Thanks for coming along with me as I recap our recent visit to Nashville, TN. I promise, this will be the last post in this series. Although, I do think it has been a pretty awesome group of posts if I do say so myself.
One of the things that @mrsbozz and I always try to do when we visit Nashville is make a trip to the Grand Ole Opry. It is s such a classic event. It is the longest running radio show in the US (I think) and there is just something really special about sitting in those pews and watching a part of history.
This was our third trip to the Opry and it absolutely didn't disappoint. We decided before we even headed down to Tennessee that we would visit the Opry on our last night with the hopes that it might be more low key. The last thing we needed was to close down Lower Broadway and then have to make the 9 hour drive home the next day.
Before I get to the Opry, let me explain to you how the day led us there and I'd also like to present to you a "AITA" scenario.
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, breakfast consisted of leftovers. I took my leftover pancakes from Pancake Pantry and wrapped them around my leftover chicken fingers from McDougal's for one of the most amazing breakfast tacos ever conceived.
After that, my wife and I decided to hit Lower Broadway one final time and catch some bands. We felt a little bad that our friends daughter didn't really get to experience Broadway due to many of the places checking for ID after 6 or 7 PM so we figured this would be a good chance for her to see some of the local talent.
We settled in to a place called Honky Tonk Central, it is one of the more prominent honky tonks on Lower Broadway. It sits right on a corner and it is pretty popular. They have three levels with different bands playing on each floor.
This band was pretty good, but not the best one we saw all weekend. The cool thing about Nashville is even the worst band here is still probably better than the best band in your hometown (with some exceptions), so you really can't go wrong.
We eventually claimed a table and waited for our friends to show up. The place was pretty packed and there were many groups of people coming in and then having to leave because there wasn't a place to sit.
They also have a small dance floor in front of the stage and there was this really cute older couple cutting a rug to pretty much every song. You can just make them out in the photo above.
We sat around for a couple of sets and waited for our friends. Eventually they let us know that they were down there, but they were doing some shopping so we decided to meet up with them further down the block.
Here is another photo but in black and white simply because I think my wife and I look good in it.
After a while we left Honky Tonk Central and met up with our friends. I took a picture of this building called Merchants because it used to be a hotel. I think it was one of the first hotels in Downtown Nashville. We happened to come across a tour group while we were walking and the guide was explaining the significance of this building to the group.
Walking with our friends, we headed down Broadway towards the Bridgestone Arena where the Nashville Predators hockey team plays. We were actually hoping to get into a famous place called Tootsies Orchid Lounge, but it was packed full and since we had a party of six, it was going to be difficult to find a table.
Instead, we ended up next door at a place called Legends Corner. It had a really old feel to it and there was a band that was playing some awesome classic country songs.
We hung out and listened to the band for a good hour or so until they finished up their set. Then we headed up the road away from Broadway so our friends daughter could see the Ryman Auditorium. Plus, there was a whiskey distillery up the road that I was hoping to stop into.
Since we were taking the kids to the new Grand Ole Opry location later that day, I thought it was important they saw the building that housed the Opry originally before it moved to the new location. That building is the Ryman Auditorium so like I said, I made sure we walked right by it.
Keep an eye out for a future post where I do a review on the whiskey that I purchased from the distillery.
On the walk back to our hotel and their car we made plans with our friends to meet for dinner before the Opry later that evening. I even made a reservation at the restaurant we had decided on.
Alright, this is the "AITA" portion of the post or as some people know it "Am I The A-hole". As I mentioned above, I made a reservation for our dinner at 5:15 PM. Since the Opry started at 7:00 PM and it was just a short walk across the parking lot from our restaurant, I figured that gave us plenty of time.
My wife and I arrived at the establishment around 5:00 PM and we waited patiently for it to be 5:15 so we could sit at our table. Our friends arrived shortly after around 5:20 or so.
I had noticed a sign on the door of the restaurant that they were understaffed due to Covid and because of that they asked for patience.
Which is fine, I get it. Despite that fact, we were attended to right away by our waiter. He brought us some complimentary bread and took our drink order. Eventually, he came back and took our food order as well.
That was probably around 5:45 PM, Still plenty of time, no biggie.
Some of our meals came with salads, so when those didn't show up at our table until 6:15 PM, we were starting to get a little concerned. The server kept walking by and saying our main courses would be out soon, but by about 6:30 PM, we realize it might be too little too late.
