June 29-30

Aunt Jane sent us off with grilled, gluten free, ham and cheese sandwiches (so yummy!) and hugs and kisses. We stopped at Walmart to grab a few things and then headed toward Nashville…Music City and the home of The Grand Ole Opry!
In Nashville we stayed at our first Airbnb, a suite in the home of Shane and Roland Adams. If you’re ever in Nashville, I HIGHLY recommend staying at their place! One of the advantages of staying in the home of locals is the perspective. Shane and Roland told us where to park to save money, fun places to go that we would not have thought of, and provided a place to stay that truly felt like home. In addition to all of that, Shane and Roland are just all around nice guys…heck, if we lived in Nashville, I think we’d hang out!

After checking into Shane and Roland’s, we dined with the fishes at a restaurant called Aquarium, where the food was good and the atmosphere fun!

Eli played video games and I went into complete sensory overload at Dave and Buster’s (see attached video).

After Dave and Buster’s we went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw the legendary Ray Stevens (See the Nuts! post on my blog.  I couldn’t believe we actually got to see him live!), Emily West, Mary Sarah, Parmalee, and more. It was a great show!

The next morning Eli and I woke up, waved goodbye to Shane and Roland, and headed out to explore as much of Nashville as we could before it was time to leave for Memphis.

We walked through the  Music City Center because we thought it was a cool building.

At the  Center we met a new friend, Deborah. She was super helpful and found coupons for us and answered questions. Here’s a woman who loves her job, folks! Maybe she’s just that way about life in general, I don’t know, but you could feel the positive energy radiating from her!

Armed with coupons and maps, we set out to in the direction of the Country Music Hall of Fame, where we met William, who is taking a trip just like ours with his wife at the end of July.  (Hope you have a great trip William!!!)

At the Country Music Hall of Fame Eli pointed out an ancient iPod…

We saw clothes worn by famous singers such as the Dixie Chicks (who I am going to see in August thanks to my friend Kelly!)…

A wall of records;

Famous cars;

And Eli’s favorite place in any museum, the gift shop! I don’t have a picture of him there, but I should…here’s a ridiculous one of me, though! I thought it was appropriate for the 4th of July holiday.

After the Hall of Fame, we were entertained while we ate cheeseburgers and fries on Lower Broadway at Robert’s Western World before driving to Centennial Park to see the life size replica of the Parthenon that was created for the Tennessee 1897 Centennial Exposition.

I’ve gotta say, Athena was pretty huge and spooky!  They should make the next Ghostbusters movie there and make that statue come to life…scary!

And now we’re on the road again…goin’ places that we’ve never been…

Songs of the day:

Had to have a country songs for the songs of the day…I mean, we ARE in Nashville, after all! This is one that Mary Sarah sang on The Voice: My Church

Oh, and how can we leave Willie out?! On the Road Again