Keli travels Nashville part 14 May 2015

Melinda took off from her conference early one day and met me and we went to THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME. When I was looking over stuff to do in Nashville, this was high on my list. There was a long line and it was crowded and expensive...BUT I LOVED IT!!!!! 

 THERE WAS A KENNY ROGERS EXHIBIT!! My parents listened to country and Kenny was super popular when I was a kid...so that was cool.. and the exhibit is called " through the years" ....GET IT ? that is a song by Kenny.. ! 

 Kenny's outfit he wore in THE GAMBLER... I barely remember this TV movie..but I sure do remember the song! 

 Dolly Parton wore this in the "Islands in the Stream" ... another great song from my childhood.

I was in that exhibit for awhile.. then I moved on to the Taylor Swift educational center.. whre I saw stuff like this..

 Taylor Swift wore this outfit in some video.. I forget which one though..because I have seen so many Taylor Swift videos.. I am gonna be honest they mostly all run together..

 Then I went to the Alan Jackson exhibit. ALAN wore this outfit in the " Way down yonder on the Chattahoochee" I LOVED THAT SONG! 

I was in the Alan Jackson exhibit a long time also..

At one point I walked down some stairs and saw this..

 A WALL OF RECORDS.. typical in Nashville...

 This was going down the stairs.. I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A SELFIE HERE..but the stairs were crowded.. and I did not want to stand there forever perfecting my selfie.. so I did not..BUT I SHOULD HAVE! 

 I remember how Reba would always come out in dresses like this with big hair! 

 TIM AND FAITH on a door! " It's your love" 

 Trace Adkins wore this on Celebrity Apprentice.. I loved that season! 

 Carrie Underwood wore this when she won American Idol. I did not watch that season...BUT IT IS CARRIE UNDERWOOD! 

 and this is Taylor Swift's guitar.. I mean OF COURSE IT IS! 

This is only part one of my time at The Country Music Hall of Fame! 

Keli travels Nashville part 13 May 2015

 One day when Melinda was at her conference I took a shuttle bus from our hotel to downtown Nashville and went to the Tennesse State Museum.

I love museums. I love history and random stuff like this and it was free.. so of course I went...

It was just me in there and some kids on a field trip that was all. I had a nice time looking around and reading things and just taking things at my own leisure. 

 I could not find anyone to take a picture of me there.. so I finally took this selfie. I later found someone to take the above picture. The lady did not want to though she said I looked very small.. I kept saying "that is OK"...

I did not want to bother someone from the field trip.

 I also came across this... I guess they wanted to sit together. Maybe one day this will be me and somebody. 

Keli Travels Nashville part 12 May 2015

 I came across this statue of Chet Atkins while walking around Nashville. After clearing away all the litter I thought he looked lonely.. so I left him the book I had just finished reading. 

Keli Travels Nashville Part 11 April 2015

 Melinda and I had a lot of pedi cab adventures while in Nashville! We met an amazing pedi-cab driver and his GF they traded rides for massages! 

They also told us tons about Nashville and well it was just awesome! 

 I evan drove it one night! 

Keli travels Nashville part 10 April 2015

I got this amazing boot with strawberry lemonade at the Wildhorse saloon. 

Keli travels Nashville part 9 April 2015

This may come as a HUGE SHOCK to everyone that reads this..BUT even though.. my dad has season tickets to The Redskins.. and I grew up in a very "sports-oriented" family. I DO NOT CARE or OK well even KNOW about the NFL draft. When Melinda said we were going..to the stadium for an event because it was draft day.. I thought CAN I SIT THROUGH THAT???????? I mean seriously can I???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TURNS OUT I HAD A TON OF FUN! While Melinda stood in line to get autographs I wandered around and took pictures. We were able to go in the locker room.. and I took these fun pictures.. with and without the hat.

 My friend Eric said it does not look that crowded.. I said .. well it IS the Tennessee Titans..

I need this! his first name even starts with a K!

I got a selfie with an owl.

and I learned about how you better "Titan Up" and how unbeknownst to me THERE IS A TEAM OUT THERE WORSE THAN THE REDSKINS!? WHO KNEW??? That means other people have to deal with those FB days like "come on we can do this" and " oh no" oh yes" and then spiraling into depression and feelings of disbelief.

 

 

Keli travels Nashville part 8 April 2015

ANOTHER ICONIC NASHVILLE FOOD! GOOGOO CLUSTERS! They have their own store and it is right across the street from The Johnny Cash museum!

I got one of each kind plus one special one with tons of ingredients. I liked the PB one the best.

 

I am so grateful for Eric and Laura for stopping here so I could get some of these Nashville treats for myself, Melinda and my friend. 

When I got home Tonya googled them and found out that Harris Teeter down the street sells them! 

But I still think I need another trip to Nashville! 

Keli Travels Nashville part 7 April 2015

Eric, Laura, historical lady and me. They would not take the picture until I agreed to come down from standing on that "original to the house post"  The lady also took about 36 of this picture, so I am super glad one came out good.

A door at The Hermitage.

Andrew and Rachel Jackson's grave.

Uncle Alfred's grave. He got buried right beside Andrew Jackson.. probably just to stick it to him.. cause Andrew Jackson did not seem to be a really nice person.

THE HERMITAGE! home of Andrew and Rachel Jackson.

random outbuilding I thought was cool.

Laura and Eric

What the? How did this get here.. maybe this blog post is HAUNTED...BOO!

