Nashville

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

We arrived in Music City last Sunday. It has been a great week, a little bit of kicking back and a little bit of being a tourist. On Tuesday we went into town. One of the difficult things when you have a big truck is finding a good place to park. John did some research and found that Lot E at LP Field (where the Tennessee Titans of the NFL play) has public parking during the week for $5 for the day. It took us a little to find the right lot but it turned out to be a good deal. We had to walk aways to get across the river to the downtown area but it was much better than having to find a place downtown where we would have paid around $30 for lots big enough for the truck. There is some street parking if you are lucky enough to snag some but we felt this worked much better. Tuesday it threatened rain much of the day so we decided to check out the country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Our friends John and Gayle encouraged us to do the Studio B tour as part of this and though the cost is a little more I think that part was what made the day.

John outside Studio B

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is a beautiful building and we enjoyed the tour. We recognized much of even the older music. My dad loved a lot of that music and so I enjoyed hearing some of these songs I remember from my childhood. John and I have fairly eclectic music tastes and do enjoy some country music so all in all it was fun to tour. The special exhibit was on Reba. She is actually one of my favorites so needless to say I was happy.

Control Room for Studio B

At the piano Elvis liked to play in Studio B

The Studio B tour is one that takes you to the RCA records studio that was where so many of the old country stars and where Elvis recorded many of his hits. Elvis had more hits than any other artist for RCA. The studio is an old analog studio and just fascinating. They talked about how they often they only recorded one track so everyone needed to be really on. It was recorded on tape and the only way to edit was to literally cut and splice the tape.  Our guide is an aspiring country artist and she shared many stories of Elvis’ recording sessions which usually were on Sunday nights and didn’t even get started until around midnight and most of the recording done in the wee hours of the morning. It is how he liked to do it. It’s funny but as you sit in that studio, it just has a feel like he is still around. 

Wednesday we just kicked back and Thursday was spent doing errands. We found the local Costco and stocked up on a couple things. We were slow to join but I have to say the more I learn about this company the more I like it and we are trying to be very smart about how we shop there and it seems to be working and is saving us some bucks. I also found a yarn shop near Costco called Haus of Yarn. It is a wonderful shop with an amazing selection of yarn. I was looking for specific types of yarn for two Christmas presents and they were so helpful, even invited me to knit night that night. I so enjoy finding these shops and meeting other knitters, on whole they are just very nice people who invite you to join in which just makes me happy. The park we are at is really too far away for me to be able to take advantage but I am hoping when I get to our winter digs I can find a shop like this.

Early county music band.

Now this is cooking over a campfire

John pulls up to the bar

WWII memorial

These columns were playing beautiful music

Friday we decided to go back downtown. This time we wanted to just do more exploring and see the capitol and Centennial Park. It was a combo walking workout and touring. When we got to the park we stopped at the visitor center and found out they were having a history fest in the park. There were displays from the frontier days, civil war days thru about WWII. We knew something was going on because we heard the canons earlier from the capital. There weren’t too many people there and we enjoyed walking through. A couple things from the park we enjoyed were the memorial fountain at the WWII memorial. It is a globe that rotates in the water and it shows where all the Tennessee troops fought during the war. Then at the end of the park

from the end of the park looking back to the capital

are these columns that are actually part of a chimes set. You can see where they can go in and play them, like the church bells we often hear. The chimes were playing and it was beautiful, from that spot you turn around and it is a wonderful view of the capital up on the hill.

Pedal Tavern, interesting idea

 From there we walked and climbed back up the capital hill and on to the District down on Broadway and 2nd Street where all the honky-tonks and restaurants are. We decided we wanted to visit the Rock Bottom Brewery for our lunch/dinner. We were able to be seated outside and enjoy the beautiful weather and do some people watching. The place was definitely buzzing a lot more than when we were here on Tuesday. The beer was great and the food pretty good. We sat and enjoyed watching all the people. There were quite a few bachelorette groups walking around. They have a bicycled moving tavern that we have seen a couple other places  but these were extra busy here. This area of town is a hoppin’ place on the weekends. There is so much good music going on too, just about every establishment has live music and they are all very good. Even the street musicians are amazing. 

The beer was so good i drank it all. :)

We enjoyed the week but are ready to move on. Tomorrow we are moving to Seiverville near the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. This is peak leaf season so I called and made a reservation for 4 nights. The weather is suppose to be cooler but dry. Looking forward to doing some hiking. My friend Trudy has been here many times so has clued us into some hikes. Not sure where to after that but I have a couple ideas. I keep watching the weather as we are still in hurricane season even though it is winding down and so far so good. No matter where, it is all new territory for us so we are looking forward to it.

Happy Trails....................