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Vacation tales and pictures.....


On 07/24/2013 at 07:08 PM by smartcelt

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 The extreme heat in Nashville was definitely a factor in my vacation activities. We would go out for a few hours then retreat to home[or a local pub!] to cool off. We did manage to take in a tour of Carnton House,which is an antebellum plantation in Franklin. It was pretty interesting as they have really done a fine job maintaining it almost exactly as it looked during the Civil War. The Battle Of Franklin was fought in this area and nearly 10,000 soldiers died in the five hour battle. 

 The house was used as a field hospital for Confederate wounded. Hundreds of men passed through the doors and surgeons patched them up the best they could. You can see blood stains in the floor in many of the rooms. A lot of lives[and limbs] were lost in that house. Strange thing is the battle was never supposed to have happened. Tennessee was actually a neutral state during the war. But toward the end the fighting made its way there as Nashville became a target.

 There is a large Confederate cemetery on the grounds where many of the soldiers were buried. Many were identified but more were just given markers. I could not go through there. Cemeteries don't creep me out or anything. It was just too sad that all those men had no names where they were laid to rest. Plus it was almost 100 degrees by that point in the day so........

I wanted to see the American Pickers store,aka Antiques Archeology. It's sort of low key,as they don't have some big sign outside or on the building. Just the rooster logo sign above the door. I found out this store is very different from their original one in Iowa. Lot smaller and much less stuff for sale. It was all expensive stuff too. Not many items below 100 bucks. Well,except for t-shirts,coffee mugs,shot glasses,that sort of thing. I think that is the primary purpose of this store,to sell stuff to the tourists. No Mike,no Frank,and certainly no Danielle. But it was still kinda cool to see.

 I really think much of the stuff was just there for display. Almost like a tiny museum of sorts.

 Franklin is a town that is crawling with hipsters. It's very clean,very pretty,very upscale. Lots of little niche stores and restaurants. Lots of tourists milling about the streets on weekends. You will see musicians playing music on corners and doing all sorts of hipster stuff. How do you know you're a hipster? When it's 100 degrees and you are wearing a scarf! I saw it a few times.

 The uniform of the hipster was all around me. I never would have realized it if it was not for Homer Simpson. In Tapped Out you can change him into his hipster attire. Then make him do things like listen to indie music,act superior,and ride his old timey bicycle around town.

 Oh...and drink beer. But it has to be the RIGHT kind of beer. Perhaps a home brew?

What I'm listening to today.............{I'm not a hipster....too damn old to be one!}


 

Comments

Matt Snee Staff Writer

07/24/2013 at 07:11 PM

ha ha, that's hilarious you can make hipster Homer in Tapped Out. I need to play that game! 

your vacation looks fun, too bad it was so hot.  I love historical stuff like that. 

smartcelt

07/25/2013 at 06:18 PM

It was interesting as I'm a big history buff. Learned some things about the Cilvil War I didn't know.

leeradical42

07/24/2013 at 07:49 PM

Yea that does look cool im a big history buff maybe that explains me liking the history channel games that no one cares about but they must ne liked somewhere cause i have been wanting to get history channels battle mideavel and its still at $20 used so go figure lol!! And i have history channels battlefeild patton which actually a good game i always wondered about the civil war games mmmmmm.

KnightDriver

07/25/2013 at 02:26 AM

I have the first Civil War game A Nation Divided which I'm going to play soon.

smartcelt

07/25/2013 at 06:20 PM

I saw some of those History channel games the other day. The Civil War game would be unique to play. The Medeival one would be great as well. Cool when you can actually learn new things while gaming.

leeradical42

07/25/2013 at 08:09 PM

I really get into history especially WWII but i like all history civil war included, the patton one for the history channel was really cool it plays like a dummed down version of Xcom but still a great game.

Super Step Contributing Writer

07/24/2013 at 08:06 PM

That is sad about the cemetery, really that war and war in general, but going to a place with history like that is fascinating in a way, too. Too bad there weren't any celebrities at that American Picker store. When I worked at Outback I was told a lot of the crew from Home Makeover was there once, not the shirtless guy (Ty?), but a few servers recognized some other people. 

I don't dress like one and hope I don't have a snooty attitude, but the way you described Franklin reminded me a bit of Austin, which is also very hipster. Frankly, I really dig the vibe of hipster towns; my experience was everyone being friendly, and there being new stuff to see, hear, and more importantly eat everywhere. Those hipsters are alright by me. 

smartcelt

07/25/2013 at 06:24 PM

Oh,me too. In fact a lot of the music I like gets lumped into the hipster pile. Have no idea why on that one. The guy who gave us the tour of Carnton House was mega hipster and he was cool as hell. I guess each generation has it's own style that old folks dislike.

Chris Yarger Community Manager

07/25/2013 at 07:42 AM

I'm just gonig to throw this out there.. But that house looks like the house in The Chainsaw Massacre.. I think it's those pillars.. lol

Also.. I see nothing wrong with wearing Chucks, lol

smartcelt

07/25/2013 at 06:26 PM

I used to wear them before my feet became boats! The house does look like that one from the film,you're right. I'll bet it's haunted,with all the people who died there. 

goaztecs

07/25/2013 at 04:39 PM

Thanks for sharing your vacation pics. I've always wanted to tour the country just to see spots like that. 

Ah the Hipsters. The ones here roam around on fixed gear bikes, drink PBR, and one yesterday was wearing a beanie...in 110 degree weather. 

smartcelt

07/25/2013 at 06:30 PM

The hipster girls we saw had a lot of style and actually dressed for the weather. The pics are actually ones I found because they would not allow pics inside the house. All the exterior shots I took turned out kinda blah. I should have just taken pictures of the hipsters.

NSonic79

07/25/2013 at 09:18 PM

was the house haunted? I've heard stories about those places having ghost from the war.

smartcelt

07/27/2013 at 01:00 PM

Gotta be some spirits around there. Too many lives lost and many of them were very young men.

Coolsetzer

07/26/2013 at 02:15 PM

I would love to meet one of the Picker people some day. Love that show. 

smartcelt

07/27/2013 at 01:02 PM

My Mom is the one who got me into it. I like the fact they tell you some history on certain items they come across. Makes it more interesting. They are characters,too. Pretty funny sometimes.

Ranger1

07/27/2013 at 10:58 PM

I dunno why, but hipsters annoy the hell out of me. I think they're trying way to hard to be perceived as cool. If you have to be that obvious and try that hard, you ain't cool. Whatever.

I stopped in Gettysburg on my way home from driving my mom's carback from Arizona about 12 or 13 years ago. It was about 85 degrees and very humid, much like conditions were during the battle and I was thankful to be wearing shorts and a T-shirt, instead of the heavy wool uniforms the soldiers would have worn. I parked the car and hiked around and made my way to Little Round Top (where else would a Maine girl go at Gettysburg?) and found where the 20th Maine and Joshua Chamberlain made their stand. During my wanderings that day, I came across several areas that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck for no apparent reason. That battleground is known to be haunted as heck, by the way.

GrayHaired

07/27/2013 at 11:45 PM

Nice photos and blog. And the Heat is exactly why I am waiting for late Fall and cool weather before I make any day-road trips.  I can not enjoy sight seeing when it is hot!

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