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Tennessee

Music Cities USA: Nashville to Memphis

Program No. 21154RJ
Pack your dancing shoes and join us on a musical adventure, where you’ll visit Graceland, explore the Country Music Hall of Fame and attend live performances in legendary music venues.

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itinerary
Please Note:
The itinerary for this program is different on certain dates.
Select your type of room
Price will update based on selection
Prices displayed below are based on per person,doubleoccupancy.
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Apr 2 - Apr 8, 2023
Starting at
2,749
Apr 23 - Apr 29, 2023
Starting at
3,049
Apr 30 - May 6, 2023
Starting at
2,919
Itinerary Note

OLLI-Sierra College

May 7 - May 13, 2023
Starting at
3,049
Sep 3 - Sep 9, 2023
Starting at
2,749
Sep 24 - Sep 30, 2023
Starting at
3,049
Oct 1 - Oct 7, 2023
Starting at
3,049
Oct 22 - Oct 28, 2023
Starting at
3,049
Mar 10 - Mar 16, 2024
Starting at
3,199
Mar 24 - Mar 30, 2024
Starting at
3,199
Mar 31 - Apr 6, 2024
Starting at
2,899
Apr 7 - Apr 13, 2024
Starting at
3,199
Apr 21 - Apr 27, 2024
Starting at
3,199
May 5 - May 11, 2024
Starting at
3,199
Sep 1 - Sep 7, 2024
Starting at
2,899
Sep 22 - Sep 28, 2024
Starting at
3,199
Oct 6 - Oct 12, 2024
Starting at
3,199
Oct 20 - Oct 26, 2024
Starting at
3,199
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Apr 2 - Apr 8, 2023
Starting at
3,599
Apr 23 - Apr 29, 2023
Starting at
3,919
Apr 30 - May 6, 2023
Starting at
3,789
Itinerary Note

OLLI-Sierra College

May 7 - May 13, 2023
Starting at
3,919
Sep 3 - Sep 9, 2023
Starting at
3,599
Sep 24 - Sep 30, 2023
Starting at
3,919
Oct 1 - Oct 7, 2023
Starting at
3,919
Oct 22 - Oct 28, 2023
Starting at
3,919
Mar 10 - Mar 16, 2024
Starting at
4,089
Mar 24 - Mar 30, 2024
Starting at
4,089
Mar 31 - Apr 6, 2024
Starting at
3,789
Apr 7 - Apr 13, 2024
Starting at
4,089
Apr 21 - Apr 27, 2024
Starting at
4,089
May 5 - May 11, 2024
Starting at
4,089
Sep 1 - Sep 7, 2024
Starting at
3,789
Sep 22 - Sep 28, 2024
Starting at
4,089
Oct 6 - Oct 12, 2024
Starting at
4,089
Oct 20 - Oct 26, 2024
Starting at
4,089

At a Glance

The blues made its home on Beale Street, while country music immortalized the Grand Ole Opry — and the residence of the “King” remains an iconic pilgrimage for fans of Rock ’n‘ Roll. Feel the rhythm of America’s music as you explore the legendary and historic landmarks of Nashville and Memphis, and attend live performances at venues including the Listening Room Café and B.B. King’s Blues Club. Walk along Music Row and enjoy a field trip to Studio B, formerly RCA records.
Activity Level
On Your Feet
Walking up to 1.5-2 miles at moderate pace. Standing for on-site lectures on field trips. Frequent getting on/off coach. Stairs only in historic buildings and homes.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Experience the heart of country music at Ryman Auditorium — a National Historic Landmark — the Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame.
  • Walk in the footsteps of “the King” during a field trip to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis.
  • Discover the origins of the Blues as you experience Beale Street and explore the Rock ’n‘ Soul Museum.

General Notes

Select dates are designated for small groups and are limited to 24 participants or less. For a 9-night version of this program that includes New Orleans, check out "Music Cities USA: Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans" (#21979).
Featured Expert
All Experts
Profile Image
Tom Murray
Tom Murray is a graduate of San Jose State University but is a Southerner by choice, having spent more than 45 years in the South absorbing the culture, customs and history of the region. Tom specializes in coastal history with an emphasis on the sea islands of Georgia. Few people know and love beautiful Cumberland and Amelia islands better than Tom. He has spent 25 years lecturing and leading Road Scholar groups to sites from the mountains to the sea.

Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.

Profile Image of Tom Murray
Tom Murray View biography
Tom Murray is a graduate of San Jose State University but is a Southerner by choice, having spent more than 45 years in the South absorbing the culture, customs and history of the region. Tom specializes in coastal history with an emphasis on the sea islands of Georgia. Few people know and love beautiful Cumberland and Amelia islands better than Tom. He has spent 25 years lecturing and leading Road Scholar groups to sites from the mountains to the sea.
Profile Image of Ron Harman
Ron Harman View biography
Ron Harman has always had a penchant for country music and dancing, so it was only natural he made Nashville his home in 1998. A part-time freelance writer, Ron’s passion for and knowledge of Music City is reflected in his multiple nominations as Music City Hitmaker, a monthly award given to Nashville residents who do something uncommon to make out-of-towners feel welcome.
Profile Image of Terrie Dal Pozzo
Terrie Dal Pozzo View biography
Terrie was raised in New Orleans and moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands at the age of 18. She became the youngest woman in the Virgin Islands to obtain a Coast Guard license to operate motor and sailing vessels. Terrie skippered sailing vessels, taking guests on journeys through the Leeward Islands, teaching them to sail and snorkel and educating them on island life. She later lived in Kitzbuhel, Austria and Perth, Australia before returning to the Virgin Islands. She currently lives in eastern Tennessee.
Profile Image of Dick Cockrell
Dick Cockrell View biography
Dick is a lifelong Memphian. A product of Memphis public schools and a graduate of the University of Memphis, he has been married to his wife, Ellen, for 46 years and is the father of two. Dick spent his career in selling food services to restaurants. He retired after 32 years from Sysco Food Service. He has been a Memphis city group leader since 2015.
Profile Image of Denise Swain
Denise Swain View biography
Denise Swain is a Southerner who loves sharing the culture, climate, and curiosity of the Deep South. Her hometown was the coastal region of Georgia, better known as the Golden Isles. Denise resides today in northern Alabama. Her passion is to keep stories alive while enabling participants to observe sometimes overlooked people and spaces. She is a certified exploration director and spent more than 40 years in the advertising industry. She now enjoys hiking, biking, outdoor concerts, and leading Road Scholar groups on educational adventures.
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: 50 Years of Music Row [Paperback]
by Michael Kosser
How did a medium-sized Southern river town become arguably the most important music center in America? In How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A. , we learn how a single studio in a tiny duplex house became Music Row, a ten-block area populated by hundreds of talented people whose job is to simply make music. The book features stories from publishers, songwriters and others who help tell the evolution of this fabled center of music. It's where Elvis ushered in the commercial rock 'n' roll explosion by recording "Heartbreak Hotel," Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and Willie Nelson taught mainstream America to love soulful ballads, and Bob Dylan recorded three of his most important albums. The full-length CD includes 12 recordings made in the early studios of Music Row, giving listeners a rare chance to hear the demos made by some of Nashville's most talented artists. Songs include "Bye, Bye, Love," "Crazy," "King of the Road," "Walkin' After Midnight" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today."
Battling the Plantation Mentality: Memphis and the Black Freedom Struggle (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)
by Laurie B. Green
African American freedom is often defined in terms of emancipation and civil rights legislation, but it did not arrive with the stroke of a pen or the rap of a gavel.No single event makes this more plain, Laurie Green argues, than the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike, which culminated in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Exploring the notion of "freedom" in postwar Memphis, Green demonstrates that the civil rights movement was battling an ongoing "plantation mentality" based on race, gender, and power that permeated southern culture long before--and even after--the groundbreaking legislation of the mid-1960s. With its slogan "I AM a Man!" the Memphis strike provides a clarion example of how the movement fought for a black freedom that consisted of not only constitutional rights but also social and human rights. As the sharecropping system crumbled and migrants streamed to the cities during and after World War II, the struggle for black freedom touched all aspects of daily life. Green traces the movement to new locations, from protests against police brutality and racist movie censorship policies to innovations in mass culture, such as black-oriented radio stations. Incorporating scores of oral histories, Green demonstrates that the interplay of politics, culture, and consciousness is critical to truly understanding freedom and the black struggle for it.
A Guide to Historic Nashville, Tennessee [Paperback]
by James A. Hoobler
Written by accomplished historian James Hoobler, senior curator of art and architecture at the Tennessee State Museum and former executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society, this book offers extraordinary insight into Nashville's heritage. Carefully researched and exceptionally written, it is a wonderful companion, both for visitors and for Nashville residents who want to see their hometown in a new light.
