Washington D.C.

Now we finally reach the highlight of our summer road trip...Washington D.C.  If I seemed a bit too negative in my reviews of other cities, you won't find it here.  I liked Washington D.C. a lot.  I'd even live there if I could afford it.  It's a bit hard to come back to Austin when you've just spent four days in Washington D.C.  You could be walking down the street in Washington, looking for a place to eat, and along the way, say "Oh, there's the Capitol building over there.  Oh...there's the Supreme Court.  Oh...there's the Washington Monument.  Oh...there's the White House.....the Federal Reserve...the FBI..."  Then you come back to Austin and it's.."Oh, there's the Rudy's BBQ.  There's the Luby's.  There's the pawn shop."  It's just not as exciting.  But...yes, I realize not every city can be Washington or New York.

There is so much history in Washington D.C. and by walking the streets and visiting all the numerous monuments and museums, you really start to appreciate the founding fathers even more.  I wasn't sure why the Lincoln Memorial had such a prominent place in the National Mall, while the Thomas Jefferson Memorial is relegated to the distant background (with far fewer tourists).  And you have to really search for the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.  Luckily, we had time to see them all.

I really wanted a tour of the White House.  I wrote to my congressman two months in advance, hoping to secure a slot on one of the tours.  No such luck.  We were declined.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's because we were from Texas, which isn't exactly an Obama friendly state.  Or maybe it's because one of our group isn't an American citizen (yet).   Or maybe they just have too many requests.  Who knows?  We did, however, get a tour of the Capitol, and we also had passes to the House and Senate.  The debate in the House at the time was regarding Obamacare, and that was actually pretty interesting.  But when you're with two kids, you can't really stay to watch for too long.

We stayed at a very nice hotel called The Madison.  It's a 5 star hotel located just a few blocks from the White House.  I booked it through Priceline using the "name your own price" deal they have.  I told them I wanted a 5 star hotel in Washington and I only wanted to pay $99 per night.  I was pretty shocked to actually get one, so I'll give Priceline a little plug there for getting us such a great deal.  My only complaint with them is that they charged $40(!) per day to park there, and they wanted $5 to use their business center (computer with internet) for a mere 10 minutes.  The parking I can (kind of) understand, but most hotels offer free internet.

For someone like me who always likes to save money, the National Mall is a dream come true.  Everything is free.  Every museum.  Every historical building....free of charge.  I was telling Christy that they could easily charge money for a "National Mall Pass" which would give you access to all the museums for a price (say like $20 or $30) and it would be worth it.  But no...they are all free, which is awesome.  Even the Washington Zoo, which isn't even part of the National Mall, is free.  Food isn't cheap, though ($3.50 for a tiny hot dog?)  And the subway was a little more expensive than I thought it would be.  But I guess with all the free entertainment, it sort of balances out.

I hope I can go back again in the future.  There was a lot of construction and renovations going on when we were there, so it would be nice to see it again in all its glory.

Nashville

We spent two days in Memphis, and only one afternoon in Nashville, Tennessee.  Christy and I later agreed that we should have spent more time in Nashville.  Nashville seemed to be much more alive and exciting.  While Memphis proclaims itself the "Birthplace of Rock N' Roll," Nashville claims to be "The Birthplace of Country Music."  It's just too bad that I dislike about 95% of today's country music.

In our brief time, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, and the Walk of Fame outside.  I was surprised to see many rock stars on the Walk of Fame.  Jimi Hendrix was there, as was Elvis, and even Steve Winwood, lined up right along country stars like Dolly Parton.  We also walked all over the downtown area, passing many clubs along the way.  Many of the clubs (and the BBQ restaurants) were already packed with people, and this was in the very early afternoon.  We went to the Capitol building, which was closed for renovation at the time we were there, but it didn't seem as impressive as the Capitol building here in Austin.

The one place I would have liked to visit was the Grand Ole Opry.  That was the only historical venue that I was familiar with and I knew its history.  Unfortunately, it's not located in the downtown area, and we didn't have time to check it out.  The Grand Ole Opry is like the Hollywood Bowl in L.A.  You should try to catch at least one show there in your lifetime.


I'd stop in Nashville again if I ever find myself driving through Tennessee again.  Memphis...probably not.

Sun Studios - Memphis

You can't really have the complete Elvis experience without visiting Sun Studios on Union Avenue in Memphis.  This is where Elvis first stepped in front of a microphone and recorded his very first song, "My Happiness" in 1953.  The song was not well received, and it seemed as though Elvis's music career was DOA.  But then, in 1954, as legend has it, Elvis was goofing around and started to sing "That's Alright (Mama)" when Sun Studios boss Sam Phillips overheard it and liked it.  A star was born.

But Sun Studios is more than just Elvis.  Many big name stars of the 50's recorded here as well:  Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis were just a few.  In more recent years, U2, Ringo Starr, John Mellencamp, Bonnie Raitt, and Def Leppard also recorded songs.

The Sun Studios tour is very brief, with only 2 rooms covered:  a room full of memorabilia, and the actual recording studio.  You even get a chance to hold Elvis's microphone at the end of the tour.  One particularly insane Elvis fan, as the tour guide told us, stuck out his tongue and licked the microphone, hoping to catch some Elvis DNA.  Oh, those wacky, wacky Elvis fans.

The tour is $12 per person, but probably should only be $6.  Parking is limited, and the surrounding area is kinda scary.  Still, it's worth it to see the "Birthplace of Rock N' Roll!"

