If this vacation were a book, you would not want to read it. Because frankly, the front and back covers would not be appealing...at all. But you can't judge a book by it's cover!! The beginning and end of our trip had character though....that's what we will call it. It began with this......
Delayed flight. Bad weather going through Dallas area. Our flight was delayed a couple hours which meant that the chances of catching our connecting flight were slim to none. While I used this extra time to bury my face in a book, Riley buried his face in his work......
Slowly removing himself from work mode.....
We were finally on our way out of OKC after an even longer delay due to an unorganized group of AA workers and a scanner that wasn't functioning. After making it to Dallas we were greeted by masses of angry and tired people who had been waiting all day, delay after delay, to get on their flights. We were in for quite a wait and had realized we would not be doing anything that night in Nashville besides sleeping. Bummer. An even bigger bummer? A cancelled flight. Yes, as we sat there and waited until fifteen minutes prior to boarding time I was wandering around because my legs were getting a little tired of being cooped up when what did I spy? CANCELLED.
After calmly approaching the AA workers, we were rudely tossed a piece of paper with a number on it to call and reschedule our flights for the morning. And to make it even better...no luggage. We had the clothes on our backs and a carry on full of shoes. Well I guess if I was going to be wearing the same thing two days in a row I could at least wear a different pair of shoes. ;) Let me just say, airports are stinky. The air feels gross and humid and they just plain stink. Too many people shoved in a small area. So stinkiness + no luggage + undesirable hotel room close to the airport = two very unhappy travelers. We were promised an overnight kit to be able to freshen up a bit....haha. We had a good laugh as he handed us a tiny little comb and some toothpaste and toothbrush. Um, where is my hair straightener, shampoo, and hair dryer?
There was about a thirty minute span of time where we sat on some benches and just stared at eachother with head in hands wondering whether or not we should even attempt this trip. Obviously this wasn't going well so far and we had already missed an entire evening of fun....and there was always the possibility that bad weather would delay our flight the next day as well. After some convincing, Riley had talked me into sticking with our trip. And this helped a bit as well.......
Riley was just peachy as he called to reschedule our flight for the next morning.....
Using his overnight kit...lol
Absolutely thrilled as we checked into the hotel in Dallas
Nashville at last!!! What a relief to finally be at our destination....just 16 hours late. We hurried to our hotel to shower and get dressed and ready to hit up downtown. We forgot one little thing though.....check-in time was 4:00.....and it was noon when we got there. My oh my. If I had had a towel, I would have thrown it in. :/ I would have been fine sitting there wallowing in frustration and misery but Riley helped me snap out of it and took me to a nearby first-class establishment.....Cooter's. Lol. Now if you watch Dukes of Hazard then this probably sounds familiar....and this dude probably looks familiar......
Riley had to describe his identity to me but I snapped pictures of course despite not knowing who this man was. ;) We considered this our first star spotting.
Ahha! It was the cars that drew him to this place like a bee to honey! He drooled while checking out all of the General Lee hot-rods.....
And of course made me pose by one. This is my "get me a shower and some clean clothes ASAP" look.....
"Food?", you say. Why don't mind if I do feed my face. I was pretty pumped to eat some yummy barbecue and eight weeks worth of fried foods and yummy goodness. This was to make up for all of the weeks I'd been eating only fruits, veggies, tuna and chicken. Not on vacation, no sirree!!!! For awhile I actually forgot that I looked a hot mess .......
After some fried pickles, barbecue and chicken we still had some time to spare so Riley proceeded to kick my behind in a game of pool.....
Two showers later and a fresh pair of clothes we were headed to the car for some downtown fun.....but the weather had other plans for us. A torrential downpour started just as we came off the elevators forcing us to spend yet another thirty minutes sitting inside the hotel lobby.....
Hello Mother Nature.....you can see your way out anytime
After the rain let up we were soon walking the streets of music city!! The first thing we noticed was that Taylor Swift was in town performing at the Bridgestone Center (along with her ten semi trucks). There were plenty of people selling tickets on the street and just for a moment I considered dragging Riley to the concert and then thought that he had been through enough in the past day...didn't want to torture him anymore. :)
He doesn't enjoy her music....but he did enjoy poking fun at the young T Swift fans holding signs and chanting. I reminded him that this was going to be his own daugther someday. He just smiled.....
After the mockery was finished we took off down Broadway. We made our way into wherever we heard the sweetest sound coming from. We loved the fact that there was live music streaming from all directions. We ate some barbecue while sitting front and center at one of the bar/ restaurants and requested more than our fair share of our favorite country songs. We were so entertained that I forgot the world was ending......
That poor poor man who came up with this crazy idea....I bet he needed to come in and take advantage of these $6 pitchers of beer!
It seems as though nothing had been changed, the floors were creaky and warped, the records were all in wrappers and the smell of an old cellar lingered in the air. What a neat piece of history this record store is.....
Next stop was The Stage for more live music and a drink......
