Live From Music City

Ok, so this isn't actually live per se. Let's pretend we've stepped back in time.

Friday, June 12th...

Spent most of the day in the mini-van with my BFFs, Amber and Stephanie and their hubbies and mine and some perfectly aged bananas.

Upon arriving in Music City a.k.a. Nashville, TN, we got all gussied up and were ready to rock the Grand Ole Opry (or Opera, depending on who you are). Of course, any good vaca involves good food so after calling Wes' good buddy, who's a local, for a recommendation we found ourselves at this place:

It was so fun and the food was de-lish! Wes and I shared this Grilled Chicken Pasta:



It was 80 kinds of pasta goodness. Good job, Fultz-y!

Of course, no trip to the Aquarium would be complete without the obligatory picture with the shark:


Here we are in front of the Opry:


(Little sidenote: I do NOT enjoy country music. Thus, I felt it necessary to ridicule the whole Opry thing. But I'm glad to say I've been there.)

First up, we shook the sugar tree with Pam Tillis:



I do not remember this guy. It looks like his guitar strap says "Jimmy Choo" but I'm pretty sure he's not. I'm also pretty sure nobody there was sportin' any Jimmy Choo's seein' as how they were all over 80-ish.

Here are the Riders In The Sky, or as I lovingly referred to them all evening, The Knight Riders, all decked out in their festive finery:



I must say the highlight of the evening was Emerson Drive.



Mostly because they were under retirement-age but also because they were easy to look at.

Actually, I take that back. Emerson Drive was the musical highlight of the night but Little Jimmy Dickens (or Lil' Dick, as his friends call him) gets the prize for sportin' the most sequins and telling the most risque' jokes so, therefore, he was my favorite act of the night.

Hold on a minute.

How is it even possible that I don't have a picture of said Little Jimmy Dickens?! He wasn't much bigger than his guitar and was covered in sequins and he was so cute I just wanted to put him in my pocket and take him home.

We headed back to our hotel and ended up in the courtyard swapping life stories and admiring the landscaping.

And so ends the first night of our adventure.

I'll be back in two minutes to recap the second day.


Saturday, June 13th...

Since the CMA Festival was happenin' downtown we took a quick trip in the afternoon to see what we could see.

Elvis made a surprise appearance:

And Wes channeled his inner cowboy:


And we found this for lunch:

Be still my heart!

Then we headed out to Murfreesboro for the main event, Aaron and Rachel's wedding.



Then we went back to downtown Nashville in a limo! and felt like we were headed to prom. It was cheaper than a cab, go figure. And apparently Wes is holding those pictures hostage in his Blackberry.

We hung out at the Wild Horse Saloon and listened to a really great band. And of course, no evening is complete without...the YMCA.

Sunday, June 14th...

Time to go home.

Sigh.

We dropped our on-board entertainment, a.k.a. Kirk and Amber, off at the airport for their fun trip to Vancouver and the rest of us headed home.

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind my besties that what happens in Nashville, stays in Nashville!

High Five!