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Hier ist mein (englisch-sprachige) Reisebericht von unsere Urlaub in July 2007 in Kentucky und Tennessee. Dabei waren ich, mein Man Norbert und unsere damals 13-jährige Sohn Lucas.

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Day One, June 24

We enjoyed having a later flight from Paris to Washington, as we didn't have to race breakneck through Charles de Gaulle airport. And it was especially good since our flight to the US was at the absolute far end of the terminal.

The flight over was some 99 percent full. I hadn't brought a wristwatch, so I didn't have any way of telling how long we had been underway and how much longer we had to go. That may have been a good idea, as the flight seemed to go quite quickly!

We landed in DC, got our bags and headed to Hertz. My brother Bill was there waiting for us. Lucas has changed so much even since Bill saw him when he was over here in March that we sent him out alone to greet Bill as a stranger -- but he recognized him.

When we got the rental car, they offered us a Volvo. Only 25$ more. Per day -- and that for three and half weeks? No thanks!

We gave Bill the Gummi bears and coffee we had brought for him and he gave us the loaded cooler and a bag full of goodies (bourbon, chocolate chip cookies, fritos and other necessities of American life). Then we headed out!

Our first hard decision was how to go. We studied all the alternatives and decided to take our old familiar route and head to New Market, Va., to spend the night. We have stayed there twice before. It is a pretty rolling drive, past Luray Caverns, and other familiar sites. We had only driven about 80 miles when a warning light came on on the dashboard: engine oil change! Oh thrills.....

We went on to the hotel as it was getting late and we were getting tired. We checked in at the Quality Inn in New Market and went to bed.

Day Two, June 25

We had a huge breakfast at the Johnny Appleseed Restaurant attached to our hotel, another old familiar. Then we called Hertz, and must have spent nearly half an hour with them on the phone hashing out all our options. We finally settled on going to the Hertz station at the Charleston, W.Va., airport, and swapping our car for another one just like it.

That done, we headed down I-81 to I-64 west. As soon as we got to 64, it was all new road for me (and the guys, too, obviously!) We all were stunned at how beautiful that drive along I-64 is -- beautiful, beautiful mountain scenery. Our only complaint was that there was nowhere to stop and take photos!

We stopped for a mid-morning snack in Berkley, W.Va., and I took a turn driving. We then headed north on the W.Va. Turnpike (toll). Lucas sat up front with me and was in charge of toll money. Of course on that road, since I was driving, we had the steepest climbs and the sharpest curves! (Norbert didn't agree with that assessment, though......)

We turned off in downtown Charleston and drove (quite a long way, actually) out to the airport. What a cute little airport! We swapped cars for one that was virtually identical EXCEPT that the new one had a GPS (which we didn't have to pay for!) What a fun toy!

We then headed west again across West Virginia. Up until Charleston we were quite impressed with the natural beauty, again lovely mountains. But from Charleston west it was just more blah -- not ugly or anything, but nothing special.

We pulled off at Milton and visited a glass factory and gift shop, but the factory wasn't doing demonstrations that day, and the things in the gift shop were not only too expensive but not our taste either. Well, at least it got us off the interstate and gave us a chance to stretch our legs. We did see a lot of ducks, including a flock of little ones, and a very funny duck who was very upright.

We continued on into Kentucky. We found it rather disappointing. Nothing negative, but nothing special or impressive. We stopped at the first visitor center, and a very nice woman was very helpful. She told us the best way to drive around Lexington, which we had wondered about.

Back on the road. This was a big driving day. Around Lexington. We saw only one horse farm, but it was Calumet which is one of the biggies. I saw a few horses in the fields, and lots of beautiful green grass and white fences. It was meticulously clean and well taken care of.

I had explained to Norbert and Lucas that Kentucky is known for its horses, so they kept their eyes peeled. At one point, Norbert said, "There are some horses! But they look awfully funny!" Then he realized they were cows! So after that whenever we saw animals in the fields, we would ask, "Are they with udders or without?" Ultimately cows became known as Kentucky Horses -- and that is how family traditions are born!

