Right Minded Online

The Roses have planned their big summer trip to Atlanta in a week-and-a-half. Baseball tickets for two games, a hotel for three nights, enough cash for meals, stadium concessions, a daily Starbucks run, and other incidentals, and these things add up fast.

So we were thankful to be able to also work in a low-budget side trip to Gatlinburg, and just got back home earlier today. For those of you who have never been  — probably very few of you — Gatlinburg is the ultimate tourist trap. It’s a lovely town just outside the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, but it is also very crowded, and it doesn’t matter what time of year you go.

We go because we enjoy Dollywood. My wife and I used to love Opryland, but they tore Opryland down almost 12 years ago. We’re still sore over that. So Dollywood is the best amusement park that’s left in the great state of Tennessee. We buy season’s passes most every year. You more than pay for a season’s pass in just two visits.

In order to work this in, though, we had to forego our usual hotel (Clarion) for a cheaper one (Econo Lodge) that’s located on a side street, about half-a-block off the main strip, just up from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum. It’s still not a bad location, and we were actually closer to the center of town than normal. This one cost us less for two nights than the Clarion costs for one. We decided to take the risk. It paid off. We don’t ask for much from a hotel. This one certainly isn’t as nice as our usual, but it was clean, and it was quiet. We slept better there than in hotels for which we paid a lot more money. Our second-floor room opened to a balcony out back. Traffic was not a factor. The air conditioner was reasonably quiet. The room even had a high, cabin-style ceiling. The pool was decent. The wireless Internet connection was a little shaky, but I guess you can’t have everything while operating on a shoestring budget.

On Wednesday evening, our first night there, the Phillies were on ESPN getting pounded, but right before dark, our son noticed through the window that the winds were picking up. And so we went outside on the balcony, and, sure enough, it began to thunder and lightning. Then the thunder got really close. Then the sky opened up, and it poured rain for probably two hours as one storm after another rolled through. It was a truly peaceful moment out there, temporarily soothing the pain of the Phillies getting pounded on ESPN.

We went to bed that night with the rain still falling on the roof, and slept until 9:00 yesterday morning. We never sleep that late. Never. Not even during summer. But we did yesterday, and it was blissful. Of course, it rained on us at Dollywood, but we still managed to pass more than 7 hours there, leaving around 6:30 because we were so tired.

And so we came back to the room, but the rain was gone this time. We went to bed a little earlier, and got up a little earlier this morning as a result.

My son and I like to pass the time on the interstate counting up license plates. We picked up 43 states during this trip, missing Hawaii, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island. I think the most we ever got on one trip was 49 states during our trip to Colorado two summers ago.

So we came back home early this afternoon, where it was miserably hot. I much preferred it 48 hours ago, when we were standing on our balcony feeling the rain-cooled air on our faces. It’s amazing how much the weather can change in just 200 miles.

On the way out of Gatlinburg this morning, I pointed out a Best Western where my parents and I stayed back in the summer of 1978, only it wasn’t a Best Western then. Or maybe it was. I can’t remember. I was only 8. But I guess Gatlinburg hasn’t changed a great deal in 31 years. It has changed some, for sure, but it was just as crowded then as now.

At any rate, the sports fans were out to torment me this trip — lots of Kentucky and Tennessee apparel. There was even one guy at Dollywood wearing a Mets shirt. My son and I walked over to Lids last night where he bought a couple of Phillies hats. (The apple didn’t fall far from that tree.) Again, lots of UK and UT hats, but only one style of Memphis hat — one that he already had. That’s how it goes. If you want a decent Memphis hat, you can either jump on the Internet or physically drag yourself to Memphis. It’s total disrespect by the remainder of the sports world, but it is what it is.

We plan on going back perhaps next month for an even lower budget trip, and again during fall and/or Christmas break. Again, Gatlinburg is crowded no matter when you go.

Previous post: Gatlinburg

Every time we go to Dollywood, it rains while we’re there. It doesn’t matter what time of year, we always get wet both from water rides and from the rain. It never fails, and it doesn’t matter what the forecast says. If the Roses are in Pigeon Forge, there is a 100% chance of rain there. You could set your clock by it.

I should have gotten to this earlier. I was at Cheekwood two Friday’s ago with the camera, and took several springtime photographs of various things that I’ve uploaded to my Flickr account.

The following photographs were made yesterday at Cannonsburgh Village in downtown Murfreesboro, Tennessee

40 things every Tennessean should try.

I finally had the chance on Thursday to mark the Belle Meade Plantation off my list of things I want to do in the Nashville area. Following are a few photographs I made while there. Unfortunately, the use of cameras inside the mansion is strictly verboten.

Highway 70 in Donelson, Tennessee

We don’t need Barack Obama in Memphis. We already have John Calipari, a college basketball coach, but more than just a basketball coach. Had this piece been written about a politician, I would have puked. But it’s not about a politician. It’s about a basketball coach, a private citizen, a man who brings the best talent in the country to the University of Memphis and wins games at an unbelievable pace.

Calipari is not like most Memphians, Osborn points out. He’s an Easterner. He’s not a good ol’ boy.

“He doesn’t sound like us or look like us,” Osborn said. “There’s no way he should be able to connect.”

But he does. Brilliantly, too. He connects to high Memphis and low Memphis, to the very rich and the very poor.

“I think he has grown a great deal,” Osborn said. “I would say it’s no longer even about basketball. John is a teacher and he sees the Memphis audience as his class. He tries to teach self-esteem. He is talking to a community that doesn’t always value itself.”

If you don’t understand Memphis, you might dismiss this talk as so much claptrap. More sentimental nonsense served up around sports

The guy wins basketball games. Let’s not make him bigger than that. Except, in this city — desperate as it is for any sort of leadership — isn’t he absolutely bigger than that?

“He has made the success of the basketball team a kind of fable, a symbol of hope,” Osborn said. “This is what we, as a city, can become if we do our very best.”

I agree that Memphis is desperate for any sort of leadership. Memphis is run by thugs, has been run by thugs for many years, and will probably always be run by thugs. The political system is corrupt to the core. Remember, this is the place the Ford family calls home. But it’s still a great city because of its people, and it remains a great city despite the people they put into office.

Cal-speak: For Tigers coach, words come as fast as wins : GoMemphisTigers : Your leading source for The University of Memphis Tigers.

The following photographs were made earlier today at the Cheekwood Museum & Botanical Gardens in Belle Meade. Mrs. Right Minded and I bought a family pass so we can go as often as we like. She goes for the flowers, I go for the pictures. Today was the first time I’ve gone there this year. There was more in bloom that I would have thought.

The latest census estimate places the population of the great state of Tennessee at 6,214,888. That’s up 9.2% since the 2000 census was taken.

I listened to a two-part Focus on the Family podcast a couple of weeks ago about the Battle of Franklin, a remarkable event in the Civil War that has received scant attention. I then did some digging around and have discovered several other Civil War sites in and around Nashville that require some exploration. (Just think of all the historical markers !)

Battle of Nashville

Belle Meade Plantation

Carnton Plantation (Battle of Franklin)

Carter House (Battle of Franklin)

Sam Davis Home

Travellers Rest (seen the outside, but haven’t taken the tour)

I have visited the Oaklands Mansion (Murfreesboro), the Stones River National Battlefield (Murfreesboro), as well as some historical sites in Maury County, and Fort Donelson National Battlefield (Dover), but that’s a bit of a drive. And there’s all those Civil War-related historical markers you often see on the side the road that have immortalized some event or person.

Have any of you ever visited one or more of these sites (or know of something I might have missed) and would be willing to share your experience(s)?