It’s Bristol, Baby!

Yesterday we went to Bristol- you may remember it as the city on the Geico commercials, where the city is partially in Tennessee and partially in Virginia. It was recently named as the most charming town in America, and was also written up in Southern Living magazine. It has also been recognized as the Birthplace of Country Music! Here is the sign at the end of State Street, which is the main street:

I bet it looks cool at night- or on a clear sunny day… And of course, if the gecko can stand in 2 states at one time, I had to do it:

As we were driving into Bristol, we went into Virginia and then back over to Tennessee:

We drove around Bristol and looked at real estate, and saw several lots, but nothing really got our interest. We were in one area that was particularly hilly and saw these houses that looked like one was on top of the other:

Note the beautiful hills in the background! We also visited the Bristol Motor Speedway, a 1/2 mile racetrack known as the Fastest Half Mile in the World:

Gate 6 was open so we were able to go in and see the track:

And here is Victory Lane- on top of that ramp inside the track- the one on the right, where you can see the ramp the winner drives up:

It was lots of fun to see this! And this is a better view of the bank on corners 3 and 4- WOW!

Today we hung out with our friend Alice, who took us to Jonesboro, a small town that is known as the Storytelling capital of the world. They have a cute downtown area (about 3 blocks ling, and a nice farmer’s market. We went to the Tennessee Hills Distillery and sampled Bourbon and flavored rums. Some were SUPER strong, especially at 11:30!

We then went to Johnson City, the largest city in this corner of the state, and drove around to see what there was. Most of the important stuff was there: Sam’s Club, Target, Kohl’s, MIchael’s, Talbots- who could ask for anything more?!?

On the way back we went to Davey Crockett’s birthplace, where a docent named Fred shared his expertise about Davey Crockett, and how he was #5 of 9 children, and he himself had 8 children. Davey Crockett was known for helping others, giving to those in need, even though he was a poor man himself.