Graceland: Where Elvis Lives.

Elvis. He was the King of Rock. Very few people don't know him. In other words, he's known by pretty much everybody. What do you think about when you hear his name? He was a legend. An icon. A man. What? He was a man! The King of Rock was a man, who had a house. That house was in Memphis, TN. It was called Graceland. And it still is. It does tours that show Elvis's house to the world. And that is where we spent our day yesterday, in the house of the King.

We stayed around at the R.V. Park, after taking the dogs out and blogging, we made arrangements to go to a Peabody Hotel in Memphis for Thanksgiving. That will happen in two days time. Anyway we were around 'til about 11, and then we made sandwiches, ate them, and prepared to leave. We got in the jeep, drove out of EZ Daze, and made for a highway. We stopped by a Memphis Visitors Center, which was a pretty big building with a large information desk and a little gift shop. We got some info on what to see, like where MLK jr. died and of course, Graceland.

We then drove to Graceland, on a busy road. It wasn't crazily large, but it had some buildings and had the Graceland Complex on it. It was a flat connected building, and had across the street from it a hill with a nice house on it. I will describe that later. But anyway, we paid ten dollars to park, and walked under a covered bridge to the complex. We saw a huge private plane, silver with blue and red trim, with a lightning bolt and a T C B. Taking Care of Business in a Flash. It also had a Lisa Marie on it, Presley's daughter. We went into the complex and showed our ticket discounts we had gotten at the visitor's center, and got ready to go on the bus to go to Graceland. They had a cafe, quite a few gift shops in the circular lobby, and an outside area. We then went outside, and got audio headphones, orange rope around my neck, and a little ipod looking thing with numbers, a red square and green play button, and also a button making the sound go up and down. We prepared to board the bus. It came around, and we boarded, some ways behind the driver. We went up that hill, and looked at a beautiful colonial designed building, pretty large and with columns and stone. This was Graceland, where Elvis lived in physical, and where, some people think, he STILL lives, in spirit. Nonsense. We got off, and got ready to see the King's house.

Tours in front of the front door told us no video and some other rules I don't want to take time to explain, but the point is that we went in, turning on our tape recorder things. They said welcome, and went on a long intro. Then they said to turn right, seeing Elvis's Christmas Room, which was in itself very beautiful. There was a cool 15ft little couch, which was low and long. On either sides of a three sided square we were in, surrounded by rope, there were pictures of Elvis, his parents, and some other things, like fake oranges. But back to the long room. There was a painting over a fireplace, and two soft nice leather chairs. Beyond was a beautiful Christmas Tree, complete with velvet, ornaments, presents at it's bottom, and a train going around. It was a brilliant display of reds, greens, and whites. And, to top it off, was a white glittering star at the top of the tree. An elegant jewel, in my opinion. There were glass panels with peacocks on them, and a painting and bust of Elvis. Behind all this was a small room with a grand piano and other instruments, where Elvis would play and then go and lay down on the couch. He relaxed a lot in this room. We turned left, and saw a dining room table, with flowers, plates, silver ware, and many fake plants on and beside a china cabinet. By the front right corner was a green chair with wooden legs. It had a present on it. In the two front corners, were kind of thin slim cabinets with many things, even two oriental robed people, one in each cabinet. I listened in the audio tape that in these two rooms Elvis would spend time with his family, read and relax, and also play music that would change the nation. Kind of cool to see the place.

"If you are done in this room," a deep soothing voice on the audio tape said, "please follow me to other rooms. If you want to stay a little longer, press the red stop button and press the green one when you are done with these rooms. (PAUSE AFTER I DON'T STOP IT) Okay then, please follow me. Go down the hall(went down it) and turn left. Get as close to the rope as you can to let others see too. This is the bedroom of Elvis's parents, Gladys Love Presley and Vernon Presley. Elvis loved his parents and wanted them to stay at his home all the time he was living. They had had a little home and had been poor in Elvis's childhood, so Elvis promised he would do a lot for his parents because they had carried him so far. And this is their room. If you are done with etc etc."(go's on whole thing. Let me tell you what I saw in the room. ) It was a dark violet bed, being pretty big but not bragging. It was a pretty simple room, and very light beige. A few paintings, drawers, a bathroom and closet, not much. It told the characters that occupied the room. Simple and plain. Not plain as in boring, just not decorative or radical.

We saw down a hallway a kitchen, where the tape told me that it was "grand central" as Priscella Presley described it. She said their was always SOMEONE in there, because of Elvis being so great of a star. (I'm sorry I keep saying Elvis, my science teacher Mrs. Glover and her assistant Mrs. Mihich say to address someone you don't know as, in an example, Albert Einstein as Einstein or Albert Einstein. But, as everyone knows Elvis Aaron Presley as Elvis, I will address him as Elvis.) Anyway it had a T.V. in the back, cabinets and a stove and microwave and counter tops and all other kitchen things were in it, being mostly of a creamy white color, with a few chestnut wood counters. It connected by doors with the dining room. So did the parents' bedroom with the music room and Christmas room. The audio tape told me to go down the stairs to the basement, but I saw a great interesting room I wanted to see also. They won't skip THIS room, will they. It's so strange and odd..."We will return to the jungle room later, please make down the stairs." Weird. The audio tape knows I'm still up here. I guess it makes that play if I don't go down and activate some motion detector activated. The technology of the 21st Century. Amazing.

I went down. It was a green carpeted staircase with leaves and such separated with glass. I then looked to the left. There was a large yellow low couch, going all around in a semi-square. There was three small T.V.'s, in which had ever changing shows on it. There was a mirror on the left, the full size of the wall.There were some other things in that room, like A LOT of books. I learned in the course of the stay that Elvis was an AVID reader, which would become more real to me in a few minutes. After going into another room, I saw a big pool table, some tables and such, and a really hippie look to it. The ceiling was multicolored with pleated fabric kind of sticks going out like a sun. It was a funky room,where Elvis, like Mark Twain, spent times with his friends until like 3 in the morning, playing billiards, or pool.(Twain called it billiards, Elvis pool) I looked at a small desk with a few old dusty books on it. An African- American 20 year old girl was talking to a person I couldn't see, who was on the stairs. I asked her what the books were, and I had to ask many times before I got an answer. I guess she didn't hear me. Finally she said she couldn't go in without gloves, so I said it wasn't worth it. I went up the stairs to where you could see the Jungle Room. The man she was talking to you on the stairs said, "Wait sir! She has gloves now If you would just go on down...."

