Music City, Crazy Town, whatever you want to call it, Nashville is an awesome place full of history, Southern Charm and a lot of Country Music! From March 21 - 24 I attended the Southeast Tourism Society's Spring Conference in Nashville, TN. I had never been to Nashville before so I was really looking forward to this trip, not to mention I would get to spend my birthday (March 23) there too. I wasn't sure how much of Nashville I would actually get to see and experience but it turned out I was able to see a good bit. Mom was able to go with me for a few days so it was really nice to have her with me. We arrived Sunday in the pooring rain, not to mention the drive took an hour longer due to a sink hole that swallowed up the North bound lanes of Interstate 65 near Decatur. After we arrived at our hotel the rain finally quit and Mom and I went downtown Nashville, to Broadway St. and ate dinner at Big River. It was a nice restaurant and had really good food. After dinner we walked around downtown, but since it was Sunday all the stores were closing down for the night. We were tired so we went back to the hotel and rested up for the next day. Monday morning we signed up to take a tour of Nashville. Well, this tour was not quit what we expected. What we expected was to see a few sites around Nashville and get out and take a look around. Well, what we got was a two hour tour of celebrity homes, which was quite neat to see all of their houses, but after riding on a school bus for two hours wasn't quite as fun as you might think. Then, we pull in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame, thinking we were going to take a tour. Not! We were taking a potty break and then we got back on the bus, the bus, by the way, was painted camoflage and had 'Redneck Comedy Tour' written across the side and the inside had astroterf on the floors and boxers and giant bras hanging from a clothes line across the racks. The second part of our tour was spent with our new tour guides who were "cousins" that proceeded to make us all Redneck Certified by the end of our trip. The funny thing was,
everyone on the bus was from the Southeast so most of us were already qualified. We spent another two hours driving around Nashville while our guides pointed out some of the historic sites along the way. All in all the tour was interesting but not something Mom and I will ever do again. After the tour I had a few hours until the Conference began so Mom and I
decided to take a tour of the Ryman Auditorium, aka the Grand
Ol Opry. We did the self-guided tour as well as the back stage tour. The Ryman Auditorium is full of history and grandeur. It was so neat to be able to stand in the place where so many famous country music legends had once performed. Okay, here is a little history lesson. The Ryman Auditorium was once a church but started allowing entertainment acts to perform there. The Grand Ol Opry started in a radio studio but outgrew that space and moved to the Ryman permanently until the 1970s I believe. After that it moved to several locations until it is at it's current location which I'll get to in a little while. But, the Grand Ol Opry is still in existence today and is currently the longest running radio show ever! Pretty cool. Okay, history lesson over for now. Later that afternoon my conference started, and if you're wondering I did actually attend the conference and learn alot. I also met a lot of really cool and fun people as well. That night the conference had a reception and dinner at The Parthenon in Nashville. This is a replica of the Parthenon in Greece. It was an amazing building and such a unique setting for the evening. After the reception we all went to several of the bars downtown to listen to the loca artist sing and play. There were so many talented people there it was hard to find a favorite. But we enjoyed them all and had a blast, even Mom went out with us for a while. I was very proud of her. The next day, Tuesday, was my birthday! I was expecting it to be fairly uneventful. I spent the entire day in the conference. After the conference was over for the day all the attendees attended a reception and mixed and mingled. I was chatting with a couple of people who were going to the Grand Ol Opry later that night (I was secretly jealous) They started to leave to load their bus for the Opry when one of the guys came over and said "Aren't you going?" I had no clue what he was talking about. He said "to the Opry." I asked him how much and he said it wouldn't cost me anything and there was a bus out front waiting to take the group. I then asked
him who was playing and he said Trace Atkins! My response was "Where's the bus?" I found out later that this guy was attending the conference from California and decided to purchas two dozen tickets and a bus and whoever the first 24 people where that wanted to go to the Opry were the lucky ones! I was certainly lucky and excited. So we all loaded the bus and headed to the Opry! The show consisted of Little Jimmy Dickens, Connie Smith, Jack Green, Trace Atkins, Glorianna, Joey and Rory and Luke Bryan! Amazing!! Needless to say this was one of the best birthdays ever. I was able to hang out and get to know a lot of wonderful people from all over the country while enjoying a great country concert at a legendary venue (the new Grand Ole Opry of course). Wednesday the conference wrapped up and I headed home, but I can't wait to get back to Nashville. There is so much more to see and do there and I don't know that I will ever have enough time for it all. If you've never been to Nashville I highly recommend it and hope you have as great of a time as I did!
