Chapter 17 - Skyscapers, Basement Bars, and Live Music

Hi again -

On November 4, we left on a road trip with no particular destinations in mind, except the first stop was Chicago.

We went there with Corp's cousin Brady and his girlfriend Taylor.

We stopped at the Norske Nook in Osseo, WI for lunch. I have been there many times when my mom and I would go to Cranfest in Warrens, WI. They have the best pie ever!

The Hawaiian cream pie is my all-time favorite. Corp got French Silk. It was so rich and yummy too!

We rain into horrible rain along the way. Guys were in Brady's truck. Girls were in our 4Runner. At times we couldn't see Brady's truck in front of us or the lines on the road.

We stayed in Oak Park, IL about 30 minutes by train to Downtown Chicago.

I loved Oak Park and the train (L) was so convenient. $5 per person both ways.

Charlie's first train ride.

It was so windy in Chicago.

Overcast, drizzly weather, but not super cold.

We always love seeing the "Bean" in Millenium Park.

Not great weather for visiting Navy Pier, but we had to see it.

Another Chicago must, go up to the 96th floor of the John Hancock Building for a cocktail. What a view!

This is the view from the women's restroom.

Portillo's hot dogs are a Chicago must. First time for us. They were yummy!

I made a mistake on the Airbnb reservation...I booked one night instead of two nights...so we had to find another one night stay. We stayed further out of Chicago. We were next to a bar called the Possum Pub. It was a local hangout and there we so many friendly people there.

I didn't know there was a 40-ounce Twisted Tea.

We said goodbye to Brady and Taylor and then stopped to see our friends Dan and Marla and family in Barrington, IL. They suggested a great burger place called Tracks. We visited their sons Highest Sneaker Store. Very impressive 19 and 17-year-old entrepreneurs. Corp was excited to get a ride in Dan's brand new sparkling blue Corvette. I can't believe I didn't take a picture. It was great seeing them all again!

Then we were off to Indianapolis, IN for a few hours. In the early 2000s I went to Indianapolis for a historic preservation conference. I really liked the city then and was excited to show Corp a new place. We did a four-mile walk around the downtown area.

Monument Circle was still beautiful.

Next, we were off to Louisville, KY for a one-night stay.

We thought the basement Troll Bar was pretty neat!

We tried a Kentucky Hot Brown, which is basically toasted bread topped with sliced turkey, bacon, and tomatoes, covered with Mornay white sauce—all broiled until golden brown. We were glad we tried the local favorite, but not a favorite for us.

We saw the Louisville Slugger.

We biked in Waterfront Park and across the Ohio River to Jeffersonville.

Jeffersonville had cute tiny downtown.

We also stopped at Churchill Downs. Someday, I would love to go to the Kentucky Derby and wear a big fancy hat while sipping on mint julips.

After leaving Louisville, we stopped at the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. This facility stores a large portion of gold bullion reserves for the United States. The facility does not allow tours, so I had to do a little web research. Below are some fun facts:

Amount of present gold holdings: 147.3 million ounces. About half of the Treasury’s stored gold (as well as valuables of other federal agencies) is kept at Fort Knox.
Size of a standard gold bar: 7 inches x 3 and 5/8 inches x 1 and 3/4 inches.
Weight of a standard gold bar: approximately 400 ounces or 27.5 pounds.
The actual structure and content of the facility is known by only a few, and no one person knows all the procedures to open the vault.

We were surprised to see it was so close to the road and the building was smaller than I thought it would be.

We also stopped at Mammoth Cave National Park. We did the Wondering Woods Tour because it was the tour that worked best with our schedule. It included a bus ride with a ranger through the park. We learned about the people who once lived there. After the bus ride, we enjoyed a hike in the Tranquil Valley of Wondering Woods. At the end of the hike, we went on a short cave tour.

The cave was smaller than we expected, but had beautiful cave formations. After we got dropped off, we walked to the entrance of the Mammoth Cave, the longest cave system known in the world. 400 miles have been explored.

If we go through this area again, we are for sure going on the Mammoth Cave Historic Tour. When we were exiting, we walked right next to two deer next to the road. Just like at home!

When leaving Mammoth Cave National Park, we saw this crazy jacked up bus and Mercedes in Cave City.

And I couldn't resist a photo with Yogi Bear.

On November 9, we arrived in Nashville. First, we saw the Dukes of Hazzard Museum. Corp couldn't resist the photo opportunities, especially the one where he is kissing Daisy.

Our second stop was the Grand Ole Opry. We always thought the Grand Ole Opry was in downtown Nashville. Not the case. It's about 5 miles from downtown.

We didn't realize the CMA awards were that night and Bridgestone Arena, so we had a tough time finding a hotel and paid considerably more than normal. On road trips we typically book on the fly. Burned us this time. Oh well, we found a hotel that ended up being walking distance from Broadway where all the honkytonk bars and live music are located. So much live music all hours of the day! Fun place for people watching too! We liked Doc Holiday's bar the best even though a Jack coke was $15.

Streetscape pics of Broadway.

I loved all the dollar bills on the walls. We also went to Kid Rock's Rock-Roll Bar and Nudie's Bar. We heard Kid Rock was on Broadway Thursday night, but we didn't see him.

On November 10, we took the bikes out and went on a 10-mile trip. We biked the Music City Bikeway to Shelby Park Greenway and East Nashville. We checked out the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park.

The state park was developed to commemorate Tennessee's Bicentennial celebration, held on June 1, 1996. It was quite an undertaking. Especially all the text carved in the granite walls.

The 95-bell carillon was a unique experience, and I really liked the Pathway of History.

Then we were off to Centennial Park to see the Parthenon, another incredible building in Nashville.

As a city planner, I wanted to drive through Franklin, TN, which was located just outside of Nashville, because the city that has been on many "best cities" lists. I loved all the historic buildings. We drove through minutes before the Veterans Day parade started.