Looking for advice for a trip through the south

[Mark]

I know @thesummerqueen knows the area pretty well and is a fellow hort-head.  But I thought I'd see if anyone else had ideas for garden or art destinations en route between Raleigh, N.C. and St. Louis, Missouri.  We'd be visiting family in Greer, S.C. and a friend in Nashville, TN so I'm thinking of starting in Raleigh, N.C. so I can finally visit Plant Delights Nursery as well as paying a visit to the N.C. Museum of Art.  I figure we'd rent a car and finish up in St. Louis where I've always wanted to visit the Missouri Botanical garden, as well as pay a visit to the St Louis Art Museum and then fly home.  I don't have dates yet but hopefully some time in the next year.

All suggestions welcome and not just for art and garden stuff.  I mean, we'll have to stay somewhere and eat at various places. What else is a must-see?  Might even be able to squeeze in a meet up or two.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

St. Louis:
The Zoo. Epic. Marlin Perkins' best work.
The Gateway Arch. Best way to get high in St. Louis.
World Bird Sanctuary. Birds of a feather...
Endangered Wolf Center. Marlin Perkins' other project.
Wine Country. Just across the wide Missouri (River).

You already mention the Gardens. (Get in free if you tell them one of the correct zip codes, like 63031.)

[Mark]

St. Louis:
The Zoo. Epic. Marlin Perkins' best work.
The Gateway Arch. Best way to get high in St. Louis.
World Bird Sanctuary. Birds of a feather...
Endangered Wolf Center. Marlin Perkins' other project.
Wine Country. Just across the wide Missouri (River).

You already mention the Gardens. (Get in free if you tell them one of the correct zip codes, like 63031.)

We might get in free anyway with our Berkeley Bot Garden membership which includes all North American Reciprocal gardens.  Otherwise you just saved us $28 which could buy us all some grub.  How far from St. Louis are you?

Oh, I've been getting lots of horticultural suggestions which I've included on this google map with destinations between Raleigh, NC to Nashville, TN:  

https://goo.gl/maps/dwek3NBjCpZCoB858

[Gawdzilla Sama]

St. Louis:
The Zoo. Epic. Marlin Perkins' best work.
The Gateway Arch. Best way to get high in St. Louis.
World Bird Sanctuary. Birds of a feather...
Endangered Wolf Center. Marlin Perkins' other project.
Wine Country. Just across the wide Missouri (River).

You already mention the Gardens. (Get in free if you tell them one of the correct zip codes, like 63031.)

We might get in free anyway with our Berkeley Bot Garden membership which includes all North American Reciprocal gardens.  Otherwise you just saved us $28 which could buy us all some grub.  How far from St. Louis are you?

Oh, I've been getting lots of horticultural suggestions which I've included on this google map with destinations between Raleigh, NC to Nashville, TN:  

https://goo.gl/maps/dwek3NBjCpZCoB858

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Floris...-90.322614

[Mark]

Cool. Maybe we can do this.

Of course Lia just got an email from a friend in Chicago who was just visiting a mutual friend in England who sent Lia photos of their Chicago friends in a couple of English gardens she took them to. So now I don't know what to expect.

[Alan V]

The Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina is close to Greer, and has a major collection of art by Andrew Wyeth. There's even a special exhibit of his work on display there until September 15.

https://gcma.org/see/

[Mark]

The Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina is close to Greer, and has a major collection of art by Andrew Wyeth.  There's even a special exhibit of his work on display there until September 15.

https://gcma.org/see/

One of my cousins lives between Greer and Greenville.  They took us to Greenville for lunch when we were out for the eclipse.  The way the river runs through that town is just stunning.  I took these photos there.







In the last photo, that's my cousin Russell beside Lia in the middle while his wife Lisa and I are standing on the outside. They're both all-in to some fundamentalist religion, but he was the worst with his long, long story of finding his faith. There was no way to turn it into a conversation, he just wanted to tell the tale. She doesn't seem as bad. Plus she is a great gardener and they both play card games as do Lia and I so we managed to have a pretty good time anyway.

Don't tell me you live near there too? Small world!

[Mark]

The Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina is close to Greer, and has a major collection of art by Andrew Wyeth.  There's even a special exhibit of his work on display there until September 15.

https://gcma.org/see/

One of my cousins lives between Greer and Greenville.  They took us to Greenville for lunch when we were out for the eclipse.  The way the river runs through that town is just stunning.  I took these photos there.







