Roller Coaster Road Trip 2014: Nashville, Part I: The District

The last we left off on our Roller Coaster Road Trip 2014 we had just visited the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center.  It was our first day in Nashville and this was one of the non-coaster places I was most excited to visit.  By the time we'd left the Opryland area, which was about 10-15 minutes outside of the city, it was already mid-afternoon.  The rest of the evening and the next two full days we had the city of Nashville to explore.  Though it was a great place for a visit, I have to say there were elements of the city that left me a little disappointed...

  

Now please don't get me wrong, I loved Nashville.  It is a place steeped in a rich history intertwined with country music.  The city is beautiful and clean and there are plenty of tourist sites, restaurants and shops to whet anyone's appetite, but the place is full of loud honky tonks, which produce a lot of drunks, who are at it at all hours of the day.  I couldn't help but think that this is what New Orleans must be like.  Check out some of the things that we experienced in Nashville, starting with an area called The District...

The District

The District is where all the action is in Nashville.  For a two to three-block stretch, this very crowded street is home to an assortment of honky tonks, restaurants, souvenir shops, record stores, etc.  It is here where most of the drunken monkeys assemble, either whooping it up to the music of a country-cover band in a bar, riding these crazy bar-bicycles (see picture below) up and down the crowded street, or just staggering around on the sidewalk.  The District is like a little piece of Manhattan in the heart of Nashville, where the action is seemingly 24/7, and where wanna-be musicians line the streets on both sides, playing their wares for money and hoping to get discovered as the next big thing in country music.

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The crowds and the drunks that frequent the district are really the only bad things about the place. There are some great shops and restaurants to be found here, including the world-famous Ernest Tubb Record Shop and a really tempting sweet shop called Savannah's Candy Kitchen.  It was fun walking around, window shopping and taking in all the sites. Towards the end of the strip is the Cumberland River, with a nice walking bridge overlooking both sides and a huge roller coasterish sculpture perched in front of a stadium.  Luckily it was a beautiful couple of days while we were there and we got to take it all in.

  

Ernest Tubbs Record Shop

How do I look?  No, huh?

Yummiliciousness!

The Cumberland River and Downtown Nashville

Nashville at Night

As you might expect, downtown Nashville is absolutely buzzing after dark.  The restaurants on the strip, as well as the bars, are even more crowded at night than in the daytime, with long lines of people waiting for tables at some of the more popular spots.  On both nights, we dined on some succulent meals while taking in all of the buzz, and we even found a couple of really nice gay clubs a little off to the west of the main district.  

There was a point where we made a wrong turn down a place called Printer's Alley.  We'd passed it driving in the car and it looked pretty cool, a wide alleyway all lit up with overhead lights above what looked to be a nice assortment of bars.  Only when we walked over to it, the very first sign we saw was one advertising nude karaoke.  A few steps down and we realized we were in a sort of red light district, and all the bars were strip clubs.  We passed on the place and high-tailed it outta there.

So yeah, The District is an even cooler place to be at night, as you can see from the pictures above. This place isn't the only part of Nashville that's cool to see, though.  Stay tuned for more pictures and commentary on the rest of what this very cool city has to offer, and in the meantime, check out the rest of the pieces so far in this series...

Hitting the Roller Coaster Road

New States

King's Island and The Beast

The Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster

Holiday World

The Coasters of Holiday World

Louisville, Kentucky: Big Four Bridge and Waterfront Park

Zip Lining at Louisville Mega Cavern

Kentucky Kingdom and the Louisville Highlands

Weezie Tries to Stop Smoking

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Mammoth Cave National Park

Grand Ole Opry

Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center

Roller Coaster Road Trip 2014: Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center

After spending pretty much the entire morning at the Grand Ole Opry, there was one more place we had to visit before heading into the city of Nashville itself.  I admit, I wasn't too excited about it, and it was an awfully long walk on a hot day from the Opry itself to get to the other side of the parking field, where the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center stood.

Now both Rich and Eddie knew all about the place beforehand, and I think that Rich had mentioned it to me also, but it's not the type of attraction I'm ordinarily attracted to.  That being said, although there was no real "attraction" to be had, the place is a giant, beautiful, architectural work of art!  I won't say too much about it...it's basically a giant hotel, but with lush waterviews and gardens and all sorts of other types of beauty around, the looks of the place made me wish I could spend a night or two.

Check out some pictures and you'll see what I mean...