"Sure thanks." I went down again. The rope was up and the girls gloves were looking at the books. She said one was about chemistry, one about the most famous people in the world, and one about catholics, a catholic 5th reader. She said Elvis studied about all different kinds of religions, that he wore a cross around his neck and a star on his jacket, so he could gain access to every heaven. It doesn't work like that, but oh well. I thanked the lady for the help. I went to look at that Jungle Room. It had a green grass ceiling and carpet, and had numbersome amounts of wooden chairs with green, dark and light, with designs and carvings in all of the furniture. A few fake vines hung from the ceiling, swinging slightly. Some chairs had animals on the part where you back goes on, particularly a monkey and owl. It was so funky and peculiar, and very jungly. It was a very unique room. We went and saw a car port, a little asphalt patch under a wooden roof Elvis parked his cars under, and also saw a tiny playground with painted red, blue, white metal, with a little slide and swing.Elvis's child used that. There was a white wooden building, where Elvis used as an office. It was on a incline slightly up from us, which was pretty wide in itself. It had a glass wall separating it from us. There was a large desk with papers and paintings and busts and sculptures and little trinkets. It was cool to see the printers, the desk, all the paperwork and old computer, you would think it was anything but that of Elvis's. You might not know this, but besides being a singing rock star, he was a business man to. We saw a model of his old home, and a little shed like room Elvis used for target practice. We had been by now out of the main house, we had been since we were at the car port. We saw a large farm like area with a fence around it, it was like a horse field. It was here where Elvis go carted, tri biked, and did a lot of other fun stuff. He would have fun with his friends, and mess around and just have fun. Even a rock star can play.

The next building kind of looked like an apartment building, brick, with windows and stuff like that. It was where Elvis played raquet ball, although today it's just where they show cool displays. They had an upper part, where their was some gym equipment, and down below was a piano, some yellow couches, a T.V. and bathrooms and a water fountain, which is today still used. This is where, and I can say it truthfully, Elvis sung for the last time, even though he felt terrible. He sung for his friends, at their request. He tried going to sleep, and napped, and then said to his girlfriend he was going to try to read in the bathroom, and of course, go. The last thing she ever said to him was, "Just try to not go to sleep." Elvis called his friend nurse, and she told him what to do, shortly before Elvis Aaron Presley, the King of Rock, died. We didn't get to see the upper level of the house; that was the only place Elvis had private and they want it to stay that way. We didn't see where he died, which was in his bathroom. In a way, I don't want to see it. It's kind of unrespectful to take pictures where a man died, which was in a bathroom, a terrible place and an embarrassing place to die.

We saw some displays, like his sparkly jumpsuits and some old awards. We saw a trophy room, where we saw MORE awards and all record awards he made, like when Hound dog became really famous or one of his other songs did. Did you know Elvis gave money to charities... a lot? He donated much money, being a humanitarian. We saw real newspapers talking about Elvis, and it was there that I saw ELVIS in big words. I do this cool thing sometimes where I can anagram words, it's just something weird about me. It's probably occurred to some of you before, but if you take the second letter, an l, and put it first, then taking the fourth, an i,next, next taking the 3rd, a v, and putting it after that, after that taking the first word, the e, and putting it next, finally taking the final letter, the s, and putting it all together, what does it spell? LIVES. Elvis LIVES. ELVIS lives. ELVIS LIVES. Isn't that kind of cool?

Just something I thought I'd share. I told a lot of the employees about it.

Well, the tour of Elvis's house ended with a stop at the Meditation Garden, an area with statues, plants, a kind of platform supported by columns with steps, and a whole lot of Venetian ivy. It had four long stone rectangles, with names on it. The day had been eerie all along, but this topped the sadness off. I blinked, and then blinked again, after looking at the grave of Elvis. Elvis Presley. It was truly spellbinding. There were photos, stuffed animals and flowers, and even sad music in the background. Here was a man, who changed the face of Rock'n Roll, became an icon, legend, and also a reader and humanitarian. It was sad, yes it was sad, even though I did not know Elvis. But, even if a fan does not know someone, it can still affect them if the person dies. That's because they looked up to them, liked them, and had a relationship with them. Also it's a sense of human pity that every human has. It's feeling sorry for something that's not even your fault. Compassion. Grief. Solitude. And it's what I felt there. I wasn't a fan before going to Graceland, I thought Elvis a stuck-up, rude, regular traditional rock star. Elvis was none of that. He was just the opposite. I believe I've made my point. Let me rest the subject now.

We boarded the bus again, and left the house part. After that we saw an auto museum, seeing all his cars, like that pink one.(Mom name some cars) We saw a black one he drove in the day he died, the last car he drove. We saw some other cool cars, then left that. We saw another museum and such, and saw gift shops. We saw where they operate their radio station, a little box like room with all kinds of equipment. Then we went on the plane, and it was very large, with tables and chairs, even a couch, and surprisingly a full size bed, half-tub, trunk full of books, and more all for Elvis. We then left Graceland. I had a great time seeing where Elvis lived... and lives.

We had dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Good, but they allow you to smoke so very stuffy and uncomfortable. I had potato soup and a loaded potato. Potato Day!

We went back and I did some stuff before sleeping. I had a great day!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't say it earlier because I had started it before today, so I guess at the bottom is better than not at all. Gobble, gobble. You'll get to learn all about my Thanksgiving in a day or too. For now, goodbye.

