Our spring buying show was in Nashville, TN this year. I love it when the show is in an interesting place and we can wrap a trip around it.
We went with two good friends and met two good friends there. It was held in the Opryland hotel. The hotel covers over 41 acres and includes a river and waterfalls, under a glass ceiling. There are restaurants and bars and shops and a boat that takes you on the river. It is a delightful place. We had a wonderful convention and such a great time with good friends.
One of the reasons is was such a good experience, is that we all embraced the "group mentality". Group mentality, for me, is a challenging place to be. I think it is really challenging when everyone has to give up their individual control to the group. We had a group of six, and the leader changed with the situation. We all met every group challenge with laughter. In my experience, it is rare to be in that group.
One evening we went to the Grand Ole Opry. It was held in the old Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville. The show was traditional and had it's good acts. The cast is elderly but the guest artists vary. It was fun to be there. We had been there once before, years ago. Some of the same cast members were performing. It seemed like we were experiencing a little piece of history.
We spent a day at the
Hermitage, which was the home of Andrew Jackson. It is a beautifully
preserved home. It even has the original wallpaper on the walls. I was
impressed with the honest way that they treated the history of slavery. I really like it when history is not revised.
We ate at a lot of nice restaurants. The specialty of the state is catfish. We did not partake. I am just not really good at the "bottom feeder" thing. We did eat a lot of fried food, chicken, hush puppies, etc. My gall bladder was screaming by the end of the week!
We decided to drive the Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail to Memphis. We drove over 100 miles on the road. Beautiful road, wonderful scenery, great hiking trails. No restaurants! We lived on trail mix and snacks that day!!
Memphis has Graceland and Beale Street. Not much else from what I saw.
Beale Street is the home of the blues. It is a couple of blocks of honky tonks. Loud music. Lots of booze. Strange people. We took some pics and left. Just not our kind of place.
We spent the next day at the Shiloh Battlefield. It is a big place. So many lives lost. (Over 26,000 total.) The battlefield is very close to what is was 150 years ago. It just reinforced in me how much I have always hated war. I was in college in the Vietnam war era and I have never changed my opinion.
Our last day, we went to Lynchburg to tour the Jack Daniels distillery. Ironically, it is in a dry county where no alcohol can be served. It was an interesting tour. I learned a lot about whiskey.
Jack on the rocks!
I sometimes forget how much water there is back east. We were around waterfalls, big rivers, swamps and a lot of creeks. I loved it, but it reinforced in me how much I love the big sky and vast emptiness of Arizona.
Tennessee River
No comments:
Post a Comment