Our Trip to Nashville

For those of you who don't know, most of Mike's family lives in Nashville. He's not from Nashville, neither is anyone in his family, but all his siblings have ended up living there.   Mike's younger brother, David, started dating someone who was from Nashville & actually ended up moving there several years ago.  About year after that, Mike's sister, Kimber, graduated with her Masters Degree and was searching for a job.  David spoke so highly of Nashville, that she decided it was as good a place as any to look for a job, so she headed that way too.  Then, about a year after that, Mike's older brother moved down there to study culinary arts, and learn how to make all that yummy southern food.  Mike's parents are down there just as much, if not more, than they are here in Utah.  They actually started a business down there, so they go out there a lot.  So, yes, most of Mike's family lives down there...even though none of them are from there.  Crazy, huh?  Anyway, we had never been out there to visit.  But, in December, Kimber got engaged to a great guy named Scott.  That gave us a pretty important excuse to finally visit.  We were originally planning to take the entire family, but then we put our heads on straight & realized that a long plane ride & a quiet wedding weren't exactly the best places to take our rambunctious bunch, so we asked my parents and Kristin & Dan if they wouldn't mind watching them while we went away for 4 days.  Kristin & Dan took the kids for the first day & night, while my parents worked & did their weekly shift in the temple.  Then, my parents picked the kiddos up the next morning & watched them for the rest of the weekend.  A HUGE thank you to all of them!

Mike & I flew in on Thursday, and David picked us up from the airport.  Then, we went to our hotel and checked in.  It was the Sheraton Music City & this hotel was so stinkin' nice!  For some reason, I didn't take any pictures of it while we were there, so I pulled these ones off the internet.  Take a look at how nice this place is and then guess how much we paid to stay there.  Here's the main entrance...

The piano lounge that was filled with people every night...

Here's a picture of one of the rooms that looked really similar to ours...

Plus, there were several fancy restaurants, indoor and outdoor pools & hot tubs, and a gym to die for!  And, guess how much we paid to stay there???  $95 a night!  Yep, thank you hotels.com.  When I first saw the pictures of the hotel, I thought there was no way there was a deal that was really only $95 a night for this hotel.  Then I thought that maybe they were doctoring their photos to make it look nicer than it really was.  So, we called David & he told us that it was known as one of the nicest hotels in the city, and that most rooms go for over $200 a night.  After we heard that, we jumped on the deal & I'm glad we did.  It was awesome!

After checking in, we met up with the rest of Mike's family & some of his siblings' friends and went to dinner at Monell's.  It's an old plantation that has been converted into a restaurant.  Ahhh, I love the south...

This place was really cool.  Rather than having a menu that everyone orders individual dishes off of, they just have one menu of about 10 items.  They bring out big platters & bowls of all 10 items and everyone shares family style.  The night we went was Fried Chicken & Meatloaf night, along with mashed potatoes, a parmesan broccoli side dish, rolls with peach jam (that basically tasted like peach syrup...yummy) and a bunch of other lovely things that I can't remember now.  It was southern dining at it's best!

The next morning was the day before the wedding, so there was lots of prep work going on.  Mike & I ate breakfast at Waffle House, just for old times sake (ahhh Louisiana, we miss you!) and then tried to help with the preparations.  There really wasn't much we could do though, other than to hold flowers for the people making the bouquets & flower arrangements.  Mike's cousins, Julie & Tina, arrived that afternoon.  I love these girls!  We have always clicked from the beginning & we have a great time together.  When they showed up, the four of us decided we should go do some sightseeing, since we weren't helping much & none of us had ever been to Nashville.  A bunch of people suggested that we go see President Andrew Jackson's plantation, The Hermitage. Ummmm...you had me at Andrew Jackson!  I am a history nut (okay, I'm a total history geekazoid), and I must admit that I've always been intrigued by Andrew Jackson.  I consider him one to be one of the main reasons our country is still free & independent.  For those of you who don't know, here's a little history lesson for you about The War of 1812.

I don't think The War of 1812 gets enough mention in our history classes.  You might spend two days on it, if you're lucky.  But, I think it deserves much more because it was the point where our country came the closest it's ever come to collapsing.  See, after the Revolutionary War, Great Britain basically tried to torment & bully the United States any chance it could get.  They used their massive navy to impliment trade restrictions on the U.S., and did lots of other horrible things too.  So, the United States decided to fight back, and show the British that they could no longer treat the United States like a rebel colany.  And The War of 1812 (which was really 1812-1815) began.  At several points during this war, the U.S. came very close to losing.  In fact, it was during one of these battles (The Battle of Fort McHenry) when "The Star Spankled Banner" was written.  It was literally a point in U.S. history where if we won, we would still be a free country.  But, if we lost, we would become part of the British Empire again & lose many of our newly-establised freedoms.  Luckly--probably through the grace of God alone--the United States was able to win that battle & many others.  The final battle of the war was The Battle of New Orleans led by then General Andrew Jackson.  To this day, this battle is still considered to be one of the greatest victories ever in our history.  And, it proved to Great Britain, as well as the rest of the world, that the United States was a new force to be reconed with.  Many countries felt that the Americans winning Revolutionary War had been a fluke.  This proved that the U.S. could beat the most powerful army & navy in the world...not once...but twice!  And a huge part of that was because of Andrew Jackson.  Hence why I have always been so intigued with him.  So, I was excited to go see his plantation.