  

Graceland

"I'm going to Graceland, for reasons I cannot explain
  There's some part of me that wants to see Graceland."  - Paul Simon

Like Paul Simon, I can't explain why I wanted to see Graceland either.  I just wanted to.  I'm not even a big Elvis Presley fan.  I own two Elvis CD's (30 #1 Hits, and 2nd to None), and up until recently, I rarely listened to them.  Since visiting Graceland, I went to my local library and checked out an Elvis Presley 5 CD box set called "The King of Rock N' Roll - The Complete 50's Masters."  This is the only period from Elvis that I particularly like.  I like the early Sun Studio recordings, and I like his early hits like "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel," and "Jailhouse Rock."  As he entered the 60's, and especially the 70's, he became the lounge-singing joke that most of the impersonators portray today.  However...when he was in his early 20's, the guy had talent.

As for the Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, it is the very definition of a tourist trap, but if you can resist all the many opportunities to buy Elvis memorabilia, it's fairly interesting.

Naturally, being the cheapskate that I am, I think that almost everything is overpriced.  After you pay $10 to park, tickets for Graceland are $32 (per person) just for the "Mansion Tour", which lasts about 45 minutes.  For $36 you can get the "Platinum Tour" which includes admission to about six other Elvis attractions, including his private jet.  Thankfully, kids were free, and I had a "Two For One" coupon which got all four of us in for $36.  We splurged that extra four dollars for the Platinum Tour, but you could easily do without it.  The other attractions (with the exception of the jet) are basically just gift-shops that have some of Elvis's costumes displayed.

The mansion is where the most interesting stuff is, even though they won't allow you to go upstairs to the infamous bathroom where he was found dead.  Inside the mansion is like a time capsule of 70's culture.  By that, I mean it's pretty dang ugly, yet somewhat fascinating.

Elvis, in his later years, was one pretty wacky dude.  If he were still alive today, I'm sure he'd still be touring, and the fanatics would still be flocking to his shows, no matter how obese or crazy he became.  He was a legend then, and still is today.

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis was our second stop after visiting Hope, Arkansas.  This was yet another city that seemed a bit run down.  I did a little research on the city before we left, and my online searches revealed a lot of articles like "Is Memphis safe?"  Most of the people who responded to the articles stated that the crime rate there was pretty bad, but as long as you stayed in "tourist friendly" areas, you would be fine.  I'm happy to say we made it out without any incidents, but then again, we mostly kept to those "tourist friendly" areas:  Beale Street, Graceland, and the area around Sun Studios.  I'll be writing separate blog entries for Graceland and Sun Studios next.

I had heard so much about Beale Street before we arrived in Memphis.  This was the "birthplace of the blues", after all.  I was kind of disappointed.  The "action" on Beale Street, meaning the music clubs, restaurants, and bars, was only about 4 blocks long.  Both Christy and I said to each other "This is it?"  I was expecting something that rivaled New Orleans, but sadly, it didn't.  6th Street in downtown Austin has a more vibrant music scene today than Beale Street does now.

Memphis has a great musical history, and you can really get the feeling that this was once a very exciting city.  Many music legends once walked these streets, and you can (arguably) say that rock & roll was born here at Sun Studios on Union Ave.  But..that was the 50's.  In 2012, it just didn't seem that exciting anymore.

Hope, Arkansas

We just returned from our big summer road trip.  As expected, it was very memorable, but also extremely exhausting, and expensive.  This year, just like our last road trip 2 years ago, we drove east.  We stopped at several cities, some for just a few hours, some for a day, and some for several days.  This year we visited:  Hope, Arkansas - Memphis, Tennessee (including Graceland) - Nashville, Tennessee, and finally, Washington D.C. (where we spent the bulk of our trip.)

I'll be posting pictures from each stop over the next few days, so I'll start with our first stop, which was Hope, Arkansas.

Hope, Arkansas is the birthplace of President Bill Clinton.  This town would just be a blip on the map if it wasn't for Clinton, as there was very little else to see there.  The town seemed pretty run down and depressing.  Many businesses and homes were boarded up, and the front window of Clinton's house looked like it had a bullet hole in it.  I guess the ideal place to go for the full Clinton experience would be Little Rock (which we missed this time.)  Little Rock has the presidential library, and lots of other Clinton related activities (hopefully none of them X rated.)

             (Picture above: Clinton's birthplace home)


After spending the night at the local Best Western (after about a 6 hour drive from Austin), we took a guided tour of the Clinton house, which was actually his grandparents house.  The house was nice, but I could easily see why someone would want to get out of that town as soon as possible.  We left pretty quickly after the tour, heading for Memphis.

Wednesday in the Park, I Think It Was the Fourth of July

The big thing to do in Austin on July 4th is to go downtown to Zilker Park to watch the big fireworks display.  With a crowd anticipated to be as large as 100,000 people, we decided not to go there yesterday.  Instead, we went to our new hangout, Lake Pflugerville, which has it's own, albeit smaller, fireworks show.  Rather than deal with crowds of a hundred thousand, this gathering seemed more like ten thousand, although it still took us an hour to get out of the parking lot.

Okay, it didn't have all the hipsters running around, and it didn't have the "Austin Symphony Orchestra."  Rather, Lake Pflugerville had the "Austin Civic Wind Ensemble" and drunken weirdos kissing live snakes.  Still, fun was had by all!