Just returned from a great tour,thanks very much to tour director Jackie,driver Lou and a great group of fellow travelers.
The temperature was around 90 every day and most days we left the hotels at 8:30.
We arrived slightly early in Atlanta and stayed two nights at the Ellis Hotel.Problems with only one working lift,but,conveniently located for the Hard Rock Cafe,Hooters and a CVS to get drinks and snacks.
The next morning we went to the Martin Luther King National Park site, visiting his gravesite, as a part of a city tour.The afternoon was free,several of us visited Centennial Park built when the Olympics were held in Atlanta.In the evening, we walked a short distance to a restaurant for the welcome dinner.
On the Monday,we headed for Nashville,via Chattanooga, for a short tour before checking into our hotel. Later we headed for Broadway, where all the honky to know bars are located, some of us went to Nudies, before finding a restaurant.
Tuesday morning found us at RCA Studio B,where Elvis and many country stars recorded. A very interesting tour with pieces of music used to illustrate various types of recording,including an error on a Jim Reeves videoed recording session.Following the tour,we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame, which had a variety of exhibits, some permanent,featuring Country Music stars,from the beginning and some current.The afternoon and evening were free to explore Broadway again.Several singers,at the various bars,took requests and played a lot of well known songs.
On the road again, Wednesday found us in Alabama, on the way to Muscle Shoals,where we visited the Muscle Shoals Sound and Fame Studios,which have been used by The Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin.
One room featured album covers recorded at the studios and included Lulu and Paul Anka,showing the diversity of the acts.We also visited the Alabama Music Hall of Fame,which featured acts either from Alabama,or,worked most of their career there.
On Thursday,we headed for Memphis,spending sometime in Tupelo, visiting Elvis’s birthplace which is well laid out.We were able to visit the family home, and the church where he started to sing.
Friday morning,we toured Sun Studios followed by Graceland,I had been 4 years before, and the area opposite the house has been improved in the meantime.The Graceland tour is very well done using an IPad to self guide yourself.
When I was in Memphis before,the trolleys had broken down,after 4 years they were running again,and free until mid May.Saturday was a free day,and several of us visited the Lorraine Hotel,where Martin Luther King was assassinated, and some of us went to the National Civil Rights Museum. Others went to the Gibson Guitar Museum.Everybody ended up on Beale Street for the various bars and restaurants.
The next day,we traveled down Route 61,The Blues Highway,to Natchez,where we visited Stanton Hall,an antebellum mansion.
We reached New Orleans at lunchtime on Monday,and had a walking tour through the French Quarter before going to the hotel.The next morning we had a city tour before some went on a tour through the bayous. In the evening,we had a dinner cruise on the Steamboat Natchez accompanied by The Dukes of Dixieland jazz band.
Back into Alabama,on Wednesday,to Mobile,where the Battleship Alabama is berthed in a military park.
The next day,we drove to Montgomery,the state capital,via Selma,which was featured in a recent film about the Civil Rights movement.There is a small interpretive centre near the Edmund Pettus bridge,which was the centre of the events there.
Friday was the final day, and before starting for the airport,some visited the Hank Williams or Rosa Parks museums.
One of the memories,for me,was walking in Mobile,when an amphibious duck stopped in the street and the passengers and crew sang Sweet Caroline with five of the group.
A great tour.