Next stop along the way was The Big Bang dueling piano bar. We had an absolute blast at this place and spent a good couple hours there singing along, cracking up, and people watching (our favorite was the attention-seeking bachelorette who tried all evening to make her presence known and get on stage). As any piano bar-goer should do, we waited until they played the best song ever, Sweet Caroline, and then made our exit past the bachelorette and her pink boa.
This is where things get crazy....let me warn you, we are a wild pair!!! We ended the night by taking a walk by the river and deciding that we were old and very, very tired and would love nothing more than to fall asleep! And we did just that. Asleep by 11:00. Losers for sure. But let me just say that the nine hours of uninterrupted sleep and no alarm clock were the best. things. ever.
I snuck out of the room early that morning for a workout to see if it would help take away some of the guilt from my eating spree the day before. It didn't help, but that didn't stop me from continuing to feed my face! :) Oh the joys of vacation....it's a diet loophole. Sunday was Opryland day. Well we thought it would take a day....turns out it only took about two hours to make your way through and eat lunch. The shuttle lady thought we were crazy when we called for a ride just after being dropped off. Opryland just wasn't for us I guess. Although it did offer some beautiful scenery.....
Downtown was the place to be so that's where we made our home for the rest of the day....
First stop: The Ryman Auditorium......
What a beautiful historical landmark. The stained glass windows that lined the back wall were breathtaking. And so was this guy.......
Hehe ;)
We made ourselves right at home and decided to put on a show for the crowd.....
Ok, maybe not, but we did get to pose on stage. Lol. We are no Johnny and June because Riley had to show me how to properly hold the guitar. I'm serious, I had no clue how to hold it. It was as if someone had placed a tuba in my hands and said "here, play this." I think sometimes Riley wonders how I make it through everyday life with the lack of common sense I display. ;)
After our time at the Ryman, we decided we were ready to kick back and relax. We trotted on down the street to the famous Wildhorse Saloon to play some games. Again, he kicked my tail....
But I had had enough of getting beat so I sicked the bouncer on him.....
"Sir, you are going to need to leave this establishment"
"Let the little lady win a game or two"
Next stop: The Country Music Hall of Fame. This is where we heard that there was going to be (gasp) STARS walking the red carpet!! We camped out while they set up the red carpet...unfortunately we never got to look in the actual museum because they were busy setting up the event to induct Reba into the hall of fame that evening. Since Riley is very aware of my obsession with spotting stars he waited outside with me for a couple hours along with a huge group of people. They were staging the limos and guests around the corner of the building so we could see them coming in limo by limo. Riley lightened the suspense by hollering out "it's REBA!!!!!" as an old Blazer drove by...laughter ensued! That funny man of mine!
Getting ready for her arrival
After about three fake-out limos she finally stepped out in all her gorgeousness.....
Reba, of course, had plenty of country singer friends that showed up to support her on her big night....
Tracy Lawrence
Billy Currington
And I can't forget Reba's biggest fan......
Another full night of sleep. Twelve hours to be exact!!! Ah, heaven. Another little slice of heaven was this quaint little country style cafe where we had lunch on Monday.....
Famous for it's biscuits and spectacular home-cooking, the Loveless Cafe was a short thirty minute drive (beautiful drive I might add) outside of Nashville......
Yes, the biscuits are worth bragging about. We left with very full bellies and happy hearts.....
Probably thinking something like this: "Man, I wish my wife could cook like that..."
We rolled out to the car and drove another thirty minutes to The Hermitage, home of Andrew Jackson. All I could remember from history classes about the seventh president was that he was a racist jerk. Although we were still intrigued to see where he made his home....and I told Riley visiting a southern plantation was on my list of things to do. After watching the thirty minute video that preceded the tour, I still felt the same way about the man...definitely a racist jerk. But the guy did have an awesome crib.....
After a trek along a road among some beautiful scenery we finally made it to the house.....
Jackson's tomb
The grounds behind the house included a bunch of little shacks which he called slave quarters.....
Riley hollers out to me "babe, you've gotta see this, it's nicer than where we are living right now"
Riley - "wow, they had advanced technology, he was intent on keeping an eye on them"
Beautiful home, furnishings, greenery....and magnolia trees. EVERYWHERE! Just gorgeous!
We had one more place to cross off our list and that was the Grand Ole Opry....
Kinda like the Hall of Fame, we never actually got to go inside because there was a high chool graduation taking place. It was super humid outside with a hint of thunderstorms in the air...and we were soooo close to our hotel and soooo close to going to take nap but we convinced eachother that it was our last night and we could sleep, well....never. But we were going to live it up while we could! So we drove downtown for more food, drinks and music. Pina coladas, cajun food and a lil suprise performance by Craig Campbell....
Singing "Family Man"
We snuck inside Legends to listen to a few songs and were thrilled to hear a couple songs by him. He was hiding out having a drink when someone recognized him and called him up on stage. (There is supposed to be a video below here but after four attempts I gave up trying to download it.)
