Nashville

(Beware! this is a picture heavy post - wait, maybe they all are...)

May was a great month - Mother's day on the 10th, Rebekah's farewell talk on the 17th, and a trip to Nashville to see Rachel on the 20th. I wanted to get to see Rachel before she moved and thought that a long weekend would do it. I had planned to fly out on a Thursday evening or Friday morning and then back home Monday night. Instead, mom and dad told me that they were planning a 2 week long trip there and I could hitch a ride with them. I liked the idea of a leisurely drive to TN but not so much the two weeks so I drove with them but then flew home.

The drive was long. We left on Wednesday morning at 6:30 and drove straight across Wyoming and Nebraska ending just over the border in St. Joseph Missouri for the night. I think we arrived in St. Jo just after 11pm after having only stopped for gas and bathroom breaks. We didn't even stop for lunch or dinner, choosing instead to munch on egg salad sandwiches and almonds and beef jerky.

The next morning, Thursday, we had a leisurely morning then drove about 4 or 5 hours south through Missouri ending mid-afternoon in Branson, MO. On the way there we stopped at the Tiger Sanctuary and mom wanted to take a tour but unfortunately, we would have had to wait an hour until the next tour began, and then the tour itself was about an hour and we were worried about that making our evening a bit too tight. We had tickets to see The Hughes Brothers that evening so we checked into our hotel and then drove out to see the city of Branson.

Missouri turns out to be a really pretty state (especially as compared to Wyoming and most of Nebraska). Lots of trees and green. The city of Branson itself is very much a tourist town but I found myself thinking that I'd like to come back someday and spend a week with Scott and Maddy. There were lots of shows to see - music, magic, comedy, acrobats. There were also museums (Ripley's Believe it or Not, Titanic museum, Wax museum) and lots of rides for kids. There was mini-golf and, though we didn't see it, Silver Dollar City amusement park. There would have been tons of things to do and fill up an entire week. Pity we only had a few hours.

We got a recommendation for an Italian restaurant and had a nice dinner. After dinner we stopped for some frozen yogurt and then to the show. The Hughes brothers grew up in Taylorsville, Marty, Jason, Adam, Ryan, and Andy crossed over us girls at Eisenhower Jr. High and Taylorsville High School with Adam in Sarah's grade, Ryan in mine, and Andy in Rachel's. These boys are magnificent singers, dancers and actors and always had the leads in the musicals and were in madrigals. From when they were little, their parents had them singing and dancing and aimed for show business. They had a bit of the Osmond Family feel to them.



Just before Andy's senior year in High School, they moved to Branson Missouri to make it in the biz and now, 20 or so years later, they have their own theater and they do a show 6 or 7 times a week as a family. They started out having two brothers married with Marty having a 2 year old daughter. Now they had something like 30 kids between them and they are all in the show along with their wives. Family members, some extended and in-laws even, run the lights, sound, concessions, ushering - it truly is a family business. We got there about 30 minutes early and I found that I was, by far, the youngest in the crowd. We were joined by several busloads of older folks that have come from New York, Canada, Florida... Dad quipped that he was actually young in that crowd! Branson, we found was a big destination for tour groups.

In the intermission Jason came out to talk with the crowd a bit and asked where people were from. I yelled Utah and he heard and asked where in Utah. When I said Taylorsville he asked "do we know you?". I said yes, that I was a Dalton and that I went to school with Ryan. He said into the microphone "Ryan, Melissa Dalton is here to see you." Ryan's wife Corinne stuck her head out from behind the curtain and waved and said Hi. The crowd laughed, I supposed because in response to the idea that Ryan's wife was responding to the woman here to see her husband.

After the show, I did go up and ended up talking with Ryan and Corinne for 2 hours, catching up. Corinne went to school with us as well in Taylorsville, was just a year younger. Funny thing was that her little sister married Andy Hughes. Since both or their kids were living and working in Branson, their parents moved out and actually worked in the family business. Funnier still dad actually knew their father! He had worked with him years ago at Eaton Kenway. So he and Daddy talked and mom talked with his wife and I talked with the kids. It was a late night.

Crossing the Mississippi River

The nicest rest stop in Kentucky!

The next morning we started our last stretch to Nashville. We drove East through Missouri, cut the corner through Illinois and Kentucky, crossed the Mississippi and then on down to Nashville and Rachel, Spencer and James! We arrived around 6pm Friday. Whew! What a trek.

The Nashville skyline

Rachel had the hamburger and noodles started and mom brought tomatoes from home so we could have spaghetti for dinner. It was divine. We spent lots of time playing with James who was one week shy of turning 2. It took him awhile to warm up to us, especially grandpa, but by the time I left on Tuesday, we were all friends.

On Saturday Spencer went to work so the rest of us went into the city and to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We didn't get to the Grand Ol' Opry and a small part of me wishes that we had gone in to hear at least one person sing just to say we had. Oh well. We ran a bunch of errands, Rachel showed us the beautiful homes outside the city that she drives through on her way to work. We found the most wonderful shoe store and visited a Goodwill Outlet store. We ate Hattie B's Hot Chicken (oh, yes, it was hot!) and went to the Pancake Pantry for breakfast. We stopped to meander through a used book store and basically just lazed around for the weekend.

beer pedal cars?? you sit, you pedal, you drink, you tour. Sheesh.

 

On Sunday we went to stake conference. The stake center is in a city about 15 or 20 minutes away and is located next door to the Nashville Temple. It's a pretty and small temple.

After church we made the 3 hour drive to Louisville, Kentucky and went to Churchill Downs - home of the Kentucky Derby! Going to the Kentucky Derby is a bucket list dream of mine.  We didn't actually see the famed derby race but we did see several races and being in the actual location was a pretty close second - bucket list item not crossed off yet, but the itch is scratched. I wished I had a hat on.

Mommy and I spent time down on the rails and we could have spent the entire day there. Dad and Rachel and James, however, wandered up into the grandstand to sit in the shade and wait for me and Mom to get our fill. I loved seeing the horses, looking at their coloring and markings, seeing feeling them fly by, listening to the man come out before each race to do the famed starting bugle call. Entrance was something like $5 or less, well worth the few hours we spent.

While in Louisville we stopped at mom and dad's favorite restaurant BJ's Brewhouse home of their favorite balsamic chicken. I should have ordered balsamic chicken. My jambalaya was good but their chicken was truly better.

Monday, Memorial day we got a visit from Uncle Mike and Aunt Dena! They were driving through from their home in Texas down the Natchez Trail to a vacation destination in parts further East. So glad that they were in Nashville at the same time as we were so we could catch up with them for a few hours.

On Tuesday morning, we had breakfast, as previously mentioned, at Pancake Pantry, a local must eat. I admit, it was delicious and worth the wait in line. Rachel then went to work and mom and dad drove me to the airport where my flight sat for a while on the tarmac like a beached whale in the downpour. Eventually I made it home to Maddy and Scott. Mom and dad took a few days that week to drive north through Kentucky, maybe up into Ohio and then back to Rachel for another weekend, James' birthday, then the long three day drive home.

Rachel and family are moving (literally as I type this) to Richmond, Virginia. I'm so glad that I got to visit her in Nashville because I don't think i'll ever find myself that way again. But now my mind is moving on, planning a trip to visit her in Richmond. This time I'll take Maddy with me and she can play with James. I can manage keeping her occupied on a cross country flight - many days of driving - didn't want to try it. Till next time Rat...