Randomness - Travels

January 2023 - Toronto ON

This post should be called Randomness as it is based on unrelated conversations John and I had recently.

He mentioned Fort Knox and I reminded him that when we were there, I had borrowed by BIL's expensive camera (no digital then) and had forgotten I had it on my lap when I got out of the car so of course, it had broken. I had it fixed when we got home without telling my BIL, a very expensive fix! When I finally confessed by BIL said I should have just given it to him and he would have claimed it on his insurance!!

This led to whether we had any photos and when did we go there.

It was 1992, on our first trip to Memphis. I do have a scan of our visitor's pass.

I was curious why it said "Armor Center". I always associated it with money!

Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold reserves, and with which it is often conflated. It is named in honor of Henry Knox, Chief of Artillery in the American Revolutionary War and the first United States Secretary of War.

For 60 years, Fort Knox was the home of the U.S. Army Armor Center and the U.S. Army Armor School, and was used by both the Army and the Marine Corps to train crews on the American tanks of the day; the last was the M1 Abrams main battle tank. The history of the U.S. Army's Cavalry and Armored forces, and of General George S. Patton's career, is shown at the General George Patton Museum on the grounds of Fort Knox.

In 2011, the U.S. Army Armor School moved to Fort Benning, Georgia, where the Infantry School is also based. In 2014, the U.S. Army Cadet Command relocated to Fort Knox and all summer training for ROTC cadets now takes place there.

Another memory from that trip was a trip to the Football Hall of Fame. We had also stopped there in 2013.

Proof he was here in 92!

This was the first time we went to Graceland as well.

Along the way we stopped in Berea KY for lunch.

Claremont KY

Lynchburg KY

We visited Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, 10 miles east of downtown Nashville.

1992 Nashville.

Click here and here for a 2015 visit.

Click here for our 2013 visit to Printers Alley and Ryman's Theater.

Ryman

Quite a change to the new Country Music Hall of Fame!  This one opened on April 1, 1967. The original building was a barn-shaped structure located at the head of Music Row, erected on the site of a small Nashville city park.

Wonder what happened to these guys?

1992 Memphis TN

This 2017 Memphis post has links to other visits.

Peabody Hotel

These signs are still on Beale St.

Us in 1992 on this trip!

We stayed here on our way home.

Day 10 - Homeward Bound

April 2013

Nashville –  It's been a long time since I was awakened by the sound of Ave Maria from church chimes.

As HHonors members we had a complimentary breakfast buffet which was delicious with biscuits, scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon and fresh fruit (yeah strawberries and grapefruit). It’s too bad the service was so bad considering they only had to clear the tables and serve coffee and juice. It would have made more sense to have the juice on the buffet as well.

We called to have our car delivered to us, it was nippy out but the sun was shining. We put on another layer from our supply in the car and DH even pulled out his scarf.

We drove to Printers Alley for a few photos.

Then up Capitol Hill. Parking was difficult and when we did the state ranger asked us where we parked and said we would likely get ticketed and towed so we got back into the car.

And decided to head down to the Ryman Auditorium instead.  Then we took a walk along Broadway and down to the waterfront.

Corner of Fifth Avenue North and Union Street - Chet Atkins

.

Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl statue at the Ryman Auditorium. Her trademark price tag is on her hat at the back.

Ryman Auditorium was originally built as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892 by Thomas Ryman, who owned a fleet of riverboats and several bars in Nashville. Ryman reportedly was tired of hearing about well-known evangelist Samuel Porter Jones preaching against gambling and drinking - two of the very things that made money for Ryman on his riverboats and in his bars. Ryman and several friends attended a revival meeting held by Reverend Jones with the intention of heckling the preacher. However, Ryman ended up getting saved and built the Union Gospel Tabernacle so Reverend Jones, or any other preacher, would have a proper church building any time he came to town. After Ryman's death in 1904, Reverend Jones proposed the tabernacle be renamed Ryman Auditorium.

ON the road again towards Columbus OH for the evening.

First we drive through Kentucky which is such a great state to visit. We've been there before and there are many different towns to visit with so much history.

We checked into the Hampton Inn in Mason OH near King's Island which was scheduled to open mid April. It was way to cold at the moment for a water park! King's Island is in Mason OH just outside Cincinnati. 
King's Island is touted as the largest amusement park in the mid-west.

The clerk suggested we eat at the Houston Inn in Lebanon. What a quaint place, totally stuck in a 1980's country. Now closed.
However, the prime rib was delicious and the entire meal was very inexpensive.