Arkansas to Tennessee ,(The Music State !) 15th June to 8th of July

This next part of the travelling was something I personally was really excited about, ie  'The music' but before we visited Memphis and Nashville we decided we were going to have a little rest, as cities and the heat do take its toll on you. The temperatures on our Texan trip reached 90 degrees most of   the time, by the end of the site seeing we felt really exhausted. We had not done any of the state parks so far whilst in America, so it was a must to check them out.  Also a nice change away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. What we could not believe is how many State parks there were..

Our first destination was  North to a place called Texarcana which is situated right in between the Texas and Arkansas state border. We saw a  big difference whilst driving north  as   the country side got a lot  greener, with lots of rice fields.  We were also pleased  that  the traffic was not a busy as what we  had experienced whilst in Texas.

Before reaching the first  park we did a couple of one night stop overs , the first journey  was approximatley 200 miles. We did not stop in Texarcana itself just a little motel outside it. What we were quite glad about was that we had  just popped into the bar next door for something to eat    called the Shooters Bar, we ended up having a really good night.We danced most of the night it was hard not to as the music was great being a mixture of country and rock and roll .It was really good to see where all the locals went for their night out.

The following day we went to Arkadelphia via Camden on the first of many civil war trails, the first one was called the 'Trail of Tears' .

The next stop we ended up staying Arkadelphia for one night as Steve had enough of driving as it had been yet another 300 miles. We keep getting reminded that America is massive.

Our next destination was Crawley's National Park, which was a fantastic site,a fairly large park but only had 6 cabins, situated a fair distance from each other so it was fairly private. We enjoyed it so much we stayed 5 nights just relaxing in the peace and quiet in the middle of the woods. There were many walking trails and a large lake where Steve managed to fit in a bit of fishing again.

Crawley's National Park

Crawley's National Park

Crawley's National Park

Cabin at Chickasaw National State Park

We then left and  drove through Missouri and crossed the Mississippi entering Tennessee and found another great park called Chickasaw, 70 miles east of Memphis. We stayed there for one  week, once again it had walking trails, a massive lake, a swimming lake with lifeguards and a small beach.  Our bonus was it also had tennis courts so we managed to get a game in every day. There was no difficulty getting on the courts as we were the only 'mad dogs in the sun' playing tennis in the scorching heat.  It was still 80 degrees early evening we could not get away from  it.

Whilst we were staying at the park we ventured on different days out, the first was Corinth.Corinth  was an occupied town during the Civil War  and there had been  two famous battles there.

One of the other days we went to Tupelo Mississippi ,which was where Elvis Presley was born. He only lived at Tupelo until he was three years old   but this was a really interesting rags to riches story as the house was built by Elvis' father and family, but ended up getting repossesed as they could not afford to live there. After that they moved to Memphis in various rented homes. Later on in life when Elvis became famous he went back to the place where he was born and decided to buy the land with the house on it and make it a tourist attraction for the community.

All picture below are Elvis's House Typelo, Mississipi

Steve on the swing chair outside Elvis's house where hewas born-Tupelo

Steve got really excited on one of the dayss when he realised we were only half an hour away from Shiloh, National Historic Monument, where the biggest battle  fought in the south during the civil war. The State Park was enormous and the battlefield ws set out just as it was in 1861, with groups of cannons scattered and laid out in their original positons. It was suppose to be driven around,  but Bailey's Tours had not realised and managed to walk around half of it ! It was a really humbling experience also, walking around the beautifully kept grounds where the over two days  20000 losses and casualties from the 100000 soldiers taking part from both sides .(More casualties than the Americans suffered on D Day in 1944)

Cornith Battle field

Finally we arrived in Memphis  on the Friday as we wanted to visit it during a long weekend. We stayed from Friday to Sunday. Memphis lived up to all my expectations. The three main attractions to visit were Graceland, Beale street, and Sun Studios.

Graceland- Everybody we spoke to said it is so touristy, yes it was but in a really nice way. It was very organised, it cost $46 for the premier ticket. This is where you get to see Elvis' house as it stood just before he died, his numerous gold record rewards, his private jet and custom interior designed aeroplane. It also included an entrance to the museum where his impressive collection of cars, motorbikes he owned were kept. It was absolutely amazing. It was quite an informative audio tour and was emotional especially when you saw his resting place where he was buried in his garden with his twin brother, his mum, dad and granny were also buried there. He had designed this place while he was alive as somewhere to go when he wanted piece and quiet.

