It has been three weeks since we left for our trip to Nashville. I am always eager as it is a time to reconnect with our loved ones and friends who live in the area. I have fallen in love with the rolling hills, history, and the sights and sounds. We usually plan for one big thing while we are there as it does have its “touristy” type things which are definitely expensive. So far we have been to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Charlie Daniels museum and store, along with perennial favorite the Ernest Tubb Record shop. The city has its own feel and flavors. It isn’t all country music as we discovered on our first trip. There is a Nashville Hard Rock Café, although it does have exhibits for country stars. It is loud and raucous as one would expect. We have found some very interesting restaurants both downtown and the surrounding area. We had a wonderful pulled BBQ pork lunch from a little kind of hole in the wall place near our son and daughter in laws house. I even allowed myself some of their wonderful homemade pie! We’ll definitely make a return trip.
This trip was made interesting by a couple of different things. One, a lesson learned when we stopped in Dayton, Ohio for the night at a pretty nice hotel. We got our things in the room and I placed two of my bags in an out of the way spot to prevent tripping over them….that ended up being a mistake. When I left the room I picked up the top one of the two bags and neglected the bottom one which had my music supplies in it. This included the tuner for my mandolin, music, music stand and a couple of other things. We pulled out of Dayton and down the road we went. It hit me about an hour later, “Yikes, I think I left my stuff at the hotel!!!” When we stopped for gas my fears were confirmed. Oh great!!! I immediately called the hotel (one of the good things about cell phones. You can handle things quickly). The lady informed me they had found it and she was waiting on a phone call from someone and she would call me back. Ok, I can handle that. I waited two days and never received a call. This lead to three more calls to the hotel with the same results during the week. Frustration was growing with not getting a straight answer out of anybody. The line was always, “Give me your number and I’ll call you back.” I began resigning myself to the fact I would have to replace the lost things. Also to wondering about what could seem a lack of service when we would be paying the shipping costs to get the things back along with the fact I called the facility immediately. I know, I know I was the one who was lax in not checking the room a third time before going to the car. The self inflicted trip to the woodshed has definitely taken hold with this sometimes addle brained, middle aged lady. Check the room a third and even fourth time if necessary before you leave!! I did finally get my bag back. I found a five AM voice mail on my cell phone saying they had found my bag. I quickly called back and arranged for the shipping back here. It has arrived and everything was in good shape, for which I am extremely grateful.
The second thing was a wonderful trip to the Grand Ole Opry!! We had been going kind of back and forth about buying tickets as they aren’t the cheapest. I had read Steve Martin, the comedian, who happens to be a world class banjo player would be making his debut at the Opry while we were there. We had not purchased tickets before we left as we were still discussing the costs. When we arrived Pat and Myla gave us a coupon to get tickets BOGO (buy one, get one free) to attend the evening of music. THANK YOU, dear ones!! We had supper at Opry Mills Mall which is right by the Opry itself and I got some walking in before the show. We arrived at the hall about half an hour before the scheduled beginning time…which was good with the way the hall filled up. We found out later both the shows that evening had sold out so I really felt blessed getting tickets when we didn’t purchase them until two days before the event. I was just drinking in the sights of the auditorium when all of a sudden I heard a loud “How-dee!!” I about jumped out of my seat having a heart attack when I realized a young lady had come out dressed as the late country star Minnie Pearl. While doing kind of a comedy routine she went over the etiquette of being at a live radio show and the rules such as “no smoking”. Then the show itself started with eighty-eight year old “Little” Jimmy Dickens as the host for the first half hour. He really wowed the crowd. He could out sing some of the younger singers of today, in my humble opinion. If the Lord allows me to make it to eighty-eight I hope I still have a singing voice as good as his. You also realized why he is called “Little” Jimmy as he is four feet eleven inches tall, hence the reason he wears the tall cowboy hats when on stage. The evening went on with Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Amy Grant along with others. Vince Gill introduced Steve Martin and the place went bonkers!! At the Opry you are allowed to get right up to the edge of the stage to take pictures so the area was absolutely packed. I sat back and marveled at the talent of this man. I would have never dreamed he was such a fine musician. It makes me glad I put out the money for the limited edition of his first album which is just coming out. I was also glad for Ter’s patience as that particular edition is taking longer to come out than the regular length one. It is a late arriving part of his anniversary present. I hope he likes it, but I think he will. God really worked things out in allowing us to attend this not soon forgotten evening. I don’t know about Ter, but it really took me a while to settle down to sleep after all of the excitement. I thought about buying a cowgirl hat, pretty light blue with beading in the front. Then I realized the Opry shop only had one size...LARGE. Can you say the hat will be down over your eyes? I settled for a necklace with a treble clef symbol on it (looks kind of like a backward ampersand, for those who don’t read music). We killed a little time while waiting for the traffic to thin out a little and headed home. We turned on the radio station which broadcasts the Opry to listen to the second show on the way home as it was different from the first. This ended a really memorable evening. Would I go again? In a heartbeat!!
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