2019 Spring Southern Trip: Nashville

 Saturday April 20:  275 miles and parked at Hoover RV Park, Hoover  AL

Hoover RV Park

Hoover Sports Complex

Sports Arena.  RV Park at the very far end where the trees are.

Today we headed north to start the return trip home.  The stop tonight was the "campground" at the Hoover Sports Complex.  Hoover is located just outside of Birmingham and the campground is a part of the parking lot that is set aside for RV'ers.  We had the place nearly to ourselves.  The site that we had reserved was occupied by what looked like a long termer, so we just picked another spot.  While not really a campground, it was a quiet and peaceful overnight.  We decided to go out for dinner to celebrate Judy's birthday at the Bonefish Grill, we had an amazing dinner.  I had Salmon while Judy opted for Grouper.

Easter Sunday April 21:  255 miles, parked at Nashville KOA, Nashville TN.

Site H-11, Nashville KOA Resort

Grilled steaks for dinner

It was a chilly 40 degrees at Hoover Sunday morning.  We left about 11:30 after Sue and Al returned from Easter church services.  The drive was on Interstate 65 all the way today, and it was a beautiful sunny and 75 when we arrived at the Nashville KOA.  The park was FULL, but it didn't seem crowded.  We sat outside for wine and snacks, and then grilled steaks and sweet potatoes for dinner.

Monday April 22:

Another beautiful sunny day that eventually reached 83.  We took the 11:00 AM shuttle to downtown Nashville that the campground offered.  It dropped us off on Lower Broadway St, the center of the music entertainment district.  Sometimes called Music Row, this street offers bar and restaurant venues too numerous to list.  Among the high profile ones owned by country music celebrities are Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, and Dierks Bentley, just to name a few.   While we didn't hit them all, we did especially liked Luke Bryan's Lukes 32 Bridge where we listened to excellent live music and ended up eating lunch.  While Broadway Street is always crowded, it was even more so this week because the NFL Draft was going to be broadcast live on an outdoor stage this upcoming weekend.

We caught the 3:30 shuttle back to the campground.  Another long, exhausting, but really fun day.  After naps and dinner, we sat around the campfire.

Tuesday April 23:

Another sunny day today.  After a quick Walmart run in the morning, we drove to the nearby Gaylord Opryland Hotel for shopping, lunch and sight seeing.  This place is HUGE with 2,888 rooms and three indoor garden areas.  Judy and I have been here before and we used to know an unknown "secret" free parking spot.  Apparently, the Gaylord found it and turned it into paid parking.  So we had to pay $35 to park today.  :-(  The Opryland Hotel is listed as one of the 30 largest hotels in the world and has dining and entertainment opportunities galore.  We walked the indoor gardens, did a little shopping and had lunch at the Falls Bar.

After a brief stop back at the campground to walk the dogs and freshen up, we headed to a show at the Grand Ole Opry.  We had purchased tickets several months before, which is necessary to get decent seats.  You never know who is playing, but it is always good.  They usually do five acts and each act does three songs.  We grabbed a light dinner at Dave and Busters in the shopping mall across the street, and then went to the Opry at 6:00 for the 7:00 show.  The music was amazing!!  The headliner tonight was Country Music Hall of Fame member and Grammy Award winner Ricky Skaggs.

The show ended at 9:00 and we fought the traffic and arrived back at the nearby campground about 9:30.  It was such a warm and beautiful night we sat outside for a nightcap.  Tomorrow we start the final push home.