Needless to say, Norbert will never be allowed to forget that one!

We decided to spend the night at Bardstown, Kentucky, which was roughly where we changed from the west-bound interstate to the south-bound interstate. We drove by a Wal-Mart shortly after exiting, and marked its location. We also drove by "My Old Kentucky Home State Park," which is the farm house/mansion that inspired Steven Foster to write the song, "My Old Kentucky Home." It is a very large park with huge grounds and an outdoor theater, and they were having a concert that evening.

We ended up driving all the way through town before finding a hotel, the Best Western General Nelson. What relationship General Nelson has with Bardstown, Ky., I can't imageine, but possibly there are two General Nelsons. We ate next door at the Stephen Foster Restaurant (are you catching the theme here?), which was a typically southern buffet: fried chicken, fried shrimp, fried clams, fried oysters, but an excellent green salad (which was NOT fried).

We walked back to the hotel. Lucas decided to stay and watch Pro Wrestling on tv while Norbert and I hit the Wal-Mart. We figured, he is almost 14, he is old enough to stay alone in a hotel room for an hour or two -- after all what can happen?

ha ha ha

We were finishing up our shopping at Wal-Mart when we heard funny noises and realized we were in the middle of a thunderstorm. After we paid, we had to wait, with a lot of other folks, until the rain let up enough so we could get to the car without drowning or at least getting soaking wet.

On the way back -- and remember, this is from one end of the area to the other end -- we saw a lot of twigs done, branches down, even whole trees! As we approached the hotel, we realized: the electricity was out!

Lucas was standing outside our room calmly chatting with the couple from the next room. He said he had watched about 15 minutes of his program when the electricity went out. He was disappointed but enjoyed the "adventure", I think.

We left the door and curtains open for as long as there was any natural light, but eventually it got dark. Fortunately I had a little flashlight in my handbag -- I don't know how we could have seen to use the toilet without it!

The electricity came back on 4:24 a.m. -- and ask me how I know the exact time....

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Day Three, June 27

We had a very nice breakfast at the hotel, including a wonderful fresh fruit salad. Everyone told their storm stories.

When we drove into town the previous day, Norbert had seen a sign for the Jim Beam distillery. This is definitely Kentucky Bourbon Country, and since I have been known to drink bourbon, and Jim Beam at that, he decided we should visit it. It was about 20 miles out of the way, but so what.

We eventually found it, but there was a definite lack of directional signs, a problem we had throughout Kentucky. We parked in the employee's parking lot because we couldn't find the visitors' lot. We first went into the old Beam house (which isn't actually all that old) and after looking at a few exhibits had a bourbon tasting. They served about half an ounce of two of their different premium brands. The two we had were "Booker" and "Knobb Creek". Fiiiiiiiiiiine sipping whiskeys -- at 9 in the morning! Norbert had one little sip and Lucas looked on enviously.

Then we went to the actual visitor center, watched a film, saw the exhibits and bought a bottle of the good stuff.

Then we headed south on the interstate. At some point that morning my eyes closed for a short nap, can't understand why!

Our next stop was Mammoth Cave National Park. We parked in the huge parking lot and walked to the visitor center. We bought our tickets and then walked all the way back to the car because you are not allowed to carry any handbags or bags of any kind into the cave. It would have been nice to know that beforehand. So we threw my purse into the trunk and hiked back.

We took the shortest tour, the self-guided tour. All others require reservations and we might have been able to get on one in three or four hours.

You walk down a long canyon to the entrance. I put on my sweater, feeling a little silly since it was so hot. I was thankful to have it though, as it was quite cool inside. The cave is totally undeveloped, no colored lights and background music and such things. It is huge. We were not terribly impressed overall. Maybe it is more impressive if you take one of the other longer tours.

