Still in Nashville

The weather back home is not letting up, more snow passing through, so we have decided to spend another week here in the Nashville area.

The fruit trees are in full bloom here.

On Wednesday 4-1-2009 we went downtown and visited a couple of tourist sites. The first was the Parthenon which was originally built for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition.

  

This is a full size replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Look at that clear blue sky. That is something we have not seen much of during the last week.

Here is Sandy walking between the building and the columns.

This is the ceiling area above where Sandy was walking.

A Gargoyle located on one of the corners of the Parthenon.

This statue is a 42 foot re-creation of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill.

 

While in the park area, this bird was sitting in a Magnolia tree and just singing up a storm. I should have put my camera on the movie mode and captured a few minutes of it's joyful singing.

The park also had a large flower bed of tulips and pansies.

 

A two-tone Tulip.

After leaving the Parthenon we went to the downtown Nashville area.

I hope Sandy’s Mom doesn’t get too jealous, as she is a big Elvis fan.

We also visited the Ryman Auditorium which was the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1944 until 1975. This is the new entrance on the east side of the building.

This view is of the original west entrance when it was built as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892.

Inside there were displays of entertainers that had performed there over the years. Here are a couple photos of one of our favorites, Marty Robbins. Sandy had the good fortune of seeing him perform at the old Carleton Theater in Bloomington, MN just two months before he passed away.

On Thursday we went on a trip to Bowling Green, KY to visit the National Corvette Museum (NCM). In the past we have owned 3 Corvettes, a new 1977, a new 1980 and a used 1985. We drove up US 31W rather then I-65. The nice part of driving on the back roads is that you can make a quick U-turn and go back and look at something you just passed. Like, in this case, Octagon Hall.

And on the back roads you still get to where you were going, maybe a little later, but there non-the-less.

  

The museum is going thru a major remodeling so things were a bit disorderly, but will look modernistic when done. Normally you can go on factory tours, but they were shut done for two weeks so there were no tours, maybe next year. The NCM is not part of GM, but rather a privately owned and funded organization. 

Even the ladies bathroom is decked out.

These cars are waiting for their buyers to pick them up. Corvette has a plan where for a mere $350 you can come to Bowling Green and pick up your car here at the NCM.

This was the start of the Corvette legacy.

And this is the latest Corvette available. This ZR1 costs about double the standard Corvette. This 2009 Corvette ZR1 starts at $103,300. It has a 6.2 liter engine that produces 638 HP. I can remember when we were ecstatic when the Chevy 283 CI engine made 283 HP in 1957. The ZR1 will hit 205mph. Other numbers include 0-60 in 3.4 seconds and a 1/4 mile time of 11.3 seconds at 131mph. This car is the second from this end of the cars waiting for their owners.

John, did Pat buy this for your retirement gift?

When we got back to Nashville there was a severe storm approaching. We ended up with 1.61 inches of rain in about 3 hours and one tornado that touched down about 15 miles SE of us. We have more rain approaching, but without the severe weather. We know which is the worst between blizzards and tornados, but we are having a hard time getting back to the cold.

Because we ended up staying longer, we were able to find a night that we could go to the Grand Ole Opry and see some entertainers that we liked. This was probably the best group we have seen here. Diamond Rio, Jimmy C. Newman (Cajun), Jean Shepard, Del McCoury Band (Bluegrass), Jimmy Dickens, Connie Smith, Suzy Bogguss, Mike Snider, Aaron Tippin, Ricky Scaggs, Riders In The Sky and the Whites.

Grand Ole Opry House.

The Diamond Rio Band.

Suzy Bogguss.

The Riders In The Sky. (Sons of the Pioneers type of music)

On Saturday , our friends Dale and Mary, and  Paul and Jane, stopped in Nashville to wait out the snow storms that are going through the Midwest. They have spent the last 3 months in Ft. Meyer's, FL. It looks like they are going to spend at least a couple of days here until the weather improves. They decided to take in the late, 9:30 PM, show at the Opry and they had some 2 for 1 coupons so we decided to go along. But first it was supper at the Santa Fe Steakhouse for food and talk. The steaks, pork chops and hamburgers were excellent but the ribs were mediocre.The , of course, conversation was also excellent. We had some time before the show started so we went through the Opry Museum. The museum was packed with memorabilia of many Opry stars. Too bad we didn't know about it sooner because we had to get to the show. Next time we'll have to finish touring it. Then it was off to the show. There were a few new entertainers from last night.  They were Stonewall Jackson, Jeannie Seely, Bobby Osborne & the Rocky Top X-Press (Bluegrass), the Opry Square Dancers, Bill Anderson, Jim Ed Brown and Michael Martin Murphey. The show was OK, but not as good as last night. I’m sure not used to being out that late and getting to bed after midnight.

