This time we REALLY ARE going to Nashville - Day 6 - Opryland, Opry Mills and The Bluebird

[Redrach1903]

Wednesday 6th September

We were up bright and early at 7.15am today, probably due to being sober when we went to bed for a change hahaha! Our plan for the morning was head back to Opry Mills for a bit of shopping at the outlets. Since they didn’t open till 10, we were in no rush so took our time getting ready.

We got an uber at 9.15 and got dropped at the Mills. It wasn’t quite open, so we decided to take a walk to the Opryland Resort Hotel or Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center to use its Sunday name! We walked round the back of the Grand Ole Opry to get there.



It was further away than we thought and even once we got in the vicinity it took us an AGE to make it round to the front of the hotel. It is HUGE!





Our first impression was wow! It was beautiful!







Lads!



And then we walked through to the Atrium and we were just blown away. It was absolutely stunning. Cascading waterfalls, bridges, the works!







A mother and daughter asked us to take their photo and then returned the favour



Look how pretty!







It really was incredible!







We then went up the escalators and round the cascades walkway. On the way Chris spotted this! I swear that man has radar for anything golf related!



This section had floating guitars and music notes.







An idea of how big the resort is!



More prettiness!



We then walked behind the waterfalls!











New waterpark opening soon! How cool does that look?



We both agreed that it would be amazing to stay here, but it is a bit further out, so not so handy for Downtown Nashville. Maybe next time we will stay here for a couple of nights for going to the Opry and shopping

Having enjoyed our wee tour, we headed back outside and walked back to Opry Mills. We spotted a bird of prey on our way!



You'll note that we had yet to eat today! With that in mind, we got some cookies to keep us going



Nom!



We then agreed to go off on our own and meet back at Johnny Rockets at lunch time. Spoiler – that didn’t happen!



I really liked this mall! I liked that it was all indoors and easy to navigate! They also had country music playing in the background which I enjoyed





One of my first stops was Gap where I got Abi 3 pairs of leggings, 2 tops and a hoody. $64 for the lot which I thought was really good! No photos of my purchases, soz! Fail!

I went into the Nashville store (basically lots of tat with Nashville splashed all over everything) and bought a hoody for myself, a t-shirt for Abi and some Goo Goo Clusters for Emma ($44 for all). I bumped into Chris on my out of there! We later realised we had bought nearly the same thing. He bought a t-shirt in the same style as my hoody – the exact same colour too! Hahaha!

Next up was Carters and Oshkosh where I bought a heap of outfits for Abi for only $54! Those stores are so fab for kids clothing!

After that I went into American Eagle and bought myself a dress and a top! I wore the dress in the evening, so you'll at least see something I bought!

My last stop was of course Bath and Body Works! Here I bought two autumnal soaps which I LOVE. That pumpkin one is lush. It was $14 for both.





It was this side of the mall that I spotted the food court (and specifically Panda Express) and decided Johnny Rockets should be ditched in favour of that! So I text Chris and told him the plan!

r

The carousel in here reminded me of the old Belz Mall where the I Drive Premium Outlets now stand. Anyone remember it? I have very vivid memories of going there with Mum, Dad and Emma in 1997! Emma and I had a go on the carousel and were then treated to shiny new trainers! Goals, eh?



Chris soon came along and we split up to get our food. He went for pizza and I of course went for Panda Express!





So tasty and such good value! With very happy tummies we went outside and ordered an uber to take us back to the apartment to dump our shopping.

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[Redrach1903]

[continued from previous post]

By 1pm we were heading back out again! Our first stop was the Nashville Predators superstore at Bridgestone Arena! SMASHVILLE! I've never seen so much yellow in one place! It was quite blinding!







The array of merchandise was boggling! Preds pants anyone?



No? How about Preds shoes then?





Even Olaf was in on the action!



I ended up buying a SMASHVILLE top cos I thought it was cool. I wear it to lounge about the house I can't remember if Chris bought anything in here, it doesn’t say so in my notes!



Right then. It was around 1.30pm and we hadn’t had a drink yet. Time to remedy that! We decided this afternoon to do a bit of a pub crawl (surprising, I know) as there were a few pubs we were yet to try that I had read about. First stop was Nudies. It is famed for having the longest bar in Nashville. In fact, it is so big that there is a gift shop in it. You may just be able to make it out way in the distance at the back of the room!





Chris went off to have a nosey in the gift shop while I surveyed the cocktail menu.



I went for a Rhinestone Cowboy (you know the words, sing along) and ordered Chris his usual Michelob Ultra. My goodness, that cocktail was yummy! Chris returned from the shop with a Nudies long sleeved top thing! You'll see it later!





The band playing were good and when one of them came round with the tip bucket I requested one of my fave songs – Knee Deep by the Zac Brown Band. He at first wasn’t sure if the lead guy knew it, but he went to ask and sure enough, he was in the know! Hurrah! Not the best rendition, but I enjoyed it nonetheless!



I think we had a couple of drinks in Nudies and then we went to Honky Tonk Central.





