NashVegas

We went.  We saw.  We loved it.  It was a total blast with the two best tour guides ever.  The food, the fun, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry(GOO)--what more could a gal ask for, anyway.  Oh, yeah....Rascal Flatts.  That. I guess I could have asked them to give a big rats rear end about their performance because they clearly didn't.  They sang five songs and only one really sounded like them.  The other songs?  They just phoned 'um in.  Guess that's what happens when you get so famous that the Grand Ole Opry stage becomes hum drum to you on a Tuesday night, and I just happen to be in town.  Their energy just wasn't there.  Flatt(s) is right because they sure were.  They didn't seem linked up, nor did they seem to really care.  Oh, well.  I guess everybody can have an off night and thanks, fellas, for blowing on my night to visit. It's always all about me, isn't it???

Since the CMT awards had been a few days before we arrived, we got to see what remained--the big white tents, beautiful hanging baskets all over downtown, and similar promotional stuff.  (If I see another Carrie Underwood billboard promoting her current tour that just started, I swanny I will up and move to Oklahoma.)  I did enjoy seeing her costume display in the Country Music Hall of Fame dubbed the "Hi-low" collection by Andrea.  High (short) in the front, low (long) in the back, these were some dark and twisty dresses.....whoa.  All black and Goth, these were just not what I think of when I think of Carrie Underwood, but then this right after American Idol so maybe she's grown since then.  And gotten a stylist.

Bruce and I went to tour the Hermitage Museum (Andrew Jackson's home) on Wednesday morning before we left, and may I just say the humidity was so thick I thought I was in Louisiana......I kept thinking there had to be a swamp nearby for it to be that thick and goopy outside, though I never actually saw one.

 Bruce would have stayed for hours (days) reading and taking it all in, but by then I'd have died of a heat stroke, so we agreed on the abbreviated tour version.  Two showers before noon was not part of yesterday's itinerary and we both would have needed one if we'd done the s-l-o-w version.  If you've seen the Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville, you've essentially seen Andrew's, too, so save your dough and just do one.  I liked Belle Meade better anyhow.  That's it here.

Last but not least, there's the Grand Ole Opry  and I just have to say I never expected it to be right next to a giant shopping Mall(???)  I was expecting sort of a barn looking place that was all Minnie Pearled up...you know what I mean...all honkey- tonked up and old.  I had no idea there was a new and improved GOO, with jumbo TV's such that there's hardly a bad seat in the house.  Makes sense though.  With that kind of a cash cow you can't afford too get to kitschy.  Say what you will but John Q. American definitely wants his money's worth.  Andrea told us the wood circle in the middle of the stage is a cut out from the old GOO stage, so when you stand there to sing, it's the real deal--part of the old and it's history in the new building.  Thank you, bathroom trivia. (There's a TV in the bathroom with GOO trivia to keep you entertained while you wait.)

Nothing like a trip out of town to breathe some much needed life back into your world.  Stay tuned.  I have lots more to gab about.