Did you see Squanto? He's supposed to be here for the meal. His whole tribe is here! What do we do? Squanto! Dang! Come on man! Hello, Martha make that turkey more cooked! Hey you! That's not proper pilgrim clothing! Stop right there! The drumsticks are for the meal! Dang! I wish Advil are going to be invented 400 centuries earlier. Not 1621, but 1984 it's going to invented. Oh well. Don't eat the dressing! Come on man! We have to make a good impression! Uh, why can't someone else have this job?-

Andrew.

Drive to Mississippi

Yesterday we got ready to go and left the Jackson R.V. Park. We drove to Mississippi. Why, you ask? Weren't we supposed to go to Memphis and then do some other things and come home? Andrew, you ask, why are you confusing us? This doesn't go with the script! I know it doesn't, try to understand. We went to Mississippi because the R.V. Parks in Memphis are kind of in rough areas. We're only on the Mississippi/Tennessee line, really close to Memphis. Look at a map will ya? Then you'll understand. Anyway, we drove to Mississippi and then hooked up at a very nice R.V. Park on the road. It's called EZ Daze. Everything was located in a main building, a normal looking one with black shingles on the roof and a modern, small, homelike appearance. We walked into a room with an office desk on one side with a nice, tan, brunett young lady, and with a high rock table like that of one at a bar with a T.V. and several lounge chairs. There was also two bathrooms. We signed in, did all paperwork, and then she showed us where to park and that we have so and so cable channels, showed us the wifi network code, and where everything was. They had tables behind the building and a pool with hot tub. They said they had a playground also. Make a note of this. They said they had a playground.

Dad parked, we hooked up the sewage, electricity, water, hose, and took out the carpets. We then pulled out the slides and went through the motor home process. I had done Math on the trip to MS,(Mississippi, I'm not saying it again.) so I finished that up and went and rode my bike. It was a nice R.V. Park, with a dog park, full hook ups, and NO PLAYGROUND! Now, I'm fine without one, but after someone tells me it's by the dumpsters and propane tank, and I see a picture of it on the parks map, I want to see it. I went looking in the same spot like three times, just to see if it doesn't have any of Dr. Venati's invisible spray, which is the top leader in the invisible sprays of the 2300's. Venati was born 2289, and one of my friends, Dash (also Robin and Ashley) went on a little adventure with him to the planet of Drape. But that's not the point. I couldn't find the playground and so I went in the office to investigate. "Oh, we were gonna put one in, but we ended up not doing it. We had printed the maps before putt'n in. I forgot, honey." That is what the women said, Kristy, a typical southern bell. Oh well. So what. It's not her fault.

I made do with what I had. Since it had rained hard the night before (amazingly I slept through it) it was very muddy and very wet. I played a cool game where I fought bad guys, jumping and running and waving a Frisbee around like a weapon, and I got very muddy and dirty. I am not ashamed to say so. No friends of mine read this blog anyway. Okay I'm not meaning to be a pessimist. (just learned that word, actually. )

Dad went to the grocery store; I chilled out for a while. I started the prologue of a book I had picked up at an exchange in Hannibal, MO (Missouri). It was called The Lost Horizon. It was to be an interesting book, where four people see Shangri-La. I would later like it. Anyway Mom made some tuna and we got all the groceries in when Dad returned. We had a good dinner, and nice tuna surprise Mom! I liked your green peppers touch. She can't hear me. Oh well. After watching the news and reading for a LONG two or three hours, I made my bed, did all of the bed time procedures, and slept well, although waking at four to see Dad at his office (dining room table and two T.V. trays where all his stuff is) and he said hi. It could've been a dream, but it was very detailed and precise. I woke up at 5 to hear all the rain coming down, and then woke up at... well, I'm already into today. I better stop. That's a different story.

Goodbye for now.

I have forgotten to state this earlier. I might as well do it now. Rebecca has had terrible nights and is sick at the moment. I really hope she gets better.

Dr. Venati is a product of the Stuck In Space project, which was a script that was made into a little movie at the Red Door Place House Theater. All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2009. 

Dash: Oh. My. Gosh. Ahhh

Robin: Try the space suits!

Dash: Is that an asteroid?

Robin: Ahhhh!,

Andrew.

An Interesting Excursion to my Grandfather's hometown

My grandfather spent most of his schools days in a nice southern town of Union City, TN. He moved from Union City about 60 years ago. Most of his childhood memories are about that place. Just a few days before going, Pop shared with us a list of things to see, given to me a few days ago over the iPhone note app (not exactly word for word, shortened for bullet use):

Legend: [ -are ones I'm putting now; (-were ones I put then

*Goodyear Tire Plant

*Art Decor Shop

*Cool Lake from Earthquake (Reel Foot Lake)

*Antique Car Museum

*Nice Southern Town [this is just saying it IS a nice southern town]

*Downtown School

*511 Exchange Street Baptist church, where Pop's [grandfather] house used to be

*High School [torn down, saw replacement]

*Grammar School
*Capitol Theater

These are the things he listed. And so, we left that small R.V. Park and got food and water in the jeep, plus my dogs, Rocky and Emma. They were distraught and nervous to be in the jeep, jumping and wagging their tails, because the last time they were in the jeep they went to a grooming place, away from us, which I don't think they liked. We were to go on a one hour excursion to Union City, past all the forests and seeing Reel Foot on the way. Then we were to find Pop's (that's what I call him) house and then his school, and so on and so on. This was to be an...interesting excursion.

The first few miles were Jackson streets. But by and by we left it. We got on a highway, with trees and farms and flatland on all sides. It was a good thing I brought a book; I would have been B O R E D otherwise. An hour or so passed, and now it was more forest. It was a cloudy day, with rain sure to come. We got on muddy and wet roads, and then even dirt ones. In some instances we would see deer, hit pot holes, go under long branches, and it was raining pretty hard by this time. The trees were damp, leaves all wet and piled, and us so dirty you would've mistaken us for a brown jeep instead of a black one. I'm glad we had a stick-shift jeep though, one of the best jeeps for this kind of driving. We saw a sign with one of those historic markers, saying Reel Foot Lake was formed from an earthquake that happened in the 1800's. It said to just follow the road. Well, we didn't want to "follow the road" anymore, after all the dirt and mud, rain and leaves, and dead ends. We retraced our steps and got on a main road again. At one point we saw Reel Foot Lake. It was pretty big and had trees and ample plant life. The blue water was slightly swaying in the rain. Drip, drop, drip drop, drip drop, drip, drop. On and on, and on.

