Nashville - Day 2

 It's a beautiful day in Nashville today. The fam is headed to the Grand Ole' Opry. Well, we were, but we got lost. Still, we made it...after some detours. 

See, when I'm in a new town I like to not drive the freeways if we can avoid them. It gives you a chance to see the neighborhoods and the town. So that's exactly what we did. The brother and his fam took the freeway and we took the back roads. 

We were fine. We tried to follow the signage for the entrance to the Grand Ole' Opry. I mean, how hard could it be to find it? It's not small! And yet, we drove around and around. We didn't believe our navigation - that was the problem. The nav was taking us where we were supposed to be, but it just didn't seem right. 

After a good 30 minutes my phone rang, it was the brother wondering where we were. He explained where to find it and we just didn't listen. Again. But alas, we made it. Just in time for our appointed tour time. 

The oldest brother, my sister in law and the middle brother

The Grand Ole' Opry tour was so darn good! I was really impressed. They focused way more on the history of the opry and not so much on the country music. The tour starts with a wonderful movie about the history, the people and some of the music. So well done. It helped that it was hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. 

The tour takes you through the backstage of the Opry. They showed us all the plaques with all the members on it. Loretta Lynn has a ribbon because she just passed. The dressing rooms all had themes - none of which I remember - and then you walk out on the stage. 

In the middle of the stage is a circle of wood brought over from the Ryman (which is where the Grand Ole' Opry started). Country music singers dream of singing on this stage and becoming members. It's the highlight of most of their careers. The circle represents longevity and the "circle of life" in a way. It was pretty cool. 

Then we got to stand in the circle and get our picture taken! And of course we had to do it with crab hats on. I mean, we couldn't leave Nashville without giving the Opry crabs. 

After the opry we walked over to the Opryland Hotel. Kathy had been there before and she said it was pretty cool. We had burgers there and then they walked around checking out the place. It was pretty darn cool hotel. 

Dinner tonight was the "rehearsal" dinner. Which really wasn't what you think. Instead our family and The New Niece's family all met at a the Santa Fe Cattle Company restaurant for dinner. 

The Niece

The New Niece

Another Niece and a great niece

The Bride's