In the last photo, that's my cousin Russell beside Lia in the middle while his wife Lisa and I are standing on the outside.  They're both all-in to some fundamentalist religion, but he was the worst with his long, long story of finding his faith.  There was no way to turn it into a conversation, he just wanted to tell the tale.  She doesn't seem as bad.  Plus she is a great gardener and they both play card games as do Lia and I so we managed to have a pretty good time anyway.

Don't tell me you live near there too?  Small world!

Got to say though, if I lived there I'd be much less forgiving of religion.  They're so in your face about it and you can't escape it just by avoiding church.
[/quote]

[Alan V]

Don't tell me you live near there too? 

I won't because I don't.  I live in a suburb of Philadelphia and have never been to Greenville, South Carolina.  It looks nice though.

However, I know a lot about Andrew Wyeth.  I'm a member of the Brandywine River Museum of Art, which has an excellent collection of his artworks of its own.  Wyeth lived and worked in Chadds Ford, where the museum is located. It's about 5 miles from Longwood Gardens if you're ever up this way -- on the other side of the county where I live.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

BTW, you're going to pass very near to a catfish restaurant built on a barge on the Ohio River. They keep the fish in cages under the barge. You can choose farm-raised or wild catfish. It's a bragging rights thing.

[Mark]

Don't tell me you live near there too? 

I won't because I don't.  I live in a suburb of Philadelphia and have never been to Greenville, South Carolina.  It looks nice though.

However, I know a lot about Andrew Wyeth.  I'm a member of the Brandywine River Museum of Art, which has an excellent collection of his artworks of its own.  Wyeth lived and worked in Chadds Ford, where the museum is located.  It's about 5 miles from Longwood Gardens if you're ever up this way -- on the other side of the county where I live.

You, you lucky bastard, live between two of my very favorite public gardens: Chanticleer in Wayne, PA and Longwood to which I think you're closer.  I shall have to let you know the next time I get out there, though I won't expect you to come see either garden.

[Mark]

BTW, you're going to pass very near to a catfish restaurant built on a barge on the Ohio River. They keep the fish in cages under the barge. You can choose farm-raised or wild catfish. It's a bragging rights thing.

I know what you mean.  When Lia was a juror on an international biennial show in Japan, we (my stepson included) were taken to a very fancy sushi/sashimi place which was filled with aquariums.  When you made your choices, the appropriate fish were netted, chopped and delivered to your table very quickly.  Can't say I saw any twitching but it wouldn't have surprised me.

You probably know that chivalry sort of works in reverse there.  A woman attempting to exit an elevated ahead of a man would very forcefully be reminded of her mistake.  It was actually a bit of a challenge for her and the other women on that jury to be at the restaurant since it was a male bastion.  I used to joke with her about remembering to walk 9 paces behind me.  Of course now with her being ten years older than myself, a good walk would be one in which she didn't fall further than 9 paces behind.

I don't think I've ever had catfish.  Is there a style of cooking you'd recommend?  But I'm sure the wild catfish has got to be better judging by the difference farm raised makes for tilapia and salmon.

[Alan V]

You, you lucky bastard, live between two of my very favorite public gardens: Chanticleer in Wayne, PA and Longwood to which I think you're closer.  I shall have to let you know the next time I get out there, though I won't expect you to come see either garden.

Thanks for telling me about Chanticleer Garden.  Wayne is about the same distance as Longwood Gardens, so both are within an hour's drive from home, figuring in traffic.  I will take my wife with me to visit soon.  We sometimes take short trips like that, though primarily to zoos.

Actually my wife just mentioned today that she wants to visit the Title Page used book store again, just a few miles from there. So we can make a day of it.