Memphis Beat : The Lives and Times of America's Musical Crossroads
by Larry Nager
This book fills in what isn't so familiar: Memphis, it reveals, is our great cultural mixing board, where all the black and white folk have met and done musical business for two centuries or more. Larry Nager, former music editor of the "Memphis Commercial Appeal," offers more than a casual history. His chronicle reaches back into the nineteenth century, when Memphis was a wild frontier town full of whiskey, fiddle players, and minstrelsy. It hits cruising speed at the turn of the century, as W. C. Handy discovered the blues, women like Lil Armstrong and Memphis Minnie kept up with the men, and a Memphis deejay dreamed up the Grand Ole Opry. It chronicles the strange alchemy by which local rhythm 'n' blues, hard country, and black and white gospel got remade into powerful rock and roll in Sam Phillips's Sun Records studio on Union Avenue. The beat goes on into the '60s and the era of Stax and Hi Records - when the first integrated generations, raised on Sun 45s, started waxing their own sounds. And it follows Memphis even into contemporary times, through Big Star's adventures at Ardent Records, the difficult revival of Beale Street, and the birth of the House of Blues. There is triumph and tragedy here, and much in between - from the stalwart presence of lifelong musicians like Gus Cannon and Furry Lewis, through the horrific accident that killed Otis Redding, the Bar-Kays, and years and years of musical dreams.
Nashville Streets and Their Stories
by Ridley Wills II
In this 2012 publication Ridley Wills tells the tales of the individuals and events that shaped Nashville and its surrounding communities such as Oak Hill and Belle Meade. In Nashville Streets and Their Stories, he divulges interesting facts about how presidents, politicians, businessmen, real estate developers, financiers, Civil War battles and Southern plantations combined to shape Nashville's unique history. Wills recounts local events ranging from the 1792 signing of a treaty between settlers and the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes at Treaty Oak to the more recent 2010 renaming of McLemore Street to YMCA Way. He identifies some areas such as "little Hollywood," "Hell's Half Acre, "The Nations," and others that are linked by the streets of Nashville. Listing more than five hundred of Nashville's most prominent place names, organized alphabetically, and illustrated with rarely seen photographs and illustrations, Nashville Streets and Their Stories captures the spirit of Nashville's forward thinkers and progressive builders
Hidden History of Memphis (Tennessee) (Hidden Histories)
by G. Wayne Dowdy
Step inside the fascinating annals of the Bluff City's history and discover the Memphis that only few know. G. Wayne Dowdy, longtime archivist for the Memphis Public Library, examines the history and culture of the Mid-South during its most important decades. Well-known faces like Clarence Saunders, Elvis Presley and W.C. Handy are joined by some of the more obscure characters from the past, like the Memphis gangster who inspired one of William Faulkner's most famous novels, the local Boy Scout who captured German spies during World War I, the Memphis radio station that pioneered wireless broadcasting and so many more. Also included are the previously unpublished private papers and correspondence of former mayor E.H. Crump, giving us new insight and a front-row seat to the machine that shaped Tennessee politics in the twentieth century.
Hidden History of Nashville (TN) [Paperback]
by George R. Zepp
Perched on the banks of the Cumberland River, Nashville is best known for its role in the civil rights movement, world-class education and, of course, country music. In this unique collection of columns, longtime journalist and Tennessee native George Zepp illuminates a less familiar side of the city. Learn the secrets of Timothy Demonbreun, one of the city's first residents, who lived with his family in a cliff-top cave; Cortelia Clark, the blind bluesman who continued to perform on street corners after winning a Grammy award; and Nashville's own Cinderella story, which involved legendary radio personality Edgar Bergen and his ventriloquist protegee. Cleverly rendered, using questions from readers across the nation, these little-known tales abound with Music City mystery and charm.
A Brief History of Memphis
by G. Wayne Dowdy
No other southern city has a history quite like Memphis. First purchased in the early 1800s from natives to serve as a vital port for the emerging American river trade, the city flourished until the tumultuous years of the Civil War brought chaos and uncertainty. Yet the city survived. Through the triumphs and tragedies of the civil rights movement and beyond, Memphis endured it all. Despite its compelling story, no concise history of this home of soulful music and unmistakable flavor is available to modern readers. Thankfully, local historian and Memphis archivist G. Wayne Dowdy has filled this gap with a history of Memphis that is as vibrant and welcoming as the city itself. Join Dowdy as he tells the city's story as only a Memphian can.
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7 days
6 nights
13 meals
6 B 3 L 4 D
DAY
1
Check-In, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
Nashville, TN
D
Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown

Activity note: Hotel check-in from 3:00 p.m.

Afternoon: Program Registration. After you have your room assignment, come to the Road Scholar table to register with the program staff, get any updated information, and confirm the time and location of the Orientation session. If you arrive late, please locate your Group Leader and let them know you have arrived. Orientation: 5:00 p.m. The Group Leader will greet everyone and lead introductions. We will review the up-to-date program schedule, discuss roles and responsibilities, logistics, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer questions. We will be accompanied on some field trips by local experts who will provide commentary as we go. At some field trip sites, the extent and duration of walking and other activities will be according to personal choice. Travel and transfers will be via private motorcoach unless noted otherwise. Periods in the daily schedule designated as “Free time” and “At leisure” offer opportunities to do what you like and make your experience even more meaningful and memorable according to your personal preferences. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Program activities, schedules, personnel, and indicated distances or times may change due to local circumstances/conditions. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Dinner: At the hotel.

Evening: At leisure. Continue getting to know your fellow Road Scholars, settle in, and get a good night’s rest for the day ahead.

DAY
2
Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville Field Trip, Studio B
Nashville, TN
B,D
Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach; driving about 10 miles, approximately 2 hours riding time. Walking up to 2 miles throughout the day; city streets and sidewalks. Country Music Hall of Fame Museum 1 block walk from hotel; dinner venue 2 block walk from hotel.

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: We will set out from the hotel on a walking field trip to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We will have tickets provided for our self-directed exploration. To be invited to be a member of the elite group at the Country Music Hall of Fame is one of the highest honors in country music. The award recognizes persons who have made outstanding contributions to country music over the length of their careers. The museum’s vast collection includes memorabilia illustrating the evolution of country music through the two centuries. We will be able to get a clear sense of that history through its treasure trove of historic video clips, recorded music, dynamic exhibits, and state-of-the-art design. For information on current special exhibits, visit www.countrymusichalloffame.org.

Lunch: This meal has been excluded from the program cost and is on your own to have what you like. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. You might like to pick up a sandwich at The Country Music Hall of Fame or walk a block over to Broadway Street, an area with numerous restaurants.

Afternoon: We will regroup at the hotel at 1:15 p.m. and leave at 1:30 p.m. on a Nashville city field trip. We will board the motorcoach with a local expert who has a wealth of knowledge and passion for Nashville music and who will provide commentary as we ride. Music has always been the common thread connecting the life and soul of Nashville and its people. The first permanent settlement began on Christmas Day 1779, celebrated with fiddle tunes and buck dancing. Davy Crockett, Nashville’s first celebrity, was known far and wide for his colorful stories and fiddle playing. Nashville became a national center for music publishing. The first around-the-world tour by a musical act was by the Fisk Jubilee Singers from Nashville’s Fisk University. Their efforts helped fund the school’s mission of educating freed slaves after the Civil War and put Nashville on the map as a global music center. Here in the heart of Nashville’s entertainment industry, we will see the offices of record labels, publishing houses, music licensing firms, recording studios, video production houses, and other businesses that serve the music industry, as well as radio networks and radio stations. We will then ride to Studio B, originally RCA Studios, home of thousands of hits that helped to define the “Nashville sound.” Chet Atkins was one of the originators and Elvis mastered more than 200 songs here. Our expert will tell us about many of the quirks and idiosyncrasies of this unique space where so much musical history has been created using the pianos, mics, and accessories we will see. We’ll also have an opportunity to sit back and listen to recordings by our favorite artists in Studio B. Field trips: 2

Dinner: At a specially selected restaurant off Broadway, a major thoroughfare with vibrant night life. Dinner will include opportunities for line dancing.