We finally found the real entrance to Reel Foot, the area they call a state park. It was deep in the forest, but had a brochure and post where info and a map was. We took it, but it only had hunting things to offer. We drove on, and came to where boats go into the water, with a little concrete slanting down into the water. And this part of the lake, it was amazing. Trees in the water with roots coming up in a slanting way, swampy green water with vines and cranes and a grey sky, it was a very eerie picture. We walked on a board walk and went up to a high height and looked over through the trees into the open water. This looked like some weird world, the swamp lands of Florida. It was really beautiful, on some levels. But it was also creepy. When something is both, it is very strange. We left after a few minutes of this solitude and idleness, and then left for Union City.

It was somewhat of a big town, with regular buildings, nice little homes, with shingles and windows and brick and stone. There was a courthouse, some little restaurants, although all were closed. We were very hungry, and we saw Sub-ways and Sonics and Dominoes and such, but we wanted real food. Before we did that, however, we saw Capital Theater, where Pop went to the movies many times. It was cool to see where my grandfather walked and drove when he was my age. Really interesting, it was. We tapped in on our GPS 511 Exchange Street, and went through houses and churches of all kinds. We then saw a large red brick flat roofed building that had one tall part and another part connected to that. In the back was a courtyard and playground. This was the baptist church, where Pop's house used to be. So many memories there also.

We saw his grammar school. It was old, red brick, and had vaguely the words: GRM(barely visible)AR SCHOOL. It had white, dirty columns and a two story figure. On both sides of a courtyard was a connected building, kind of behind and to the side of the column. It was a very interesting building. We also saw his old high school, which was now a green grass field. There was a replacement, newer, modern, and pretty, with a football field and auditorium. After that we tried to find a restaurant and succeeded and ate at an Applebee's. We then walked the dogs and were about to leave Union City. We then saw a closing Goodyear Plant. It was very large and factory-like, of course, and it was sad to see it was closing. After seeing it we left Union City and made it home. We sadly didn't see the museum or art shop, but you can't do everything. I will here insert that list again, only this time will show you the ones we did and the ones we didn't do

Legend: [ -are ones I'm putting now; (-were ones I put then; Y for check; X for not done

*Goodyear Tire Plant-Y

*Art Decor Shop-X

*Cool Lake from Earthquake(Reel Foot Lake)-Y

*Antique Car Museum-X

*Nice Southern Town[this is just saying it IS a nice southern town]-YYYY

*Downtown School-Y

*511 Exchange Street Baptist church, where Pop[grandfather] house used to be-Y

*High School [torn down, saw replacement]-Y

*Grammar School-Y
*Capitol Theater - Y

Although we didn't see the art decor shop or antique car museum, we saw about everything associated with my grandfather. I had a great time in Union City. I'm glad we went there. It was cool to see where my grandfather spent most of his childhood.

We got home late, at night, and watched "Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?" That was fun. I also read a lot. It was a great day.

Even a tycoon, high school teacher, and rocket scientist weren't smarter than a fifth grader,

Andrew.

Reelfoot Lake

Formed by a series of earthquakes in 1811-1812

The Theater is still there. Pop watched movies for a nickle.

A church building sits on the Pop's old home place.

Grammar School

Drive to Jackson, Tennessee

Yesterday we drove to Jackson, TN after pulling out. I had a great time at Nashville and Two Rivers. We saw a Christmas light show, ice sculptures, the grand ole opry and everything in between. It really was a wonderful time. I finished two blog posts and chilled with my doggies. Then we arrived in Jackson, which I thought would be littler. It was actually pretty big and industrial. We hooked up in a 14 site R.V. Park behind a parking lot and a hotel. There was a small blue painted building with a dirty rusty laundry room and an office on the other side. It was locked and no one was behind the cool desk with a motor cycle behind it. The guy obviously was a motor cycle guy, having all models and framed photos. There was an old-fashioned radio singing a lot out there, and he had a drop box with an envelope to put money in. We put in how much we needed for one night and Dad put David Bourne and his phone number on it. We then chilled out a while and stayed around. Then we went out for dinner, going to an Olive Garden. It was packed with people, so we had to wait in the jeep for 40 minutes. I read. Then after the amount of time, it buzzed. We got a good table and had a great Italian dinner. Our waitress was nice, her name was Tiffany and she was Terrific. She told us places to go in Texas. The cool thing was in my Mark Twain book Innocents Abroad (about Twain traveling in middle east and old world) he's at Venice. And we were at an Italian restaurant! It was kind of cool. Well, we left after a great meal and proceeded to the car. I got my bed out and slept. Pretty good day.

Edwin Hubble was born today in 1889,

Andrew.

ICE and Grand Ole Opry

Now, after Nov. 17th, we thought that it couldn't get any better. We had just seen a cool Christmas Light Procession, and had a great time listening to music. Although, it did get better. And that's what this blog post is about: November 18th. We did a lot, yesterday.

It started pretty all right, we had secured tickets prior to the Grand Ole Opry, at 7:00. They did it at the Ryman in the winter, because of it being a not so busy season. They usually do it at the new one, in a big mall. Two years ago, that's where we went to see it, but we saw the Ryman too, touring it. We wouldn't be doing that this year, but it was cool to go to the Ryman and see them play. The Ryman was the Opry's 5th home, not the first, but it held the singers for the longest time. 31 years. It probably has some stories to tell.

