Activities in Tennessee

Though our vacation was primarily in the boonies, it was close to some interesting sites. So, each day we ventured out and saw some cool stuff. On Saturday we drove about an hour to Huntsville, AL to the US Space and Rocket Center. We saw rockets, planes and exhibits on space exploration. All I really knew about this place was from the movie "Space Camp" that was out when I was in junior high. I had no idea that a major portion of of space research and development was located in Alabama. I think it would be pretty cool to go to space camp. They actually have an adult version now.

Sam and Katherine with a model of a Saturn V rocket.

Sam and Katherine in front of an SR71.
Mom and Dad in front of the SR71

On Sunday we went to tour the Jack Daniel's distillery. It is located in the smallest county in Tennessee (population). Pretty much all 365 residents work in the distillery. The interesting thing is that even though every drop of Jack Daniel's produced and shipped around the world is produced here, it is a dry county. They actually can sell it at the distillery, but not on Sunday. Fine by me, I am not a whiskey fan. It was an interesting tour though and I have been on my share of winery and brewery tours.

With Mr. Jack Daniel's himself

There is a barrel club where you buy the entire barrel and get a plaque on the wall. I think a barrel costs $8000-10000 depending on your state taxes. Interesting that the two plaques in focus were both a part of a military base. That is our tax dollars hard at work.

Monday we all left town at different times. Sam had a 9:45 flight on American but the rest of us were flying standby on Southwest. Will, Jaime and Sophia were trying to get out an an 11:30 flight but Mom, Dad, Katherine and I were not going to fly out until 2. So, we went to Andrew Jackson's Hermitage. He was the 7th president of the US. It was a beautiful estate with a lot of buildings, grounds and a well done audio tour. We only had about an hour and a half to explore due to our flight back so it was a little frustrating to not get to see everything but it was much better than sitting in the hotel or airport.