1,000 Places to See Before I Die: October 2010

Blogger Alicia's recent trip to Tennessee!

I took a trip to the South and spent a couple days in Tennessee, blowing through Knoxville and Nashville on a whirlwind tour. I started in Knoxville – where the Oregon Ducks soundly pounced the Tennessee Volunteers a couple weeks earlier – and luckily arrived one week after the humidity broke. I spent the two days I was there touring the Old Town, a newly revitalized area now brimming with hip bars (i.e. The Cereal Bar, where one can get any kind of cereal at 3am), coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques.

One of my favorite places was Market Square, a European style plaza layout with pubs overflowing to outdoor seating and unique shops lining the perimeter. There's constantly live music playing while college students study on the benches and children play in the multiple fountains. Tomato Head is not to be missed for a tasty and affordable lunch, even if you have to pay for parking at the nearby garage. But I'm pretty sure this was my favorite Knoxville stop.

The entire reason Knoxville even exists is due to William Blout. A member of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Blout was appointed governor of the Territory of the US South of River Ohio by George Washington and decided the capitol would be in the not-yet-established city of Knoxville. In 1792, he had his home constructed on the river – The Blout Mansion.

Since then Knoxville has evolved into an educational and musical hub, serving as an outlet for musical talent trying to make it in nearby Nashville. A friend of mine who lives in Knoxville has seen many of her favorite up and coming bands, along with newbies who ended up making it big, and many times for free. With my musical curiosity peaked, I headed to Nashville, but not before spotting my new favorite business sign:

Poor guy.

Nashville is two and a half hours west of Knoxville and a completely different animal. Music is literally blasted by speaker on every street corner. The bars lining Broadway are packed with talent even as I strolled by at 3pm on a Monday afternoon. Almost every bar entrance is crowded by someone with a guitar belting out his or her favorite hits. And unless you've got serious pipes, you may want to think twice about attempting karaoke.
Since I was only there for a day I decided to hit up two of the city's famous locals – The Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry.

The Country Music Hall of Fame is filled with photos, mementos, trophies, videos and a few binged-out cars. It pays tribute to just about every country star and lots of others who influenced the music scene in Nashville (is there any musical genre that doesn't claim Elvis?). The basic entrance fee was about $20, so if you're a country music fan, its a must see if you find yourself in Nashville.

My last stop was the Grand Ole Opry. At the time of my visit it had reopened only a few days earlier, after extensive cleanup following the Nashville flooding. Unfortunately they weren't yet letting people into the actual building, so I contented myself with touring the grounds.

Next visit will need to for sure include an Opry concert. But if I wasn't so time crunched, I would have extended my visit so I could have attended this: