we get our chill on,
visiting historical setting like this

So after a hard day of fetching water,<<<<<

we hit this watering hole called Joy Monger's
>>>>>

Ask to see the glass!

Winston-Salem are in North Carolina, same as Mount Airy,
which everyone knows is the boyhood home of Andy Griffith,

and the actual town that served as the model for the fictional Mayberry!

So naturally we had to check it out.

First thing you notice on the way into town is this Barney Fife police car.

It's one of eight owned by this guy, and used to provide driving tours through town!

You can see his prices are very fair...

Next door to the auto shop is the courthouse,

which houses the sheriffs office and jail...

Inside you can relive the days of Sheriff Andy Taylor,
and little Opie and Aunt Bee,

and even try out Otis's bed in cell Number One!

You shoulda heard this one yelling "Citizen's arrest! Citizen's arrest!"

This truck belonged to the Darlings, that family that came to town
and tried to get their daughter married off to Andy!

And finally, the boyhood home of Andy Griffith:

From Mt Airy we headed to Charlotte, NC. Linda had read about their

Botanical Gardens, and we love to see those places. What we didn't realize was

the park is in the dead middle of the University of North Carolina campus!

When we finally found it, we had to agree it's a lush natural preserve, and a great quiet space to escape the hustle and bustle of college life!

Welcome,
and come in!

That was fun, but we're headed further south,

to Spartanburg for the night.

We enjoyed the beautiful scenery through Greenville South Carolina, and into Georgia,

We cruised through Atlanta bout 10 Am, so traffic was not a problem.

Atlanta, home to Chic Fil A, Coca Cola, and the 1996 Olympics,

would be worth a visit some day, by itself. But today we're headed on...

to Alabama and Birmingham!

This is Rockwood Field, the oldest ball park in America, built in 1910!

Birmingham is also where Dr Martin Luther King jr led a peacful

protest march in his quest for equal rights.

And it's the home for several Civil War era antebellum homes:

We arrived too late to tour the house, but the grounds stay open!

Not bad consider-ing this place is almost 200 years old!

Later we tried the BBQ at a little place called Rib It Up!

Is it soul food, or is it BBQ? Nope. It's both!

The Birmingham City Jail, where MLK was arrested and held for 11 days in 1963,

for his involvement in a nonviolent protest for integrated education.

This launched the Civil Rights movement and brought his concerns to the national stage!

OK, so our trips are not just about eating!

Next day now, and we hit Jackson Miss in time for lunch at Stamps!

Listen,
props out to Brandon Shaw
for this little jewel.
If you ever find yourself
in Mississippi
around meal time,
Drive wherever you have to
to get to the south side of Jackson.
Then ask anybody
"Where's Stamps?"
They'll tell you -
it's right in the hood.

Just a little house
where they cook up
truly great burgers and fries!

There's no seating so drive a couple of blocks to this nice, shady city park

and get ready. You're definitely gonna need a nap!

We booked a room, then toured around the capitol city, taking in the sights.
And one of the sights was this Irish Pub called Fenian's!
I don't know why, but I always like a place
where you have to go upstairs to even go inside: