This is the first of two posts about my trip to the Grand Ole Opry.So about 3-4 days before the trip, my best friend called me and told me she had tickets to see Reba at the Grand Ole Opry. I accepted the invitation, and this crazy trip ensued.
So the morning of May 9, our trip officially started at the Cracker Barrel not too far from my house at 6:00am. So I ate my 'Old Timer's Breakfast' complete with hashbrown casserole, turkey sausage, biscuits and gravy, and a heapin' bowl of grits. It was truly a heavenly (and deliciously greasy and salty) start to a long, exciting day.
For the next few hours, we rocked out to country songs and wound around interstate roads. Only exciting and funny thing that happened is that I kinda had a panic moment when the GPS lady thing that Shannon brought with us started talking. I had a 'robots are taking over the world' 1980s movie moment. Other than that the road trip continued until we finally saw the big, green signs that told us that the Opry was near.
We got off the interstate exit and found ourselves turning into this Opry compound with huge white buildings and strange roadways. Also, the speed limit was 24, not 20 or 25, but 24. We unfortunately didn't get a picture, but there has to be a story on that somewhere. It sure did crack me up.
After circling around lost and in awe, we finally came upon a mall complete with a Dave and Buster's (I had totally seen the commercial and was psyched!) and a Bass Pro Shop (Shannon had found heaven). So, we thought we could park at the mall and get our bearings. So we park, and lo and behold, right across from the mall is the Grand Ole Opry House. Whoo!!
Now we knew when were in the right place, and had our parking spot memorized, we were ready to pick up the concert tickets. We actually, surprisingly enough, found the ticket office very easily, but when we got there the door were locked. After trying to force it open, we decided to wait outside, but away from the pouring rain. We checked the office hours, and it should have been open for over 30 minutes.
Conundrum. After people began to line up with us, Shannon finally called the office to ask why the doors were still locked. It was then we figured out (and had the office thinking we were idjits) that we were in Central Time and not Eastern Time. It never occurred to us. I have traveled to Chicago, New York, and even Atlanta, and I have never had to worry about time. Poo on time differences!We finally got in to pick up our tickets. (An hour later then we thought we were gonna.) Smart Shannon thought to ask if they had any better tickets. They did! We were moved to the front middle of the balcony. WHOOHOO! We were excited about for about 5 hours after that.
So now that we had our tickets, and our jaws off the floor. (Fancy places never cease to amaze us. We gawk around at stuff like crazy mountain people who are just seeing electricity for the first time. Wait...just kidding.) We had a few hours to kill, and a big mall to explore.Little did we know how freakin' big that mall was. We started at one end and walked the whole thing to check out what was there, and it took 25 minutes at a fast freakin' pace. (I did totally time it.) But before shopping and after the freakin' marathon, we decided to grab lunch, and try to grasp this time difference doo-hickey. (It took awhile.) I got me a foot long turkey sub from Subway that cost a quarter of a kidney (Stupid Nashville, haven't you heard of the 5 dollar foot longs?). The food court had a freakin' merry-go-round in the middle of it, and like 15 eatin' places! The malls where I live suck! This one was awesome!
We then did what we do best--bargain shop. I think we are the best bargain shoppers in the world, because we really won't pay more than 5 buck for anything. (And I won't buy it if I have the ability to make my own for cheaper.) So we shopped, shopped, and shopped and came out with like 2 cheap things each. (Nashville's freakin' expensive for a cheapskate like me!)
I have to say one more thing about the mall, because it fired me up good. The mall's interior was set up with stores on both sides and a slew of kiosks in the middle. The kiosks (is that what you call 'em?) had all kinds of vendors at them pushing tons of different products, but it was the spa people that had me close to going off the deep end. As we were walking through the mall, several of these people jumped in front of me, and here's how the scenes went:
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"Hey, do you wear makeup?"
Me: "No, I don't."
"Here, you should try our makeup."
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"I can fix your nails, do you bite them?"
"No, thank you."
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"I can show you a way to fix your bad hair."
"Excuse me? No, thanks."
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"I have something that will help with your skin."
-ignore and roll eyes-
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They got me four times and Shannon twice. (We switched sides after awhile.) It got to the point that we would just stare them down when we walked by. (They had like 15 kiosks throughout the freaking mall!) Now, I know why all those crazy, insecure rich people get crap injected into their face or spend copious amounts of money on makeup. POO ON EVERY ONE OF YOU SPA PRODUCT SELLIN' PEACHES IN THE OPRY MILLS MALL!!! I just wanted to tell them that you can't improve upon perfection. (I totally not full of myself. It's not I take tons of Webcam pics of myself and admire them or anything...oh wait.) Oh, and I bet money that I could drop 4 or 5 of them skinny suckers before anyone could get to us, but oh well I think we handled the situation well at the time. I didn't even have to get arrested. (Always a plus!)
Oh enough of that. After the mall started getting crazy crowded, we purchased some German roasted cashews, and we went to the Opry gift shop on the grounds across the street. It was a great gift shop. The tourist in me rejoiced! I even bought a cowboy hat. I needed I new one for when I garden, and it's rare I find one that fits my big head. Farmer Jenn:
We then booked it out of there and went to taking pictures of the Opry grounds. It was very pretty. I was very touristy too. I would get down on the ground to get different angles for a shot. I was taking pictures of every sign. I went nuts! I got good pics though, I tell ya what.
We then, believe it or not, still had about an hour or so to kill. (We were not moving the car and losing our freakin' good parking spot.) So we started taking pictures of ourselves in front of random stuff. They actually turned out really good. I usually photograph awful, because my features are just not photogenic at all. (They'll knock you down in person, but not on a picture.) This picture I placed below was one of my favorites. People were being really nice and offering to take pics of us. (And they didn't run off with the camera! Tourists in Nashville rock!) This sweet and wonderful lady took this one of us close to the Opry House.
After we got bored taking pics, we decided to sit around for a bit and just chill before time to go in. (And scout out the doors like hawks.) I saw this group of guys all dressed similar walk by. They had that 'we're in a band and super cool' look about them, and one had gorgeous hair. I admit my conditioner was jealous. I didn't think anything of it until I saw them walk by a second time. (Unfortunately, Shannon missed them both times.) I just knew the guy with pretty, dyed hair was some kind of something. I just couldn't put my finger on it, and totally forgot about it until the show later.We only had minutes left, so we sat straight in view of the doors in the courtyard. The weather had finally turned beautiful, and a great middle school band, all the way from Canada, was providing the background music. (They were actually leaps and bounds ahead of any middle school band I have ever heard. Not one reed squeak!) I was reminded that the situation could even get better when a beautiful thing happened; a beer vendor sat up in front of the entrance and the doors to the Opry swung open.
It can't be expressed on here how psyched we were to finally walk through those Opry doors to sit in our awesome seats and enjoy what was to come.
Taking Peach Hatred to New Locations,
Jenn
Want to see more pics from my trip? Check out my personal Gallery.
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