June 21, 2022
The adventure continues.
2:00am I was awoken by an alarm. I thought it was something Steve had set and I tried to ignore it, but it kept blasting away. I finally got up and realized it was coming from the hall and not in our room, as I had thought. I had just picked up the phone to call the front desk to find out what was going on when someone came knocking on our door telling us smoke was on the second floor and to get out.
Steve was still blissfully asleep, never hearing anything! I shook him awake and we joined the crowd of sleepy guests outside. It wasn’t long before the fire trucks arrived with sirens blaring. We all watched the firemen enter the motel. They were in and out in about half hour and then we were told it was safe for all of us to return to our rooms. I never did hear what actually caused the commotion, but if it was a fire it was put out quickly with very little damage.
At breakfast several guests were talking about the excitement of the night while others grumbled about our disturbed rest! I’m just glad the motel didn’t burn down.
The city of Nashville has very little parking and if you find a spot they charge an arm and leg for it, therefore, the motels offer shuttle rides. As we waited for the shuttle we visited with two women who had gone downtown the day before. We asked what they would suggest for us to do and they said to go to the Ryman Auditorium. Upon their recommendation we went and we were not disappointed.
We had never heard of the Ryman Auditorium or why it was so important, but it was the original Grand Ole Opry and it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Tom Ryman built it for the Union Gospel Tabernacle for rival meetings in 1890. When rival meetings waned and Tom Ryman died the building was renamed in his honor and became a music venue/ theater. The theater made country music famous in the ‘40’s and this is where bluegrass was born and where countless careers were launched.
In 1974 the Ryman closed and a new Grand Old Opry was built across town in the newly opened Opryland USA theme park. To preserve Opry’s heritage a 6 foot circle of wood was cut from a portion of the Ryman stage and placed front and center in the new Opry house making it the most sacred space in country music. The Ryman sat in disrepair for 20 years before it was renovated and brought back to its glory. It’s now a museum with a few days set aside for entertainment again.
After we left the Ryman Auditorium we walked over to the Johnny Cash museum. His museum was packed with people so we decided to skip it and go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. By the time we finished looking around we needed to catch our shuttle back and get ready to go to the Grand Ole Opry.
I didn’t know what to expect so I was surprised to see the Opry was being broadcast live and that the MC plugged commercials throughout the show. The Opry uses a mix of musical styles as well as multiple generations of artists from country legends to the newest on the scene. Tonight Ricky Skaggs was the legend and it was Carter Faith’s debut. Another surprise was that not everyone on the schedule sang. Henry Cho wasn’t a country singer, but a comedian. He was hilarious and kept everyone in stitches.
I’ve wanted to go to the Grand Ole Opry for a long time and now it’s another thing I can cross off my bucket list…
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