Tennessee Vacation Wrap up

Blogger was having fits the last two days of my vacation so I could not post anything. The last two days were spent visiting Graceland and the Memphis Zoo. Graceland was too expensive and over hyped. The Hermitage was more beautiful, older and cheaper. Graceland was not what I expected and the over commercialization only added to the frustration. While I am glad I went, I will never go back again.

The Memphis Zoo was a hidden gem as it contained two adorable pandas. LeLe and YaYa are only allowed together a couple of times a month and usually ignore each other. However, on this day they were playing together. So I was lucky to take pictures of two pandas playing and wrestling together.

I like my vacations to be an adventure and a learning opportunity. So with every vacation I like to reflect on what I have learned. This vacation I learned the Stones River Battle was an important win for the Union army. Before this battle the Confederates were winning but this battle changed that. The first monument to the Civil War was erected on this battle field, only six months after the fighting stopped. There are only a few Civil War battlefields preserved, this being one of them.

I learned the home and distillery of Jack Daniels is located in a dry county. They have a special permit to sell sealed bottles of whiskey from the gift shop only but none can be consumed in the county. Also Jack Daniels kicked his safe out of anger and later died when the broken toe turned into gangrene. I took a picture of the safe. The water used to produce this whiskey is collected from the mountain; it is from a stream running through the distillery.

I also learned much about Andrew Jackson and his home. I found it interesting he was a strict disciplinarian but often disobeyed his superiors. He owned 150 slaves and although it hurt his personal finances, he still fought to free the slaves. After the Civil War, many of his slaves elected to stay on the farm; one was buried in honor right next to the former President.

Tennessee was a beautiful place and the people were very friendly and made my vacation very enjoyable. All pictures will be available on my Flickr page shortly.





Graceland