Tennessee Get Together

Coincidentally, it turned out that our daughter and son-in-law, Erinn and Sean, in their quest to golf in all 50 states, would be in the area at the same time we were.  So, we made plans to meet up with them.  First up, The Hermitage, the home of Andrew Jackson.

Meet up - in the parking lot

I'm not sure how we would have accomplished all of this without cell phones but thanks to technology, we agreed on a time, purchased tickets, found our way there coming from two different directions, picked up our tickets and we were in. 

As we walked through the grounds, we found a nice opportunity to snap a photo.

No photos allowed inside the mansion but we took a few as we toured the grounds and museum.

Waiting......

Beautiful mansion

Enjoying our time with the president and his wife

Next up - Nashville!

Although we had limited time, we packed a lot in.  Eric Church's bar is a new addition.  

We walked down to one of our favorites, Wild Horse Saloon.  Always fun to watch the people learning to line dance.  Unfortunately, it has closed for 'rebranding' as a four story honky tonk with a partnership between Opry Entertainment Group, which owns the property, and hitmaker Luke Combs.  It will be fun to come back and see the changes.

After a few other stops, we ended up at Kid Rock's Honky Tonk.

Miraculously, we (rather Sean) found a great spot on the roof top.

We had a great view, particularly as the sun went down.

Luke Bryan's Bar

We could see across the street to Chief's, Eric Church's new bar.  *The next morning we awoke to the news that Morgan Wallen had been arrested on three felony charges after allegedly throwing a chair off the roof of the bar.  If we'd stayed a little longer, we might have had a birds-eye view of the incident.

Even the Batman Building posed for a picture.

A couple of days later, we met up with them to tour the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg.

We arrived first and waited patiently for them to arrive.

And here they were!

It was a rainy day so we were happy to be able to wait for our tour in the lobby.

Photo of Jack Daniel, age 33, taken in Nashville circa 1883.

A fun group photo - can you spot Jack?

He's the dapper guy with the white hat in the middle row

We had a great tour guide.

Jon T

Of course, the highlight of the tour is the tasting at the end and by this time we were parched.  Haha.

A short walk to town to have some, of course, lunch......

Ron seems to typically be the photographer

.......and shopping.

And with that, they were on their way to Alabama to check off their next state.  Thanks for the visit, Erinn and Sean!

Tennessee - Lynchburg

We decided to take a day trip to Lynchburg which is the 'home' of Jack Daniel Distillery.

We arrived about 2 hours before our tour time so we stopped in the historic town for a visit and some lunch.

A little too much street and not enough buildings

There was a cute place where we decided to have lunch.  I'm always anxious to find some funky place and this fit the bill.

It was one of those places where, for the most part, there are long tables and people just seat themselves wherever they find a spot.  And things to look at everywhere you turned.

We laughed when the food showed up on Styrofoam plates.

I don't remember what the dishes were called but mine was pulled pork and beans on top of mac & cheese.  I would never order mac & cheese but I was curious to know what this dish tasted like - it was good (but not sure I'd order it again).

Jack Daniel is a prominent figure in town.

The "official" Jack Daniel store was pretty cool.  We left without buying a thing (at least not at this store).

From there we went to the Distillery for our tour.

The building is lovely.

And listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The original marble Jack Daniel statue was in the lobby area.  Originally he was outdoors but since marble doesn't do well in the weather, they brought him inside.

We met our guide, Courtney, and headed outside.

This is sugar maple lumber.....

...which is burned and made into charcoal.....

see it under there?

...every ounce of Jack Daniel's Whiskey passes through the important step of mellowing, drop by drop, through ten feet of hard sugar maple charcoal.

An underground spring supplies the clear and pure water.

Remember that marble Jack statue in the lobby?  They replaced it with a bronze statue outdoors and he has been nicknamed "Jack on the Rocks".  

Here is where the mash is made.

The original office is still standing.  

Inside is this safe.  The story is told that Jack came in to work early for the first time ever in 1906 and when no one was there, he didn't know how to open the safe.  He tried and tried but finally got frustrated and kicked the safe and broke his toe.  The toe got infected and the injury took his life in 1911.

It was a fascinating tour but even though it is an active distillery, I never saw any workers.  Until we got to the bottling rooms.

And the finale was a whiskey tasting.  I don't even like whiskey but I felt like I needed to at least take a sip of each.

If you are in the area, I highly recommend the tour.  Just be sure to make a reservation in advance.