But anyway, we were without an occupation, with nothing to do besides stay home perhaps, reading, doing laundry, we might've even gone to the office now and then. But, to everyone's joy, we didn't not have to twiddle our thumbs and stand idly! Dad had seen on a brochure some exhibit or such going on in the Gaylord Opryland Events Center, called ICE,where they made sculptures out of frozen water, one of the simplest and most common of materials turned into something beautiful. Out of Ice. We drove to the address, out of downtown Nashville, close to where the 1974-2011 (0r current) Opry stage is. It happens to be very modern, and very big, but that's not the point. We're not talking about that. We're talking about what we're doing on THIS trip. Right. Now, where was I?... Oh right. The Events Center was a large white cream building with rock. It had a big parking lot. We parked, and then walked up on a sidewalk, seeing on one side facing some forest a ticket booth with several windows and people inside of them, talking to you with a speaker. Cowards. They do it so no one tries to take tickets by force, or with a knife or firearm. Well, I can understand why they have bullet proof glass and are secluded. I mean, who wants to fight a holder-upper? Anyway, we got tickets, and surprisingly they make you pay MORE to be able to skip all three of the movies. Which I think is backwards as a moonwalk. We didn't do that. I mean, why pay ten dollars more to not watch movies. There just 5-6 minute movies. How bad could they be? We would see, reader, we would see.

We walked into a lobby area with leather couches on the left and a line for the ICE exhibit.There was an overly dramatic arch with fake plastic ice and words ICE in blue. On the right to us was a gift shop. We walked into a non crowded line with those ropes that you have to go through to get to the front, have to go walking through all of it even though you COULD go to the front a lot easier. A man with a uniform and short buzz cut hair and blue eyes told us to wait until the movie was done, that the first one was still four minutes to go. Impatiently, we waited, and I counted to 90 to 113 to 156. "Okay, go on in. Pick a T.V." There's more than one? But if it's a theater...

It was a simple room, dark with blue rough carpet, with three T.V.'s right by each other. They were flat screen, about as big as a microwave,each. The movie was about the history of ice, how people saw ice sculptures in northeastern china and wanted it to go in America. Then they hired Chinese ice artists to sculpt them, and they did, making it a great hit. They made it about Christmas traditions. Year by year they changed it, like in '07 they made it Charlie Brown Christmas and in the next year the Grinch. This year was Merry Madagascar, about that movie DreamsWorks made about those animals getting shipped to the island, but this time it was a Christmas Special. The animals see Santa come down and then Santa crash lands and makes his head hurt and loses his memory. Next the animals(their talking animated by the way) save Christmas by delivering all the presents. It's pretty expected. But anyway, that was turned into ice and that was what we were about to see.

The second movie was previews from the special, which was displayed on a four sided big box with four screens on each side. It was fake wooden box stuff, and fake sand beneath it. Pretty good.

Third and final was about how they made it, getting ice manufactures to make water into ice chunks and how they measured and used designs to make them. That was cool to see. It was on a HUGE screen.

Well, we were ready to walk in. We got to a room where they put on huge blue jackets on us, and then we took a picture. We were about to walk in, and I understood that we needed these jackets because the temperature has to be very cold for the ice not to melt. I felt a rush of cool, freezing air as we walked in. The whole thing was amazing and really detailed, when Santa crashes and has a bumped bed to when the penguins and reindeer fight. They were all different colors, just like the film. I couldn't believe they were actually made of ice. They looked so real, so genuine, that I just wanted to wait til they moved or talked. We saw where Santa was doing the "I like to move it move it" song, him dancing with his but and all the lemurs in front. I saw when the animals(lion, zebra, giraffe, hippo) got their own presents for all their work and how they crashed into a girls living room. I was crazed it was ice. We came into a room, big with a large slanting piece of ice cut into sections with walls separating, and a sleigh with the animals in it and the penguins leading it over one of the ice sections. There were ice sculptures all around, Big Ben, The Squinx, The Eiffel Tower, and some others. This was a slide. I walked up ice steps, freezing and cold, and got to a slide. Mom and Rebecca went down to. It was slippery and fast, and kind of uncomfortable, but it was fun and I went like three times. We then walked out of that room. That was awesome.

The last part was the best. There was a Nativity Scene with the shepherds, kings, farm animals, and the manger with Immanuel and Mary and Joseph. They were lifelike and transparent, and all in the traditional positions. Behind me was a ten foot angel with a robe, wings, and open arms. It was amazing, and unreal. It reminded me that Christmas really isn't about Santa Claus, gingerbread cookies or getting or giving presents, it's about The Baby Jesus, the Saviors Birth, and the coming of the Messiah. And that's what it's going to stay being about. Forever. I liked seeing that as the ending. It was amazing and great how un-politically correct Nashville was, that they weren't thinking about what to say, that they gave thanks to God and didn't think about if they shouldn't do it because not everyone doesn't celebrate Christmas. I know what I'm saying is bold, but people shouldn't have to not say Merry Christmas. Now, I don't want to offend anyone, because I don't want to, but I do believe that people should express their beliefs and be allowed to put up Christian things like crosses or manger scenes without people telling them to take them down. Nashville people don't take them down. And I think that's cool.

We went back to Two Rivers after ICE. We walked the dogs, and I went in the office and gave them books to put in their exchange. I met a nice lady named Elizabeth who likes books. We talked about them for a while. Then I got back in the jeep and the Bourne Family left. We drove to Downtown Nashville, where the Ryman is. We parked our car across from the Ryman, that red brick big building that looks kind of like a church. We still had at least two hours left, and so we walked to a restaurant in the city. It was loud with live music, smelled like beer, and had many loud people. The food was all right though. And we had a good time listening to the band. We then loitered around a bit, we went to three gifts shops and saw all kinds of different gifts and t shirts and stuff. We went to a record shop, and did some other things. I even took a picture with a Elvis Statue, the exact one I had taken a picture with two years ago. At 6:30, we walked to the Ryman. In front was a statue of a guy with a riverboat wheel and stranded up hair. This was Mr. Ryman, who used the building and built it before the Opry got it. I remembered seeing it two years ago, how I tried to read about it but Dad ushered me on, saying we had a lot to see and too little time. I finished reading it right where I left off, two years later. That's probably the longest time I've taken to read something. I read it over again, of course, to get what it said better. We saw the doors inside were locked, so we waited on stone ledges. Other people were there. I read for a while, and someone prank called me. They said they were Mario and Luigi. Stupid.

