Baby Moon #2: Nashville

(I don't know why blogger is leaving all this extra space - annoying)

Gabe and I made the decision that we wanted to use some of our tax refund money to take a second baby-moon before #2 gets here in July. So after much research and a few wild ideas, we ended up deciding on Nashville, TN. I figured it was a good distance that was driveable, but not so long that I would be terribly uncomfortable. Plus it was south, which means warmer, and I always love that.

So we headed off last Tuesday after dropping Caleb at my parents house along the way. This was the longest amount of time we've ever left him and I'm proud to say that Caleb and his parents did just fine with the distance. It's amazing how much time you can save by not getting a kid out of a carseat 15 times a day - luxurious, I tell you!

Off we went after lunch on Tuesday. Along the way, we had to pass Benton, IL which holds some bad memories. We held our breath as we drove past hoping we would never need to stop there again. We soon found ourselves faced with a dilemma - stop in Metropolis and see the giant statue of Superman or keep chugging along. Well, if you know us, you know what we did.

We arrived at the Hyatt Place on Music Valley Drive with enough time to call Caleb to tell him goodnight and run to the Bob Evans before they closed to catch a late dinner. We spent the rest of the night planning out our week. The hotel was nice, but definitely the strangest place I've ever stayed. The location was exactly what we wanted however, so that was nice. We checked in at a kiosk rather than a front desk (which isn't bad, just different). The room was roomy with a king bed and a nice living room area and flat screen TV. I wouldn't say it was the cleanest room I've ever been in, but I'm uber-OCD when it comes to cleanliness so I'm not sure any hotel would have passed the test. If you ever go to Nashville and want to know about hotels, I can give you the full report - I'll spare the rest of you.

The next day we got up and went to check out what we could find on Music Valley Drive. For those Dukes of Hazzard enthusiasts out there, we did stop at the "Cooters Museum". This one is lost on me because I've never seen a single episode, but it was apparently nostalgic for Gabe.

We also hit a discount boot store and Ernest Tubb's Record Store - both totally worthy of our time being in Nashville. I mean, how else would I get this awesome pic:

Then we headed out to make Wednesday our historical day of the vacation. We ate a dive called Fat Mo's for lunch (yummy of course, because almost anythign that is a dive has great food) and then headed to the Hermitage (the home of President Andrew Jackson) for a tour. Right as we got there the heavens opened and it started to pour. We spent some time in the gift shop and then finally decided we were just going to wing it. By the time we got out of the pre-tour movie, the sun was shining again. It was a great tour and I took some fun photos. I'd like to say that I made it through the whole tour, but I couldn't make it around he grounds. By the time we made it through the gardens, I told Gabe to go on ahead to check out the cabins further out on the property. I was exhausted.

We went back to the hotel to rest my weary legs and then attempted to find some good ole bbq for dinner. We found a place called Mary's that sounded perfect, but when we got there we were clearly not where we were supposed to be if you know what I mean. So we settled for some good fried food at another restaurant closer to our hotel.

The next day was Downtown Nashville. We started with trying to find parking downtown, which wasn't necessarily hard, but we ended up in the strangest and probably most dangerous parking garage we could have found. Dangerous in terms of parking hazards, not hoodlums. Yikes! But you get what you pay for! We then went to the historic Ryman Auditorium. This is where the Grand Ole Opry was housed before it was relocated to the building it is currently in today.

This was a really great tour and a beautiful building. We weren't allowed to the backstage tour that day because they were taping the finale of the "The Next Big Star", which is basically CMT's American Idol. I don't know anyone who cares, but it's cool to think that I know who the two finalists are. Gabe and I stayed to listen and we know which one we would pick.

After the Ryman we had a very late lunch followed by walking by a few of the landmark places on 2nd avenue (Wildhorse Saloon, Coyote Ugly....Charlie Daniels Museum). Then our plan was to check out the Country Music Hall of Fame. We walked there, but by the time we finally got there we only had 1 hour to tour and I was totally spent. I feel a little bad we didn't make it there amongst our stops in Nashville, but I literally would have needed some motorized transportation to make it through. We found dinner and then headed to Belmont University's campus for a night of comedy. We saw an improv comedy troupe from Northwestern. They were pretty good and I was thrilled that we weren't the oldest people there. :) That only lasted an hour, so we found a movie theater and went to see a movie at 9:45pm (I know, we're such rebels!)

The next day was our last official day there, so we wanted to make the most of it. Our hotel was right across the street from the Gaylord Opryland Resort, so we knew we had to check it out. I've been there before when I was 11, but I just remember it being huge and that my sister and I got lost on our way to mail a letter at the front desk. It's as big as I remember if not bigger and I know they've made renovations since the flood they had in May.

Our last stop of the vacation was the Grand Ole Opry. We weren't going to do it. When doing our research for this vacation, we saw that the headliner was Pam Tilles. I knew who she was, but wasn't so sure I wanted to spend money on seeing her. But apparently the venue at the GOO is set up differently. A few days before the event is when they plan their line-up (basically, whomever is in town and wants to come and play will be on the program). Right before we left we found Diamond Rio was one of the acts. That solidified it for us - we love Diamond Rio. We don't listen to a ton of country, but we do like them a lot. So we got tickets and I'm so glad we did! Each half hour has a host and then two acts and they each sing two songs. And they do a really good job of mixing it up between the really old-time country singers, the new recruits who don't even have their first CD out, country, bluegrass, you name it. So it was a really nice mix of everything. We were one day away from seeing Carrie Underwood.

Another cool thing about the GOO is that they let you go right up to the stage and take pictures. It's really quite nice! Check out these guys (Riders in the Sky)- sweet get-ups! I especially like the guy on the far right. You probably can't tell, but his tie is actually a cactus. Classic!

When Diamond Rio came on stage, I was the first among many to flood the stage. I got some great pictures!

I took this one right after the lead singer reached down and touched my hand. I never felt more like a giggly school-girl. It was just so cool to be one of those people who reaches out their hands to a celebrity and then have them actually shake yours. I was a bit star struck.

After the show we took one final tour of the backstage of the GOO. It was pretty cool. We got to see the dressing rooms where the stars get ready, the internal post office where members of the GOO can get their mail and then they let us on stage for picture. The circle in the middle of the floor is the a remnant of the original GOO stage floor from the Ryman that they transferred to the new GOO. So that was kind of cool to stand on knowing how many other really iconic people had also stood on that stage.

We headed back to Highland the next day. We stopped in KY for lunch at Hutchin's BBQ (just so we could finally have our BBQ). I wouldn't call it as good as Lil' Porgy's in Chambana, but it was pretty good. We drove from nice weather, to rain and then into a couple of inches of snow. We knew the baby-moon was over!

We're glad to be home! We of course brought Caleb a souvenir. Every time he puts it on he says "There's a snake in my boots!"