Pretty incredible, huh?  I would never go all the way to Nashville to check out the Gaylord Opry Resort, but I would definitely love to stay there!  Stay tuned for the last two posts on the Roller Coaster Road Trip 2014 coming soon.  In the meantime, check out some prior pieces...

Hitting the Roller Coaster Road

New States

King's Island and The Beast

The Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster

Holiday World

The Coasters of Holiday World

Louisville, Kentucky: Big Four Bridge and Waterfront Park

Zip Lining at Louisville Mega Cavern

Kentucky Kingdom and the Louisville Highlands

Weezie Tries to Stop Smoking

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Mammoth Cave National Park

Grand Ole Opry

Roller Coaster Road Trip 2014: The Grand Ole Opry

After our short jaunt to Mammoth Cave National Park, it was on to the next state on our trip, one which I'd never been to before but always wanted to visit.

Let's take a trip to Tennessee...find a spot by a lazy tree...

Yes, Tennessee, more specifically Nashville, was a place I'd always wanted to see.  It was actually the one destination on our itinerary that did not involve an amusement park and we were all just as excited to check it out as we were for any of the theme parks we visited. 

Since we arrived in Nashville late in the day, we decided to hold off until the morning to explore, and our first destination was Nashville's most famous of landmarks,, the Grand Ole Opry.  Now I've never been a big fan of country music, but being in Nashville and especially at the the Opry, you can't help but be excited to be there for its significance to the music world in general.   The experience was one which I'll remember for a long, long time.  

*Just an FYI for anyone out there thinking of visiting Nashville and the Opry...the place is not actually within the limits of Nashville proper, but about a 20-minute drive outside of the city.

It was Rich's idea to book the backstage tour.  His sister, mom and niece had done it a couple of years ago and they told him how good it was.  And it was probably the best introduction to all the history that is the Opry and country music itself that we could have had.

We booked our tour for 11:30 a.m. and waited around for about a half-hour, checking out the gift shop and surrounding area, which included a shopping mall and the Gaylord Opryland Hotel (stay tuned...).  While we waited, there was this nice local girl working a lunch menu from the entrance to the tour, and I asked her about something I'd been noticing ever since we had arrived in Tennessee.

Practically everywhere we went, there was this sign in the front window indicating "no handguns allowed."  I though it was odd, and since the girl was so friendly I thought I'd ask her about it...

Do that many people really carry around guns?

Well, no, not around here in Nashville, but yeah, in the surrounding areas.  Sure. 

Coming from New York, where we probably have more reason to carry a gun than anywhere else, but don't, this was a little disconcerting.  Wait a second, we were in the Bible Belt!  (Things that make ya go hmmmmm!!!!)

Back to the Opry...

Anyway, that half an hour went by quickly and before you knew it, we were in an anteroom getting our introduction, via video, from country music superstar and Opry member Blake Shelton.  Once the video intro was complete, it was time for our tour.  I actually got goosebumps as we walked by the backstage door where the singer's enter the Opry, all of the dressing rooms and the lounge.  We saw the front desk and the wall where all of the Opry's members were posted in little gold plates.  We got to see the sound stage where the show Nashville is often filmed, and all of the stars' personal mailboxes.  The whole thing was hella cool!

The piece die resistance, though, had to be the stage itself.  This was the culminating stop on the tour, the place where so many great country artists have performed, from Dolly Parton to Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Garth Brooks and so many more.  We even got to stand on this famous little wooden circle, that has been a part of the Opry stage since its inception, the very spot where all of the greats stood and sang their hearts out over the past almost 90 years.  Now that's history! 

  

The Grand Ole Opry is a must if you ever get to Nashville, and if you're really into country music, catch a live show (yes, they still happen all the time!) in addition to the backstage tour.  You don't have to be a country music fan to really, really enjoy it.

Stay tuned for some more places we visited on our Roller Coaster Road Trip 2014.

  

Meanwhile check out some more pictures from the Grand Ole Opry and also my previous entries on our road trip:

Hitting the Roller Coaster Road

New States

King's Island and The Beast

The Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster

Holiday World

The Coasters of Holiday World

Louisville, Kentucky: Big Four Bridge and Waterfront Park

Zip Lining at Louisville Mega Cavern

Kentucky Kingdom and the Louisville Highlands

Weezie Tries to Stop Smoking

The Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Mammoth Cave National Park