Then as I was talking to Dad, a lady in stockings, a straw hat with a $1 sign on it and purple dress came out with a man with a cowboy outfit that was white. Minnie Pearl and Hank Williams. We said hello to them, and Pearl said, "HOOOWWWDDDIE!" Then they went back inside after a while. The line moved, we showed our tickets and they let us go in. We went to the restroom, checked out some displays, and then walked into the auditorium. It was pretty big, and had a balcony above us. We went on the first floor and got seats a little to the right of the beige curtained stage, and I read until the show started, Minnie Pearl coming out, saying welcome, a few jokes, and then going over some rules. Then she talked about the groups that were here, and the sponsors of the night, and that The Grand Ole Opry was a radio station and that they had a magazine picture book about the history of the Opry, and finally about backstage tours they were having if you signed up, seeing the Opry during the show. Then she said to enjoy the show, and left. She's so funny and nice and quirky. Ole Minnie Pearl from The Ole Opry. Well, the curtain went up, the lights went on, and an old man with a banjo, skinny, kind of tall and a red cap came on and did some bluegrass music with some other guys. It was pretty good, even though I'm not a fan of bluegrass, as my first readers know.(Rapids Jam Part 1, I like Country Posts.) Mike Snyder opened up, saying welcome and all the other things like that. He said a man named Ed Stubbs was going to do a sponsor ad, and that their was going to be A LOT of them. Ed Stubbs, a bald headed brown haired guy with a big suit and deep voice, told about Humana. He was very... well, very commercial guy e, if you know what I'm talking about. He talked about Humana Life Insurance, how their a "proud sponsor of the Grand Ole Opry" and a lot of other boring things. I could go into details, but I don't want to. "Well thank you, Mr. Exciting," Snyder said. I kind of felt bad for Stubbs, who people would later call "A walking Encyclopedia," "The Librarian" and the "Bald Eagle." Whispering Bill called him "Kenneth Goldsmith." I never really got that one. Oh well.

Next, Connie Smith came on, a blonde headed kind of old lady that sang a great "Amazing Grace" that shook the house. She was very good. Del McCoury and sons was a white headed tall guy with a guitar and three sons with a fiddle, 2nd fiddle, and base. They were bluegrass again. I didn't exactly like them, but you know. All through this time Stubbs went over and over with his Humana thing, saying the same things OVER AND OVER. It was exhausting. Snyder came on again and did an encore of his bluegrass. This isn't country! It's redneck music! Mountain too! Please stop...

Little Jimmy Dickens, a short, old, blue sparkly jacketed man came on. He had a guitar. He's 91 years old. He joked around, making some good ones, some bad. Then he reached for the micro phone, but it was about 6 ft high, him being like 4. That was funny as she said, "Hm hmmmm!" A stage hand came and made it shorter. "Thank you, Steve. I'm a little short," he said, everyone knowing it. He sang a few good songs, but I don't remember the words. Then Jimmy C. Newman and band sung, an old man with a weird unnatural drawl. I couldn't understand a word he was saying I'm so lonely tonight became 'm bo lonl tneght. I'm sorry, but I couldn't make out any of the words. Then came Diamond Rio. They were really awesome. The lead singer looked like Rascal Flatts guy, and they had country, real country. Awesome songs. Awesome musicians. Stubbs was advertising Cracker Barrel during all this time. I was glad to listen to THEM. I like them. They talked about having an Oakridge Boys CD there.

Intermission came. It was for fifteen minutes and people went to the restroom, got more drinks and food, and just stretched their legs. I got money and made my way out, rather difficulty, but I still got out. It was very crowded, and I got in a concession stand line and got behind a guy who got like seven glasses of all different beers. I got potato chips for Rebecca and a water for me. Parched, I drank it gratefully. Then I went back and sat until the third quarter began. Bill Anderson was on there, that pretty tall suited man with pushed back grey hair and that soft voice, Whispering Bill. He sung a good song, it being about his dads boots or something. He is a really good singer. Then Stubbs did ads for Bass Pro Shops. Anderson introduced Steve Wariner, and the latter did a sad song about a guy who's sad his crush is marrying another man even though she's as happy as someone who's happy. He did another song too. He was younger and had blonde hair. Then came a screamer. Wanda Jackson. She was jacked up with something you could only cure with a wand, she was crazy. I thought she would be young as metal rock music came on, blasting my eardrums, but she turned out to be a little fat women with long braided hair and a stocky appearance. She screamed and screamed out notes, I can't believe it's proclaimed music. Nevertheless, people were clapping and saying "Yeah, go Wanda!" Weird. Life is so weird. Well, the fourth quarter came around after Kiss(not really, calling Jackson Kiss.) and John Conlee, a bearded cool guy who was kind of big and looked like Jeff Bridges sang some songs, and he was the host of that segment, just how Anderson was on the 3rd, Dickens was of the 2nd, and Snyder was of the 1st. The Whites, a musical group of three old ladies, played only one song. After that, Brandi Carlile, a 30 year old brown haired girl with some lady suit, came on, and sang a honky-tonk and then two good songs, one about staying young(I liked that one) and one about having scars on your face. Her cousin had talked with us prior, saying he was from Washington(state) and that this was her first time on the Opry stage. She might become a really big star some day. And if she does, I'll be able to say I saw her debut.

Conlee wrapped it up with a song about Friday Night Blues, and that was a nice song. I had a great time at the Opry, all in all. It means country music, and whether your true, bluegrass, old timey, mountain, or even honky-tonk, there's a place for you at the Grand Ole Opry. They are informal, kind, and genuine at the Opry. It's really a special place, and I had a great time at the Ryman, seeing the Grand Ole Opry.

