Asheville River Arts District

During a recent road trip to visit an old friend she suggested we spend a day doing the Asheville River Arts District studio stroll one Sunday.

The river arts district is an old industrial area of Asheville near the French Broad River that was re purposed into studios for local artisans. Every second Saturday the artisans open up their studios for guests to come in and watch them work. We attended during a twice a year event that opens the studios all weekend.

We hopped on a trolley that took us from studio to studio.

We also made a pit stop at the Wedge Brewery which was surrounded by metal artwork.

After a beer we walked over to watch a glass blower in action.

More studios

We got impatient waiting for the trolley so decided to walk a bit. Saw some interesting graffiti and fairy-tale house on our way.

I ended the afternoon with this light and refreshing local cider at a nearby cafe.

Visiting the studios was a great way to spend an afternoon. If you ever make it to Asheville I suggest you do your own Studio Stroll.

Beyond BBQ – Graceland in Memphis

Upon my last trip to Memphis I finally had time to see the awesomeness of Graceland.

I didn’t know much about the house before this visit except that it is kitschy and on most must see lists of the south. I arrived to find that you wait for a van to take you to the house upon a scheduled time. That day they were about an hour behind schedule. I had a plane to catch and started to get very nervous about time.

The van drops you off in groups in front of the house. You have an audio tour to follow at your leisure.

It is hard to really get a look at things at first with the crowd. It is best to hang back and wait for the crowd to move on a bit.
We started the tour in the living room. I love the peacock stained glass but the white couches and carpet have to go. Can you say wine stain?

Here is his picture in case you weren’t sure whose house you were in.

Staircase up to the private rooms which are off limits to non-royalty like us.

Purple-y spare bedroom

Dinning room

Now this is when the fun begins, kick ass carpet….

And carpet into the kitchen.

And more fun when we get to the jungle room (Note the green carpet; It carries on to the ceiling).

Then we go downstairs to the TV room where I guess you are supposed to watch TV. You have a creepy drugged out monkey looking at you.

And the last room in the basement is the pool room. This is where things go psychedelic. I really like the wall curtains.

After the house tour you move on to the back buildings that hold studio offices, stables, and his personal racquetball court (which is now an Elvis shrine).

Memorabilia museum

His gold records….it goes on and on

Costumes

At the racquetball building

Suits from the last part of his career.

Raoooar

Yeah, here is another wall of these.

I like some of the wall writing at the estate entrance.

After the tour I went back across the street. I still had time to tour his car museum and airplanes (yes two of them).

Barbie jeep

The bigger plane

And then the little plane.

I was hesitant to visit but I am glad I did. It is a time capsule of a big part of pop culture that shouldn’t be missed!

Beyond BBQ – Downtown Memphis Day 2

During my last visit to Memphis area I finally got to explore more of downtown Memphis. I wanted to visit the Civil Rights Museum however the day I chose to come I missed the opening hours. It is supposed to be a fabulous museum and I am sorry I missed it (I will have to catch it again on another trip). Fortunately there are some things to see outside the museum that I was able to catch for free.
The museum is located at the site of the Lorraine Motel – the hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr was shot on April 4, 1968.

Informative podiums line the sidewalk in front of the hotel and tell the history that led up to the day and after the day.

The impact of racism and this time is still felt today evidenced in this table set outside the exhibit.

This powerful message given right before his death lines one of the museum entrances.

After the visit to the King site, I decided to take a walk down Main Street. I took note of all the nice brick buildings and street cars that are in use today.

This old building is ready to be demolished. It made me sad because I think it has a lot of character and would have been good to keep around.

Almost at the famous Beale Street I came across the Orpheum Theater. Many notable acts perform there. I found out that I was going to miss out on Morrissey who was to perform there later in the month.

Turning the corner and walking a couple blocks takes you to the famous Beale Street that houses many blues joints. I stopped in to BB Kings for a bit to catch a couple songs of a live band.

Walking further down the street you can catch live musicians.

And interesting architecture….

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After the music I wanted to stop for a brew. I walked a couple blocks over to the Flying Saucer to taste a local beer. Flying Saucer is a chain that has food and a great selection of foreign and craft beer. I would say I wish we had one of these in Orlando but Orlando has a pretty great selection already. It is nice to know I can find a place to try new things when I am traveling though.

After my brew I took a walk further down the Main Street where there are tons of restaurants to dine at.

It was getting late so I decided to take the streetcar down to where I had parked near the Lorraine Hotel. For $1 it was a cheap and convenient ride.

I almost can’t wait for my next trip to Memphis to explore more of what the city has to offer.

Beyond BBQ – Downtown Memphis Day 1

The corporate headquarters for my corporation is located outside of Memphis. I have visited there a time or two. During my last few visits I never ventured out of the suburbs. During my recent trip I had the majority of my evenings free so I was able to explore more of Memphis. I feel lucky that I got to visit during the month of May. I belive that is the time of the year when Memphis is at its best. The weather is awesome and there is so much to do (if you get past the allergens).
I came in a day early for my trip so I could take part in the Beale Street Music Festival.

