Vacation

Our Vacation June '11

We go to Branson usually every year, but this time we decided to go to Nashville, too. To get to Nashville we went through Cairo, Illinois. The bridge was out in Cairo and it looked as if we might have to travel farther into Illinois, but we found another bridge and crossed the still swollen Mississippi.
We got tickets for the ever popular fanfare in Nashville. This is from our perch at LP Field, the home of the Titans. The Issacs opened the show with the National Anthem. We had actually seen the Issacs in Temple. They are fantastic.

First group... Zac Brown Band. They teamed with Randy Travis to sing "Forever and Ever Amen". I couldn't get a good shot! Wonder Why?

Then Alan Jackson singing their hit together.

Next, Sara Evans. She was really good. This picture was from the Jumbo Screen!

I took some pictures of Jason Aldeen, but he was our least favorite. Soo he doesn't get in my blog. I know he is heartbroken.

About 12:00 am Brad Paisley finally takes the stage. Well as you can imagine Frankie was ready to hit the road. We caught 4 songs then headed to the parking lot. We had to park in a scrape metal business. I didn't know we would need a parking pass for this event soooo..... scrape metal it was.

The next morning we noticed several Chevelles parking around the motel. We inquired and found out a Chevelle show was at the city park. We headed out to find it. Frankie has a love for Chevelles. He had one when we married and for awhile afterwards. He sold it to Larry his nephew. So we drowled and sweated over these classics!

Finally, the long awaited Grand Ole Opry. We had talked about going here for several years.

The Inner Circle of Country Music

We saw a video showing the history of the circle and how is was nearly destroyed by the flood of '09 in Nashville. The Cumberland River is literally on the front parking lot of the Opry. So when it rained 14 in. the river flooded and flooded the Opry and surrounding mall. The mall is scheduled to open in '12, the Opry didn't miss a night. The circle was redone and you would not know there had ever been a flood.

When I tell people we saw Little Jimmy Dickens, everyone says, "He is still alive?" Yes, he is. 90 years old. And he is little!

Next up John Connally. He introduces the American Idol winners!

This was taken after both had performed and were presented their framed poster saying they had performed at the Opry.

Next, Roy Clark from Hee Haw fame. He is looking very frail. But we enjoyed seeing him.

Billy Ray Cyrus was good and he didn't sing Achy, Breaky!!!

The program said Randy Travis would be singing, but Josh Turner showed up. Randy had to be out of town. Soooooooo Josh was great!!

Sunday we drove across the Smoky Mts to Gaitlinburg, TN. I was thinking a small quaint town nestled in the mountains, not a tourist mega town. But Cooter has a small museum and it was neat. Here one of the many cars used in making the TV show Dukes of Hazzards was on displayed. It also showed how the cars were wrecked and restored.

We hadn't seen rain in several months, so when a rain shower surprised us I had to get a picture.

We were absolutely swept away at the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. We had a wonderful trip. 10 days and 12 states. We came back through the south, but we were in overdrive. I got a few pictures but none that good.