We ate lunch there and headed on down the road. This time we left the interstate and headed west across country on Rt. 68, in the direction of the Land Between the Lakes.

We decided to try our luck at the Lake Barkley State Resort Park, and were able to get a room. It was the most expensive hotel of the whole trip, but well worth every penny. The lodge is a wooden building from the 1960s, with soaring ceilings and big windows. They said it was the largest wooden structure west of the Mississippi.

Our room overlooked the lake. It was nicely furnished with beautiful bed linens. It had a nice balcony which we unfortunately couldn't use because of a hornet nest (occupied). But from the windows we saw a deer, woodpeckers, squirrels, chipmunks, bluebirds and other birds.

We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant, another buffet.

The hotel also had a small but lovely gift shop, with a lot of local handicrafts. I bought myself a patchwork purse and we bought some nice wood pieces, as well as two cute little ceramic egg cups, one for me and one as a birthday present for Jana.

Day Four, June 27

This morning we headed over to the Land Between the Lakes. First stop was the visitors center. The main attraction there was the hummingbird feeder outside. We must have seen a dozen of the little birds. Norbert and Lucas spent a lot of time trying to photograph them, with only mixed results. We then went north to the Elk and Bison Plains, which we drove around twice without seeing a single animal. Guess we shouldn't have done it at midday on a hot summer day.

We then drove all the way north up the peninsula to Lake City, where we bought sandwiches (at a real dive), and then over to the Kentucky Dam. It had a huge parking area with picnic tables on the lower side of the dam (so to speak). We sat in the shade and ate and looked. The neatest thing was that there were two or three dozen herons -- both blue and white -- along the bank. Must have been good fishing!

On the way back we stopped at the Nature Station. They have some exhibits and a little zoo. We saw hummingbirds again, owls, wolves and a wildcat. Norbert actually saw the wildcat bat two hummingbirds in the air with its paw and eat them! We didn't stay too long as there was obviously a thunderstorm moving in.

We drove back to the hotel and had dinner there. This is a wonderful area and we would definitely like to come back.

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Day Five, June 28

We drove across the LBL and headed towards Paducah. We crossed the Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois, and about two minutes later crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri. Long bridges.

We exited the interstate at New Madrid, where they have an overlook at a point where the Mississippi forms a "U". Once again we were struck by the lack of signs. I was driving and we eventually found it. It turned out to be a disappointment, but you never know.

A little further down the interstate we decided to make a Wal-Mart break, so we headed to the one in Caruthersville. It was the tiniest little Wal-Mart I ever saw -- really cute! It had the tiniest selection, too, of course.

We went back to I-55 and headed south into Arkansas. We spent the night at a Holiday Inn in West Memphis, which we selected largely because it boasted laundry facilities. We shared the hotel with the 50th class reunion of a black high school.

We ate dinner at the attached Perkins Restaurant. Norbert and I had absolutely huge salads served in bread bowls. I could barely make a dent in my salad, it was so big. They were good, but too much is too much.

Day Six, June 29

We headed across the Mississippi River for the last time and into Memphis. We drove directly to the visitors center. They told us we were too early for Mud Island, so we took a trolley ride around downtown. It is an old trolley that is not just for tourists but is also a part of the regular public transportation system.

We got back to the visitors center and moved the car to a shady spot, then walked over to the monorail station to go over to Mud Island Park. The park boasts a model of the Mississippi River from its beginning to the Gulf of Mexico. You can walk in it, too, which was nice on a hot day.

Along the way we ran into a woman who saw our cameras and asked if we had any extra film that she could buy from us. I said, "Film? Who uses film?" We all laughed.

Norbert and I gave up about 2/3 of the way and sat on a swing in the shade overlooking the real river. Lucas went all the way down.

Afterwards we made the mistake of eating lunch there -- the hotdogs cost over $6 a piece!!!