Evening: Returning to the hotel, the remainder of the evening is at leisure.

DAY
3
Ryman Auditorium, Grand Ole Opry House & Performance
Nashville, TN
B
Hyatt Place Nashville Downtown

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach; driving about 45 miles throughout the day, approximately 1 hour riding time. Walking up to 1/2 mile throughout the day; standing approximately 1 hour each at Ryman Auditorium and Grand Ole Opry House.

Breakfast: Hotel buffet.

Morning: We will walk as a group to the Ryman Auditorium for an expert-led field trip that will take us through dressing rooms dedicated to the stars of the Ryman’s rich musical past such as Minnie Pearl, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams. (NOTE: We will not be able to go through the dressing rooms if a performance is taking place that day.) We’ll stand in the wings where performers as varied as Katharine Hepburn, Elvis Presley, and James Brown awaited their time in the spotlight. This National Historic Landmark is most famous as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943-1974. Its history as Nashville’s premiere theater began with its original incarnation as an evangelical tabernacle in 1892. Dubbed the Carnegie Hall of the South, it went on to become the place for important community events, political rallies, as well as operas, symphonies, bands, ballets, and theatrical productions. The incredibly popular Grand Ole Opry radio show found a home here in 1943, and Ryman Auditorium was inseparably linked to the origins and rise of the modern-day genre of country music. Although the Opry moved to a new location in 1974, the Ryman has remained as a major attraction, undergoing a multi-million dollar restoration that brought back its original splendor, hosting top performers from around the world who praise its fine acoustics. Ryman Auditorium will still be on the agenda.

Lunch: On your own to have what you like in downtown Nashville. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions.

Afternoon: For our next field trip, we’ll board the motorcoach and ride to the Grand Ole Opry House. We’ll learn the fascinating story of the Opry from a local expert who will share stories about its history and country music greats past and present. We’ll go onstage for a first-hand look at the tiered auditorium as seen from the performers’ perspective, then go backstage for a rare glimpse of what happens behind the scenes, including the artists’ entrance. We’ll also have some independent time to stroll through the halls filled with Opry memorabilia.

Dinner: On your own to have what you like. There are many restaurants in the vicinity.

Evening: Our program was planned far in advance when details of performances were not available. When confirmed, the information will be posted on the Road Scholar website under this program number and will also be included in preparatory materials sent following enrollment. You can also go to www.opry.com about two weeks before the date to see who is scheduled. The Grand Ole Opry celebrates country music’s diversity, presenting many generations of artists who have formed country music’s legacy and continue to forge its future course. Audiences can expect the best in country, bluegrass, comedy, gospel and more by Country Music Hall of Famers, cast members who helped establish the Opry as the home of country music, revered superstars, and young artists just starting to make names for themselves.

DAY
4
Belle Meade Plantation,To Memphis, B. B. King's Blues Club
Memphis, TN
B,L,D
Hampton Inn & Suites Memphis - Beale Street

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach; driving about 200 miles throughout the day, approximately 4 hours riding time. Walking equivalent of a city block at Belle Meade; uneven terrain. At BB King’s, dinner on second floor; no elevator.

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: We will check out of the hotel, load our luggage onto the motorcoach, and begin our transfer to Memphis, Along the way, we will stop for a field trip at a living vestige of a bygone era: Belle Meade historic home and winery. Led by an expert, we will learn how the original Harding family farm began in the early 1800s and developed over the next several decades. The mansion we see today, built in Greek Revival style, was commissioned in 1845 and tells the century-long history of Belle Meade. Through the stories and experiences of the Harding and Jackson families, we'll learn about the women, men, and children who labored here.

Lunch: In the 1800s Carriage House/Stable House at Belle Meade.

Afternoon: We will resume our ride to Memphis and watch a specially selected movie on the way. Upon arrival, we’ll check in to our hotel with some time to freshen up and relax before dinner.

Dinner: We will walk to world-renowned BB King’s Blues Club and Restaurant on Beale Street. Dinner is on the second floor; no elevator.

Evening: B.B. King's! The house band is B.B. King’s All Stars. Guest musicians include some of the best in the business for one of the most diverse, sophisticated lineups of modern blues and R&B in Memphis. Sit back and tap your toes or get up and dance. Stay on or go out and hear all the music you like up and down Beale Street. NOTE: Midnight is the cut-off time for loud music in Memphis. Our hotel is right at Beale Street, so be prepared.

