I finally went to Tennessee!!!

I went to Nashville for a conference, but there was plenty of time in the evenings to have a little fun in the place I've dreamed about going to since I was in the 5th grade! We went downtown and met this guy . . .
We had fun exploring downtown and ate at the most amazing BBQ place called Jack's. Yummmmy!
Nashville completely deserves it's title of being The Music City. Everywhere you look there are performers. Even the street performers were AMAZING! We had to take a moment to just stand there and soak in all the great LIVE music we could hear from everywhere.
We went to Tootsies which is famous for the place a lot country singers claim they got their start. We listened to a wonderful band. We were drawn in by their great rendition of Bon Jovi's I'll be there for you. These guys were so fun to listen to.
Some Marines were walking by so the singer pulled them up on stage and started singing Toby Keiths Courtesy of the red, white and blue. The crowd loved it and started giving the soldiers money and hugs and cheers. It was great.
We had five students attend the conference with us. I always enjoy having them come and getting to know my students on a more casual level.
Friday night we took a river boat excursion which was lovely . . .
People ask me all the time why I want to go to Tennessee. I think this picture sums it up quite nicely. Is this place gorgeous or what?
We stayed in Opryland which was this huge city type hotel that I kept getting lost in. There is literally a river that runs through the hotel and you can take a boat ride on it.
And just to make the experience all the more authentic, we were under a tornado watch for about 24 hours while I was there. We learned to head for a bathroom or a stairwell on the main level (or below if it exists).
As we were loading our plane to come home, they kept saying that a storm was headed our way and if we didn't load and get going before the storm we were going to be grounded (literally). I'm glad we stayed focused and beat the storm because by that time I was really ready to get home and see my babies (all 3 of them). Thanks for the memories, Tennessee!