It was Ten when we got into the parking garage and pulled out. I went straight to sleep in the back. I was exhausted. But sometimes, it's good to end a day exhausted. It means you had a wonderful and full day. And that's the end of this blog post. Goodbye for now.

My favorite country song is "Life on the Highway." What's yours?,

Andrew.

Wake up, Drive to Nashville, Hook up, Clean Up, Looking for Car Wash, Bad Car Wash, Crackle Barrel Dinner, Christmas Light Show, Todd&Kathy Morrison

Yesterday I woke up. A lot of people do that on their yesterdays. We then got ready to leave and then left the R.V. Park we were at, the KOA, with it's large dog poop and cool playground. We left at about 12, and ate a little steak Dad had made prior. I blogged on the Mammoth Cave Posts, and did some other things. I did not do any school work, alas! Lo, it would have been fun! O alas! Taketh by idleness, thou hath not done thy part. I am ashamed, yea I am ashamed at my wicked behavior! How dare thou! Thou am.... you know what, I'm done with the whole medieval talk. Sorry, I was just feeling knightly today. I am seriously ashamed that I didn't do any homework and was not "chivalrous" as my Sir Andrew counterpart would say. Anyway, back to the blog.

We came onto the Tennessee state line sign, and that was easy, us being very close to the sign and only were out there for a while. We then came into Nashville after a 50 mi. drive from Bowling Green to the country music capital.I had been there once, two years ago, thinking we were going in a rented R.V. That R.V. broke because the slides wouldn't come out, and so we went in the Chrysler SRT8 300, and took many pages of homework. I vaguely remember being in a Holiday Inn with a window overlooking a wax museum. Flash forward two years, in the R.V., I passed by that wax museum and hotel as we went toward the R.V. Park. I saw that huge mall where we saw the Grand Ole Opry, where I saw Little Jimmy Dickens and all the others, including four brothers, who I fell asleep to. I saw where we went into the museum, and even the Ryman. It was cool to see where all the places we went to, and to see them again. Then we went on a long parkway, and saw all kinds of different businesses on the road. We saw three billboards right by each other, one after another. An R.V. Park called Jelllystone Park, a campground called Two Rivers, and a KOA. It was basically pick-in-choose, because we had no reservations. We thought we would go to Two Rivers because it wasn't a chain or aristocratic. We shouldn't have done that.

We came seeing a building at the front with a long gait and a flat look. It was wooden, mostly. We had the motor home running as we went into the office. I walked in a little after Dad, and as I opened the door I jumped as I saw an old man with a beer bottle, long braided white hair and a tie die t shirt with jeans. At a closer look I saw he was a manikin, and saw a sign saying Willie Nelson. I knew it wasn't Nelson, I had seen him at Rapids Jam in North Carolina. See post for details. Anyway, I was a little jumpy, but I relaxed in a second or two. Dad was waiting in line behind a lady, so I had a few minutes to look around before I averted my attention to checking in. I saw a desk where an acne faced lady sat, and a store behind her, gifts, food, ice, toys, everything you would always see in a campground office. Behind me was a lounge area with T.V. and leather couches. Behind that was a room with a pool table and some arcade games. Also a book shelf full of books. I went over. Just romance, historical romance, westerns, mysteries, and thrillers. Nothing I like, really. I like Sherlock Holmes a lot, but all they had was modern ones. T.V. westerns and movie ones are pretty good, but they just don't work in books. You know my opinion on the romances. Terrible little things about men and women having issues or having a relationship shattered, nothing of like to a 12 year old who does not date, and will not, too, until high school. Anyway, let's change the subject! I didn't find anything of interest in the book pile. I went into the store and saw some little trinkets and such. Then Dad got to the acne lady. (I'm sorry I'm calling her that, but I don't have anything else to call... I know! I'll call her Maggie.) I came over and Maggie went over all the paper work, finding out how many nights we were staying and what is in the campground, also that we were going to be behind the office in the owners site."He's not here right now," Maggie said. "So you can have the slot for two nights. After that you have to leave."

We went back in, parked the R.V., hooked up the electricity cord, got the water hooked up, made a white table up, got the green hose connected also, and did the sewage. (No details there.) Then we went in, and cleaned up. My dad's friend from photography, Todd Morrison, lives a few miles from the campground we were at, so he said he was going to come over and see the R.V with his wife, Kathy, and then we would go out to dinner with them. We threw trash away, tidied up the beds, and emptied everything out of the dining room chair. There were many papers, hats, books, even a rock and an eraser stuck in the couch. Then, as it was still like 3:00(they were coming at 5 or 5:30) Dad and I went out looking for a car wash on the Gallatin Parkway. We got in the jeep and took off. On Gallatin, we saw all kinds of businesses, and searched for car washes on Around Me, an app which shows you stores close to you that you can go to. We found one, but it was manual(like, we do it) and we didn't want to do that. We saw a tire place and another store, but they weren't car washes. We finally go to one with a one where the car goes through and where they dry and clean the interior. It was flat and had a roof on the outside over the cars with guys and hoses and such. We got in, and went through the part where the car goes in. Swishing blue cloths going back and forth, sideways too, washing and surrounding are poor little jeep, cleaning it and damping it until it's as wet as an ocean. String like cloth like monster teeth, preparing to devour us, anticipating our every move. Like that Tasmanian Devil(Taz) from Looney Tunes, the animal that spins around so much, we saw blue spinners that spun like ballerinas. They were really cool. I love going through car washes. I like to make the things into other things, if you get what I'm saying. After we were done, we got out of the jeep and left the keys in the car. We went to the inside waiting room. I read. Dad pondered I guess. We talked. There was a T.V., lounge chairs, a table, an award, a hallway where you could see cars go through the process, two bathrooms, and on one side a vending machine. It took a LOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGG time. They didn't know how to dry off the parts or drive a stick shift, and they did it very slow, obviously not caring how long they made the customer wait. Luckily though, Todd had a plumber at their house so they were going to take an hour. The people finally got done. Then we drove off, on the road again. Since Todd was going to be a while, we were hungry and went ahead to eat at a Cracker Barrel. I had soup and a Reuben. Good food. Hmm hmm good. They really are a cool restaurant chain. They have a nice store and restaurant, so you can look around while they make your food. They also have all kinds of things on their walls, everything from old documents to car parts. Their food is awesome too.

