Between Two States

I am neither a fan of NASCAR nor country music, so I was hesitant to visit Bristol, VA, a town which has deep roots in both. We recently made the long trek across the commonwealth to Bristol (about a 5.5 hour drive from our hometown) for a work assignment. Bristol, it turns out, has some interesting aspects. After lunch at the Burger Bar (a burger, fries, and milkshake joint where country singer Hank Williams Sr. supposedly had his last meal), we toured the Birthplace of Country Music Museum. There, we learned about the history of early folk and country music (The Bristol Sessions dates to 1927) as well as the evolution of recorded sound and music (which made me yearn for my first boombox from second grade and my oversized record player/stereo from my high school days). Our kids, who were also leery of Bristol at first, actually had a blast crooning out tunes in the museum’s sing-a-long recording studio (they spent most of their time in there). Later, we mosied on over to State Street, and stood in awe in the middle of the road (yes, halting traffic a few times) with one foot planted in Virginia and the other in Tennessee. Now, I’ve been in two states simultaneously (Arizona and Nevada at the Hoover Dam) before, but never in the middle of the street with cars whizzing by. I don’t think you can do that anywhere else in the country except Bristol, and it was pretty cool. My husband and I had a beer at State Street Brewing Company in Virginia while the kids enjoyed free popcorn as well as free games of foosball, skeeball, ping pong, and the old Atari game Phoenix, then we crossed the street into Tennessee for dinner at The Angry Italian. Bristol, VA also has a great doughnut and pastry shop called the Blackbird Bakery for those with a sweet tooth, but beware the line is long any time of the day. We stayed at The Bristol Hotel, which has a roof top bar with a fantastic view of the old railroad town, the mountains, and the ginormous “Bristol” welcome sign, which shines bright with light at night. We were able to get a feel for the town and see what we wanted to see all in one day (of course, those who love country music and race car driving will likely wish to stay longer). And, now that our Bristol trip is complete, I believe we’ve checked off visiting nearly every corner of this vast state we are blessed to call home. From beaches and mountains to city and country living, Virginia has it all.