As we were pulling up, I called my dad (another history geek) to tell him what we were doing.  He then told me that our family has a little connection to Andrew Jackson...and there's a little bit of scandal that goes along with it too.  Andrew Jackson's wife, Rachel, was actually married to someone else named Louis Robards before she was married to Andrew Jackson.  In fact, it's believed that she was still TECHNICALLY married to Louis Robards when she married Andrew Jackson (scandoulous, right?)  Anyway, that Robards guy is my great, great, great grandpa or something like that.  So, there's my claim to fame when it comes to Andrew Jackson.  Haha!

Okay, now onto the tour.  This is how the mansion house looked as visiors were pulling up to it back in the 1800s.  You can't walk on this path now days, but this was the grand entrance back in its hay day...

Here's Mike & I sporting our little earphones that told us all sorts of interesting things about the plantation as we toured it...

I was trying to get a good picture of the entire house because it was so pretty, but it is enormous & there were too many trees to get a good picture of the entire thing, so this is what you get...

We couldn't take pictures inside the house because all the furniture, floors & even the wallpapers are original, and the flashes on cameras could hurt them, so we were asked to put all cameras away.  The house was very cool.  There were probably only 10 rooms in the entire thing, but they were each HUGE!  As we went from room to room, our tour guide told us about interesting stories that had happened in each, as well as some of the famous people who had visited Andrew Jackson there.  And, I found out something I didn't know.  Andrew & Rachel Jackson could never have kids of their own.  One of Rachel's sisters had twins, so she GAVE one of the twins to Andrew & Rachel that they could raise as their own.  Crazy, huh???  They named that child Andrew Jackson Jr. even though he didn't even technically have any blood relation to him. Then, they adopted an Indian child as well, but I can't remember his name.  I didn't know any of that before the tour!

After we finished our tour inside the house, we headed outside to Andrew Jackson's tomb.  He and his wife are both buried here...

The garden surrounding the tomb is amazing.  So many beautiful trees and flowers...

I took a picture of this little grave as well.  This is the grave of "Uncle Albert" who was one of Andrew Jackson's slaves.  He was the slave that was basically the overseer of all the other slaves, and the Jackson family actually treated him as if he were part of the family.  He stayed at the plantation after the immancipation as a free man to continue working there, and he eventually became the first tour guide of the plantation when it was turned turned into a historic landmark.  He lived on the plantation until the day he died & his grave is right next to Andrew Jackson's tomb...

This was Uncle Albert's cabin that he lived in his entire life.  It's only about 100 feet behind the manion.  A pretty far cry from the lavish lifestyle in the Jackson's home...

Here is Uncle Albert's furniture.  This is the way the cabin looked on the day Albert died in the early 1900s.  This was the furniture he bought as a free man after the immansipation.  The furniture that he had when he was a slave was much worse, but none of it remains...

This was called the Water House.  There is a well inside and all the water for the entire plantation had to be gathered here & carried to the house...

The Jackson's didn't always live in the mansion though.  This cabin right here was the "first Hermitage."  This is where the family lived for 20+ years while Andrew Jackson was a general, senator, and candidate for president.  Can you believe a man running for president lived here?  They only built the mansion after Andrew Jackson became president.  Sadly, his wife died while he was president, so she never really got to live in the nice house.  Most of her life was spent in this little cabin...

Another slave cabin...

Here's how the mansion house looks from the back.  As you can tell, it's a different color than the front.  The entire house is made out of these red bricks, but they weren't very popular back then.  Greek Architecture was all the rage, so Andrew Jackson had the bricks on the front of the house painted white so that it would make the house look a little more ornate.  I, however, like the back of the house better than the front...

So, there's your history lesson for the day.  I loved going to The Hermitage.  It was awesome for a history buff like me.

After we finished our tour, we headed back to David's house for a big family barbecue where we met Scott's family for the first time.  They were all really nice people, and we had a great time!

The next day was the BIG day!  We headed over to the place where the wedding was being held to see if we could help with anything.  Everything looked beautiful.  Here's the place where they would get married...

And all the outside tables where we would eat the appetizers for the wedding lunch...

