For several summers I have been lucky enough to take a short summer road trip with my granddaughter, now 16 and driving, my cousin, and her granddaughter, soon to be 14.  We’ve had some great trips and the girls always say they loved Chattanooga best.  It was great with the aquarium, caves, Rock City, and duck boat rides, but this year we ventured a little further west looking for other kinds of excitement that teens and grandmothers could both enjoy.  We took in a couple of science museums on the way to the mighty, Mississippi.

Heading west from the upstate almost necessitates I-85, the nightmare road through Hotlanta!  We made it to Cartersville to the Tellus Science Museum by lunch time though, and we enjoyed a driving break as we viewed dinosaur skeletons, mammoths, and antique cars.  The cars were turn of the 1900s and many were electric ones none of us were familiar with.  Heading west from there, we traveled through the most southern of the Appalachian Mountain foothills and some interesting small-town crossroads making it to Huntsville, AL, for the night.

Huntsville was the original capitol of the state and sports many historic homes and remnants of the 1800s main street.  Of course, the draw to get there was the Space Center where we spent a whole day with the girls running literally from space rockets and capsule displays to simulation rides and to the planetarium.  (Grandfolks, there were benches everywhere.)  Finally, when we ventured downtown to a fantastic meal, we, of course, got lost even with the gps sites running.  The issue was that every person in the car, grands and teens, had a phone, and they all began giving me directions, from three different mapping programs, WAZE, Google Maps, and Apple Maps!  None of them coincided with the others. I was about crazy before we found the restaurant.  But because of this fiasco, we kept turning down streets of historic houses that were amazing.  And I had to creep by each one.   Thank goodness it was way after rush hour.

The next morning, we took a really, perfect four-lane road to Memphis with a large grass median and very little traffic.  First thing, we rode across the Dolly Parton Bridge on I-40 into Arkansas just to say we crossed the big river.  (Note from the picture why its nickname is for our favorite country lady.) Towering over the river along the interstate is the 10th largest pyramid in the world, the reflective Memphis Bass Pro Shops Pyramid.  Our girls could not wait to get in it.  This amazing structure houses a hotel, Ducks Unlimited Museum, megastore with an archery range, bowling alley, and shooting gallery.  But the biggest draw is the restaurant and bar on the apex of the pyramid.  You can ride an elevator to the top (32 floors) and enjoy observation decks with 360-degree views of Memphis and the Big River.  You could spend days there.

Elvis lived here too, you know.  How can you come to Memphis, the home of Sun Records, and not at least ride by Graceland?  But my teen was not excited about Elvis, so we just rode by to see the stone graffiti wall surrounding the mansion now.  We still had some issues with the riders giving the driver directions and the GPS programs leading us in circles around the town, so we saw the good and the bad and everything else along some circular drives. 

We had decided to take a six-hour tour to get a good overview of the important sites.  We appreciated the clean, air-conditioned bus and the great tour guide who drove us up to every door and taught us about where we were during the trip.  He ushered us into a crowded Memphis Q restaurant to a private dining room where we were quickly served some of the best Q I have had.  We visited the site where King was assassinated and toured the Rock and Soul Museum where the Grands reminisced and the young ladies were introduced to some great music and some important musicians.   Ending the tour was a riverboat ride on the Big River.  I’d do it again in a heartbeat.   Our girls did not appreciate the river boat ride especially.  It was too leisurely, but I think in the future they will remember Rolling on the River.  The Grands will too.

Anne Peden, PhD
Greenville County Historic Preservation Commission
Fork Shoals Historical Society
Piedmont Historical Preservation Society●