As we went down the hill to where our campground was, we saw it. Light's from Jellystone. It was beautiful, superb, unlike anything you imagined. A whole display of magical lights changing colors rapidly and giving off such a fantastic array. We just had to go down as we saw all that green, blue, and red changing and blinking. It wasn't like somebody's front yard at Christmas time, it was like you were in a dream. And a good one at that. I wish I could play it over in my head for ever and ever. We went down and found out a music station, an R.V. Park, and a music and light group all teamed up to put all these lights on, synchronize the music(that means getting music to go with the lights), make cool songs, has a big tent full of rides and food, and let people go through the whole thing. The big 98 teamed up with Jellystone and Fox News and called it: Shadrack's Christmas Wonderland, and they made what we were about to see. We payed ten dollars to go in, and then the man at the gate told us to change our music station to 94.9 FM. We drove in. It started with a really cool tune, all the red and blues and greens changing, the trees blinking, some lights going like arches, white and blue. They did all kinds of designs, it was fantastic. The song was about how a guy didn't like how everyone said,"Happy Holidays!" instead of "Merry Christmas!" The song was like, "I only have one holiday I celebrate lady, and it's called Christmas with a capital C." Then all the lights changed and the music went, "Whoooahhhhhhh etc" It was a wonderful song. Some guy was talking, saying that he wasn't going to be politically correct, that he knew that people were offended because it had the word CHRIST in it, and that Christianity is the religious heritage of America. It was a really cool song, really.

Next came all of the other Christmas songs, with the light going back and forth and such. We saw Noel, Noel; Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer; and The Sugar Plume Fairy. It was also cool to go under an ever changing canopy of lights, a three sided square above us, changing colors and moving back and forth. Going to the tent, we saw the rides, a small Ferris wheel, two inflatables, and a bungee jump thing were all closed, but a food place wasn't. Being so cold, I had hot chocolate. We left the light thing. I loved it. It was so spectacular. So...illuminating. So, Christmasy. It was a great way to start the holid...Christmas.

Todd called that he was at Two Rivers; we quickly made it back. Todd was a big fellow with short hair and a little beard, Kathy was a nice lady with blonde short hair. We had a good time talking with them and having a good time, they in fact were R.V. people, they had a truck camper. We talked about the different trips we went on, how they went to Maine and the west, and how we were on the big trip. They liked our R.V. pretty well, and we showed them all the parts. I even read a bit of my blog. Todd does stuff on the net and Kathy rents condos out in FL. She is also moving into her mother's house because her mother is in a retirement home and she is keeping up her house and her mother's, so when she wanted to sell her mothers her mother didn't want to so she's selling herself 's. She'll be moving into her mothers. Well, by and by The Morrison's left, and we then went to bed. I slept with my bed in. Too tired to blog.

Happy Christmas is what English people say. I don't know why they say it like that,

Andrew.

Mammoth Cave Part 2

(Second Part of Mammoth Cave. You should start with the first one so you can know what I'm talking about. So begins the second part)

"Watch out ahead!" What was it? "Ahhhh!" What? What's going.....on? Who is that? Is anyone hurt? Watch out? It's probably just a low ceiling or tight place or slippery floor. Everything is slippery in this dang cave. I wonder if this is even worth it. But anyway, what about that ahhhh? Somebody fall or did not heed the person's warning? What was the sound of the voice? The Canadian Scruffy. Who was the Ahhhh? I can't make it out. Turns out, as I saw when I came down, it was my own mother. She hit her head on the low ceiling. Okay. "You okay," I asked. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little shaken. That was funny."

Okay, so she's alright. That's good. I have nothing to worry about. But, as I trekked farther and farther down, steeper and steeper steps, more of the low, slippery, and tight. We went to a lot of cool things, like beneath all the steps looking at a pool, and a big bridge over a pit and under a dome. A dome-pit. "Okay, everyb... Paul, you up there?"

"HERE!"

"Just checking. Okay everybody. We're at 250ft below the surface. No more stairs, but we still will be going up and down hills and such. We're about to enter the New York Subway, a cramped, small space with smooth walls where a river used to flow through, making all the rock go away.(Goes into big speech about that and more.) Then we'll be going to Grand Central Station, a.... well, you'll see it for yourself." The NYC Subway was cool, having big holes in the walls, smooth, and brown. Michael had also said that we were entering the second region of the rock, the sandstone region, rocky dusty atmosphere. We came into a large room that went uphill with many big boulders in a corner and some benches in the middle. Michael told us to please sit down. Everyone did that with no trouble. We were tired. I got a sip or two of some water Mom had gotten. Then Michael told us some interesting things and we left, going up some ramps and such. For the next 30 minutes or so we saw some pretty things, like stalactites and mites. It was really nice. We saw a small hill full of all of them, making a kind of village. Then we saw it. In the third and final region, the wet, drafty, region, we saw a huge stalactite and mite connected into a huge blob with yellow sticks down it's sides. It was beautiful. We went to the bottom of it, and saw it from a good angle. That was the highlight of the cave. It was amazing and spectacular. We then went through a few other rooms, and opened a steel door, going out into the open air. I breathed it graciously. We were out. It was fun, but I liked the familiarity of the air. After 2 hours, I was glad to be out. We went on the bus, drove back to the building, and I said goodbye to Michael. We went across a stream on a bridge and ate a good lunch at the building opposite the park, the hotel and dinner. It was a small diner with some good stuff, and I had a soup and peach cobbler. Then we looked around at the gift shop and left after.

We drove around and saw farms and big houses as night came, and I talked to my good friend Henry and my awesome sister Lauren. Well, we came home and I had a sandwich and stuff. I then went to bed with my bed out. No dream. Sorry to disappoint you.

Write you later,

Andrew.