Paul, Mary, Sandy, Jane, Dave and Dale

Joe Diffie

Bill Anderson

Today, Tuesday the 7th, we are leaving for Elkhart, IN to look at some recliners for the motorhome. The weather has finally cleared off enough for us to make a break for it. Hopefully we will be back home by the weekend.

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy

Nashville

Today we spent about 2 ½ hours driving to Nashville, TN. Here are a few photos on the road.

It rained all day, not real heavy but rain non-the-less.

We met two Amish carriages outside of Lawrenceburg, TN. It didn't look very pleasant for either the riders or the horses putting up with the rain or the traffic.

Getting close to Nashville and the traffic is getting heavier. Mary, (niece), enlarge the picture and you should recognize the sign.

Our favorite COE (Corp of Engineers) park does not open until April 1^st so we ended up at Nashville Country RV Park. It was the only one around that I could park with the GMC still attached to the motorhome. The truck would not come out of neutral again, so I needed a spot where we could pull in and unload the boat before we called Roadside Assistance to come and tow us to a GMC Dealership. Again after we got towed to the dealership we tried to put the transfer case into gear and it worked. The dealer ran a diagnostics test and found an error code. They installed updated software, so it's wait and see if this will fix the problem.

On Friday the 27th our niece, Mary and her husband, Tuff, came over mid afternoon to visit with us.

Later we went to supper at the Texas Roadhouse. It was good to see and visit with them and to catch up on what has been happening in their lives since they got married last June. Tuff played for the Tennessee Titans last year and they just moved back here for the season as Tuff is attending workouts. And all this time I was under the misconception they only had to work 7 months of the year. We hope all goes well for them during the upcoming season.

As we were driving to a Barnes & Noble’s store to buy the latest Jack Reacher book, "Nothing To Lose" by Lee Child, we came upon this speed limit sign.

  

Then, the next sign showed a reduced speed. They must be real serious about their speed limits around here. One MPH must make a big difference!

Today  Monday 3-30, we took a drive to Lawrenceburg, TN and while driving through Pulaski we stopped to look at some old buildings.

  

This Methodist Church was built in 1895. We noticed alot of very large Methodist Churches in the area.

While driving out of Pulaski we came across this sign and Sandy and I had a few good laughs about things like; were people asked to bring their “WIND” instruments and while singing were they sitting around the fire like in “Blazing Saddles”? At least it kept our imaginations going for a while.

Our main purpose for the trip was to drive down and see the David Crockett Museum. David Crockett is supposedly a distant Grandfather of mine on my mother’s side. The museum was more about the Cherokee Nation than Crockett.  We found out that he has Cherokee blood after watching a film. The museum actually does DNA testing to find out if you have Cherokee ancestry, but we declined on that opportunity. One interesting fact we learned was the Cherokee hold woman in very high status and a woman can become Chief of their Nation.  I guess I had better do a little research and see what I can find out on the matter.

Earlier we had a picture of the Amish “winter/rain model”, here is the “summer/sunshine” model.

We drove to Spring Hill where the Saturn assembly plant is and stopped for a tour. The tours have been stopped indefinitely, and from what we hear in the news, the Saturn brand will probably be eliminated when GM revamps. The Saturn plant is built on land which previously was a plantation and a breeding farm for Tennessee Walking Horses. The welcome center is housed in one of the old stables. Hopefully, for the employees, the plant will stay open as they also make the smaller vehicles for the GM line.

In case all of you living “Up North” are yearning for a glimpse of the Minnesota Wild Flower, here it is. Have no fear---eventually it will stop snowing up there and Spring will come. We are trying to stay south long enough to avoid the blizzards. 

  

Until next time,

Dave and Sandy