DAY
5
Memphis History, Civil Rights, Sun Studio, Rock n Soul
Memphis, TN
B,L
Hampton Inn & Suites Memphis - Beale Street

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach; driving about 15 miles, approximately hour riding time. Walking at field trip sites. Climbing stairs at Sun Studio Museum; no elevator.

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: We'll be joined at the hotel by a local expert for an entertaining lecture about the famous Memphis music and why Memphis is the "home of the Blues and the birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll." Next, we will board the motorcoach for the short drive to the National Civil Rights Museum, a privately-owned complex of museums and historic buildings built around the former Lorraine Motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. We’ll follow a timeline that charts the course of events around the assassination and the impact and legacy of the civil rights movement.

Lunch: At a local restaurant.

Afternoon: We will continue our exploration with a field trip to Sun Studio, an iconic recording studio where some of the most famous artists recorded in the 1950s. Whether rock-and-roll or country, and genres in between, the likes of Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Charlie Feathers, Ray Harris, Warren Smith, Charlie Rich, and Jerry Lee Lewis could be found there at one point or another. Led by a Sun Studio expert, we’ll see where they made musical history. We will finish our day with a field trip to the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, the first museum ever jointly developed by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History. Opened in August 2004, it came out of a traveling exhibition on the roots of uniquely American music in the South, from “field hollers” to work songs, blues, country, and gospel. These more countrified forms gradually met and mingled with their urban cousins: blues, jazz, and what became rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and soul music. It charts the story of a field of music that has had a tremendous impact on popular culture and lifestyles from the mid-20th Century through today. It also documents the story of musical pioneers who overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create music that changed our world. The museum’s digital audio guide lets us move at our own pace on a self-directed visit through seven galleries of audio-visual programs, instruments, costumes, other musical treasures, and more than 300 minutes of information including more than 100 songs.

Dinner: On your own to have what you like.

Evening: At leisure. See more of Memphis on your own, spend time with newfound Road Scholar friends, or just relax.

DAY
6
Graceland, Free Afternoon
Memphis, TN
B,L,D
Hampton Inn & Suites Memphis - Beale Street

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach; driving about 45 miles throughout the day, approximately 1 hour riding time. Walking at field trip sites; uneven terrain at Graceland, up/downstairs, no elevator.

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: We will board the motorcoach for a field trip to the 14-acre Graceland estate that was the home of Elvis Presley. It is now a virtual shrine with museums, films, and exhibits for a unique glimpse into the life and times of The King. We’ll have a self-directed exploration with audio guides to see personal mementos including gold and platinum awards.

Lunch: At a Graceland restaurant.

Afternoon: Free time. This period of time has been set aside for your personal independent exploration to see and do what interests you most. Please refer to the list of Free Time Opportunities. The Group Leader will be happy to offer suggestions. Please note that the period scheduled for free time is subject to change depending on local circumstances and opportunities for independent exploration.

Dinner: At one of Memphis’s most popular restaurants. Share favorite experiences with new Road Scholar friends during our farewell dinner.

Evening: Returning to the hotel, the remainder of the evening is at leisure. Prepare for check-out and departure in the morning.

DAY
7
Program Concludes
Memphis, TN
B

Activity note: Getting on/off a motorcoach; driving about 214 miles, approximately 4 hours riding time. Hotel check-out 11:00 a.m. Motorcoach will depart for Nashville at approximately 8:00 a.m. and make stops at the Nashville International Airport (BNA) as well as the downtown Nashville hotel.

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: Anyone wishing to return to Nashville aboard the motorcoach may do so at no charge. The first stop will be the Nashville International Airport followed by the downtown Nashville hotel for anyone who left their car at the hotel. This concludes our program. If you are returning home, safe travels. If you are staying on independently, have a wonderful time. If you are transferring to another Road Scholar program, detailed instructions are included in your Information Packet for that program. We hope you enjoy Road Scholar learning adventures and look forward to having you on rewarding programs in the future. Don’t forget to join our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram. Best wishes for all your journeys!






Important registration tip:
If you want to attend the live lecture, please do not wait until the last minute to enroll.
If you enroll after a lecture is complete, we’ll send you a recording of the event.