November 5

A trip to Nashville has been on my bucket list for a number of years and yes, the trip was worth the time.  I arrived in Nashville on October 24.  Paulette and her partner, Vern, picked me up the next morning.  They were staying at a campground near the airport.  Our first adventure was to tour Opryland.  For those in the know, Opryland is a huge event centre that was built when the old Rymen Auditorium in downtown Nashville was no longer large enough.  Indeed, the Rymen is still being used, but Opryland is much larger.  After touring Opryland, we did what any reasonable visitor to Nashville would do...we bought cowboy boots.  Get this...buy one pair, get two pair free.  Of course, they price the boots accordingly.  Still a good deal.  I bought a pair of Tony Llamas for a cool hundred greenbacks.  The last time I bought Tony Llamas was in Rapid City, SD (1983) when Judy was pregnant with Haley.  On Thursday, Paulette, or Polly as I call her, and I went for a long walk the next morning around the J.Percy Priest Reservoir.  During the afternoon, we went to Broadway Avenue in downtown Nashville.  Broadway has dozens of honkey tonks, all with live bands playing incredible country music.  Polly and I danced in every bar we visited including the famous Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.  We received lots of compliments for our dancing especially especially

 the western two step and the polka.  We killed it.  We also toured The Country Music Hall of Fame.  

On Friday, we toured Andrew Jackson's Plantation.  This was the Andrew Jackson who was a general in the Battle of New Orleans made famous in the Johnny Horton song.  Old Hickory, as he was called, owned 60+ slaves.  The original mansion still stands.  There are recreations of the farm buildings and slave quarters on the plantation grounds.  In the evening, we went to the Grand Ole Opry.  There wasn't a weak performance in the entire show.  I saw John Conlee, Diamond Rio, Ricky Scaggs, Sons of the Pioneers, and many more performers.  Outstanding!  I sat there wishing I could have shared the experience with my dad who really inspired me to love country music.  Saturday was my last full day in Nashville.  Polly and I made a return trip to Broadway to dance and take in more country music.  On Sunday, I was 22 hours in transit with a 6 hour layover in Atlanta and a 4.5 hour layover in Toronto.  I woke up fresh as a daisy on Monday morning and scored 2 goals in my hockey game.  A cherry on top.  On Halloween night, I decided to make 4 dozen perogies. No, I did not give them to trick or treaters.  It's good to be home for a while.  Next up...my nephew, Justin, is visiting me on the November long weekend.  And in true Judy tradition, the girls and I are already making plans for Christmas.