Nashville!

So, we had a Regional meeting in Nashville this past weekend. I know that it is the "Country Music Capital of The World", but I am not the biggest fan of country (I like classic country). Little did I know the fun to be had!

Our group stayed at the Downtown Renaissance Nashville Hotel.

The first night we went to the Grand Ole Opry for dinner!
These huge guitars are in honor of 85 years for the Opry!
Cari and I. Cari use to work with me at TRIAD Conferences and now we work together at HB!

An outside shot!

Dinner on the stage! Very cool!

The menu

The adorable guitar centerpieces!

These looked like Hydrangeas from afar! So neat!

Ok, this couple was amazing! Mark Selby and Tia Sillers are very successful singer/songwriters in Nashville. He works with Kenny Wayne Sheppard and she wrote the song "I hope you Dance". They performed for us other songs they have written that are well known and also shared with us some stories about Nashville.

Very talented and very entertaining!

Loved them!

Here they are performing a song he wrote with Kenny Wayne Sheppard, "Blue on Black". I love this song!

A colleague rockin' at the microphone!

Me and the famous microphone! The floor is the origional floor from The Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Ole Opry originated. People like Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, etc. stood on that floor! Very cool!
Some of the Green Rooms.

A GREEN Green Room.

Another....

All the members of the Opry have their own mailbox. So if you want to write Dolly, you could just write on the envelope:

Dolly

Grand Ole Opry

Nashville, TN

An evening snack...

Chocolate is always needed!

Outside of the Ryman Auditorium.

The Ryman again.

Tootsies!

A shot of the Honky-Tonk bars in downtown Nashville!

Our second night in Nashville we decided we needed to visit the famous Tootsies! We heard so much about the history of Tootsies and the Ryman and all the action that took place at both venues back in the day!

Lori from Milwaukee and I.

Crazy Cheryl from Milwaukee and Cari

Tootsie herself!

It was a full house!

Lori and Cheryl!

Cari and I.

Cheryl and Lori and some random guy...

This guy killed me! When he introduced the band, he said, "... I'm from Alabama and I don't give a damn what you think!" Well, alright?! Later, he shouted "All you Hillbilly's in the house say 'Hell, Yea!'"... I decided I was a Hillbilly!

This must of been when he was telling the Hillbillys to say "Hell yea!"

Michelle and Cari, my fellow Hillbillys!

This girl reminded me of my friend/neighbor Heidi... so I discretely took her picture!

Ok, so I was suppose to head out Saturday at 4 p.m. But, because of the rainstorm and flooding... we were not going anywhere. Some of the group was staying the night and going to the Jimmy Buffet concert... lucky for me, my buddy Cari had an extra ticket!

One Particular Harbour...

I like mine with lettuce and tomatoes!

Wasted away again in Nashville! Yes, that is me singing towards the end of this clip.

Cheryl, me (with the bad hair from the rain storm!) and Cari!

Nicole and Cheryl!

After the concert we walked across the street, back to the Honky-Tonk bars and went to Robert's Western World. This band was the classic country I enjoy. The woman in the video was and amazing yodeler!

My drink of choice in Nashville!

They put a blue ribbon on it so it must be the best!?

Cheryl, Cari, Nicole & Chris (Nicole's BF, who also enjoys PBR)!

Good night and goodbye, Nashville!