It might sound crazy, but our time in Tennessee reminded us of living in Southern California. These feelings are based on the two cities we stayed in: Memphis and Nashville. They are just over 3 hours apart in driving distance, but miles apart in style. In SoCal you are either an OC person or an LA person. It’s impossible to be both. As OC people we loved to “visit” the distinctive neighborhoods and amazing restaurants in LA (when we were up for the drive that is), but we didn’t want to live there. When you live in a place that is manicured like Disneyland, it is hard to see beyond the grittiness to reap the benefits of a hipper town. To us Memphis is to Nashville as LA is to the OC.
We had a good time in Memphis checking out the unique neighborhoods that are hipster and fun like Cooper-Young. We found quite a few great places to hear good music and grab a drink. But, Nashville is more like a place we would be able to call home IF it wasn’t so big! It was manicured with beautiful houses and tons of hiking trails for a city. We had fun in Nashville downtown as well, on the hunt for cowboy boots (so many boots!).
One of the things we have started to think about as we travel is balancing doing “touristy” things with more local or “off the beaten path” type adventures. What we have found is that with touristy things our expectation is higher than it is for something that has a little more local flair. Perspective really is everything. A good example of this is the Peabody Ducks daily jaunt to the hotel’s lobby. They only do this twice a day and people pack in the hotel so you have to get there early for a good viewing spot. It is free which is always good, BUT it is a super touristy thing to do and it let us down a bit. For one thing, we didn’t know there are only five ducks…five ducks!?! We thought it was supposed to be a PARADE of ducks – minimum 20 ducks! Also, the ducks don’t really understand what a parade is and they are pretty squirrely running haphazardly all over the place…don’t they know we need a good single file pic! I guess we should have known better than to have such high hopes for duck entertainment.
Best thing we did?
The Gibson Guitar factory tour in Memphis was hands down one of the best tours we have ever taken. We initially thought about Graceland, but it was big bucks and honestly The King was a little before our time. The Gibson tour was a bargain at $10 and they were so detailed on the tour. We got to learn how guitars are made and what goes in to each and every one (it takes them over a month to make one by the way). On this journey we are working to be more thoughtful about spending on experiences we feel we will get the most value from and not just things we think we are supposed to do. We still need to continue to remind ourselves about this, but we are getting there.
Best thing we ate?
Ever since we found our one true bakery love, Sparrow Bakery in Bend, Oregon, we have been on a quest to find bakeries that match its greatness. In Nashville we found quite a few bakeries to check out but it was Dozen Bakery where we found these Chocolate Cardamom Madeleines. Spoiler alert: this one cookie kicked off our obsession with desserts with cardamom…more to follow in future posts.
While Dozen did not live up to the high expectations set by Sparrow, they were an amazing bakery none the less. We watched them making bread in house and thought about why we don’t bake more in the Airstream since we have a perfectly good oven.
Then realized quickly at the bakery we could buy one treat, but when we make something at home we tend to eat the entire thing!
What we learned?
Oh yeah, water freezes at 32 degrees. One morning during this leg we woke up and turned on the water and nothing came out. So, Gary gears up to go out and check things (because that is his job, I am in charge of the inside). He unscrews the water hose and holds it up and out flies an ice chunk, then water shot out at him. Too bad we don’t have a video for you as that was the funniest thing ever!
So, now we know when we are in an area that is going to get under 40 degrees at night it is best to fill your water tank and unhook your hose. PS I am sure you can tell we are a bit behind on posting as they are having record highs this week in TN. We promise to get (mostly) caught up within the next few weeks!
Here we also learned that we get a lot more from an area when we pepper in local, everyday fun in addition to the tourist attractions. While in Memphis we happened upon a regional barrel racing competition right near our RV Park. This isn’t something that would have been on our radar at all, but we saw something going on, walked in and sat down for about an hour and it was super exciting. We didn’t have anyone we knew to cheer for, but we made up our own favorites.
We realized one of our goals along the way should be to release the FOMO (“fear of missing out” for those of you reading this who aren’t millennials) and not feel as though we have to see only the epic highlights of a town. Also, it is okay to leave something behind to check out down the road. There is always next time or the next stop in our case.
Next Stop: Gary’s home town