The main issue we had with this was the fact that they were still seating people (people who were also hoping to attend the Opry we later found out) and the kitchen which was in full view was sending out "To-Go" orders like crazy.
@mrsbozz being the no-nonsense person she is eventually got up and talked to the "manager". She asked why all of these to-go orders were going out when we had been sitting there for an hour and a half.
Eventually, by 6:45 PM, we knew there was no way we could get our food and have it eaten before the show started at 7:00 PM, so again my wife told the manager we were leaving. She asked what we owed for the bread and salads and he said not to worry about it. We collectively threw about $30 USD on the table as a tip for our server (because it wasn't his fault) and we left. Starving and disgruntled.
Should I have planned better? Were our expectations not reasonable? Should I have been more forgiving due to Covid? AITA?
Just curious what you think.
Luckily, unbeknownst to me, the Opry sells concessions, so we grabbed some quick food to scarf down and settled into our seats for the night.
As I mentioned before, this was our third trip to The Opry and I would have to say, this was probably the best one yet. In the past we have visited The Opry on Good Friday both times and I think due to the holiday weekend it is tough getting some of the bigger names to play.
That wasn't the case this time as we got to see American Idol winner Scotty McCreery, Drake White, and Chris Janson. Three pretty big names in country music right now as well as a handful of other people.
This was Scotty McCreery opening the show and singing his new single Damn Strait.
Each performer at The Opry sings about two or three songs before they move along for the next act to play. As I said, this is a live radio show, so they have an announcer and spoken commercials throughout the show. It is really something to experience. If you want to listen at home you can download the Opry App and listen to each of the shows that way. I highly recommend making the trip and seeing it live though.
Scotty was followed by Drake White. My wife and I love Drake White. My wife had a hard time containing her excitement when I told her that they had added Drake to the roster for the night. Here is a YouTube video of our favorite song he sings.
Thankfully he sang it on the Tuesday night we visited the Opry.
Interesting fact about Drake that we didn't know. During Covid he had a major medical situation with his brain. It sounds like it was something like a stroke and he had to basically learn to walk again because one side of his body stopped working. Talk about perseverance!
After Drake was a classic country family group led by Del McCoury. They were really good.
Next up was a bluegrass artist named Rhonda Vincent. She was really good and some of her songs were quite witty. We enjoyed her a lot.
This was a comedian named Gary Mule Deer. He was crazy, but had the audience pretty much rolling in the aisles. It was really nice to hear so many people laughing all at once given the past couple of years we have had to endure.
This guy is named Zach Williams. I have never heard of him before, but our friends have. Apparently he has been around for close to ten years at least but his main wheelhouse is Christian music. He has a bluesy country vibe and his songs were really inspirational. There is a good chance if your church has a praise band you have likely sang one of his songs. Many churches these days are moving that way versus the traditional hymns. Although I didn't know of him before this, he has earned a spot on my Spotify playlists.
Finally, the show was closed out by country superstar Chris Janson. He absolutely rocked it and trust me when I say that he can play a mean harmonica. He was really amazing.
The whole place was rocking from the moment he got on stage to the moment he left.
While this wasn't Janson's first time playing at The Opry, it was the first time for his son who he brought out on stage to sing along with him. It was a really awesome moment that we got to share as a live audience. You just never know what is going to happen at The Opry!
As the show finished up we said our goodbyes to our friends and wished them safe travel home the next morning. We hopped in our cab and headed back to our hotel. Fun fact, taxi cabs in Nashville charge a flat rate from Downtown to The Opry and to the Airport, so it is about the same price as a Lyft or Uber.
Since all we had to eat was some popcorn at The Opry my wife and I stopped into the bar at our hotel and had a couple of drinks while we waited for some take out. A chicken sandwich and tater tots. We took it up to our room and ate it in record time.
The ride home was actually smoother than the ride down, but we did run into this overturned semi truck on I-65 between Nashville and Louisville.
We got home around 4:00 or 5:00 PM at night. I found out later that our friends didn't get home until closer to Midnight. It turns out they made a stop in Louisville so my friend could pick up a special bottle of bourbon. I'm actually a little jealous of that...
Here is our rental BMW safe and sound back in the airport parking lot where Enterprise keeps its cars.
There you go. Can you believe it is over? The four days really flew by and I am already ready to go back again. Until next time Nashville!
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<center>All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or @mrsbozz unless otherwise sourced</center>