Wining and Dining

On day two of our Nashville trip, we spent hardly any time in Nashville -- instead heading out to see other parts of Tennessee. We drove south to Lynchburg: home of Jack Daniel's Distillery, where we'd heard the tour was a fun experience.

Indeed it was. The tour kicks off with a Jack and Coke slushie. They take you around their sprawling grounds, showing you everything from the place they burn their own charcoal for filtering to their giant stills, vats, and bottling lines. You see the water source they use for every drop they make, where a statue of Jack Daniel himself stands nearby: "Jack on the Rocks."

There's a bit of quirky theater to it all. You're not allowed to take pictures of any of the indoor spaces -- even though they aren't doing much that any other distillery isn't also doing. Then there's the fact that Lynchburg itself is in a dry county that bans alcohol sales -- a fact you're constantly reminded of even as they tell you with a wide smile all the ways they get around that. The tastings you get on the tour are officially for "educational purposes." The bottles you can buy at the gift shop are souvenir collectable bottles that happen not to be empty. Moore County is more of a "damp" county.

You could almost (but no, not really) appreciate how the charade of it all might piss some people off. By the time we were leaving, a pair of protesters had taken up across the street, screaming into a microphone about the evils of alcohol (with heaping sides of sexism and homophobia). Needless to say, no hearts and minds were won that day. I'll bet they'll be back next Saturday to try again.

After the tour it was time for lunch, which we had at Miss Mary Bobo's Restaurant. We'd chosen the place ahead of time because it was close to the distillery and it served the sort of "home cooking" that seemed like something you should have at least once while vacationing in Tennessee. We didn't realize the atypical dining experience we'd opted into with this choice.

The restaurant was in a large two-story home that, going back many decades, was previously a boarding house. Meals in the boarding house were included, and so every day, total strangers that happened to be there would all gather around one large table to eat together. Today, every bedroom has been converted into its own dining hall, and every two hours, a new dining experience kicks off for around 100 people -- each taken to their own grand table for 10 where dishes are already set out with chicken, meat loaf, side dishes, and pitchers of sweet tea. A guide fills you in on the history of the house and its tradition, as you're able to order as much as you want of any food at the table. But save room for the brownie pie dessert!

We are certainly too introverted to have opted into a "dining with strangers" meal, had we known that was the format. Still, the experience wasn't bad at all. The food was terrific, the history interesting, and the forced social interaction not nearly as intense as we might have feared. Above all, it was a novel experience -- not like any other meal we'd ever had.

Since we were outside of Nashville already, we looked for something outdoorsy to do. We found our way to Short Springs State Natural Area, and specifically a short hike to Machine Falls. After half a mile strolling through flat woods, we began to wonder how there could really be a waterfall just a quarter mile ahead. But then the terrain quickly dipped, and we came upon a ravine where water trickled down perhaps a 20-foot high, mossy rock wall -- so picturesque it was almost like someone had installed it there. The hike back and uphill was a little more challenging, but in all it was a nice little diversion for some exercise and a pretty view.

We had a bit of time yet before a dinner reservation back in Nashville, so we made another stop in the nearby town of Arrington at Arrington Vineyards. Tennessee isn't exactly known for wine, and what this place had was, as expected, "fine." But the real draw was its broad hillside, where every Saturday through the warm months, performers take to the stage for the afternoon. People bring picnics (hmm... we could have done that if we hadn't made the dinner reservation). They grab some wine, then settle down to listen and enjoy. This particular band was playing some light instrumental jazz, a nice accompaniment to the sample flight we tried.

Finally, it was back to Nashville -- and dinner at Giovanni's Ristorante. That turned out to be a fancier dinner than perhaps we should have gone in for. But the appetizer of prosciutto and canteloupe was a delightful taste combination that we may now put into the rotation at home. And the crushed walnuts sprinkled over my ravioli dinner was another nice touch I might have to do on occasion for myself.

We had one more full day in Nashville ahead; in fact, our most jam-packed day of the trip.