I had a couple of the Loretta cocktails that I had previously enjoyed in Tootsies I asked Chris to take a photo of me enjoying said cocktail…..



Nope, he's still not bored of this game



I went to the loo in here and when I came back Chris announced the bar maid had gifted us 2 shots. Hmm. Suspicious. But ok. Down the hatch they went.

Here's a wee video of the band in here.



They were really good and would literally do any request. They even played "All about that bass" haha!

We decided next to head to Swingin Doors Saloon which was a bar we had really enjoyed a few nights previous.



Ah, a good philosophy…



I remember finding this board too funny! Put a lil south in yo mouth!



It was pretty quiet in here compared to the other night, but we had a nice chat to her barmaid (Dana Marie) who, like all Americans it seems, was very interested to hear all about Scotland! We were starting to feel a bit peckish and decided to share a portion of wings. My god, they were tasty!



I asked the band to play two songs for me (cos I'm greedy). The first was Friends in Low Places cos I couldn’t believe I hadn’t yet heard it anywhere! I now realise this is completely incorrect as it was indeed played by the piano duellers, but I obviously was so "tired" that night that I didn’t remember

I also asked if they knew any Kip Moore songs and they obliged and did Beer Money for me



It was now about 4pm and we were well on our way to "merry". Now would have been a good time to head back to the apartment to sober up and get ready for our outing to the Bluebird, but noooooooo. We wanted to go to Tootsies for one more drink!

On our way out of Swingin Doors I took this photo that captures Nashville wonderfully. A Honky Tonk, the Bat Building and a man in a cowboy hat!



On the way into Tootsies I grabbed a selfie with the security guy that we had chatted to on numerous occasions over the past week! Haha!



Tootsies y'all! Love this bar!





Not quite sure why she was singing on the bar and not the stage, but hey ho!



Anyway, this song nicely sums up our experience in Nashville



Remember that couple that invited us to their Labor Day BBQ? Well we were happily standing watching the band when they came rushing up to us and Cheryl was all like "why didn’t you come to our BBQ?" Hahaha! It was so funny! We apologised and explained that we just didn’t get time as there was so much we wanted to do! Later in the day we were laughing about it again and I tried to do an impression of Cheryl, but it was SUCH a bad attempt at a Rhode Island accent that Chris looked and me and said "I didn’t realise she was a black woman from Mississippi!"

Anyway, we had a good natter with them and I have a very vague recollection of going up to the rooftop bar with them, but have no evidence to support this memory! However, I do remember asking them to say Hot Dog a lot as I think the way they say it is funny. HAWT DAAAAAWG. Haha! Finally, at 5.30pm we forced ourselves to leave! Ironically though, Chris decided he wanted a hot dog first!





My husband, ladies and gentlemen….



Anyway, I can't remember if we Ubered or Cabbed, but we got home somehow and had a much required nap for an hour. When we woke up we hadn’t sobered up much! Disgrace! It looks like we (or maybe just I) had a wee snack too!



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[Redrach1903]

[continued from previous post]

We were ready to leave again at 7.45pm and we were going to the Bluebird Café! Waahoo! The Bluebird is a very famous and very tiny music venue. Taylor Swift was discovered here amongst others. It also features in nearly every episode in Nashville, so we were super keen to see it in real life! I managed to get us tickets for "an evening with Charlie Mars". Neither of us had any clue who Charlie Mars was, but it meant we would definitely be getting in. People queue outside that place alllll dayyyyy lonnnnnng to get in. No thanks.

Anyway, our uber driver had us there by 8.10pm which was waaaaay too early! The show wasn’t until 9pm so we had a bit of a wait outside, but I was totally fine with this as it meant lots of photos





We were let inside around 8.30pm if memory serves me right. Omgggggg it was literally like walking into an episode of Nashville. I had all the feels! The first person I spotted was the manager as she is featured in the show a few times. I was like "Omg look, she's on the show", but I said it a little too loudly and she looked at me and giggled.

We found our table which wasn’t hard. There are like, 20 tables in the whole place. It really is teeeeeny. We were seated next to two couples from Mississippi who had come to see Charlie as he was from the same town as them. Apparently they knew ones of his cousins or something!

Hahahaha I've just noticed Charlie is in the background of this pic!







Anyway, I got a bit snap happy and took lots of photos! I was so giddy to be at the freakin Bluebird! Like SO giddy!











I couldn't even contain my excitement at being in the Bluebird loos! Hahaha!







I do hope this movie happens!



Before the show started we got chatting to the Mississippi folk and it turns out the men had just returned from a golf trip in Scotland and had been all over the place. They absolutely loved it! They had even been to Trump International which is very close to where my Dad lives!

I strongly believe at this point I was beginning to suffer from a hangover, so food was required. We ordered chicken quesadillas and a fried chicken basket! No photos, sorry, but it was all very yummy!

