June 25: Nashville

There are so many things to do in Nashville, that Larry and I stayed at camp today to lay down a game plan. Yesterday, we went to the Visitor's Center to get brochures on what's in the area. We walked Broadway which is the Beale St. of country music. Lots of bars with live shows where many legends got their start. We went into the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and I bought another music book. Larry bought a steel guitar CD. As in most old towns, the new and the old run up against each other. We walked by the Ryman Auditorium (the old Grand Old Opry) but didn't take the tour. The photo of Minnie Pearle and Roy Acuff was taken in the lobby of this great old music hall. We ate lunch at the Wildhorse Saloon and then headed back to the parking lot to go to Opryland.









Opryland acres houses the Grand Old Opry, The Opryland Hotel and a huge shopping mall called Opry Mills. We're going to the Grand Old Opry Friday night (Trace Atkins and T.G. Sheppard, not to mention Little Jimmy Dickens and Riders of the Sky); and the Opryland Hotel is on our agenda for Saturday. We did go to the mall. It's anchors are Bass Pro Shop (note the photo of Larry and a big ole catfish), Barnes & Noble, Apple Barn Cider Bar and General Store, among several more. The restraurants were the Aquarium Restaurant, Rainforest Cafe, Romano's Macaroni Grill and Tony Roma's Steakhouse, not to mention my favorite Johnny Rockets. There is also a Gibson Guitar store complete with a shop where they make them. It would cost about $300 to replace my $30 guitar I bought 40 years ago. So I just bought new strings. We ate at the Aquarium as you can tell by the photos. The big flat nosed fish is a shovel nosed guitar shark named Gibson. The theater in the mall houses 20 theaters one of which is an IMAX complete with a 3D show.


Today, after planning our week, we put the jet ski in the water and took a drive up the river. It was a beautiful day if you don't count the heat and humidity. We were on the water so it was comfortable.

Tomorrow and Friday are hang around camp days - laundry, grocery shopping, swimming and jet skiing. The Nissan plant tour was booked so we won't be making that one. We're also going to go to the Crook and Chase show Wednesday afternoon and a Civil War tour Monday. Hoping to work in the Purity Dairy tour sometime (free ice cream).