Happy Birthday USA- July 4th, 2011

A few days ago, when Emma heard that we’d be going through Kentucky, she said, “That’s where Abraham Lincoln was born.” She said she remembered because she had written a biography of him this year. We didn’t tell her that we were actually going to his birthplace, too, and kept it as a surprise for her and Anna today.

The birthplace site is a national park site, and is quite nicely done. One might be reminded about what Mark Twain wrote. He asked why people are so fascinated with the birthplaces of the famous. He noted that a birthplace is the one thing that every person has and that it is likely to not even be remembered by the person in question. (Scott has to paraphrase here, but will try to put the exact quote here later.) Lincoln had no memories of this home—his family had to leave it when he was about three years old. Yet there is a huge monument of stone that has been erected and within this memorial is the “symbolic log cabin” representing the original that has long since returned to dust.

There is a nice little visitors center at the site, and we began with a 15 minute movie about Lincoln’s life in Kentucky. Julie said she would be disappointed if they didn’t have Lincoln logs. They did, and the girls played for a few moments. We visited the gift shop, where the girls bought oversized pennies with Lincoln’s picture on them. After that, we climbed the 56 steps to the enormous monument where the Lincoln family’s cabin used to sit. We know there are 56 steps because that is what we were told at the visitor’s center and there is supposed to be one step for each year that Lincoln lived. However, Anastasia disputes that claim. She counted the steps individually several times, and never got 56, but then she didn’t seem to get two numbers that matched any of those times either. We saw the spring that gave the family its drinking water and which gave the farm its name: “Sinking Spring Farm.” There was an interesting looking brass band setting up to play Civil War music, but we decided to continue on.

Lincoln’s boyhood home is less than 10 miles from his birthplace, so we decided to stop there. It was anticlimactic after the very enjoyable stop at his birthplace. The so-called “Knob Hill Farm” is represented only by a field that the Lincoln family cultivated. There is a cabin there that is made from wood that came from the cabin of a boyhood friend of Lincoln, so it is probably has some resemblance to the Lincoln family cabin. However, the site is now dominated by a huge log “tavern” that was built in the 1930s. The tavern might have been pretty cool anywhere else, or even if it was open and in use, but it wasn’t. Instead, it just kind of sat there blocking the way. There were signs all over it proclaiming that the tavern was a protected national historic site too, as if it was trying to make an excuse in defense of itself. There was no visitors center to speak of at this site, thought the tavern could have been a nice one if it was open. Still, Scott thought it was fun to visit both of these sites because the book he brought along to read from home mentions the sites in some detail. True, the book is Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have interesting details in it.

Before we left Kentucky, we naturally had to eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken. (Actually, we were hoping to stop at the first KFC, because we remembered passing it on one of our previous trips, but we ended up being mistaken about which route it was on.) Finger lickin’ good? We were excited about the Colonel going in, but it ended up being too much for Anna, too spicy for Emma, and too greasy for Julie.
Scott liked it, though.

We continued down the road to Nashville listening to classic country on Sirius until we go close enough to pick up WSM. In truth, Scott could probably spend a week in Nashville, just savoring the music history and taking it all in. We have visited Nashville before, and really liked it. However, we’re just passing through this time. Luckily, Scott only had one thing he really wanted to see this time—the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He had seen it before, but this time there was something new—the Statler Brother’s plaque in the Hall of Fame. They were inducted in 2008, and we almost came down to try to see them then. We didn’t, mainly because we knew that the ceremony was by invitation only.

As we made our way through the exhibits, Scott saw many of the items he had seen before. Julie and the girls had not come that first time, so the exhibits were new to them. There was a large number of famous items from familiar performers—lots of instruments and clothes. There was an exhibit on the three generations in the Hank Williams family. We saw the cornfield and costumes from Hee Haw, and Scott watched the movie about country music on television. It includes the clip he loves of a very young Merle Haggard doing an impression of Buck Owens and Johnny Cash and being surprised by both of them on the Glen Campbell show.

We enjoyed seeing a lot of the exhibits, but Scott was here for the Statler Brothers. He thought he found a lot when he spotted several Statler Brothers albums on the enormous wall of gold and platinum records. He was pleased to be able to get his picture next to the gold records for The Originals and The Best of the Statler Brothers Rides Again, Vol. 2, two of his favorites. However, his mouth dropped open as he rounded one corner and saw an entire wall dedicated to them. The display was titled, “The Statler Brothers—Having Quite a Time.” A sharp eyed fan might recognize that there were actually many items that the Statlers used to have in their own museum. There were examples of the various matching suits that they wore on stage—a different one each from Phil, Harold, Lew, Don, and Jimmy. Somehow the clothes of a certain Lester “Roadhog” Moran were accidentally put in the display too. We’re not sure how he got in there. There was the guitar that got splattered with orange paint during the filming of Smokey and the Bandit II, the original PA system that the Statlers bought when they started out, and a white box of Statler tissues—probably the same ones that used to be in the display case at their museum Thornrose Avenue in Staunton. The new items that really caught Scott’s eye were Don’s manuscript copies of “I’ll Go To My Grave Loving You” and “Susan When She Tried.”

Then we got to the Hall of Fame itself. Scott was hoping to be able to sneak a camera in to get his picture by the plaque. It would be tricky to get Anna to take his picture, because we have tried so hard to teach her to respect museum rules about photography, but Scott was seriously planning on breaking the rules, just this once. Imagine his surprise when he found out that photography was actually allowed now! They only asked that people turn off their flash! That was a change in policy from when he had visited before. He was able to go through the entire museum giddily taking as many pictures and as much video as he wanted! Anna helped, of course, and even got her picture taken by a gown that belonged Taylor Swift and a dress from Carrie Underwood. When we got into the hallowed hall itself, Scott was proud to be able get his picture by the Statler Brothers’ plaque. Remembering the Happy Birthday USA celebrations in Staunton, how appropriate is it that we finally got to see them in the hall on the 4th of July? There was a comment book that allowed a full page of comments from each visitor. Scott gleefully wrote, “Thanks so much for changing your policy on photography! I had a blast taking pictures this time, with no flash of course. Thanks also for the exhibit on the Statler Brothers! Happy Birthday USA!” and he drew an arrow up to point to the date on the top of the page- 7/4/11.

There’s a big 4th of July celebration happening in downtown Nashville tonight. It meant that there were way too many people around and we had to pay “event parking” rates when we parked at the Hall of Fame. There were several city blocks closed to traffic for the festival’s booths in the streets. We walked through to see what we could see. There was lots of “fair food” available, but it was very hot. The girls wanted a place to eat where it was cool and we could sit. Any place like that there was too crowded and too loud. Scott really wanted to get a drink and a t-shirt at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, especially since it was featured in an exhibit at the Hall of Fame, but he could barely get in the place and could not get the attention of the two overwhelmed waitresses. We did get to see where the bands were playing on a huge stage down by the river. Darius Rucker (formerly of Hootie and the Blowfish) was playing later in the night, but we didn’t stick around to see him. We did get free Dixie-cup-sized samples of Turkey Hill ice cream (complete with wooden spoons!) but in the end it was too hot and crowded for us.

We went back to the hotel, where the pool water was so warm that even Dad went in. We eventually pulled Mom in too. Then we walked to McDonald’s for a very late dinner. We were told that we’d be able to see the downtown festival’s fireworks from the hotel, and we could, but they were so small and far away compared to last night’s that we didn’t feel it was worth the effort to watch them today. We’ll see more fireworks at Disney, anyway.