Grand Ol' Opry, Nashville

Dear England, here's the original site of the famous Grand Ol' Opry, home of country music! Today the Opry is a weekly country music radio program and concert broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, every Friday and Saturday night

Memphis, Tennessee!

Me and the Mississippi in Memphis, Tennessee!Downtown Memphis, still with working streetcars! And out on Beale Street, with the Big Ass Beers bar - where outdoor blues music was unbeatable!

Clingman's Dome, Highest Point in the Smoky Mountains!

Clingman's Dome is the highest point in Tennessee along the Appalachian Trail!

Here's a fact for you, England. Reputedly known as "Kuwahi" (the mulberry place) by the Cherokee Indians, the mountain was originally dubbed "Smoky Dome" by local Scots-Irish inhabitants.

Me with the Danger, Falling Deaths sign - such a lovely warning to go climbing the mountain!

Elvis Has Left the Building

Here we are inside Graceland, the living room below kept as it was in the 1970s. Check out the stained-glass windows and baby grand piano! Elvis's grave is a pleasant memorial laid around water, but you also learn that he is buried alongside his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, and his maternal grandmother. I was surprised to learn they died in reverse natural order, with the older members living the longest! Elivs, of course, died young...

Here's the famous TV room where Elvis would watch 3 TVs at once!

The greatest extrvagance Elvis ever took part in was to fly his jet plane the "Lisa Marie" half way across the country for bacon and PB and J baguettes!

Appalachian Trail

Every year thousands of people walk the Appalachian trail through Tennessee and Virginia. The whole trail is about 2175 miles long and extends from Georgia to Maine!

After walking for a couple of hours along the trail ridges, Charlie sprang back from the path to tell me a bear was up ahead. I took theis news in stride, not even knowing there were bears on the trail, but on learning they can easily outrrun you, and will chase you, the scene changed a little. It was a baby bear that had scrambled across the path, but we certainly didn't want to get between the little guy and its mother!
Here's me with complete proof of the Appalachian Trial - not a sign I brought with me.