Trip to Nashville

We're almost caught up now, this is a mid-April 2012 excursion.  My dad has had an affection for Corvettes for most of his life.  What gift can a son give to a dad who has everything he needs?  Accompanying him to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Our first stop was Nashville, TN, the self-proclaimed "Music City."  I probably would have had a better appreciation for music in Chicago or even New Orleans...Nashville had music, but most of it appealed to neither of us.  So, I had to search hard to find something interesting to do in Nashville.  It had to be more interesting than what Bowling Green, Ky had to offer.

The flight to Nashville was uneventful, and we found a spot for lunch, McNamara's, a place we later heard was a funeral home that became an Irish restaurant a few years ago.  They had Shepherd's Pie, but we had dinner in a few hours, so we ate lean.

Not far from the restaurant was Cooter's Garage, a Dukes of Hazzard "museum" owned by Ben Jones (Cooter) himself ("Hazzard County" was supposed to be in Georgia, so I'm not sure why this museum was in Nashville).  It was a small storefront which held hundreds of photos and nostalgic pieces of Dukes of Hazzard merchandise.  Entry was free, so I'm not sure how they made money.  No one was ponying up $5 for a photo sitting in the General Lee, and coffee mugs and license plate holders can't bring in big bucks, either.  For no admission fee, though, it was worth a few minutes to walk through and see what they had.  The photos:


Our visit to explore what Nashville had to offer was far from over.  The Lane Motor Museum was a privately-owned collection of restored European cars, the largest in the U.S.   However, this wasn't a collection of rare Ferraris, Rolls Royces, or Porches.  Most of these cars were unique or unheard of: Peugeot, Citroen, Volkswagen, Mercedes, yes.  But Tatra? Simca? Crosley?  I saw some cars I had never seen and will never see again.


After driving around downtown and the frustrating road closures, we ate dinner on the outskirts of the city before driving to Bowling Green.