[c172]

I used to live in SW NC, near the Georgia/Carolinas line. I was in Highlands, which is well off your path. Not sure if Brevard is closer to it, but it was closeby and I've been through it. That general area was used in filming for The Hunger Games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridal_Vei...te_Forest)

[skyking]

Take the N off Nashville and visit Asheville, NC, and take in some of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/parkway-map/
Asheville is a hippy fun city, quite artsy. We did not go to Biltmore, but those look like some incredible gardens.
https://www.biltmore.com/

[Mark]

Take the N off Nashville and visit Asheville, NC, and take in some of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
https://www.blueridgeparkway.org/parkway-map/
Asheville is a hippy fun city, quite artsy. We did not go to Biltmore, but those look like some incredible gardens.
https://www.biltmore.com/

I liked Asheville too when we went to S.C. for the big eclipse.  Happy hippy town was my impression too.  We stopped by a couple of galleries for shows Lias was keen to see.  Funny story, because we signed in some friends from D.C. who'd also come down for the eclipse with their son and granddaughter called us up and we ended up meeting up for lunch there.  Then we drove along the parkway and had dinner at a lodge with a great view.  I imagine we might cover some of the same territory next time through.  Like you we skipped the Biltmore as too pricey for the limited time we had available for it.

[Phaedrus]

I never considered that area the south when it's so far north of me. Just as we have a mid-west, we also have a mid-east.

[c172]

What about Florida, where I used to live, and to this day have family. Is that Southern to you? Kind of feels like its own animal to me.

[Mark]

I never considered that area the south when it's so far north of me. Just as we have a mid-west, we also have a mid-east.

Pretty sure it is the south.  There were pot bellied patrolman with mirrored sunglasses and so fucking many churches.  Another one of my cousins, who was an assistant minister in one of the local big box churches, was so much kinder.  No hard sell.  No spontaneous calls to prayer.  He knew who we were and was welcoming in a manner perceptibly friendly from our point of view.  That is pretty damned good.

His only brother, while friendly and not particularly churchy was pretty creepy.  Married to a russian import, every other word out of his mouth seemed to be an n-word.  He'd be more likely to burn a cross than to worship at one.  But if you met his father, you'd call him a pussy.  Ugh!



(Sorry for the double post up there.)

[Mark]

What about Florida, where I used to live, and to this day have family. Is that Southern to you? Kind of feels like its own animal to me.

Are the patrolmen all chubby with mirrored sunglasses?  I think that is the test.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You probably know that chivalry sort of works in reverse there.  A woman attempting to exit an elevated ahead of a man would very forcefully be reminded of her mistake.  It was actually a bit of a challenge for her and the other women on that jury to be at the restaurant since it was a male bastion.  I used to joke with her about remembering to walk 9 paces behind me.  Of course now with her being ten years older than myself, a good walk would be one in which she didn't fall further than 9 paces behind.

One of my profs at Purdue told about the time she and an elderly Japanese professor collided in a doorway. Each expected the other to give way. "East met West with a resounding THUMP!"

I don't think I've ever had catfish.  Is there a style of cooking you'd recommend?  But I'm sure the wild catfish has got to be better judging by the difference farm raised makes for tilapia and salmon.

Down there it's breaded and deep fried. (You'd think Southerners were all Scots.) Don't know if they even know how to cook it any other way. And yes, "wild is better!" is the rule, which makes contrarians order the farm raised out of "pure cussedness."

[Aegon]

The Greenville County Museum of Art in Greenville, South Carolina is close to Greer, and has a major collection of art by Andrew Wyeth.  There's even a special exhibit of his work on display there until September 15.

https://gcma.org/see/

One of my cousins lives between Greer and Greenville.  They took us to Greenville for lunch when we were out for the eclipse.  The way the river runs through that town is just stunning.  I took these photos there.







In the last photo, that's my cousin Russell beside Lia in the middle while his wife Lisa and I are standing on the outside.  They're both all-in to some fundamentalist religion, but he was the worst with his long, long story of finding his faith.  There was no way to turn it into a conversation, he just wanted to tell the tale.  She doesn't seem as bad.  Plus she is a great gardener and they both play card games as do Lia and I so we managed to have a pretty good time anyway.

Don't tell me you live near there too?  Small world!

My ex lived in Greenville too. Thanks for the memories   

Asheville is awesome though. If I was forced to live in the south, it'd be in Asheville NC. Key word: forced.

[thesummerqueen]

I wish I could have helped, but your estimation of my ability to travel and know places in the south is greatly exaggerated. I love plants but I've been fairly poor most of my adult life - I don't get to travel to other gardens very often. I could have given you a few gardens in Charlotte to visit but beyond that, not much.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Have I suggested a diversion to Vicksburg, Tennessee, to see USS Cairo?

[Mark]

Have I suggested a diversion to Vicksburg, Tennessee, to see USS Cairo?

Cool, I wonder how close that is to this other shipping wonder in Kentucky?