Hey all, sorry it's been a while since the last post, but Sarah and I
have been pretty busy. As it turns out, she is actually in San
Francisco this week for a work conference. She comes home Monday
(Memorial Day) for approximately 20 hours, and then jets off to Bolivia
for another week. Meanwhile, I'm catsitting, so that's cool. On the
plus side, we did have a rather exciting trip to Tennessee a few weeks
ago!
Our trip started off the way many Petersons trips do, by digging through a bunch of weird junk at scary thrift stores. Sadly, no gems were found.
Once we arrived in Memphis, we had a fun day running around seeing the sights. Then we went to the main event, the Beale Street Music Festival, to watch Florence and the Machine melt some faces. Seriously though, they played a good set.
The next day we started off at Graceland, which was a lot of fun. It was actually much less gaudy than we expected, and it's actually pretty small.
Some parts actually looked really normal.
Other parts, not so much. Here's the Jungle Room.
One of my favorite stops was Sun Studios, where musicians like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Carl Perkins got their start. The "Million Dollar Quartet" actually performed in the room below.
Elvis Presley recorded his first hits at this exact microphone. I couldn't believe they let you touch it and swing it around. They're not too keen about you taking it out and putting it in your trunk, however.
After a few more stops around Memphis (including the very cool Civil Rights Museum), we made our way to Nashville and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Here's a picture of Sarah and my thumb at the entrance.
This museum had some amazing stuff, including Carl Perkins' blue suede shoes, Elvis' gold piano, and lots and lots of guitars.
Here's main street in Nashville.
Here's where we got run off the road by a crazy driver who wasn't paying attention. Don't worry, we're OK.
This is the ditch the card ended up in. We had to have a tow truck pull us out and take off the front bumper, but we were still able to drive home. Don't worry, Jean (that's the car's name) is back in top condition. Believe it or not, this is the fourth bumper I've had on this car.
But enough with sights and car accidents; I went to Tennessee for one thing and one thing only... food.
Fried shrimp with hush puppies.
Burgers and sweet potato fries.
Bread pudding made out of KRISPY KREME DONUTS. This is currently leading the pack in the 2012 "Best Things Ryan Has Ever Put in His Mouth" Awards.
World-famous biscuits at the Loveless Cafe.
Spicy fried chicken and a bunch of other stuff (pulled pork, ribs, entire cow, etc). So there you have it. That was our road (and partially off-road) trip through Tennessee. Good times!