We then starting driving east towards Nashville. We drove through some heavy rains. I took over driving, and then we ran into some REALLY heavy rains! I pulled off at one point and waited about 10 minutes. It continued to rain heavily off and on, so I just drove about 25 miles an hour -- fortunately all the trucks were happy to do the same!

We went around Nashville (never did get into the city) and into the Music Valley area. We first asked at the hotel where we had a reservation the next night, but they were full. Fortunately the Days Inn next door had a room.

We went over to the shopping center at the Grand Ole Opry and walked around and ate at the food court.


Day Seven, June 30

After breakfast we headed back to the shopping mall -- too early! The stores didn't open until 10! But we walked around until they opened. We ate lunch at "Johnny Rocket's", a fake 1950s diner. We sat at the counter and could watch them make the food. One man made hamburger after hamburger after hamburger. One woman did nothing but make milkshakes, and couldn't keep up with the demand. It was neat to watch. I could nly think how cold her hands must be!

After lunch we rested until it was time to head out. We had tickets to the early show at the Grand Ole Opry. We picked up our tickets at the Will-Call window without problem and killed time by looking through the gift shop. Lucas and I each bought an old-fashioned fan.

Our seats were on the left-hand side, about the 15th row, on the floor. We had a good view even though we were far on the side. It was a 2.5 hour show, divided into three half-hour segments and a one-hour segment. There must have been 12 to 15 artists, most of them doing 2 songs. The bigger names in the longer segment did more songs.

What was impressive was the range of music that was presented. It opened with old-fashioned music (Keep on the Sunny Side, from Oh Brother Where Art Thou), also had the group with the current no. 1 hit, a hot newcomer, bluegrass, cajun music, a bit of the 60s country stuff, and so on. Fascinating! It was really great fun and worth every single penny.

Some of the artists we saw: Hal Ketchum, Josh Turner, Porter Wagoner (who is 80 years old), Montgomery Gentry.

Day Eight, July 1

We even had a little adventure at breakfast this morning. The hotel offered a buffet breakfast and when we got our food and sat down, Lucas was last and apparently couldn't find us. He ended up sitting with his back to us with another couple, and had a great time talking to them. They were from Florida and were Florida Gator fans, which he found very interesting. Of course we saw him all the time.

We headed south towards Chattanooga. We didn't stop at the Jack Daniels distillery because we had already visited Jim Beam (and besides, JD doesn't offer samples!). The interstate takes you through Georgia for a few miles, so we added another state to this trip list. Once at Lookout Mountain, we went straight to Rock City. They have their parking extremely well organized, which was nice.

It was very hot and we could tell the clouds were building up to thunderstorm. We ate lunch before we went on the walk. A family of four in front of us spent a huge amount to buy a huge lunch -- and you won't be surprised to hear they were not skinny people......

We started on our way up and I must say we enjoyed it far more than we thought we would. Interesting rocks, pretty nature, and so on. From the very top you have a wonderful view and could see quite far, if not really the seven states that they claim. It was fun and pretty and I would recommend it.

We wanted to go to Ruby Falls next and somehow got lost, so we just went back to the interstate and backtracking a good deal. But it worked out. Still terribly hot. We had to wait for a while for our Tour, but the line moved relatively quickly.

Ruby Falls is in a cavern and it is about a 20-30 minute walk to the Falls. Many portions are very narrow and of course that is invariably where you meet groups coming the other direction. The caverns are not as "developed" as some, that is, no fancy lights and silly music. The waterfall is quite neat and you can walk behind it, actually all the way around it.

When we came out, the thunderstorm had arrived and it was really pouring down rain. It was much too heavy to think about going to the car, so we had a cup of coffee in the main building and waited.

We stayed at a Ramada Limited, with which we were quite disappointed. Small room and just not the quality one would expect for a Ramada. We ate dinner at Cracker Barrel.

