#1 Tourists - Educational

Fortunately my parents' trip to Music City was also combined with some educational things.  Things that got us walking around after eating half of the city.  There are lots of things to do here (Nashville is very "touristy") and I'm happy to try out anything new whenever people are in town.

First up, for me, was a visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame.  It's dorky yes, but I really wanted to go!  We went Saturday morning allowing the early afternoon for the museum.  It takes most people "about 2 hours to go through the whole museum."  It takes the Pendleton's 5 hours.  Granted we added to our tour the tour of Legendary RCA studios, but someone (me) forgot that my dad likes everything about museums.  He likes them so much, he insists on reading every...single...thing inside every....single...exhibit.  (I'm having flashbacks of the Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian right about now)  So, my mom and I finished close to an hour earlier than my dad did, and he only finished because he knew we were annoyed & waiting for him.  He could have stayed longer.
The museum is cool.  I've heard different things, but I really did enjoy it, saw the right amount of cool things and will go back with anyone who comes to visit that wants to go.

Country Music Hall of Fame

Johnny Cash on the Hall of Fame wall

George Straight - my favorite.

Patsy Cline's dress - love seeing things like this!

The tour of RCA Studio B is a MUST!  It was so cool being inside the recording studio where Dolly Parton recorded "I will always love you," The Everly Brothers recorded "All I have to do is Dream," and Elvis recorded...well, practically everything.  Studio B is where it's at and even after RCA built a brand new state of the art studio specifically for "The King" he still demanded to always record at studio B.  The tour adds about an hour to your full Hall of Fame time, but definitely worth it!!

Inside the Studio B recording studio

When we finally left, we walked over to Broadway (aka Honky Tonk Row) to visit the Hatch Print Shop, which is the printing press that to this day prints all of the Hatch Print Posters for the Grand Ole Opry.  Pretty cool to see them from Johnny & June and from today.

No trip to Nashville is complete without going to the Honky Tonks.  You just have to do it.  I guess that means I'll end up there a lot, but I'm okay with that.  We landed at The Stage, which is my personal favorite, and listened to one of the many bands trying to make it big, paying their dues.  They were great (most of them always are) and we probably could have stayed all day, but we had another meal to get to!

There is ALWAYS Live music in downtown Nashville!

Sunday morning we headed back downtown to tour The Ryman.  We opted for the backstage tour (also recommend paying the extra moolah for this) where they take you through all of the dressing rooms still being used today and show you the back door Hank Williams and all of the legendary Opry singers used to use to get to Tootsies.  Obviously we had to try it out, and it's shocking how you literally walk out of the back door of the Ryman into the backdoor to Tootsies & The Stage.  A bit of silly history, but still fun to see!  I'm so happy that Nashville had the sense to NOT tear this building down when the Opry moved out to Opryland.  Concerts inside here are so intimate and fun and you know me and old buildings...I can't get enough of them.

Mom, Dad & me on THE Opry Stage

Loved this view @ The Ryman looking out from the stage

The back door all the stars used to use to get to the "Honky Tonks" after their Opry performance

Back entrances to The Stage & Tootsies

There were SO MANY more sightseeing things I wanted to do while the parents were in town, but we just ran out of time.  I'm working on my list for if I have more visitors (hint to anyone out there reading this) and when my parents come back for another visit.

Living in such a tourist town is super fun & even walking down Broadway last Saturday my mom looked at me and said, "I seriously can't believe you LIVE here."

I know, me too - I'm a lucky gal!