 I have a goal to visit all of the president's houses. 
In April 2015 while in Nashville, TN. I was able to visit the house of President Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel. 
It is called The Hermitage. 

While the house and the property was awesome.. I got to learn things like..

how The Ladies Hermitage Association dug up trees from every battlefield Andrew Jackson fought at.. apparently that was appropriate then.. and replanted them at The Hermitage. 

A lot of those trees were later damaged because of the 2010 flood. 

I have toured lots of plantations and on a lot of them they say things like " oh the slaves here were treated really nice" "they loved it here" 
.................................................................
I heard that you had to go " farther South than VA " to hear the real story.

 The Hermitage told the truth... 

I learned that while The Hermitage was being built Andrew Jackson and his family lived in a house on the property when it was built that house was turned into slave quarters but not before Andrew Jackson ordered that every nice thing about it was done away with...

JERK..

He also had a slave that lived to be 98 even after they started giving tours there. At one point the estate was so broke that this dude, Uncle Alfred bought a ton of Andrew Jackson's furniture including his bed.. (this way after his death) and moved it all into his house. The Ladies Hermitage Association let him live there. He gave tours and posed for pictures with people.  After Uncle Alfred died they just moved the furniture back into The Hermitage. Uncle Alfred put in his will that he wanted to be buried right next to Andrew Jackson's grave.. probably to stick it to him at least I hope that is why.

While in the visitors center we watched a movie about Andrew Jackson and I am not going to go into all the ridiculous stuff he stood for and did and things like that..

I will say that I heckled the movie though.. It was some old people in there.. and Laura and Eric.. and me on the row behind them.. and at one point this historian from UNC came on the screen and said "something that was really important and something he fought for was the rights of white men" 

THE RIGHTS OF WHITE MEN.......................HOW AND WHY IS THIS MAN STILL ON OUR TWENTY DOLLAR BILL..????

The rights of white men.. wow.. this dude was definitely a product of his time....

that being said..
SO HAPPY TO CHECK ANOTHER PRESIDENT'S HOUSE OFF MY BUCKET LIST... 

Keli Travels Nashville part 6 April 2015

Day 2 in Nashville found me trying another "iconic Nashville food"  MEAT AND THREE.. I  had to go to this place. Arnold's. Guy has been there and it has not only been on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives It has won tons of awards and is locally renowned 

My friends Eric and Laura were nice enough to go there even though it was WAY OUT OF THE WAY!

You go in and order your food. The chalkboard tells you what they have each day of the week.

These are some of their pies. I got the chocolate one and it was spicy, but perfect. It had this hot after taste and was very good.

Here is SOME of the food that we got. I say some because I told the owner I was in town from Virginia and had seen him on the Food Network so he brought us over TONS more stuff to try. We were able to try one of each of the meats they had that day. IT WAS ALL GOOD.

Like I said, Guy has been there.

a picture of Laura and I with the owner. Laura said that she thinks that he had a crush on me, because he kept coming by the table calling me Miss Virginia and giving us more food.

Oh and just like at Prince's they had one of these hanging up. I wonder what these dudes say.. like.. Hey can we hang up this FRAMED picture of us.. in case any of your customers frequent going to jail and might want to call us.. and it is called " free at last" like um "at last" if I go to jail, I am calling the bail bondsman REAL SOON.. 

While looking up places to go in Nashville, I learned about " meat and three's " at first I thought it was THREE MEATS that you pick to eat and I thought um ... NO... I am NOT EATING THREE MEATS piled on top of each other.. that is just GROSS and too  much meat. What it really is is meat and three sides. I got the beef tips and grits but ended up trying all the meats they had that day...( not piled on tops of each other though) and we tried every vegetable they had there too.. thanks to the owner!

 I am so grateful to my friends Eric and Laura for picking me up in a big truck from The Dukes of Hazzard Museum and taking me to Arnold's meat and three.  We had a great time eating and talking there. The food was delicious!!! 

Keli Travels Nashville part 5 April 2015

THERE IS A DUKES OF HAZZARD MUSEUM IN NASHVILLE,TN!!!!!!!

When I heard of such a thing.. I knew that I HAD TO GO! If you are close to my age and grew up in the USofA chances are when you were a kid, you were obsessed with THE DUKES OF HAZZARD. It was basically a rite of passage.. "to be obsessed with The Dukes of Hazzard" I mean we are talking QUALITY TV here.

They had a character named Daisy that wore shorts with panty hose and high heels.The shorts were so popular they became known as Daisy Duke's

Here I am in Daisy Duke's jeep.

The actor that played Daisy signed it, when she donated it.

Someday the mountain might get me..but the law never will.

This is me in Roscoe P. Coltraine's actual police car.

This is all that was left out of an actual General Lee after they were making their way.. the only way they knew how.

Me in Cooter's tow truck

What is this.. it is signed by Tom Wopat...

OMGOSH IT IS THE GENERAL LEE!!!!!

I GOT MY PICTURE IN IT... sucks they would not let me slide in the door or across the hood.. imagine that..

This door was the door of Uncle Jesse's farm house.

Memorabilia

coloring pages for the kids.

CHILD'S DREAM BEDROOM

I had TONS of fun at The Dukes of Hazzard Museum! I got my picture taken in ALL of those cars for only $7.50!!

I also bought some amazing souvenirs we just will not go into how many ... or how much...!