Nashville Rocks!

We've been in Nashville for almost two weeks and have enjoyed every minute.  We are staying outside Nashville at Safe Harbor RV Resort, on J. Percy Priest Lake.  We splurged a bit to stay here.  As an RV park, it has all that one would expect, nice concrete pads, full hook-ups, laundry, pool, shuffleboard, playground, gated entrance, small store and a shuttle into town.  But the real lure was the view.  Our site sits on this beautiful (man-made) lake and we've had some lovely sunrises. 

4/6/19 sunrise

4/11/19 sunrise

Looking from camper towards the water.

Looking from the water's edge at our site

Looking from our site down the road.

As you can gather from this picture, this sites are tucked in pretty close to each other.  There are some massive rigs in this park.  What it lacks in charm and privacy, it more than makes up for in gorgeous views.

Morning sun 4/14/19

Sitting in the glorious morning sun 4/14/19

Being in Nashville, we weren't just here for the view of the lake.  We took in many of the touristy sights and sounds.  We started out with the Hop On Hop Off bus.  We have learned after visiting so many new cities, that this is the way to start exploring.  We actually bought the two-day pass from Old Town Trolley Tours, knowing that we wouldn't be able to return to all the places we saw that interested us in one day.  Our ticket purchase also gave us free admission to Madame Toussard's Nashville and the George Jones Museum.  Our first time on the bus, we rode around the entire loop and then got off and had lunch.  We got back on to return to Bicentennial Park.  This was one of my favorite things we saw in Nashville.  

Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park:  The park was built in 1996 to celebrate the bicentennial of Tennessee.  The TN Capital building sits at the far end of the park, and the fills the space in front of the capital, much like the National Mall in DC.  At the far end of the park are the carillon bell towers.  These bell towers house 95 bells representing the 95 counties in TN.  At the hour and half hour the bells play and the sound is majestic.

Some of the park features include a timeline wall of the history of Tennessee, a World War II Memorial honoring TN soldiers, a granite map of the state and so much more.

During the time representing the Civil War, the wall is broken representing the brokenness of the nation during that time.

Part of the WWII Memorial

The World War II Memorial includes an 8 ton granite globe, spinning on 1/8 in of water.

The park also features a 200 foot granite map of the state of TN that you can walk across.

In downtown Nashville there is an area on Broadway with countless Honky Tonk bars.  We visited a couple of the original venues; Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and Nudie's Honky Tonk.  Despite the name, everyone at Nudie's is fully dressed.  In fact, Nudie was one of the most famous costume designer's in Nashville, famous for introducing the rhinestone to Country Western style.  

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge

Nudie's Honky Tonk

Example of Nudie's Rodeo Tailor's design

I won't lie, I found the Broadway scene a little intense.  The number of people is unbelievable.  We had a really good time at the places we visited, but I was unprepared for the sheer volume of people.  The first couple times we went into town, we used the shuttle from our RV park and Uber.  But that was getting expensive and I discovered we could park for $10 for up to 5 hours ($15 over 5 hours) at the Music City Center parking garage.  We did that a couple times, and I would highly recommend it.  It's a very convenient location with ample parking.

I mentioned that our Trolley bus tickets included free admission to Madame Toussard's Nashville.  We took advantage of this and had a great time taking pictures with lots of "old friends" at the museum.  (The tickets were normally $24/person, which we would not have spent - but for free, it was a good deal:-))

Carol with Louie and Ella

Kelly and Blake Shelton

Madame Toussard's is located at the Opry Mills Mall, located adjacent to the Grand Ole Opry.  Also located next to the Grand Old Opry is Gaylord Opryland Resort.  We knew we wanted to visit both the wax museum and the Opryland Resort before we attended an evening performance at the Grand Ole Opry.  Parking at the mall is free, parking at the Opry and Opryland is not.  So we parked in the mall parking lot and walked to the other locations.  This was a great move and I highly recommend it.  Just make sure you remember where you parked when you are leaving the Grand Old Opry later that night...

The Opryland Resort is divided into three sections; Delta, Magnolia and Cascade.  It's like 3 different but connected hotels under one roof.  In the Delta you can ride a riverboat around inside the hotel.  There is so much to see and do: wander around the gorgeous gardens and waterfalls, visit any of the several restaurants and shops, and we were happy to discover, enjoy some perfect cocktails.

Inside Opryland Resort at The Falls Lounge

Part of the Chihuly sculpture in the lobby of the Opryland Resort

Easter Bunny Minnie Pearl in the gardens in the Opryland Resort

Cascade Falls

Whenever we told anyone we were going to Nashville, they said, "You have to go to the Grand Ole Opry."  So we did :-).  As is often the case, weren't familiar with all the performers on the bill.  But we sure knew the last one - the Charlie Daniel's Band.  I really enjoyed Pam Tillis also.  I was very surprised to find out that the Grand Ole Opry is still a live radio show, and every performance is going out live on 650 AM WSM Radio.

Hanging out waiting for the show to start.

Charlie Daniel's Band at the Grand Ole Opry

During our Nashville visit, we HAD to take a trip to the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, TN.  My wife is a Jack Daniel's loving whiskey girl and we had a total blast visiting the town and the distillery.  It's not in Nashville, but it was part of our "Nashville Experience".  

Book your tour ahead of time, they fill up fast!

Carol hanging out on a bench in downtown Lynchburg with the man himself.

The cherry on top of the Nashville sundae, was the Listening Room Cafe.  This is a venue featuring singer/songwriters who perform during dinner - dinner and a show.  The expectation is that the audience is quiet and "listen" to the show and purchase at least $15/person of food/drinks.  We had no problem meeting those expectations 😉.

Each night (except Sunday) there are two shows with different line ups.

The stage

The performers are all on stage together and alternate turns singing. 

Alex Smith - my personal favorite of the night.

This was the perfect way to end our trip to Nashville.  We enjoyed the personal storytelling both that the artists did explaining the background of the song they were about to sing, and in the songs themselves.  After all, all you need is three chords and a story.