Well here we go. While posting this (or the one I lost) to the blog, my computer locked up and wouldn’t start. So I took it in to a tech and he had to wipe off the hard drive and I had to install all my programs and then download all the data from Mozy, the online back-up program I use. We left TN and headed to Elgin, IL and I started downloading. It was taking forever using the air card. Meanwhile I couldn’t use any programs until I restored the data. Thank goodness for Todd and Rachael. We used their high speed internet and got all the data, photos, etc restored in a couple of days. Big mess!
So now you know why it has taken me so long to get our Nashville stop posted to the blog. I’ll try again, now that I have all my photos again. Thank goodness I had backed up only 3 days before. I think I only lost one letter and this blog post!
We pulled into the Elks Lodge in Madison, TN. It was warm and humid, so we were happy to at least have 15 amp electric hook-up to run the fan. Sunday morning we went to church service and when we got back to the RV the electric cord was disconnected from the outside plug, which was located on a rental home that the Elks owned. So we were without electric and we decided to move to a Passport America campground. It is a little further away from Nashville, but close to the expressway leading into town. So Sunday was moving day.
We moved to Nashville Country RV Park which was 7 miles further north. We pulled into the first space assigned to us and walked back to the office and asked for a different space. We couldn’t get level and we were in a hole. With our luck and rain, we sure didn’t want to be below grade! The lady in the office was nice enough to let us pick any sight that was not reserved and we ended up with a nice pull through site.
Monday we went into the Nashville Visitor Center to see what was available as far as tours. They sent us down to the Greyline kiosk a couple of blocks away. We signed up for the package tour which included a trolley tour, a walking tour of downtown and tickets to the Country music hall of fame. Then we were able to purchase our Grand Ole Opey tickets for the live show on Tuesday evening right there also. A one stop shop! We took the trolley tour that afternoon and learned a lot about the city of Nashville. We think of Nashville as the home of country music and that it must be their number one industry. It’s not. It is number three. Health care is number one employer, and education is number two. There are 11 colleges in the city. Some are very small religious schools, but they are all employers. The recording studios are probably have the most affluent population of three. They have big beautiful buildings, and the owners and executives are the highest paid (other than the big name artists.)
A complete contrast to downtown Nashville with its cute shops and Honky Tonks.
This building was right across the street from the Greyline kiosk. Very touristy gift shops line the street. We couldn’t find any free parking, so had to find a “cheap” lot where we could park while we rode the trolley. We paid $8.00 for four hours. We were early for our ride so we stopped in at ‘Hooter’s” and had some deep fried pickles. It was Monday and all beer on tap was $1.00 a glass. Lucky Frank! If you have never had deep fried dill pickles, it is a real treat. We didn’t quite know what we were going to get, but had been told we couldn’t leave the south without trying some. They are hamburger sliced pickles, dipped in batter and deep fried. They were served with a mild spicy sauce to dip them in. They were very good!
Now we are ready for our trolley ride. It is not raining, so we get to go in the open trolley. Yeah!
The Capitol building. Notice the different top on it. Not a traditional dome. The architect designed it to look like a lantern, and at night it is lit and show through the tall thin windows. Beautiful and different.
The Parthenon that was built for a Worlds Fair that was held in Nashville. All the rest of the uildings were torn down, but the people of the city wanted this one left. The area around it is a big park and is very well used. You can rent this building for functions, but at a big price tag!
Ducks and Geese have the right away in the park!
One of the oldest recording studios in Nashville. It is still used today.
The newer, more impressive studios. Some days you can actually see the recording artists walking up the steps. We didn’t!
Grand Central Station in Nashville. Can you imagine all the country singers that this station has brought to the City?
Tuesday downs with clouds and threat of rain. So we carry our umbrellas on the walking tour of downtown and the Ryman Auditorium. My thoughts are if we carry umbrellas it won’t rain.
I thought this building was really interesting. Check out the date on the building. It was getting a paint job on the bottom under the windows. We walked past it on our way to the Ryman Auditorium.
The Ryman Auditorium in most recognized as being the home of the Grand Ole Opry, but it was originally built as a tabernacle for religious services. It was mostly funded and built by the river boat captain Tomas Green Ryman, whose statue is in the courtyard in front of the Auditorium.
Ernest Tubbs, Minnie Pearl and Frank. Did you know that Minnie Pearl was an educator with a PHD? Who would have thought!!
Check out the seats! They are the original pews put in when the Ryman was a tabernacle. They have been refurbished, but not replaced. They are the originals. Down on the stage people are getting their picture taken. For $15.00 you can have your picture taken or you can go down and take they will take your picture on your camera for free. You can also sing with a karaoke machine and do a recording there in the Ryman. Great customer relations.
We took a tour of backstage where they have built dressing rooms in remembrance of some of the famous performers. When the Opry was being broadcast from the Ryman, there weren’t separate dressing rooms for the stars. When they refurbished the Auditorium they added the dressing rooms. Because some of the items are copy write protected, we could not take pictures.
The sign above tells more about the birth of bluegrass than I can. We left the Ryman and walked directly over to the back door of Tootsie’s. This is a “world famous” honky tonk. (I’d never heard of it!) The performers at the Ryman used to go out the stage door, walk 44 steps and into the back door of Tootsie’s, where she took care of them, even to the point of letting them eat and drink on credit until their next paycheck. Quite a woman. Her picture is below.
Many famous artist visited Tootsie’s and they left autographed pictures and writing all over the walls.
In Tootsie’s there are different performers there in the morning, the afternoon and the evening. They all work for tips.
We were there in the morning on our tour, and I had my picture taken with the performer. I had him sign the playbill of the week, but I can’t read his handwriting. Maybe someday he will be famous and I’ll remember his name!
I really liked Tootsie’s. Check out the colors they painted it. My kind of Honky Tonk.
We walked across the street to Ernest Tubb’s record shop. Frank found Dolly Parton. See the umbrella—it didn’t rain the entire walking trip. But, Frank would have protected Dolly if it had. I had my own umbrella!
Our next stop was the playbill printers. They still print playbills by hand setting the type and color. The inside is covered with playbills, and you can buy some of the old ones that they have in overstock.
Our next stop was the Country Music Hall of Fame. We knew this would take us all afternoon, so we had lunch there in the lobby cafe. All during lunch we got to listen to a country music artist who had sang and played his guitar through over 200,000 songs there in the museum. Nice.
It reminds me of a giant keyboard when you look from the front.
Just a few of the many, many showcases with costumes, musical instruments and props used by the artists. Inside some of the cases were videos telling the story of that particular artist. The entire museum was very well done and could take an entire day to go through.
This car had hand tooled leather seats and dashboard. On the dashboard were silver dollars over the entire top. It was an amazing car. Below is Elvis Presley’s gold Cadillac. All the handles, mirrors and emblems are gold. You can see this is a big museum. There are three floors and all of them are full.
We finished going through the museum just about “cocktail time,” so we headed back to Tootsie’s to see who was performing and to have a little drink before we had dinner. There was a girl performing, and she was really good. The back up band she had was so loud they overpowered her singing. So we had our drink, left her a tip and walked down the street for some Nashville BBQ ribs. Good food. Southern comfort food.
Quite a few years ago the Grand Ole Opry moved to a new theater outside of down town Nashville, so we had to drive to the Opry House. We had reserved seats, but they were way up in the balcony. We used our binoculars to see. Good thing they had video screens on the side of the stage.
Below is the only picture I could get from that far away. I took this while the show was being broadcast live over the radio. Now we can say we’ve been there!
All day the weather had threatened rain, but it held off until we were ready to leave the theater—then it came down hard. We had to drive back to the RV in the dark and in the rain. Good thing I had left a light on. Gidget was glad to see us and to get her dinner. It was after 9:00 p.m. when we got home.
It’s time to leave Nashville. We are going back to Martin, TN and visit my cousins again. These are my Dad’s first cousins. Hollis will be 90 in 2010, and his brother Eddie just lost his wife last month. Jean is their sister and her husband Billie live in the town of Martin.
Here we are getting ready to pull out. It rained pretty much all night. So, we have pools of water. I put my pan out and collected a couple of gallons of rain water to wash my hair in—the only good thing about all this rain!
Are we ever glad we moved from the first spot and into this pull through. I can’t imagine trying to get out of the other spot with all the water standing.
Maybe we’ll outrun the rain by going west!
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