Tuesday was our last day in Nashville, and our only plans were to go to the Grand Ole Opry ticket window to pick up our tickets to the show tonight which I reserved on line back in May.
The only problem was in finding the Opry House, after getting it confused with the Event Center at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center!! We also walked around the Opry grounds and took some pictures because we thought it would be much less crowded than before or after show time!
After we had acquired our show tickets, we took the grandkids to the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center to show them around. I am not sure about the history of this facility, but I stayed there a couple of times during my w@rking days and attended one convention.
Every time Patsy and I go past Nashville, we stopped and tour it. It is a very large facility, and there are large atriums between some of the hotel sections….. at least 4 atriums. It is large, (follow the URL above) and one of the atriums has a miniature version of the San Antonio Riverwalk!! So, naturally, we wanted the grandkids to see it.
Following are some pictures…….. Yeah, I know, I’ve posted a lot of pictures of the kids, but it’s their trip!!
After touring, we headed back to the Bus to eat lunch, and to get it picked up and ready to travel tomorrow, after sitting still for 4 days!
About 6:00pm, we headed back to the Grand Ole Opry hall for the show that started at 7:00pm. We had reserved seating, but wanted to get there early to enjoy the experience. The following is the lobby from the stairs…..
Our seats……….
Aubrey modeling her “Grand Ole Opry” T-shirt….. Matthew opted for a ball cap!!
The view of the hall from our seats………..
The view of the stage from our seats……. All turned out pretty good……..
The last song (being July 4th), was “God Bless America”, and people started waving the cell phone flashlight apps, and the grandkids chimed in!!
The performers that we saw were:
Jeannie Seely
Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers
John Conlee
Martin Family Circus
Riders In The Sky
Smithfield
John Cowan with Darin & Brooke Aldridge
Mandy Barnett
Overall, the Grand Ole Opry was a great experience, and the grandkids liked it!
We got out too late for the local Nashville July 4th fireworks, but as Matthew and I hooked up the car for towing the next day, and taking care of the Bus’ tanks, some older boys in the campground set off some high dollar fire works right behind our Bus!!
On Wednesday morning, we fired up the Bus, and headed out of the campground at about 8:30am and drove toward Knoxville on IH-40, and then dropped down through Pigeon Forge to Gatlinburg and close to the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains.
We drove about 250 miles, and dropped the Bus off on a K-Mart parking lot while we took the car to fight the bumper to bumper traffic. We weren’t sure about this leg of the trip, so I did not make any reservations.
Using the phone and the car to check them out, we settled on a vacancy in Gatlinburg at the “Camping in the Smokies RV Park”. We got set up at about 4:30pm, and the grandkids headed to the swimming pool to cool off!
Here’s a couple of pictures of the grandkids, pool, and our campsite in the background………..
Tomorrow, Thursday, we plan to tour Gatlinburg and then cross over the Smokey Mountain National Park highway. The route after that will be decided later tonight, after we get back from a ‘night time drive through Gatlinburg!!’
More later…………..
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