Post #193740 by thejab on Wed, Oct 19, 2005 9:49 PM

I started in Nashville, where I found this great old pool hall still open in front of a bowling alley (which was closed for good):

I had a great time at the old honky tonks on Broadway downtown like Robert's Western World:

Across the street from Robert's is this old record shop:

The next morning I had a true southern breakfast of country ham, red eye gravy, grits, eggs, and biscuits with homemade jam at the famous Loveless Cafe west of Nashville. I couldn't resist a glass of sweet iced tea with my meal.

I did some sightseeing, stopping at the Parthenon replica that was built in the late 19th century for an exposition,

the old train station that's now a hotel,

the art deco Frist Center for the Arts,

and the very worthwhile Country Music Hall of Fame. Later I took a few more pictures of Nashville before heading down to Smyrna.

I stopped to get a bottle of rum and drove to the Omni Hut, where I was greeted by Polly, the gracious host and co-owner with her father. I was seated at this table:

This is the room from my table:

The food was great, especially the Teriyaki ribs! The Tahitian Tea was sweet but tasty with the rum added. The service was exceptional. The Omni Hut is a real treasure.

The next day I left for Atlanta along old highway 41 with a detour to the George Dickel distillery.

I had a time warp feeling in this part of Tennessee:

I stopped in Chattanooga to visit the old roadside attraction Rock City Gardens and Fairlyand Caverns, which is a cave-like attraction filled with flourescent dioramas of fairy tales!

What was kind of sad about the place was that the kids that were visiting it didn't seem to have a clue what they were looking at, and their parents didn't seem to care enough to explain it to them.

I arrived in Atlanta later than I had hoped but I managed to make it to Trader Vic's before they closed. It was very slow for a Saturday night. I started with a Peachtree Punch (of course), and also had a Queen's Park Swizzle, Mai Tai, Gun Club Punch, and something else I've forgotten. Joel made every drink with care and all were delicious. Everyone was so friendly that I had fairly lengthy conversations with several people at the bar and I even got a ride to the crazy Clermont Lounge afterwards. I managed to get a couple pictures of the gorgeous decor but this Vic's has been photographed so well before that I mainly tried to just soak it in.

On Sunday I did a lot of shopping. I found a beautiful vintage bamboo bar that I wish I could have taken home with me. If any Atlantans want to check it out it was at the store called Scarlett Rhettro (cringe) and it was reasonably priced at $450 (and the owner said she could give me a better deal).

For dinner I had a superb southern meal at the old fashioned Colonnade Restaurant, of iceberg wedge salad (complete with steak knife to cut the lettuce), crispy, juicy fried chicken , yam souffle with raisins (mmm), fresh yeast rolls and cornbread, and sweet iced tea.

Another classic Atlanta restaurant:

More pics tomorrow.