Waterfalls and Mountains

On May 27 we drove from Franklin, NC to Boone, NC.  We avaoided the larger highways and went via NC 28, US 64, the Pisgah Highway, and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

We may not be recognizable, but we're in this picture.

Ocoee Whitewater

After leaving Lookout Mountain, we drove along the Ocoee River on US 64, where we discovered the Ocoee Whitewater Center, where the 1996 Olympic whitewater events were held (we were iln Tennessee at this point, but only about 125 miles north of Atlanta).

See Rock City

When I saw this barn while we driving south in Kentucky toward Nashville, it reminded me of Kate Campbell's song of the same name, and I decied I had to go there.

Of course that was a dumb decision; Rock City is nothing but a huge (expensive) tourist trap.  It does have lots of little passageways through big rocks,

a nice waterfall at the summit (I don't know where the water comes from),

and, if you don't like heights, a rather scary overlook (well, it is Lookout Mountain).

This pointer shows the seven states that supposedly can be seen from the mountain.

These are two parts of a panorama shot from that point on the overlook.  According to Wikipedia,  only four can actually be seen (TN, NC, GA, and AL).

The trail on the mountain ends with a cavern filled with gnomes and figures from nursery rhymes illuminated with UV light.  It was just too tacky to reproduce here.

Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art

Another attraction in Nashville

 We spotted this strange house on the road leading to Cheekwood.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

This is the building; notice the keyboard.

One of the special exhibits was of Patsy Cline.

Hank Thompson's leather jacket

Patsy Cline's dress

Minnie Pearl's dress

Buck Owens' suit

CL and gold records

The Hall is cylindrical; this is about seven-eighths of it.  Photoshop couldn't create the panorama when it had an image that could have gone on both ends.

A couple of the plaques

And a few shots of Nashville near the museum