Week 6-7 - Nashville

Wow, is it hot and humid!  It's no wonder that people in the south walk and talk slowly!  The 13 year cicadas are here and the sound is deafening and having them flying around is a little gross.  We're trying to figure out what is next for us.....famine?  We've had floods, tornadoes, and insects, so not sure what else it could be.

Uneventful drive (thank goodness!) to Nashville and arrived to a nice quiet campground, although no campfires allowed (too hot anyway).  We spent the first day on a bus tour of the city, which included a visit to the Ryman Auditorium, former home of the Grand Ole Opry and then the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.

State Capital, Bicentennial Park - bells for each county

What a ham at Ryman Auditorium

The Museum wasn't on our wish list, but it was actually very informative and interesting.  Bicentennial Park is beautiful and has a wall that stretches forever with important dates and events engraved.

Greg and Father of Bluegrass

That same night we saw BB King and Buddy Guy perform at the Ryman.  Buddy was amazing and played for 1 1/2 hours.  We could have listened to him all night.  We've seen BB King at least 4 other times, and this is the last.  At 85, he has finally gotten to the point where his performance is sad.  He talked more than he sang and would lose concentration and just ramble on.  His band is still awesome, but you really feel for him.

Nashville has 2 areas full of bars with bands playing music all day long.  We spent several days just going in and out of each one enjoying some of the music and others not so much.  Neither of us are country music fans, but many of the groups put a spin on the songs so they don't sound so country.   We think we've died and gone to pig heaven.  It is served BBQ, smoked and grilled and is all delicious.  No BBQ pork nachos here so we are making a quick stop back in Memphis after our Bonnaroo trip.

We visited The Opryland Hotel, which took 6 months to restore after last years flooding.  It is spectacular!  There are multiple lobbies, and each has an atrium area with gorgeous plants, waterfalls, flowers, pathways, restaurants and bars.  There is even a boat ride you can take around all the lobbies.  We are returning to Tennessee in October to spend time with friends and have decided we will drive to Nashville to spend a night here.

This is in one of the atrium areas

 

Cocktails at 3 pm anyone?

Cool fountains everywhere

rooms have balconies overlooking atrium area

When in Nashville, you have to go to the Grand Ole Opry, even if you're not a country music fan.  It's a two hour long show, which is also being broadcast over the radio.  There are 4 different singing acts, and smaller acts within the main acts.  It was too much country for us, but definitely a must if you're here.

A local winery had a great event on Saturday night, with jazz on the lawn.  We took a picnic basket and bought a bottle of wine and sat and listened to music for hours.  There were well over 1,000 people in attendance and it was really nice.  I know......Tennessee wine?   but it was decent.

It was 99 today, so what did we do.....went to the zoo of course!   It was a small, but beautiful zoo, with great exhibit areas for the animals.  We weren't there more than 45 minutes before the winds started howling and then large tree branches actually started cracking off trees and falling all around.  Wow!  As Greg's Dad would say, we "shagged ass"!

We visited historic Franklin, which is a great little town south of Nashville.  One of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War was held here, so lots of history to follow.  Great old buildings which are now being used as offices, stores or restaurants.
The Country Music Awards Festival starts here on Thursday and everyone started arriving on Tuesday.  Many of the streets in downtown Nashville have already been shut down and huge stages are being erected.  We aren't staying, but will be heading to Manchester for Bonnaroo.  For those that never heard of it, it is the modern day Woodstock.  We are taking the RV, but most people camp in tents.  No electric or water, so we will be roughing it in the VIP bathhouses.  Our main concern is sleeping at night because Tennessee has broken the heat record set in 1870, yes 1870,  for the most consecutive days above 90.