I decided the best way to do these posts was in keeping with the mainly photos theme. Saturday was a bit of a slower day for us as we had plans to attend the Grand Ole Opry that evening.
After a quick breakfast at the hotel supplemented with our Trader Joe’s fruit, we started out. Our first stop ended up being one of my favorites (and it was free!).
The Dukes of Hazzard Museum
I spent a good part of the 70’s watching this show. I know there was some controversy at some point recently over the Confederate images but as a girl watching the show, I wasn’t worried about the images. Spent more time fighting with friends over who my imaginary boyfriend was going to be, Bo or Luke Duke. After all, they were just good ol’ boys, never meaning no harm…
And seriously, we all wanted to be Daisy Duke, did we not?
I really wish, I’d have went ahead and coughed up the $10 to have my picture taken in the General Lee. Maybe next time. Moving on…
Our primary day stop…
Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center
It was beautiful but super busy to the point I was very glad we weren’t staying there.
These images are all from inside the hotel! There was actually an app for people staying there to download so they could find their way around the hotel. And you could take a little boat ride around the indoor river river. We decided to pass on that idea. I had a photo of the boat but unfortunately, it came out too blurry to share here.
After walking around inside the hotel, we walked back across the street to the local mall where we’d parked the car (for free!). Opted to eat inside the mall. Not our best decision. We were rather unimpressed with the Johnny Rockets in there.
However, it was nice to see a shopping mall that was thriving. We walked around there a bit, I bought some cupcakes from a place called Molly’s Cupcakes that was famous for being on cupcake wars (turned out to be a chain/franchise with the original location in Chicago, I think). The cupcakes were good but not earth shattering, I’d not go out of my way to get them again.
After relaxing back at our hotel for a bit, we made our way back to the same area for the big event of our trip.
The Grand Ole Opry
Not a lot of photos to share here as I opted to enjoy the experience more than take photos. We got there a bit early and had a look around the gift shop and then had drinks outside while waiting to go inside. Our seats were up kind of high but not terribly high, it was interesting to watch the sighs and looks of disbelief of some people who were up higher than we were. Each show lasts about two hours and features several different singers/bands. 
We planned our trip to be there when Carrie Underwood performed and why we went a week ahead of our actual 25th wedding anniversary. She was the last one on stage and sang 3 songs, there were several other performers there as well. I bought an limited edition poster after the show. My plan is to get it framed sometime soon.
It was a fun time and I’m glad we went. I’m still a bit on the fence about whether I’d rather just see a full concert from one singer or this type of format. Fun seeing so many people at the same time and yet, I wanted to hear more than just 2 or 3 songs from quite a few of the performers.
Which would you prefer?
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I’ll share about our last full day in Nashville soon.
I am so glad you enjoyed your trip. We live just three hrs from Nashville.
Oh, that’s exciting. We really did enjoy the trip, my husband really liked the Grand Ole Opry and was even saying over the weekend how he’d like to go back and see another show there.
So good you opted to enjoy the experience more than take photos. I prefer short performances. If it’s not beautiful, it’s quickly over. Thank you for sharing these beautiful things. What a hotel, what a garden!
Oh, that’s a good way to look at it. My husband really enjoyed the shorter performance format and I think we might try to go to it again sometime. That hotel was amazing but oh, I would not like to stay there with all those people and then, people like us just coming in to look around it.