Today we drove to Charlotte, North Carolina to visit our friends Phil & Sylvia who live on a lake. We arrived at their house and dropped off our stuff because we wanted to get to Charlotte Motor Speedway to see the qualifying race. We purchased great tickets that were inside a suite, so we weren’t going to be sitting in the hot sun. We decided to go out of the suite to check out that view, and we couldn’t believe how loud the racecars were. It’s incredible how some people were sitting in the stands without their ears covered.
After the race, we drove back to our friend’s house, and we had a fun time talking and catching up with them.
The next morning Phil and Sylvia took us out on their boat to check out some other fabulous homes on the lake. Their home was located in a great spot. I have posted some pictures down below.
Today we visited the beautiful Biltmore Estate. Construction began in 1889 and was finished in 1895. Out of 250 rooms, we only had a chance to see about 50 of them. The rest of the house is closed to the public it costs a lot of money to air condition and heat the stone home, so they shut off certain parts of the massive home. The part of the house we did see was breathtaking every ceiling was coiffured, and every room had a massive fireplace. It’s a must-see while visiting Asheville. If you would like more facts and info on the estate click here —> Biltmore.
Today we arrived in Nashville, Tennessee and we checked into this beautiful hotel with the best service we have ever received, it was The Hermitage Hotel. We have stayed in some of the best hotels, but this hotel exceeds all expectations. Upon check-in, we settled in and decided to walk into town and check things out. We had a drink downtown at a rooftop bar which was pretty cool and the weather was perfect.
May 25, 2017
We woke up today and decided to visit the Grand Ole Opry we scheduled a tour of the venue which was terrific. The history and all the stars who have sung in that building was great. My dad loved country music, and he introduced me to it, so I was familiar with most of the singers who have performed there. After our tour, we decided to check out the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, and upon arrival, we had a rare chance to see a hawk tear apart an eat what looked like a squirrel. It was amazing the hawk didn’t care how close we were or that ten people were watching it eat. Moving into the hotel, they have stores, restaurants and coffee shops there but what we were more fascinated with were the water shows and the floral displays. It’s almost as if we were in Texas because they do say everything is bigger and better in Texas I would have to say this is a good contender. For lunch, we decided to walk to a local place the Peg Leg Porker which was highly recommended by Zagat’s and they were on point the food was mouthwatering.
On the way to Asheville, we drove by and visited the Jack Daniels Distillery which was once again a cool experience. I recommend visiting this distillery if you are a fan of their whiskey.
Today we drove to Louisville, Kentucky and we had a tour set up of the grounds at Churchill Downs. When we arrived, we had some time to check out the museum with all the original handmade Kentucky Derby hats which were cool and unique. The tour was great we got to see where the trainers and the jockeys live and saw some hot walkers walk the horses around and also saw them taking care of the prized horses.
The next morning we were lucky enough to be able to come back for free to see the trainers work with the horses and run them on the track. Watching the trainers train the horses were terrific John and I both loved it. We love horses, so this was something exciting for us. When John was younger, he had a job as a hot walker at Belmont Racetrack.
We hope to one day be a part of the Kentucky Derby.
On the way to Bowling Green we stopped and took a tour of the Jim Beam Distillery which was exciting since it’s my favorite Bourbon. We had a chance to bottle our own bottle of Knob Creek and put our thumbprint in the wax seal which was very cool.
Today we drove to Kansas City, Missouri and had nothing planned so when we arrived we checked in and decided to walk around the city since we were only going to be here for one night. We had a great steak dinner at The Majestic which is in an old building that was built in 1909. The dinner was fabulous which is expected since Kansas City is known for their meat.
