Music City, USA

Although neither of us are self-proclaimed country music fans, our day in Nashville was one of the best we had on the trip! Granted, our overall impression of Nashville is that it is a pretty "sleepy" town, with the downtown financial/business district basically silent and empty on a Monday, mid-day. But it was clean and modern, and we found cheap parking, so that made our day! In the morning, we took our car (whose name we will be revealing shortly) to a Firestone store to have the tires rotated and the oil changed, and with the store only a few blocks from our hotel and the Country Music Hall of Fame only a few blocks from the store as well, life was quite easy. The Country Music Hall of Fame was not too exciting, although I have to share with all of our followers that one of my high school friends is now a country music star! His name is Jake Owen, and his album was on same in the gift shop... he hasn't quite made it to the Hall itself yet, but I have no doubt he'll be there someday. YAY for knowing someone famous! Check out his website... his first album is GREAT and he has another one coming out in a month! www.jakeowen.net Anyway, after the Hall of Fame, we headed out to Opryland... location of the Grand Ole Opry (no, not Opera, as I thought... the Grand Ole Opry is a country music radio show that has been the propeller for many of the greatest country music stars. Check out the wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ole_Opry ). The more exciting attraction, however, was the Gaylord Opryland Hotel, a MASSIVE hotel complex with three inside greenhouse conservatories. It was gorgeous, but a little overwhelming. As we approached the hotel, we saw several groups of little girls with strange sparkly costumes on, and when we arrived, we were bowled over by many LARGE groups of these same little girls, and guys, who were participating in the World Cheerleading Association National Competition! Poor Amit had never seen a real, talented group of cheerleaders perform before (thank goodness I was blessed as a child with the Vero Beach High School cheerleading squad!), so we decided to go into the competition and watch... and so we go to see "Bring It On" live! The best part of Nashville in my opinion, though, was actually the live music scene that we explored that night. We went down to Broadway and 2nd Ave, where there are about 20 different live country music clubs/bars, and we club hopped, listening to Country Rock, Honky Tonk, etc. It was awesome! And there is no cover charge... all they expect is that you buy a drink or two, tip the bar tenders, and tip the band if you like them. Then we went to a dueling piano bar, which was new for me, and we hung out for another few hours listening to them play everything from Walking in Memphis to Britney Spear's Hit Me Baby One More Time. Very entertaining! And again, no cover! So overall, Nashville rocked (literally!)! Low-cost, fabulous entertainment and a few nice surprises/conveniences on top. Hurray for Tennessee! Love, Dena & Amit