Music City, Crazy Town, whatever you want to call it, Nashville is an awesome place full of history, Southern Charm and a lot of Country Music! From March 21 - 24 I attended the Southeast Tourism Society's Spring Conference in Nashville, TN. I had never been to Nashville before so I was really looking forward to this trip, not to mention I would get to spend my birthday (March 23) there too. I wasn't sure how much of Nashville I would actually get to see and experience but it turned out I was able to see a good bit. Mom was able to go with me for a few days so it was really nice to have her with me. We arrived Sunday in the pooring rain, not to mention the drive took an hour longer due to a sink hole that swallowed up the North bound lanes of Interstate 65 near Decatur. After we arrived at our hotel the rain finally quit and Mom and I went downtown Nashville, to Broadway St. and ate dinner at Big River. It was a nice restaurant and had really good food. After dinner we walked around downtown, but since it was Sunday all the stores were closing down for the night. We were tired so we went back to the hotel and rested up for the next day. Monday morning we signed up to take a tour of Nashville. Well, this tour was not quit what we expected. What we expected was to see a few sites around Nashville and get out and take a look around. Well, what we got was a two hour tour of celebrity homes, which was quite neat to see all of their houses, but after riding on a school bus for two hours wasn't quite as fun as you might think. Then, we pull in front of the Country Music Hall of Fame, thinking we were going to take a tour. Not! We were taking a potty break and then we got back on the bus, the bus, by the way, was painted camoflage and had 'Redneck Comedy Tour' written across the side and the inside had astroterf on the floors and boxers and giant bras hanging from a clothes line across the racks. The second part of our tour was spent with our new tour guides who were "cousins" that proceeded to make us all Redneck Certified by the end of our trip. The funny thing was, 
everyone on the bus was from the Southeast so most of us were already qualified. We spent another two hours driving around Nashville while our guides pointed out some of the historic sites along the way. All in all the tour was interesting but not something Mom and I will ever do again. After the tour I had a few hours until the Conference began so Mom and I 
decided to take a tour of the Ryman Auditorium, aka the Grand 
Ol Opry. We did the self-guided tour as well as the back stage tour. The Ryman Auditorium is full of history and grandeur. It was so neat to be able to stand in the place where so many famous country music legends had once performed. Okay, here is a little history lesson. The Ryman Auditorium was once a church but started allowing entertainment acts to perform there. The Grand Ol Opry started in a radio studio but outgrew that space and moved to the Ryman permanently until the 1970s I believe. After that it moved to several locations until it is at it's current location which I'll get to in a little while. But, the Grand Ol Opry is still in existence today and is currently the longest running radio show ever! Pretty cool. Okay, history lesson over for now. Later that afternoon my conference started, and if you're wondering I did actually attend the conference and learn alot. I also met a lot of really cool and fun people as well. That night the conference had a reception and dinner at The Parthenon in Nashville. This is a replica of the Parthenon in Greece. It was an amazing building and such a unique setting for the evening. After the reception we all went to several of the bars downtown to listen to the loca artist sing and play. There were so many talented people there it was hard to find a favorite. But we enjoyed them all and had a blast, even Mom went out with us for a while. I was very proud of her. The next day, Tuesday, was my birthday! I was expecting it to be fairly uneventful. I spent the entire day in the conference. After the conference was over for the day all the attendees attended a reception and mixed and mingled. I was chatting with a couple of people who were going to the Grand Ol Opry later that night (I was secretly jealous) They started to leave to load their bus for the Opry when one of the guys came over and said "Aren't you going?" I had no clue what he was talking about. He said "to the Opry." I asked him how much and he said it wouldn't cost me anything and there was a bus out front waiting to take the group. I then asked 
him who was playing and he said Trace Atkins! My response was "Where's the bus?" I found out later that this guy was attending the conference from California and decided to purchas two dozen tickets and a bus and whoever the first 24 people where that wanted to go to the Opry were the lucky ones! I was certainly lucky and excited. So we all loaded the bus and headed to the Opry! The show consisted of Little Jimmy Dickens, Connie Smith, Jack Green, Trace Atkins, Glorianna, Joey and Rory and Luke Bryan! Amazing!! Needless to say this was one of the best birthdays ever. I was able to hang out and get to know a lot of wonderful people from all over the country while enjoying a great country concert at a legendary venue (the new Grand Ole Opry of course). Wednesday the conference wrapped up and I headed home, but I can't wait to get back to Nashville. There is so much more to see and do there and I don't know that I will ever have enough time for it all. If you've never been to Nashville I highly recommend it and hope you have as great of a time as I did!
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