THE GRAND OLE OPRY #1



CAM AND THE GENERAL LEE



I have to start out by saying that we have never seen freeways like the ones here in Nashville.  They are very complicated and the signage is not the best.  We managed to find the exit for The Grand Ole Opry and stopped at Cooter's which is a store that has all and sundry to do with The Dukes of Hazzard TV show.  If you're ever looking for a souvenir to do with the show this is the place to come.

Willie Nelson also has a store next door with, of course, anything and everything to do with him. 

We then headed out looking for the Opry house and after a bit of driving around we did manage to find it.  Turns out the bad flooding that occured here in 2010 is still in the process of being fixed.  The mall next door to Opry Land is still closed and there are fences up everywhere blocking access.



THE GRAND OLE OPRY



The grounds of the Opry House are grand and very beautiful.  Colourful flowers and plants everywhere  and you would never know that there had been flooding.  The floods pretty much covered everything surrounding the theatre and the stage was under four and a half feet of water.  We were told that the shows of the Opry did go on in other theatres around Nashville. 



PAINTING OF MINNIE PEARL AT THE STAR'S ENTRANCE



We signed up for the tour and started out by the star's entrance.  There is a lovely small fountain there that was donated by Minnie Pearl.  Her husband gave it to her for an anniversary and she left it to the Opry House when she passed away.  The story goes that Minnie bought a hat for one of her performances and didn't have time to take the price tag off so she tucked it up inside and went on stage.  During her performance the price tag fell out and she was extremely embarassed until she realized the audience thought it was part of the show and were laughing about it.  She then put price tags on all her hats. 

This is a picture of the stars' mail boxes.  Every member of The Grand Ole Opry has a personal mailbox to receive fan letters at.  If you want to send a fan letter to one of your favourite country stars all you have to do is put their name on the envelope and underneath put "The Grand Ole Opry".  You don't need an address or a postal code.  The stars' boxes are in alphabetical order except for Little Jimmy Dickens who isn't tall enough to reach the spot he should be in.



CONTINUED IN BLOG 2 . . .