IMG_0330.JPGOriginally uploaded by josh.ev9.

In case anyone was wondering, I made it home safely from Bonnaroo. It was part of a somewhat longer vacation that involved driving from Chicago to Tennessee, all around Tennessee itself, and then back. It was awesome…and here’s a recap:

Oh, for a recap via photos, check out my flickr photosets:
Bonnaroo 2006
Roadtrip 2006
Graceland!

Karen and I began the trip doing the long haul drive from Chicago to Memphis, TN with a few stops in between. We had an impromptu lunch stop at the University of Illinois to eat Papa Del’s, my parents’ favorite college pizza place. My family has quite a lineage at the UofI…both my parents went there, as well as my paternal grandparents. I’m the first in this generation of my family to not go to the UofI, sadly. Still, the pizza was good. We didn’t have time to wait for the “real” (aka Deep Dish) pizza, so we just grabbed slices, which was kind of like cheating.

We got back on the road and made it through the south of Illinois, the southeast corner of Missouri (pronounced Muzzourah), the northeast corner of Arkansas, and then into the great state of Tennessee. Memphis is all the way on the western edge of Tennessee, right on the Arkansas border, for all you geography fans. The drive was about 7-8 hours from Chicago.

MEMPHIS IS AN AWESOME CITY. I highly recommend it to everyone…young, old, party, chill, whatever. Make your way to Memphis and you’ll have a good time.

K and I checked out Beale Street, home of the Blues and birthplace of Rock ‘n Roll. They have all kinds of food, including Memphis BBQ and Cajun/Creole. Plus the music coming from all the bars (even on a Tuesday night) was deafening.

The next morning we hit up Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. This is something you just have to do when you go to Memphis. We paid our homage to The King. Unfortunately, we didn’t see him hanging around…despite the rumors, the people who live at his house seem to think that he’s long dead. Strange.

Seriously, Graceland is fun…you just kind of have to see it to believe it. There’s nothing about it that is really totally crazy as far as celebrity homes. Compared to what you see on Cribs today, Elvis’s home was quite modest.

The afternoon was dedicated to the National Civil Rights Museum, which was absolutely amazing. The museum has been built into the hotel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. At the end of the tour, you get to look out from a window onto the spot where he was shot. After reading about all of the civil rights abuses throughout history as you walk through the museum, seeing this spot is quite emotional. Going outside to look at the walkway where he last walked is also somewhat heart-wrenching. You’ve gotta be there to feel it…I recommend a trip.

The next day we headed into Nashville, a quick 3.5 hour drive straight east from Memphis on the “Music Highway.” We didn’t see much in Nashville. It’s hard to find a good restaurant without searching really hard. We went to Opry Mills, a big mall that is exactly the same as every other “Mills” mall we had ever been to. We attempted to go into the Grand Ole Opry, but were barred because they were having HomeSchool Graduation that day…I had never heard of such a thing. We toured the GOO Museum though, which wasn’t bad, if you’re a fan of country music.

Alright, I’ve gotta be honest…I’m boring myself by recounting this whole vacation, so I’m just gonna bullet point it from here on:

• In the evening we picked up my sister, Tami, at the Nashville airport.
• We then headed to Manchester, TN to go to Bonnaroo.
• Upon entry to Bonnaroo we were stopped at the gate for a random car search. We had to quickly transfer all of our beer from their glass bottles to plastic water bottles at the request of the friendly police officer. Tami also got called out for having a glass pipe, but no pot. Good girl. 😉
• We went in to Bonnaroo only to find tables with literally hundreds of glass pipes for sale…the same kind that Tami was questioned for upon entry.
• At Bonnaroo we met up with Erik and Kynthia and saw them here and there, though I wish our schedules could have been better synced. (K, T, and I seem to be much earlier sleepers… 🙁
• The following bands serenaded us personally (not quite): Devotchka, Robinella, Ben Folds, Nickel Creek, Death Cab for Cutie, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Stevie Nicks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Elvis Costello, Blues Traveler, Beck, Radiohead, The Streets, and Matisyahu. Great concerts all.
• Sunday morning we packed up the tent and managed to get our car out of the “parking lot” (aka big huge field filled with cars and tents) in time to get Tami to the airport.
• Karen and I headed back a little earlier than planned, and stayed the night in Louisville (pronounced LooUHvool), KY. In the morning we grabbed breakfast in a nice area in town, then headed back to Chi-town.
• Good times

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for your patience! Don’t forget to check out the pictures.