Tulsa Life

We admittedly didn't put in as much effort into Tulsa as we had other places to find interesting things to do. Maybe we were tired, maybe it was the weather, who knows? In all fairness, Tulsa is a decent little mini-city. It's known mostly for its Native American roots and former oil glory days when many residents got rich on "black gold" and built palatial mansions along the Arkansas River. A number of people we spoke to reflected on those days. More recently, there has been an effort at urban renewal, with lots of parks by the the riverfront, a variety of restaurants, a zoo and museums.

We had the opportunity to visit the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, as it was one of our event sites for work. I called on my limited teaching experience to give brief talks to school groups visiting the museum for the day. The main topic was, of course, the race car, and how it tied in to their visit through aerodynamics, motors and engineering.

Just because it was so novel, I wanted to include the photo below, apparently a liquid nutritional supplement chock-full of naturally derived minerals, vitamins and anti-oxidants.

For the rest of our visit to Tulsa we were primarily engaged in losing small amounts of money to the penny slot machines at the Osage Million Dollar Elm Casino, The Creek Nation Casino, and The Cherokee Nation Casino and Resort. Next stop: Wichita, KS where, fortunately, there are no casinos. --HTM

Beyond Graceland

Memphis: home of Fedex, The Piggly Wiggly, one of the busiest cement terminals in the country, and Pork Barbecue Capital of the World. We started with a HUGE pork shoulder sandwich at Neely's. This may have been the best taste yet, and the price was right too!The other food highlight was ribs at Rendezvous, in a downtown Memphis alley. Beale Street had live music and lots of activity, since this was the final weekend of the annual Memphis in May.

Memphis' music heritage touches a number of different genres: from WC Handy writing the first blues song in 1909 to rock-and-rollers Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis. Isaac Hayes recorded his Academy Award Winning "Theme from Shaft" here too. You can visit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Rock-n-Soul Museum, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, Sun Studio Museum and, of course, Graceland to experience these rich muscial traditions.

The National Civil Rights Museum is housed partially in the hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Dr. King's and several other rooms, as well as the balcony outside, were kept intact at the Lorraine Hotel.

Out final stop was the Crystal Shrine Grotto, built by Dionicio Rodriguez, a self-taught sculptor, in the 1930s. The Grotto, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places is a hand-carved cave of biblical scenes located within a local cemetary. It's a peaceful place, and quite unusual.

Click HERE for photos of Memphis and its sites.

Music City

Since neither of us had ever spent much time in Nashville, we wanted to get a taste of what it has to offer. With the Nashville: Music City All-Access Pass, we were able to choose four major attractions (plus bonus entry to the Parthenon). We did a whirlwind tour, and accomplished quite a bit.

Nashville is known for its ties to country music, and there are dozens of live music venues downtown and in the surrounding areas. We passed by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which features artifacts such as Gene Autry's guitar, along with photographs, original recordings, videos, and other media. Nashville is also home to the Grand Ole Opry and Opryland. The light and water show inside the Opryland Resort was a treat.

In the evening we took a cruise on the 300-foot paddle wheel riverboat the General Jackson Showboat. It featured live music, a cruise down the Cumberland river, and great views of the Nashville skyline at night. The only negative was the price of a drink: $12.50 (though we did get to keep the souvenir glass).

Our visit to The Hermitage included the grounds and gardens, mansion, mausoleum and outlying buildings of Andrew Jackson's (7th President and Hero of New Orleans) plantation. Perhaps most interesting were some exhibits on the lives of the approximately 140 slaves who worked the land and maintained the household. Very little was documented, but archaeological exploration has lead to many fascinating discoveries. The day we visited fourth graders from a nearby elementary school acted at docents in the museum and several other areas, and they did a great job!

The Belmont Mansion is an Italianate-style villa, built as a summer home to Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham (1817-) and her family. Adelicia was a shrewd business woman who used her wits to conspire with both Confederate and Union forces to emerge from the Civil War with her fortune intact. The home is one of the most elaborate and unusual homes in the South, and a remarkable number of the pieces inside are original. According to our knowledgeable guide, there was a deer park on the grounds and even a pet bear for a while (hopefully not too close to one another).

One fun and silly stop we made here in Nashville was the Cooter's Dukes of Hazzard Museum. It was mainly a retail outlet for all things from Hazzard County. There was also a collection of all of the old collectibles as well as a few original vehicles: Daisy's Jeep, Roscoe's cop car and of course a General Lee.

Last but not least we visited The Parthenon, built as part of Nashville's 1897 Centennial Exhibition. It's a full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens. The upper level Naos houses a 42 foot statue of the goddess Athena, recreating the sculpture Phidias was to have made.

Nashville food highlights:

• Nashville barbecue is influenced by several regions, but the specialty is pork. Downtown at Jack's, the sauce was tangy and on the spicy side.



• Rotier's near the Parthenon served a cheeseburger on French bread that was amazing. Thanks to a tip from my great friend Bill for that one!

Click here for the Nashville photo album.

Bad Luck For Some, Good Luck For Others

So as it turns out the car being stolen ended up being a good thing for us. We were in Atlanta for Mother's Day as well as Donny's mom's birthday. We won't say the years but let's put it this way, it was a BIG one. We were able to visit family and friends which made the extra miles and headache worth it. We were very happy to see all of the Atlanta contingency, thanks for all of your hospitality!

Stop, Thief!

Last week, the East Coast team walked out of their hotel to head to an event to find their truck, trailer, and race car missing. The whole unit had been stolen from their Atlanta hotel parking lot. Since thier set-up is identical to ours, we were called in from Texas to fill in. Everything should be back to normal in the next week or so. In the meantime, we've been able to visit friends and family in Atlanta. Donny even go to do Mother's day, which was a great surprise for all.

To read the news article: click here.

Click here to watch the video.

Cinco de Mayo: Toronto Bluejays @ Texas Rangers