Downtown Tunes

This morning I was once again woken up by loud pings of Ana'a busy social life, but luckily the Monkees were able to make an appearance just a few seconds later, spreading their melodic tune into the surrounding air and helping me drag my body into enough of an upright position to reach for my phone. I found immediately that I must have been almost as active in my sleep as we were during the say as my head was positioned where my feet belonged and my shirt was completely turned around. I turned to the mirror to find that my hair too had been engaged in gymnastics while I slept, took one last deep breath, and with that the race was on, our day stretched out ahead.

Breakfast today was a pre-planned affair, we would be heading to the famous Loveless Café, about a half hours drive from our hotel, because of this we all convened in the lobby at around 7:30 in hopes of avoiding the lines that such a well-known place attracts as the day goes on. 

Even though I had written about Loveless in a previous blog-post, my only real information about it came from some quick research, pictures, video reviews (it's pretty famous), and my mom's own recommendation, already I was sold. Wikipedia could tell me that they turn out more than 5,000 biscuits a day, and were opened in 1951, and pictures and videos meant that I had a good idea what the establishment looks like both inside and out, but one thing I could not anticipate was the gorgeous drive.

Within a few minutes, we were outside of the city and stretched out before us was gently rolling tree-lined grassland, sparsely dotted with residential structures. The houses were all of a similar style, brick and one story, many of which sported front porches with the quintessential southern rocking chair or swink. The idyllic houses coupled with their manicured front lawns reminded me of the scenery described in older books. This was one of those experiences that you just can't get in California, and while we rolled down the smother country roads with the windows down and music playing, I was grateful to be right where I was in that moment. 

The Famous sign featuring lush greenery 

We soon reached Loveless, with its iconic sign beckoning us from the roadside, and our early wake-up paid off, as we were able to get a table without any wait at all, the restaurant filled up quickly afterward. As soon as we were seated out waiter, Evan, came over to check on us and ask about our drink orders setting the tone and from there the meal proceeded pleasantly. We raced each other on a crossword designed for young children and tried to unscramble unfamiliar names of southern breakfast foods and Loveless staples.

When we were all stuffed full of french toast, pancakes, waffles, grits, eggs, and most of all their award-winning biscuits, we resolved to try and walk off some of the calories with a stroll around the small establishments surrounding the café. Our first stop was at a Barn situated in the back of the area, in the process of being set up for a wedding, we all agreed it was an envy worth venue. Next, we made our way through some small gift shops, in which we were all able to find a something that piqued our interest, either for ourselves or a loved one.

Hawi with her giant pancake

From Loveless, we headed straight to the Country Music Hall of Fame, all the way listening to country music in preparation, this point we have identified our favorite songs of the ones that are commonly played on the radio. As the lush greenery faded away the fantastic facade of the museum came into view, it is clear that a lot of attention was paid to make sure that the outside of the building reflected the prestige of what it holds inside. 

The interior was also breathtaking, with its high vaulted ceilings and a dramatic staircase lined with a cascading waterfall. We picked up our audio tour speakers and headed up to the top floor to begin, making our first stop in the "Taylor Swift Education Center", mostly because of what I call the T-Swizzle factor, and as it turned out there wasn't much inside for people our age. We quickly moved on to the captivating enclosed exhibits that showed the progression of country music from its roots in gospel and folk, through the installments and people that helped to transform to the familiar style we recognize today. The cases housed outfits from Hank William Sr. all the way through modern artists such as Little Big Town.  

Lights illuminated artifacts and information and the large hall echoed with various country tunes, carefully set up so as to have as little overlap as possible, after all, the Country Music Hall of Fame would not quite live up to its name if it wasn't full of the music itself. We followed the spiral staircase down to a second large hall lined with glass protected exhibits and abuzz with the chatter of fascinated museum-goers. After taking in as much of the outfits and information as we could we headed to the interactive portion of the museum where we were able to do a bit of music making of our own. We entered a padded recording room and sang along to the lyrics of a hit Taylor Swift song adding some of our own, while all of us certainly had something to offer, especially Hawi, I don't think we will be inducted into the Hall of Fame any time soon. 

Anna showing off her ukulele

The final part of our museum experience was comprised of the actual Hall of Fame itself, well not quite hall but more of a massive rotunda where each detail of the layout had been carefully planned and steeped hidden meaning. The audio recordings explained that the circular design and random organization of artist (not by date of induction) represented how they were all equals in their contributions to the shaping of country music, and the metal band on which they were mounted was designed to make the plaques appear as if they are notes on a page of sheet music. Across from the entrance, a mural is mounted to represent the origins of country music and the ways it has changed and continues to do so. Finally, the center of the room holds a protruding stalactite-like spire which represents the radio antennas that were first use to spread country music across the nation. 

One of the most recent inductees next to the mural

When we finished up at the Country Music Hall of Fame we made our way to the ellusive Music Row, which turned out to be just about a block over, and just as my research promised was packed with bars and restaurants displaying amplified live music sets in each open window. Walking down the street was a bit like passing through different dimensions each with their own soundtrack and specific vibe. We stopped in a few gift shops along the way and Hawi picked out a Harmonica on which she quickly learned, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Maybe she does have a chance at Hall of Fame status after all. 

We made it all the way down to the invitingly cool looking Cumberland River which reminded us just how hot it was outside, prompting us to seek refuge an air-conditioned café called Bongo Java for a quick refuel before heading back to the hotel for some blogging and recuperation from the taxing sun. 

All of us were so stuffed from breakfast that we decided to skip lunch for the most part and so around 5:30 we were all pretty ready for dinner, deciding on an Italian place as it was different from any of the cuisines we have had so far here. When arrived the friendly staff informed us that it would be about a 30-minute wait and while my stomach rumbled in protest it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it allowed us to have an impromptu photo-shoot in the parking lot in the perfect waining light. We had so much fun being creative with our poses and came up with a number of winners which we will likely look back on for years to come in order to remember our trip.

We always have each other's backs  :) 

It was crazy hot while we posed 

Jumping for joy!

We were so involved in the photo shoot process that we barely noticed that we had used up our wait time and were able to get a table almost immediately after returning inside. Our eyes quickly caught onto the fact that our table was covered by a sheet of irresistible paper, just begging to be drawn one, when we asked Sara, our waitress, if it was okay to decorate the sheet she offered us crayons and we all indulged our inner young child as we waited for our food to arrive. 

Note the suble blog plug

By the time we had all finished our delicious meals the entire sheet was covered and we even left a message for Sara and advertised the blog once again. 

We finished up the night by heading back to Music Row where we caught the end of a beautiful sunset from a towering hotel's upper lobby and enjoyed the music drifting over from a nearby concert.

Tori Sciacca: Master photographer! 

Now as weariness takes over our bodies we prepare to start our time at VSA tomorrow.