chickasaw, shiloh and beale street blues

We left Nashville on the Natchez Trace parkway, a highway built along a Chickasaw trail from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi. A pretty drive with lots of green trees and a few turkeys, but no other wildlife (we kept looking!) and we stopped at a house built in 1805 on the border of the US and the Chickasaw nation.

then we went on to Shiloh military park - where a major Civil War battle was fought. over the course of two days the rebels pushed the union army back to the Tennessee river, then the next day, the union army pushed back and defeated the rebels. it was a really big park that we drove through and stopped at markers to show which general was standing where, and which direction the cannons were pointed. pretty cool for the first 8 stops, a little repetitive for the next 8. still, it brought the idea of the civil war alive for rylan.

next, into memphis. great hotel right off Beale Street and we immediately went to have bbq at a famous place in town. excellent bbq! we walked down to Beale street where it was closed off and lined on both sides of the street with Harleys. I don't know if it's always like that, or if this was a special night - we will find out tomorrow. anyway, I thought the honky-tonk-lined street in Nashville was crazy - this is crazier! MORE bars, MORE bands, plus bands who set up between buildings and play for free. These guys are all playing the blues and rock (lots of Jimi Hendrix imitators) and they are, to a person, incredible players. Real virtuosos on guitar. very crowded streets, guys yelling out to get you into their bars, the musicians, the harleys. a wild night!

tomorrow the Gibson guitar factory and Elvis's Graceland.

oh - and i was disappointed not to hear much in the way of southern accents while in Nashville, but now that we are in Memphis, i'm hearing plenty!