Emmy's birthday is next week and we will be hosting family for the special day. My parents actually came out a week early because Big Daddy Mike attended the MGMA Healthcare Conference in Nashville this year, so we tagged along and spent a few days in the Music City. The conference was being held in the Gaylord Opryland hotel, which is where we stayed. It was massive and felt almost like a miniature theme park.
One of the sections of the hotel was a huge shopping and eating area with restaurants and stores. It also had a man-made river flowing through it and boat rides you could enjoy. It had the feel of a little town, but it was all indoors.
We think Emmy loved taking it all in. There was always something to look at or observe. She also insisted that we let her try on some cowgirl hats. She couldn't really find one she liked, but we thought she was cute in all of them.
Here I am standing on the balcony of our room. Our window and balcony faced the inside of the hotel, which only was annoying when a guy walked down those stairs at 3:00 AM with music blaring on his phone. Overall, though, it was fun staying at the hotel.
Right next to the hotel is the Grand Ole Opry and a mall. When we weren't at the hotel, we went exploring over that way. In the mall there was an aquarium restaurant we tried one night. The food was good, but it was mostly interesting for Emmy to watch the fish swimming in the massive tank in the middle of the restaurant.
When my dad was done with his conference sessions, we went out to explore more of Nashville. We jumped on one of those trolley tours that takes you around the city on a guided tour. You can get off at any of the stops, but we just cruised through the whole thing so that we could see everything. Here is the Tennessee State Capitol building:
At the end of the tour, Cory and I walked a couple of blocks to the Goo Goo Cluster store. Goo Goo Clusters are delicious and Cory kind of became addicted to them on this trip. Once she saw the store, it was all over. We had to go inside. We watched some clusters being made and bought a box for the road. I also learned that Al Gore (from Tennessee), when he was vice president, would hand out Goo Goo clusters to kids at Halloween from the Vice President's mansion.
Speaking of elected officials. The state of Tennessee was home to the 7th President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Just outside of Nashville is The Hermitage, his home, which has been turned into a historical landmark and museum. Andrew Jackson is also on the $20 bill. We thought we would see what Emmy would look like as President.
Cory couldn't resist either. She definitely has my vote.
The actual house and the grounds were very impressive, considering when it they were built. We got some of the headphones for the self-guided audio tour, so we could pick and choose things we wanted to learn more about.
Here is where General Jackson and his wife are buried out in the garden, along with Uncle Alfred, a slave who was freed but stayed at the Hermitage working for the family. There was a whole section about him in the audio tour, but I had a difficult time believing that Uncle Alfred's life and experience at the Hermitage was as romantic as the tour made it out to be.
We had a great time in Nashville and have Big Daddy Mike and Gigi Page to thank for that! They always made the effort when I was younger to take Lacey and me to fun places, and also to historical landmarks for educational experiences. In fact, it became a joke in the family that Dad would take a 100 mile detour if he saw a historical marker sign on a road trip. We are glad we could tag along in Nashville.
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