Tennessee Tourist

I know that being a tourist is usually considered kind of nerdy. They whip out a camera every two minutes, get excited over everything, and wear fanny packs in all sorts of crazy colors. But you know what? I LOVE being a tourist- even in my own city. I may not own a fanny pack, but I definitely love exploring the places that I usually take for granted and taking lots of pictures.

One of the best things about having people come visit us is that I get a great excuse to act all touristy. :-) A few weeks ago Michael's mom, Kathy, came to visit us and I think we took her to almost every tourist attraction in the state of Tennessee. And of course, I had a blast.

We first took her to downtown Nashville. It's nothing special, but there's always lots of live music going on and it's fun to walk by and listen.

We then paid a visit to Memphis. It's a solid three hours away, so it was an all-day excursion. This was actually the first time that me and Michael spent time in Memphis. The only other time we've been there was when we stopped at a Taco Bell for lunch on our way to Nashville right after our wedding. We were antsy to finish our road trip so we didn't spend any extra time there. Well, if you are a big Elvis or Grizzlies fan, go to Memphis at least once. If you're not, stay away. One word: ghetto!!!! Luckily, we went to Memphis for Graceland, which was really cool, so our trip was super fun and very much worth it. I was never a huge Elvis fan, but he sure was interesting.

Touring Elvis' mansion

Outside the mansion
Blue suede shoes!
Don't ask me why we didn't take a picture with the sign that was actually in front of Graceland as opposed to with the sign in front of a parking lot under construction.

After we were done at Graceland, we decided to check out the city a little more. Like I mentioned, nothing impressive, except some good BBQ, and the Grizzlies arena.

During the rest of the week we also went to the parthenon, Opryland, and the Belmont mansion. And of course, we showed her around Lipscomb.

While me and Michael have been to the parthenon a few times, this was our first time actually going inside. Pretty cool.

Just outside of Opryland

Inside the Opryland Resort :)

Belmont Mansion- this belonged to a woman who had ridiculous amounts of money. It's now in the middle of Belmont University.

We had a great time touring Tennessee and spending time with Kathy. I'm excited for the next time we have visitors so we can do it again! :)