Nashville: Seeing the Sights

Sunday morning, we got up and met Josie and Emily for breakfast at Shoney's and then said our good-byes to them.  

We then mapped out our plans for the day.  Doug wanted to visit Cooter's Place, the Dukes of Hazzard Museum.

It was amazing how much memorabilia there was!

I wanted to see the inside of the Opryland Hotel.  We had drove around some of the outside after the concert Saturday night, but I had heard the inside was gorgeous.  Doug and I didn't really know "what we were doing" so we found a parking lot that was free for 15 minutes.  We made a bee-line into the lobby and found this...the Cascades Atrium.

It was absolutely gorgeous!  I just wish we could have stayed a little longer and explored the other lobbies...

We then made our way back downtown to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

There was a wonderful exhibit honoring Alan Jackson's 25 years in the country music business

(One of?) Elvis' Limos

Just a few of the records on the walls

Merle Haggard's boots

One of Reba McEntire's dresses and George Strait's outfits on display

Had to take a picture of the Bandit's car (for Dallas)

The tour ended in the Hall of Fame Rotunda

Our last stop was the Ryman Auditorium.

We were running short on time, so we just walked around the outside.  Maybe we'll go back soon and get to see the inside!

Until next time...

Nashville: Lights at Opryland

After walking downtown, and finally making it out of the parking garage, we made out way back to the hotel.  Emily was kind enough to drive us over to the Opryland Resort.  The amount of lights they put out is amazing! I read somewhere there are over 2 million lights (inside and outside)!

There was this spectacular outdoor nativity display

and every couple minutes there was an audio recording that would tell of the Christmas story

Until next time...

Nashville: Miracle on Broadway

Doug and I were given the chance to attend Kelly Clarkson's Miracle on Broadway, which was a fundraiser for four Nashville non-profits.  Aunt Josie and her good friend, Emily, had a couple extra tickets and offered them to Doug and I.  Once Josie mentioned that there were to be appearances by Reba, Trisha Yearwood, Ronnie Dunn, and Garth Brooks, we were sold!

Pa and Gram were kind enough to watch the kiddos.  So Doug and I took off on Saturday afternoon.  We met up with Josie and Emily for supper at Caney Fork River Valley Grille.  Talk about a cool place!  We were seated right next to the catfish pond, and were able to watch the fish swim while we ate.

After supper, we made our way downtown to Bridgestone Area.  I made Doug stop for a picture before heading into the concert.

There were probably 12 special guests performers throughout the night...here are a few of the pictures I tried to capture...

Any Nashville watchers? Recognize the first guest? That's Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten)!

Meghan Trainor was the second guest on stage

followed by Kix Brooks and his wife

Kacey Musgraves also performed

Martina McBride sang with Kelly and on her own.

Ronnie Dunn also joined Kelly.

One of the highlights for me was when Trisha and Reba joined Kelly to sing "Silent Night"

The other highlight was the end of the show when Garth Brooks appeared on stage with just his guitar to sing "Little Drummer Boy".

We walked downtown after concert, and man there were a lot of people out!

Until next time...