And here's David, or "The Maid of Honor" as I kept calling him.  He was in charge of making sure everything went off without a hitch, and he did a great job...

Here's Kimber being walked down the eisle by her Dad.  And, that's obviously Scott (our new brother-in-law) waiting for her...

It was a nice wedding ceremony.  Kimber & Scott had written joint wedding vows to each other that were very sweet.  It was a beautiful day.  Here's the lovely bride...

And a picture of Mike with his little sister...

After the wedding, we had appetizers outside & then went inside to the luncheon.  After that, it was on to cutting the cake...

And then devouring the cake...

Everything was so nice & everyone had a great time.  Oooo, and I have to show you these cute little centerpieces she did along the tables.  It was so simple, yet so cute, so I had to take a picture.  Round vase, those little translucent blue stone beads things, water & a gerbera daisy.  I thought they would make a cute centerpiece for a 4th of July barbecue, so I took a picture of them.  Go ahead, pin it!  Oh pintrest, how you have ruined me forever...

The newlyweds left the party at about 4:00 that afternoon & so the rest of us had the remainder of the evening to do whatever we wanted.  Julie suggested that we go to The Grand Ol' Opry.  I must admit, I really didn't want to go.  I don't like country music very much, so why would I want to go listen to country music for two hours?  Plus, it was pretty pricey...$40 for the nose bleed seats!  But, Julie said it had always been on her bucket list, so the rest of us kind of begrudgingly decided to go.  And, guess what???  I loved every minute of it!  It was a total blast!!!  Here's Mike & I outside by the huge guitar...

The Grand Ol' Opry is really a radio show that is broadcast across the country.  The people who go to see it are the audience that you hear clapping and cheering in the background of the radio program.  They do four half-hour shows & each half hour has a different host & different bands that play.  Some of the hosts were pretty funny, and had us rolling in our seats.  Like Little Jimmy Dickins here.  Hilarious!!!

They had some pretty good acts that night too.  Here's Lonestar.  Who isn't a Lonestar fan?

Then, in the next half hour, they had a kid that I had never heard of.  But, I quickly found out that he is apparently the Justin Beiber of country music because all these little girls rushed the stage screaming & yelling & crying when they announced his name.  I don't know who he is, but his name is Hunter Hayes.  Here he is playing the piano during one of his performances...

Here he is on the big screen so you can see what he looks like.  I must admit, he was pretty cute for a 18-year-old...and I actually kind of liked his music.  It wasn't very country.  I think you could play it on a Top 40 station & get away with it...

In the final half hour, they had another heart throb playing.  I can't remember his name, but girls rushed the stage again for this one.  And, you must admit, he's got that dreamy country singer thing going on...

Overall, I was so pleasantly surprised & I was glad that we had gone.  It was pretty neat to think of all the famous people that have performed on that stage...Johnny Cash & June Carpenter, Paul McCartney, Loretta Lynn, and many other people.  I guess if you're going to go to Nashville, you should get the entire Nashville experience.  And that experience definately involves going to The Grand Ol' Opry.

The next morning, before we flew out, we ate at Waffle House one more time (ummmm, cheese eggs...how I have missed you) and then Mike's parents told us we HAD to go walk around The Opryland Hotel.  You've probably heard about The Opryland Hotel, but you don't know why you've heard of it before.  Well, the reason you've heard about it is because it is seriously one of the coolest hotels in the entire world.  The only way to describe is is that it's like the Disneyland Hotel on steroids.  If you've been to the Disneyland Hotel, you know that they have several towers of hotel rooms and in the middle of those towers is its very own city.  There are restaurants, shops, swimming pools, lakes where you can paddle boat, water shows, etc.  The Opryland Hotel is the same way, but its 3 times as big & it's all inclosed in this atrium.  Let me just show you through pictures how cool it is.  Here's Tina, Mike, me & Julie as we first entered the atrium.  The white buildings are the hotel rooms, and everything else is enclosed inside the atrium.  Shops, restaurants, rivers, waterfalls, palm trees...you name it, it's there.  Pretty incredible.  See for yourself...

And, when you leave the atrium and head inside the hotel towers, you come to this.  Yes, that's a full fledged mall inside a hotel.  I seriously felt like I was in Vegas or something...

Pretty darn amazing!  It's pretty expensive, but Mike & I decided that next time we go visit Nashville, we're going to stay there at least one night just so we can really experience the whole thing.

After our tour of the hotel, we headed back to the airport to fly home.  It was a fun little vacation, but I was so happy to get home to my babies!  I missed them so much!!!  It's amazing how they can drive you crazy somedays, but the second you're away from them you miss them more than anything in the world.  Again, a huge thank you to my parents and Kristin & Dan for watching them for us so that we could go.  We had a great time exploring Nashville & seeing Kimber & Scott get married.  --Lindsay