Nashville

It has been a long while since I have posted last.  I will update Nashville in one post.

We woke up early on Monday morning all set to go for 5:00 am.   We were pretty excited to be heading off to Nashville.  Grace had picked up some chicken and salad so we could stop along the way and enjoy a quick lunch at one of the rest stops.

We arrived in Smyrna Tennesee at around 7:00, brought our stuff to our room and headed out to dinner at Hickory Falls.  After dinner we headed home, had a nightcap and headed off to bed.

On Tuesday we decided to go to the Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg.  We really enjoyed the tour by Ben and especially enjoyed the 5 flavours to test at the end of the tour.  It was very interesting to see how the whiskey was made.  Not too keen on the Fire Ball as it tasted like I had filled my mouth with Cinnamon hearts.  After the tour we enjoyed some lunch in town at the Barrelhead BBQ.  It was really cool to see the tables and walls of this restaurant.

After lunch we headed off to Nashville where we had reservations for dinner at Ole Red (a restaurant owned by Blake Shelton).  They had a live band which was enjoyable to watch.  When dinner was done we walked through the town.  There were tons of  live bands playing at every restaurant.  If you walk the streets it is very noisy but still fun.  We were a bit caught off guard by the price of parking but oh well, what do you do.  We headed back home and enjoyed our usual night cap and headed off to bed.

Wednesday morning we didn't rush out of bed but  enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast and made a pitstop at the golf course we were playing on Thursday.  We headed off to Opry Mills Mall where we spent the day shopping.  The Grand Ole Opry was right beside the mall.  We headed there at around 6:30.  Took a few pictures by the guitars and enjoyed the show.  We started the show with a group called Riders in the Sky.  There were 4 senior men playing in this band but they were quite comical in their singing.  The next person we saw was making his debut at the Opry.  His name was Jameson Rodger.  Next we saw Jeannie Seely who was a singer and a DJ on Willies Roadhouse on Sirius.  Next we saw the SteelDrivers.  I had never heard of them before but they were quite energetic in their music, especially with the fiddle.  After they played we had a 15 minute break.  Next in line was TG Sheppard.  He had just created a new album and was signing copies after the show.  We saw a comedian Chonda Pierce.  She had us in stitches.  Note to remember - Lacey Depends still smell (lol).
Last we saw was the Charlie Daniels Band.  Boy could he play the fiddle still.  You could tell Charlie Daniels was very patriotic.

Thursday morning we had breakfast and headed off to Nashville to see the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  We took an audio tour and spent approximately 2 hours exploring the different guitars and outfits and musicians that have made it to the Country Music Hall of fame.  It was another enjoyable morning and you certainly learned a lot by reading all the items at each site.  We went to the Diner for lunch and headed off to the Gaylord Springs Golf Resort for our first round of golf.  It was a beautiful course but unfortunately it got dark before we could finish our game.  We did get 16 holes in.  We headed back to Smyrna where we were staying and went to Cheddars for dinner and then picked up something to eat for the drive the day to Myrtle Beach.

It was a wonderful time in Nashville and now we are looking forward to the next leg of our vacation in Myrtle Beach.  Tomorrow we will go through another 10 hour drive of travel time again.