I started my downtown experience by dining at the famous Arcade Restaurant. History states that it was a favorite dining spot for Elvis Presley when he was alive. I took reviewers advice and ordered the sweet potato pancakes. While it was true that they were good I think I would have enjoyed them more if they were whole grain. I have taken a liking to whole grain pancakes so white flour pancakes taste too much like dessert for breakfast to me now.

I easily found downtown parking for $10 a day and walked down to the festival gate near Beale Street. I visited on a Sunday about an hour after the gates opened. There were no lines to get in but it was hot.

Photo credit: Taken from beale street music festival facebook page.

I decided to start at the Blues Tent close to the entrance to enjoy the shade for a while. The first act of the day was Dr. Herman Green. Herman is a spectacular saxophone player who still plays great at the age of 83. He has played with many notable blues legends but typically will do a set with the jam band FreeWorld at these festivals. Unfortunately they scheduled Herman Green and FreeWorld to perform at the same time this year. After enjoying Dr. Green for about 20 minutes, I wandered over to another tent to see the end of the set of FreeWorld.
FreeWorld is a fun jam band with a loyal following. They did some covers but even their originals were easily recognizable by the audience. I joined the energy at that stage and finished the set with them.
After they were finished I walked over to the stage where the Dandy Warhols were going to perform and caught the last few minutes of the energetic Latin band Los Rabanes. I can’t believe I have never heard of this ska-rock band. They had me dancing over to their stage with their version of “Electric Avenue”. They performed a few more covers and original songs with intense energy that made you feel foolish if you were in the crowd standing around. They were truly a fun band to watch.
While waiting for the next act I found a beer tent that had beers close to craft-beer like (since the event was sponsored by Bud). I picked up a Goose Island Urban Wheat Ale (Goose Island sits on the fence of big beer and craft beer anymore) and headed back to the stage to get a good spot for the Dandy Warhols. This was my first time seeing them live but I have enjoyed some of their tunes for a few years now. I was excited to hear their higher energy tunes when they were played; sadly the crowd was not. I suppose many in the crowd have never heard of them. The Dandy Warhol’s played a great set but it would have been just a bit better with a more excited crowd.
After Dandy Warhols I walked back over to the stage where Leftover Salmon was playing to catch their act. Leftover Salmon is a Colorado based jam-band that I have caught before at New Orleans Jazz Fest and other music festivals. They are fun to watch but I was getting hot standing around in the sun so I decided to leave the festival for the day. I took a re-entry ticket thinking maybe I would just hang out in a cool restaurant for a while and come back; but I was tired and I had to work the next day.

A couple of days later I headed back downtown to try to catch what I missed the first day.
However that evening I wanted to try to get dinner closer to my hotel. I stopped at the Hog & Hominy and enjoyed one of their delicious cocktails and pizzas.

I ordered the Bebop and Rocksteady – the pizza with sopressata and clams. I was curious because I have never tried clams on a pizza before. The whole flavor of the pizza was delicious, especially the sopressata, but the clams were chewier than I like.
After I finished my dinner it was off to bed early to make sure I got a good night’s sleep before work the next morning.

New Orleans Wedding

New Orleans is a wonderful city. I used to get my fix almost yearly when I would visit for Jazz Fest. Now it seems hard to fit in a Jazz Fest trip with all my other travel plans. My last visits have been limited to visiting my friend who lives close by the city and to attend a New Orleans wedding.

After a romantic proposal in the city, my friends S1 and S2 decided to get married there. It was a dream of S2 to get married in the beautiful Saint Louis Cathedral. Luckily there were both Catholic and able to do so.

We started the trip with some fun on the town. We hung out on Bourbon Street. Somehow I always seem to end up there even though those bars are not my favorite and I really want to make it down to Frenchman Street someday.
The night is started at Pat O’Briens and hurricanes must be had with good friends.

We then headed down to a couple dance clubs. One of which a couple in the group got to ride a mechanical bull (sorry no good pictures of this). The other was with this dude who hit on everything and would not leave anyone alone.

We got to do some of the normal tourist things on this trip. A walk around the French quarter exposed many talented street musicians.

We were also there close to the superbowl the year New Orleans Saints made it for the first time. There was a wonderful street parade to commemorate it. I have pictures from that in a separate post.

The main event was the wedding at Saint Louis Cathedral. The ceremony was beautiful. It was charming to have an old school Catholic priest to tell them that good Catholics should have many children.

The surprise for all the quests to participate in a Second Line immediately following the ceremony.

It was a cold January day so the second line was cut short and brought indoors to continue the party.

Following the second line party, we continued into the ballroom in the Bourbon Orleans Hotel to finish the reception.

So much fun the reception was that I forgot to take some good pictures. But trust me it was a blast.

The next day we once more visited our new favorite breakfast place The Old Coffee Pot.

Of course I do not make a trip to New Orleans without partaking in a bloody mary. This beautiful one was from Stanley Restaurant in Jackson square. New Orleans is one of the few places that utilizes the green bean as part of the bloody mary. Garnishes really make the mary.