Middle Tennessee, Nashville

Wednesday Nov 11, 2015:  Todays drive was about 110 miles, all on highway so did not take us too long.  We were not able to check in to our camp site until after 2 pm so spent the morning hiking at our campground.  Beautiful morning for a hike.  We left at about 11 am, headed towards Nashville 115 miles away.

We stopped at Loretta Lynn's Kitchen for lunch.  Our first catfish and hush puppies of the trip.

We arrived at our camp for next 5 nights.  Yogi Bear RV Park.  A bit pricy, old and tight but it works for us.

After setting up camp we headed to Kroger to get a few grocery's.  Right on the ground behind our truck it stated "NO CARTS BEYOND THIS LINE".  After shopping Eric was in charge of the cart... yep... he tried to go beyond the line, the cart stopped dead, almost broke his wrist.  He had no idea what "No Carts beyond this line" meant.. now he does.

Thurs Nov 12: Cold front came thru last night along with a bit of rain.  High winds too.  We are right across from  Opryland

went hiking at a wonderful park

it was a bit windy but beautiful day to hike in the woods.  We owned the park, no one there but us..

We headed back early this afternoon so I could sign us up for Medical Insurance for Jan 1st.  Well that took a whole 15 minutes so it was nap time.

The worlds best Catfish restaurant is just down the road..

fixings:  cornbread, coleslaw and pickled onions.  They were are very good

Catfish, chicken, fries and hush puppies

the hush puppies had jalapeños in them so too hot for me.. but the rest was very good. Of course we took most of it home..

Our park has a Christmas drive thru light show for $25 a vehicle.  But since we are staying at the park we get in free.  It is a bit early for Christmas but.... we drove thru

it took us about 30 minutes to drive thru, the lights were good and well synced with the music.

We did not stop at Santa's Village but it looked interesting..  hot chocolate, peppermint cotton candy, cookies, pictures with Santa etc..

Fri Nov 13:  cool morning but tomorrow is forecasted to be cold, temps below freezing.  We headed to downtown Nashville for the day.

we had a 10 am backstage tour of the Ryman Auditorium scheduled:

the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from here Nov thru Jan.

This is our seat for tomorrow nights radio show!

The big Debut

A vist to

Eric listening to Johnny

The museum is filled with stuff.. lots of stuff..  too much to take in on one visit.

Time for lunch, too many choices, we chose

 Large portions of beef and pork. They were good, not the best but good

Time for a walk to the capital, of course it was all up hill!

Not a picturesque building but worth seeing.

A quick walk to the "Walk of Fame"

Time to take a walk at Shelby Bottom Greenway to look for birds.  We walked about 4 miles in a wonderful area along the Cumberland River.  Long day on our feet but a wonderful day to be outside.

Saturday Nov 13: another sunny beautiful day.  started out at freezing but warmed up nicely to about 63.  We spent the morning planning our route to Big Cypress National Preserve, think we got it down..  A nice walk around the park, seen a Red Headed Woodpecker chasing a Red Bellied Woodpecker and Crows and Blue Jays chasing two Red Shouldered Hawks.

For $10 each there is a shuttle to downtown Nashville.  Since it is Saturday, they closed part of the Freeway and there is a hockey game in town we decided to try the shuttle.

the shuttle picked us up at 2:00 pm, dropped us off at The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  Exactly where we were going to spend the afternoon!

The museum is filled with mementos from the 1800's until today.  Of course a lot of music and clips to listen to and watch.

We stopped for a beer and to listen to a great duo

A drink, appetizers and a bit of Blues at

Off to the Ryman for the Grand Ole Opry!  We are so exited....