Then the show began and wow! We were really not expecting to have such a great time watching someone that we had never heard of perform songs that we didn’t know, but we were so pleasantly surprised! He was brilliant! He told a little story before every song about how it was written which we really enjoyed! One story that stands out is one he told before signing "Back of the Room". He was supporting The Dixie Chicks on tour in Canada. Before the tour started he bumped into someone from his school days and they asked him what he was up to and when he told them he was about to go on tour with the Dixie Chicks, the guy snorted and said "nobody in Canada will know or like your music". Or something like that. Anyway, before he sang Back of the Room at the show, he taught the audience the words and got them to sing it back to him so he could record it and pretend like they already knew the song word for word. He uploaded it on YouTube and got the last laugh. Hahaha! He is one of those folk with a really dry sense of humour, so funny!

He has a lovely smooth voice and managed to entertain everyone without the aid of drummers, back-up singers or anything else. Just him and his guitar. Amazing. With the Bluebird being so small as well, it was a really intimate gig. We loved it.





I kept an eye on the door. You know, in case Charles Esten (Deacon) or someone walked in





At one point Charlie invited a friend up to play with him for a bit.



And he got his mouth organ on the go. What a talent.



Anyway, here a couple of short clips.

This one is called You & Me. You can hear everyone laughing before he starts cos the story for this one was really funny! I am not going to attempt to recite it though!



This one is Dream Kitchen and my fave one



And this one is Listen to the Darkside.



I think he played for about an hour and a half solid, without a break and once he was done he was happy to sign CDs etc. We went and bought his latest album (which he signed) along with a bluebird top for me, bluebird mug for me and my friend Fiona and Chris picked up a guitar pick (which I haven’t seen again – Chris, have you lost it?!)



Chris also asked him if he would mind getting a selfie with us. It's a bit ropey but I like it! Haha!



The bar was starting to wind up for the night so we ordered one more for the road and then got chatting to the manager (Erica) at the bar. She was lovely and was more than happy to chat about the show. She said they used the actual Bluebird Café for season 1, but after that they built an almost exact replica. The only thing they changed was not including the wooden beams as they were getting in the way of the camera equipment! She was really lovely and even obliged me in a wee selfie



Before we left we managed to get a photo of an empty stage and then of us on the stage. Goals.





And one more outside the front



Chris fancied one more outing to Broadway before calling it a night, so we ordered an Uber. We got a really chatty wifey who was busy hamming into a McDonalds. She didn’t share though. Rude. She was telling us that her son is trying to make it big in Nashville and she treated us to several YouTube clips of him. Eh cheers!

We got to Tootsies around 11.15pm and it was heaving, so we went to the middle bar and watched these guys for a while. I think they were good, but my memory is a tad fuzzy!



End of the night selfie!



It says in my notes that we only stayed for 1 drink and then got an uber home at midnight! We had such a fab last full day in Nashville. The Bluebird totally exceeded our expectations

Steps today - 14,382

Tomorrow is going home day

[CrispyA]

We really liked Opry Mills too - and we don't usually enjoy shopping all that much so it must be a good place! Opryland looks amazing and so cool that you went to the Bluebird.

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by CrispyA

We really liked Opry Mills too - and we don't usually enjoy shopping all that much so it must be a good place! Opryland looks amazing and so cool that you went to the Bluebird.

See more...

It’s so much nicer than the Orlando ones we thought!

Loved the Bluebird

Thanks for reading xx

[WileyCoyote]

What a great day. Opryland is incredible isn't it, if i stayed there , I would never want to leave to go anywhere , it's so amazing !
Great shopping trip, huge mall and loved the random musicians playing .
Bluebird sounds like a complete blast, what a totally fantastic way for you to finish your trip. And still getting out to Broadway after , jeez, you guys have awesome stamina !

[fa$$a]

I’m so chuffed for you for going to The Bluebird, 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Adore that show. Loving the report xx

Claire

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

What a great day. Opryland is incredible isn't it, if i stayed there , I would never want to leave to go anywhere , it's so amazing !
Great shopping trip, huge mall and loved the random musicians playing .
Bluebird sounds like a complete blast, what a totally fantastic way for you to finish your trip. And still getting out to Broadway after , jeez, you guys have awesome stamina !

See more...

Yeah it was amazing!

The Bluebird was a total dream come true, loved it so much!

Thanks for reading xx

Originally Posted by fa$$a

I’m so chuffed for you for going to The Bluebird, 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Adore that show. Loving the report xx

Claire

See more...

It was brilliant! Thanks for reading xx

[HelenJNT]

What a brilliant day! That resort looks phenomenal - Shame it’s so far out.

OK... so what the heck is a Goo Goo Cluster?

I can feel the excitement of being at the Bluebird, what a fun night. Love the selfie with the manager. Hilarious you bumped into your bbq friends again too.

And I love the dress!

[Redrach1903]

Originally Posted by HelenJNT

What a brilliant day! That resort looks phenomenal - Shame it’s so far out.

OK... so what the heck is a Goo Goo Cluster?

I can feel the excitement of being at the Bluebird, what a fun night. Love the selfie with the manager. Hilarious you bumped into your bbq friends again too.

And I love the dress!

See more...

It was so beautiful!

It’s some sort of peanut based treat! Bleugh!

Oh the Bluebird was a total dream 💜

Ah thank you and thanks for reading xxx