Nashville Tennessee

Friday, September, 23^rd, 2011. I arrive at the Nashville, Tennessee International airport and my sisters are there to pick me up in my new home. This is my first view of the RV. It's a nice one with high 7' ceilings, an important feature for a family that hovers around 6' tall and more.

Off we went to dinner and I was starving. I had just had a 12 hour travel day with a single veggie sandwich from an airport vendor I'll spare you the details, but just suffice it to say that I had trouble deciphering some of those veggies! Traveling is always an adventure!

After dinner we pulled into our space at the Two Rivers RV park just around the corner from the Grand Ole Opry.

Saturday, September 24^th, we started the first day of our journey together. Remember my sisters had started this trip from San Diego, so they had already been on the road for a little over a week. First we had a very HUGE breakfast at a Cracker Barrel, then Patti decided I should drive today! Nothing like tossing me right in there! LOL Actually, I have quite a bit of experience since I've been driving our truck to shows for so many years. We drove around the Grand Ole Opry. We had looked into getting tickets for the venue there this weekend, but since it was Dolly Parton it has been completely sold out for a while. Impressive building as was the Opry hotel across the way.

Next stop was Centennial Park in Nashville, a beautiful park and right in the center is a replica of the Greek Parthenon. Since there was nowhere for us to park the RV I just pulled into the bus area and ran up the steps and down into the grass to take this photos. Pretty impressive. I would have loved to have gone inside to see everything. Like its predecessor in Greece, the Parthenon in Nashville faces east. In antiquity this would allow light to come into the building as the sun came up and the doors were opened.

Here is a close-up of some of the ornate structures on the building.

The bronze doors weight 7.5 tons each. They measure 24' high, 7' wide and 1' thick. There are two sets (4 doors total) of these enormous doors in the Parthenon. This makes them the largest set of matching bronze doors in the world. The Parthenon doors in antiquity were only slightly lighter and were wooden with a bronze overlay.

This is a close-up image of one of the decorations on the door.

I lucked out as there happened to be a craft faire happening at the park that day! How fun! There are few things I enjoy more than seeing the wares of local arts and crafts folks. But just where would I find a place to park this beast? As we drove around the circular drive of the park I just happened upon about 4 parallel parking spaces really close to the faire. They were right next to a large mud puddle so I think most folks avoided them. They were perfect for me! Patti napped and Kathy and I walked around the faire.

After this we drove over to see the Belle Meade Plantation. A 30 acre historic site 6 miles west of Nashville. The centerpiece of the property is the Belle Meade mansion built in 1853.                           

I spotted this sundial on the massive lawn in front of the estate. And over the side are the old dairy building (that they now store cases of wine in) and one of the slave quarters in the background.              And this is a replica of an old cabin on the plantation. From there we drove to the Belmont Mansion. Belmont Mansion is the largest house museum in Tennessee and one of the few nineteenth century homes whose history revolves around the life of a woman: Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham. To end our evening we went to the Nashville Nightlife Dinner Theater and had a buffet of overcook veggies drenched in butter, fried chicken, meatballs in a mushroom gravy, something smothered in BBQ sauce and Nilla Wafer pudding! All while watching past their prime country singers. This image of a stunning willow tree in Centennial Park is for Shawn.  Look how beautiful it is! Today we head to Knoxville for a quick visit with an old family friend. Then we're On The Road Again.....