Watching his performance was the perfect way to end our trip together. :)
Oh but the trip was far from over at this point. It still continues..my hubby is stuck in downtown Nashville because there are no flights to Dallas because of hail-damaged planes. Eeek.
Riley and I parted ways Monday night....he drove to Franklin, a suburb of Nashville, to be closer to the hotel where his conference was the next morning. I spent the night working out, blogging, and watching the Thunder choke. Speaking of thunder there was plenty of that in the Nashville area around 4:30 that morning. I shot out of bed when I was startled awake by thunder and lightening that were out of this world scary. I reached for the tv remote. NO TV. I reached for the hotel phone. NO PHONE. I reached for my cell. NO INTERNET CONNECTION. Oh my. I was about 75 % certain that the top floor of the hotel was about to blow off and I ought to put on clothes that were suitable for entering the hallway. After about 30 minutes of walking the hallways to see if anyone else was terrified for their life, pacing my room and being too afraid to look out the window and considering calling Riley the storm finally calmed down and I was able to sleep for a while longer. My alarm went off and I soon discovered that the hotel was still without power. Looks like the trip was going to end exactly how it started....a hotel hot mess. I got ready by the light of my phone screen so you can imagine how lovely I appeared as I emerged from my dark cave of a room. Tuesday morning was definitely a hat day. After embarassing myself by trying to use the elevator with no power I lugged my suitcases down the hallway and five flights of stairs to find a crowd of angry hotel guest demanding emergency outlets so that they could use blowdryers. Ok, I wanted a blowdryer very badly I admit, but not that bad. Lol. As the airport shuttle drove me to the airport we were amazed by all of the downed power lines and trees that had fallen victim to the storm that had passed through. So I wasn't just imagining it...that thing was SCARY!
Luck seemed to improve greatly as my flights were right on time and everything went smooth as could be. I made it out of OKC just in time to miss the big monster storms and felt relieved....until I realized that a tornado was on it's way to Enid where I was driving to pick up Emmi, whom my dad had so graciously watched while I was gone. I couldn't book it home because there were storms all along my route to Woodward. So I rode out the not-so-stormy storm with my sister and her boyfriend at his parents' house. They were nice enough to let us bring a kennel of dogs with us too....I couldn't help but crack up as we were carrying all of these squirming dogs in through the rain.
Finally around 6:30 I got to wrap my arms around my baby and see what new things she'd been up to. More hair, four new teeth, and she took three steps. Girl, I told you to wait on that!!! She kept grabbing my face like she was trying to make sure it was really her momma. Oh how I love that girl!!! Five days was way too long to be apart from her.......
.......so it wouldn't be Hallie Time without showing what she was up to while her parents were away. I'd say she probably had just as much fun as we did hanging out with her aunts, uncle and grandparents.....
She spent Friday afternoon at Nanny's house doing these everyday normal baby activities....
Giving free dog massages
Kicking back with a drink
Grocery shopping
Washing windows
...and being brainwashed by Nanny and Kylie :)
Hallie had a slumber party on Friday and Saturday night with Aunt Katie and Uncle Luke. I hear that she was a good little girl who enjoyed waking up early and playing in bed and talking with them. She played and played and played some more...and I got plenty of pics like this....
"Parents schmarents...this is awesome!"
Aunt Katie and Hallie were pooped by the end of Saturday afternoon....
She slept like a pro that night and was rested up to put on her Sunday best for church the next morning....
I got plenty of pics and video as usual from Miss Jennifer in the church nursery. Her Hallie girl was quite the daredevil on Sunday. This video makes me scared for what is to come......
I'm sure Sunday was anything but a day of rest for Aunt Kylie, Nanny, and Papa because they had Hallie duty. She was a social butterfly and went to her cousin Susan's graduation party and then took a walk with Nanny and Papa.....
"Can't go walkin' without my juice, Papa"
Papa was on Hallie duty on Monday after work and I hear he flew solo for awhile and Hal may or may not have given him a run for his money...it may have had something to do with the four teeth breaking through. Eeeek. Kinda glad I was out of town for that part. Kylie was on Hallie duty part of Monday evening as well...I think she must've shared some of her Red Bull with Hal because she was banging her head against the wall for fun......
So that's our story and I'm stickin' to it. We wait patiently for dad to arrive home....who knows when that will be. His flight is rescheduled for Thursday morning so maybe we will see him by the end of the day tomorrow. As I type, he and coworker Tom are eating another delicious meal at Big River and taking in more music.....50% of me is jealous and the other half is 100% content cuddling with my baby girl who I missed so dearly! When putting everything in perspective it seems as though our traveling issues are micky mouse stuff compared to the problems that others around OK and MO are going through right now who have lost family members and homes. I am thankful that we were protected during all of this crazy weather. Definitely a trip we will never forget!
Loved it!! And I can't believe that lady stole my pink Reba gear!!??
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