The Best of Nashville

What a great time!

1.At the Country Hall of Music Museum and a long media display

2. The King's favorite Gold Cadillac limosine

3. Gold and platimum records covering the walls. Open some to hear the artist

4. Dolly Parton's dress and wig

5. Little Jimmie Dickens plaque in the Hall of Fame

6. With 4th grade intrepreters at the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's home

7. The Gotta Go Girls seeking another mode of transportation

8. President Jackson and his wife Rachel's graves

9. Old Arnold who negotiated a grave for himself next to President Jackson

10. Trees from all Jackson's battlegrounds

11. and 12 The Cracker Barrel restaurant

13. Gerry with statues of Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl

14. Displays of their clothes in the Ryman Theater

15. The Atrium of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel

I should be in bed but I can't stand being this far behind on the blog.

Will begin with our arrival yesterday after a rather lengthy drive from from Atlanta to Nashville. We had tickets for a performance at the Ryman Theater where the Grand Old Opry originated for the Tuesday night performance and live radio broadcast. We drove into the downtown which is really very lovely. Lots of construction going on but a very active downtown area. They call the Ryman the mother church of country music and is the first home of the Grand Ole Opry. A new facility has been built where they are most of the time but right now until Christmas the Rockettes are in the new theater on the outskirts of town and Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays the Grand Old Opry will broadcast from their old home. Sort of a homecoming last night. The show consisted of 7 different acts, solos and groups, and was live on the radio. Porter Wagoner who was Mr. Grand Old Opry died this last week and much of the show was a homage to him. Little Jimmy Dickens was on the bill and he is in his 80's and has been with the Opry over 50 years. He recited a poem for Wagoner and it was very touching. The audience was pretty grey haired but country music lovers. It was a kick and for the young folk and a few of the elders, Kellie Pickler ,who was a contestant on American Idol a couple of years ago, was part of the show. Took me back to the days when I was a child and on Saturday nights I would listen to the Grand Ole Opry with my grandparents. Last night and today was quite an interesting bit of time travelling. One of the major sponsors of the Grand Ole Opry is the Cracker Barrel restaurants. We had stopped yesterday to have lunch in one along the Interstate and I was thinking of the restaurant all evening (I had forgotten my Rolaids). Glad they are sponsoring the radio show but will have to do it without any more of our money.

This morning we were off early to the Hermitage which was the home of General/President Andrew Jackson. Lots of school tours and they added a bit of frenzy to the day but we made it through. It was fun having costumed 4th graders interpret what we were seeing. Took me back! The house was wonderful and in much of its original form. Original wall papers in some of the rooms. Lots of the Jackson's furniture and beautiful rolling grounds. And to think the airport was almost built next door and would have taken some of the land for runways. It is a very peaceful area and even with several hundred kids around you could still feel the calm of the plantation.

From there we drove downtown to the Country Music Hall of Fame. What an enjoyable experience that was. We could have spent many more hours there. The displays
brought back many memories and introduced many new stars. Loved the clothes from so many performers from Roy Rodgers' and Dale Evans' boots to Ray Charles sun glasses. The 3 hours we spent wasn't nearly enough. I could have sat in a number of the little aditoriums and watched movies all afternoon whil listening to music.

Decided to drive about 10 miles out of town to the New Opryland. There is a huge hotel near a huge auditorium, near a huge convention center, near a huge shopping center. We drove around this area with Judi turning the air blue in the car as it was a bit confusing to how we could get to the hotel. Finally pulled into the valet parking line and the supervisor comes over and when Judi explains we just want to take a look inside the hotel, he directs us to a curb, takes our keys, and tells us they aren't busy and we can leave the car there for a bit. Well, we went inside the biggest non-gaming hotel establishment in the world. It has a huge atrium in the middle of the huge building with a river running through it on which we saw a boat with about 15 people taking a little cruise before dinner. Restaurants, shops, cafes, and hotel rooms. Could stay there and never have to leave! After a great dinner at an Italian bistro, collected our car and drove around in circles for a bit before we got to our very modest Holiday Inn Express hotel. Oh, well, maybe in our next lives!

On to Memphis tomorrow to see the KING!

Love from sleepy and sleeping GGG's