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Day Nine, July 2

We went up to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga first. Lots of people. We got there nice and early so there was no problem getting a parking place in the closest parking lot. We first went through the "old" building, which has the River exhibits. First of all we saw the seahorse exhibit, and it was just as great as we remembered it from a few years ago. The Sea Dragons are just so wonderful and strange! We love to watch them.

Then we went to the new building which has penguins, butterflies and ocean exhibits. The penguins were a little disappointing. The exhibit was small and full of squealing children. The butterfly garden was fascinating as ever. The ocean exhibits were relatively unimpressive -- looking back on it, I can't remember a single one!

Somehow we totally missed having lunch and decided the only thing that would save us from starvation was the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream shop across the street. A hot fudge sundae for lunch -- what a sacrifice!

We then headed up the interstate towards Knoxville, but first we made a stop at Sweetwater for the Lost Sea. That was another one to add to our list of caverns. This one is totally undeveloped and you march down to an underground lake. We then got into a flat boat with about 10 other people and rode around on the lake for about half an hour. It was really neat (even if it doesn't sound like it!)

We then headed up to and beyond Knoxville to visit our friends Sue and Bill.

Days Ten to Thirteen

Tuesday evening we had a real adventure -- Lucas and Norbert attended their first baseball game! We attended a minor league game of the Tennessee Smokies (who fortunately won!) We sat in the second row behind the visitors' dugout and could see everything. The game featured absolutely everything (except maybe good pitching): home runs, stolen bases, passed balls, errors, you name it.

They even announced our names during the game! "We would like to welcome Susan, Norbert and Lucas from Germany, who are attending their first baseball game!" Very nice (even though of course it wasn't my first one.)

The real highlight came after the game was over. One of the player's threw a ball to Lucas -- and the guy in front of us jumped up and grabbed it at the last second! But the player saw that, made sure he got our attention, threw another and checked to make sure Lucas had it.

After the game they had July 4th fireworks, which were neat. I was glad that the guys got to see typical American fireworks display.

At some point we also visited two local dams, part of the TVA series of dams. One had a very pretty park area around it.

One day we drove to Gatlinburg and the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. The whole Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area is one tourist attraction after the other, and well visited, too. The Aquarium was full but interesting. They had the Sea Dragons, too, which was quite a treat. Their main attraction is a walk-through tank where sharks et al. swim all around and even over you. It was really neat.

We parked at the Visitors Center on the outskirts of town and took their trolley bus to the aquarium, also came back the same way of course. I think it cost a quarter per person per trip, and sure was easier than searching for a parking place or paying to park in the garage there.

Afterwards we walked around town a little but it was just too hot and crowded. Along the drive either there or back, we stopped at a pull-off. Between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg there is a "natural" section so we took some photos of the mountain creek.

On Thursday, July 5, (Day 12) we all five drove in to Knoxville to the University of Tennessee. Lucas is big UT football fan and it was his dream to see the stadium. He ended up seeing a lot more, as we took the tour for prospective students. I hadn't been on a college campus in quite a while so it was all rather nostalgic. Of course Norbert and Lucas had never experienced one so it was all new to them.

We even went in a dorm and into a room -- which was remarkably similar to the one I had all those hundreds of years ago! :-)

During the Tour we walked past the stadium, and Sue told the tour guide that Lucas had come all the way over from Germany just to see it. So he took us in! We went in to the stands and looked around. Lots of photos of course!

Then we hit the bookstore where Lucas bought himself an authentic UT jersey, which he had been saving up for all year (good thing, it was incredibly expensive).

On our last day with the Shetleys we went shopping. We hit three or four thrift shops, where Lucas bought a number of UT t-shirts and I bought a bunch of paperbacks. We also went to some yard sales (another first for L & N). Then we hit the big names like Wal-Mart, Target and so on.


Day Fourteen, July 7

We finally headed east to North Carolina today. A beautiful drive through the mountains to Asheville, then lots of not so interesting interstate, but a wonderful arrival at Edenton at Mom's house.