A mansion, a circle, some friends & a few temples in the South

To wrap up my report on our trip to the southern states, I wanted to report on several very interesting but totally unrelated places we visited.

A mansion - and oh, what a mansion it was - The Biltmore estate in Asheville, North Carolina is the largest private home in the United States on 3000 acres of private forested land. It reminded us of the castles in England. It was built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt who was a single bachelor at the time. He soon married Edith (lucky lady) and they had one daughter named Cornelia who grew up in this home, married, and had two children of her own while living there. It was a home of hospitality and gracious living. Take a look at this video to learn more and to see inside the house. We spent most of one day wandering around the fabulous gardens and estate of the Vanderbilts that is now open to the public. It was amazing!


A circle - what historically important things have happened on that circle in the country music industry at the Grand Ole Opry.
Since we aren't huge country music fans, we learned a lot and gained a greater appreciation. The six-foot circle of dark, oak wood in the Opry House stage is shiny but clearly well worn. Cut from the stage of the Opry's famous former home, the Ryman Auditorium, this circle gives newcomers and veterans alike the opportunity to sing on the same spot that once supported Uncle Dave Macon, Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, Minny Pearl and others. We enjoyed our backstage tour and walked in the steps of the greats. We also learned that country singers can perform at the Opry, but they have to be invited to join and that not all country singers are members. Who knew?



We stayed with some great friends (Corey & Lindsey and girls) outside of Dallas. We arrived one evening and had a great visit. The next morning we got to participate with them in a service project planting around 3,000 flags at their community center to commemorate 9/11 and all the people who lost their lives. We served along with a bunch of their neighbors and ward friends. It was fun to see their lovely home and to spend some time together before going to the BYU Texas game.

Temples - I was surprised to learn that LDS temples dot the southern states. We drove by two in Memphis and Nashville, TN and learned that there are several more located in states we visited including Atlanta, GA ~ Birmingham, AL ~ Raleigh, NC ~ Columbia, SC ~ with five temples in Texas, one in Baton Rouge, LA ~ Orlando FL & Louisville, KN. Check out this cool map.

Football in the South is...

...H~U~G~E!

Southerners take their football VERY seriously. Since the two BYU football games in Mississippi and Texas were the bookends of our trip, we managed to get a glimpse of how southerners play the game. As we traveled about, Rick took the opportunity to slip into various stadiums and take a peak. He found that the college stadiums were generally open and welcoming while the Pro stadiums were locked down tight.
Here are some pictures from around the different stadiums that we/he visited.

University of Tennessee

University of Texas
University of Georgia
Georgia Tech

We also had the chance to go to THE GROVE at Ole Miss before the game and attend their "tailgate party." Tailgate party my foot! It was more like Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings with 20,000 of their best friends. We saw:

• glass chandeliers hanging from "Rebel" portable awnings over the set up of the feast
• linens and tablecloths in the Rebel colors
  
• fresh flower arrangements
• silverware, crystal glass and china plates
• southern food in great abundance
• huge flat screen TV with satellite dish connections so they could watch other games being played that day
• ALL college age women and some older women decked out in sun dresses and high heal shoes
• men wearing button down shirts and ties (to the game no less)
• lots and lots of alcohol consumed

Notwithstanding all this Rebel pride, the fans were so courteous and friendly to us. They welcomed us, they said hello in their wonderful southern accents, they were so kind. No one swore at us. No one flipped us off. No one belittled our religion. We came away with a great feeling for the fans of Ole Miss. They were very hospitable and kind (even after we beat them) and they showed a lot of class. The Texas fans were fine as well. They weren't as friendly as the Ole Miss fans, but they just left us alone. Again, no one took swipes at us for wearing our BYU shirts. Good sportsmanship was the order of the day at both locations and we were pleasantly surprised and very appreciative.

History in the South

We saw some amazing historical sites while visiting the South. I could write many pages of information detailing all we saw and learned, but alas, I won't. When we travel we like to do a couple of things in the cities/states we visit. If we are in a capitol city, we like to visit the state capitol building. We visited the state capitols of Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Arkansas and Texas. Most state capitol buildings are beautifully constructed and they contain a lot of information inside about the history of that state. We also like to visit Presidential Libraries and on this trip we were fortunate enough to visit the Presidential Libraries of President Jimmy Carter and President Lyndon Johnson. We were young teenagers during the time that Johnson was President and we were newly weds during the era of Jimmy Carter's administration. Visiting their libraries is like going into a time machine. The library takes you back to the period of time that they served our country. There was A LOT going on in this country during the administration of Lyndon Johnson (watch the video to get some idea of what I'm referring to.) We remember a lot of the civil upheaval of the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement (and a bunch of other movements at the time) and great advancements in space exploration. We've been fortunate to visit the libraries of Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Kennedy and now Johnson and Carter. We hope to visit more someday.


We also had the chance to visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and learn more about the assassination of Martin Luther King. We went to the home of Medgar Evers and learned about his murder and the work he did for civil rights. If you haven't seen the movie Mississippi Burning, it would be a good one to rent to learn more about this time period and the need for civil rights for all Americans.


We visited the plantation of our 7th president Andrew Jackson call The Hermitage outside of Nashville, TN. It was so interesting to visit this restored plantation and to travel back to the 1830s. We learned so much about life on a plantation and about the time period when Andrew Jackson was president. Which home would you rather live in? The President's home or slave quarters?




While we were in Atlanta we spend half a day visiting the Atlanta History Museum were we learned more about the civil war and slave and plantation life during the civil war. We were mesmerized by the displays and information presented in the time period of 1861-1865 in the South. Our perspectives were broadened and we had several paradigm shifts as we learned more about the history of the south and how that history impacts us still today.

Eating in the South

Southern food is the best! We decided to avoid all national chains and to eat in as many local restaurants as possible. Jordan had a great app on her phone that would look for places to eat that had great reviews within a certain radius. While she and Jake were with us we used the app to find great places to eat. After they left to go home, we would just ask the locals to recommend great places to eat. Southern cooking includes some GREAT food such as:
southern fried chicken, cornbread muffins, black-eyed peas, fried green tomatoes, okra, grits, chicken and gravy, dumplings, country friend steak and gravy, BBQ ribs, liver and onions, pork chops, hush puppies, buttermilk biscuits, shrimp and grits, pot likker, collard greens, creamed fresh corn, macaroni and cheese (southern style), sweet potato souffle, bread pudding, sweet potato pie, Georgia peach cobbler, lemon meringue pie, egg custard, and pecan pie just to name a few.
One of our favorite places was the Four Way Soul Food restaurant in Memphis. Jord's app found the restaurant and we wandered in to eat some of the best food we ate on the whole trip. It was Sunday afternoon and we had just attended church in an LDS Memphis ward. We went into the restaurant where we were the only white folks in the building. All the other guests were dressed in their Sunday best and were just sitting down to their Sunday dinner at the restaurant. We sat next to a Reverend and his family. We were treated so well and we enjoy some wonderful southern food and great hospitality. I think we all enjoyed the experience.
When we were in Atlanta we went to a restaurant called Mary Mac's Tea Room (that was recommended by Sarah Taylor -Diane's daughter) and it was a lot of the same southern food as the Four Way Soul Food, only more white folks were eating at the restaurant. The restaurant put out this great cookbook and I saw it at various locations in Atlanta. I thought I'd wait and see if they had it on Amazon and sure enough, it was there for half the price. I bought four copies for me and my three girls. I can't wait to try cooking some of that great southern food.