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Gatlinburg, TN

We chose Gatlinburg to be our final destination in Tennessee because it’s right on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains. Since we visited so many things in Nashville, we left there a little later than we expected. So as we were driving into Gatlinburg, it was already dark outside. However, we had to drive through Pigeon Forge to get there. Pigeon Forge was far from dark. It was like we entered into Vegas. Dollywood is based there, so you can image the bright lights and hoopla there. Entering into Gatlinburg, there were some twisty and winding roads that were fun to drive at night. Not much was going on as we drove through the city. We were afraid the food places would be closed by the time we checked into our hotel. Once we checked in, we took a look around and didn’t see much. However, one street over, it was a whole different scene. There were a lot of cute gift shops and eating places in a little village area.

After walking around and grabbing dinner, we went back to our hotel room. We relaxed by the fireplace and jacuzzi. That’s right, fireplace and jacuzzi… in our room. It was really odd. Our view from the balcony was nice though. Does anybody know what a “free hsia” is?

Before we left for the Great Smoky Mountains, we rode the Sky Lift (basically a ski lift that took us to the top of the mountain).

At the top of the Sky Lift was a platform and a souvenir shop. We didn’t buy anything because it was overpriced, but Teresa did try on a ranger’s hat.

This is the street during the day.

They actually have a Chinese restaurant there too. Don’t worry, we didn’t try it.

Apparently there’s no longhorn pooping allowed in Puckers. Sorry Austinites.

There was a store called “All Sauced Up”. They had a ton of sauces. You could sample over 200+ sauces there if you wanted too…

The Donut Friar was closed the night before when we were walking around so we went back in the morning. It was kinda disappointing.

Once we finished walking around the area, we got back into the car and drove on towards the mountains!

Nashville, TN was our next stop.

Teresa was relaxing and tanning her white legs while I drove and sang cheesy country songs. Maybe I’ll post some of the embarrassing videos later!

Walking around Nashville.

The PBR Tour was in town (that’s the Professional Bullriders for you non-country folk). The Sommet Center was packed with cowboy hats and boots… and tractors?!?

Lunch time… More BBQ! A guy at the visitor’s center recommended a local restaurant, Rippy’s. We were a bit sick of BBQ at this point so we shared a half rack of ribs but still gobbled it all up!

After lunch we walked around Nashville some more. Our first stop, the Ryman Auditorium, the old home of The Grand Ole Opry.

On to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. We didn’t have time for the tour so we only stepped inside the lobby.

We even visited Tennessee’s State Capitol

And to close out our visit to Nashville, The Grand Ole Opry.

Has anyone seen a 24 mph speed limit sign?

I figured Ruban would get a kick out of this…

“I can take you for a ride in my big green tractor…” Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean
Go download the song or youtube it. Ha ha!

We didn’t stay overnight in Nashville. We just passed through the city on the way to Gatlinburg, TN, but it was a very nice stop!

Welcome to Tennessee!

Our first stop in TN was Memphis. There really wasn’t a sign we could pose by, but there was this interesting egg.

And Elvis!

More of Elvis craziness later. On to BBQ! I was hungry after driving. We went to Neely’s (the couple on the Food Network). We couldn’t decide what to order so we ordered the Neely’s Sampler Platter which included a sampling of pulled pork, pork ribs, sliced beef and sliced turkey served with french fries, beans and buttery bread. Mmmm. Look at how shiny the tops of the rolls are… soaked in butter. Ohhhh sooooo good!

Next to Neely’s was this building which I found amusing.

With full stomachs, it was on to Graceland.

Apparently it was Elvis Week, and there were a bunch of crazy Elvis fanatics like this old guy.

We aren’t really big diehard fans of Elvis so we didn’t spend too much time in Graceland. Our next destination was the Peabody Hotel, in downtown Memphis. They have trained ducks that march down every morning from their Duck Palace, into the elevator, down the red carpet, and into the fountain. They swim around in the fountain all day long until evening time where they reverse their routine and go back up into the Duck Palace. Look at what a big crowd this Peabody Duck March attracts! This happens every day! We even went to go visit the ducks at their palace located on the rooftop of the hotel.

A couple of views from the top of The Peabody Hotel.

We also took time to take in the sights around Memphis and rode the trolley around the city.

Memphis Queen!

That evening we hit up Beale St. It’s like 6th St. in Austin. It was crazy busy and packed with tons of people!

There was an interesting store/museum amongst the bars and clubs. They had lots of old, antique items to play with. My favorite was the Erector set. Could you tell?

After we walked up and down Beale St., we went for a late dinner to another BBQ joint called Rendezvous. This time we tried the pork ribs and shoulder combination. We both thought that Neely’s was better overall, but I guess it depends on what you like. Neely’s was a saucy bbq while Rendezvous was more of a dry rub. Oh, and while we were waiting for a table, I decided to look up something on my iPhone. Three other guys thought the same thing.

After dinner, we walked around some more and found a cute dessert place. We walked over to The Crepe Maker (I think there’s one in North Park Mall too). We got a Rocky Road crepe with ice cream inside! Mmmm… we demolished it!

Here’s our hotel in Memphis. We had a nice view of a park across the trolley tracks.

After a nice stay there, we moved on to the next Tennessee city…