Graceland

 Graceland-Living room

 Graceland-Dinning area

 Graceland-Kitchen

Billiard room

Graceland, Gold record room

Elvis practice room

Elvis gold record award room, (just one of them)

Elvis's grave,

Meditation area- Graceland

Elvis Museum

Elvis private plane, Lisa Marie

Dinning area on Elvis's Privte plane.
The plane also had a living area, bathrooms with gold taps, walk in wardrobe, bedroom

Sun Studios- This was also a good tour, We stood on the cross marked on the floor where Elvis stood when recording his first record at the age of 18 years old. My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin' a double ascetate costing him $3.98. Apparently he was really nervous, but did not become famous until he as 19 years old. The most amazing thing about this tour was we were able to hold the microphone that Elvis used and stand on the same spot in the studio which is still the same original flooring. I thought that was cool anyway!

Sun Studios

Sun Studios- Standing on the same spot a Elvis and using his original  microphone

Beale Street, A bar area with live music, situated in the downtown area of Memphis, luckily we managed to find a hotel just around the corner so it was pretty central.

 

Bele  Street

The area covered approximately 200 yards long with barriers at both ends of the road,with police guarding each end. It was fascinating really , with local youths doing somersaults down the street and every bar had a live band on or singer, they mostly played blue grass music. The famous BB kings bar was on the corner of Beale Street where you can go for good music and decent food (It had a small charge on the door to get in) You could also buy drinks on the street where performances take place, the atmosphere was electric. Three nights in Memphis covered most of what we wanted to see, we were glad that we went for the long weekend, Sunday night was a bit quieter, but still busy enough for a good atmosphere.

Memphis

Memphis

 

This Baseball Park - Nashville was outside our motel

BB Kings bar- Bele Street

Memphis is in a nice area, lots of green areas, nice houses, we went through one rough area on our way to Graceland, ( A bit bleek as they woud say) but most of the streets were linned with trees and looked  Another good trip we enjoyed ws the Mississippi boat trip where we cruised on a paddle boat on the river whilst the guide told us all about Memphis.

We then headed for another State park called Natrass Trace, near Lexington 90 miles west of Nashville. We wanted to also hit Nashville at its peak time  during the weekend so it was ideal for us to chill out in the woods again amongst the deer and the wildlife. Once again Natrass Trace State Park was  very pretty, with all the amenities like the other parks we had previously visited but much, much bigger. The cabin we stayed in  overlooked the lake, the park had a variety of walks and it also had a swimming lake which we really enjoyed too.

Natrass Trace swimming Lake

Natrass Trace swimming Lake

We then hit Nashville after a 90 mile drive, we decided to go on the Thursday night so we could get our bearings before the weekend started. The bar area was downtown Broadway, where there were lots of bars once again lots and lots of live music. This time mostly country music. We saw some excellent artists, they play in the bars for tips only. I suppose it is there chance to be noticed in the country music business. There were also buskers on the street. Once again a great atmosphere, but this time not so many people on the street walking about they were mainly in the bars.

Women country band on Broadway

 

Duet called Nial Hay

Broadway- Nashville

Broadway- Nashville

The Stage- Broadway Nashville

On the Friday night we decided to try out the Grand Ole Opry, which is situated 12 miles outside Downtown Nashville. It had a good variety of music, various artists played 2 records each, a very entertaining night, good value for the money as some of the famous stars played there.

Grand Ole Opry,

The skyline was quite impressive in Nashville, it was also  an easy city to get around, we did most of it on foot. I think what impressed us both was no matter what time you went to the Broadway area there were live bands playing all day and night. On our last day we visited the Country Hall of fame, it was OK. It ticked a box but that was about it with this museum, it was in all the guide books as a must do.. Other than the bands and the Grand Ole Opry there was not a lot else to see, but the live music was well worth it.  It turned out to be one of  my favourites places for the nightlife as we loved the music. We both said we would certainly go back there one day.

Nashville Skyline

We are now nearly at the final part of our trip and plan to head North towards New York with a view of visiting quite a few more places on the way. One month exactly to go. We are starting to feel sad already.