Music City!

Continuing on with our road trip, the next stop was Nashville and a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

In keeping with the "smelling the roses along the way" we stopped for geocaches every now and then.  The goal was to get one in every state we passed through.

At one point though I had to point out the time to Irv and remind him that the Hall of Fame closes at 5 p.m. and that we'd have to forgo anymore caches to get there in time to view the exhibits.   Then we encountered a deluge of rain that was so bad we could barely see ten feet in front of the car and it slowed down our journey even further.

We made it there by 3:30 so it was going to be a fast tour.  My all-time favorite country group is/was the Judds and they were inducted into the Hall of Fame this year the day after Naomi took her own life.

I was there mainly to see their bronze plaque, but when we couldn't find it Irv asked about it and we were told it had been sent in to have Naomi's death date added.  Oh well, there was still plenty of other memorabilia to see including their Grammy awards.

Naomi's death was devastating for those of us who consider themselves Judd Heads.  I attended their first two "final" concert tours and I have tickets to their last one.  The closest location to Colorado was in Sioux Falls, SD so next month we'll be driving 500 miles to attend that concert.  It doesn't matter that Wynonna will be without her mom.  It will be my final goodbye to the duo that converted me to a country music lover.

I loved walking through the rotunda with all the plaques.  Does this look anything like Dolly?

Is that really Elvis?

I love Patsy...

...and Reba and King George.

There were all kinds of displays with personal artifacts.

Elvis's Cadillac with the gold interior.

Merle.

Porter.

A big display for Hee Haw.  My parents loved that show, I think it came on Saturday nights. I thought it was very corny.  I guess that was the appeal of it.

Walls and walls of gold and platinum records.

Bill Munroe.

Maybelle Carter.

When did male country stars stop wearing these outfits?  I think they should make a comeback.

Loretta, the Queen of Country Music.

The car from Smoky and the Bandit.

A huge display for Chris Stapleton.  

Some of his many awards.

You can't forget Shania.

Even some of the new up and comings were included like Mickey Guyton.  She's becoming one of my favorites.

Final stop was the rotunda.  

As a country music lover I was in awe of all I got to see.  It made my heart happy.

When we were literally kicked out at 5:00, it was pouring outside.  (We attempted to make a second pass on one of the floors.  We were the only visitors there and the staff literally formed a line behind us to push us down to the first floor and out the door.)  There's the Bridgestone Arena where so many country concerts and award shows take place.  Our plan had been to stroll along Music Row, but the unrelenting rain drove us back to the hotel where we decided to enjoy some adult beverages, dinner, and a decadent dessert.

Such a fun day!

Next stop...Columbus, GA.