Day 4 - Nashville

With the Culver's reunion wrapped up, we played tourists on Thursday. Craig was still with us, so we piled in his van and headed to lunch, where he met a friend of his who happened to be passing through on his way to Louisiana.

Following lunch, we toured the Parthenon. It was built in 1897 as part of an exposition in honor of Tennessee's centennial celebration. It is a full size replica of the Greek Parthenon, and today serves as an art museum. Cameras are not allowed on the first floor, but I was able to take photographs on the second floor.

After our visit to the Parthenon, we headed downtown to 2nd Street and Broadway and visited lots of honky tonks. Lots of stimulation here - music, crowds, lights, good times!

The Parthenon - I took a few liberties with some PhotoShop plug-ins to add a bit of drama to the sky, which was overcast.

Athena - Nearly 42 feet tall, holds the goddess, Nike, in her right hand. Nike stands 6'4" tall. 

These solid bronze doors weigh 7.5 tons each and are 24 feet tall, and 1 foot thick.

A view of Athena from behind the columns

Sculptures surround the perimeter of the Naos room that houses Athena.

Athena's shield - the face in the center of the shield is Medusa.

Curious George - aka Don - testing the west door. He could easily move it with one hand. Note that he's toting my camera bag. What a guy! He lugged that thing, along with my tripod, all over Nashville!

Another view of Athena

Danne ran to the top of the steps (Rocky-style) for a quick picture.

The Thinker.

 SOME OF THE MANY, MANY HONKY TONKS

We had supper here - out on the back patio. Just across the alley is the original Ryman Theatre. 

On Friday night, there were all types of vehicles parked outside this place, and people were telling us as we walked by, "We're shooting a video. Don't look at the cameras." Naturally, I stopped to gawk (who wouldn't?!) - "Where're the cameras?"

We stopped here (OK -  and a few other places) for drinks. 

Check out the tap beers - I think Danne said there were over 70!

Love this one!

Don spotted this in a shop window. I love the contrast - bangles vs cowboy.

The original Ryman Theatre. 

Nashville - Day 3

NOTE: I didn't post anything Friday because I spent the evening with a VIPP (very important precious person) - my granddaughter, Hayleigh.

Day 3 - We wrapped up the Culver's reunion, and I spent the afternoon with Mary, taking photos around the Opryland Hotel - such a beautiful place. There are three linked garden areas - Cascades, Magnolia and Delta. All have water features, tropical plants, palm trees, orchids, and beautiful landscaping. Also included are shots of the Cascades and Magnolia lobbies.

In the evening we attended the gala event/awards ceremony, so I included just a couple of pictures taken just before that got underway. I'm not used to dressing up, so I promised my coworkers (who helped me with accessories and shoes) a picture.

The Cascades - keep in mind there is a roof over this portion of the hotel

One half of the massive main lobby. Directly across this space (to the left) is another check in area identical to this one.

Taken with a fisheye lens, this shows a glass sculpture and stained glass skylight in the main lobby.

Entrance to the Magnolia section of the hotel

A cool 5K will purchase this mirror.

These water spouts "danced" to music.

One of the many enclosed seating areas. I like how the background foliage matches the lamps.

Don and I ready for the gala.

Craig, Brian and Don

Day 2 - Nashville

We started day 2 in much the same way as day 1 - we set an alarm clock for 12:30 a.m., but this time our flight was on schedule, and we were on the road to the Twin Cities by about 1:15 a.m. The roads were awful, and we hit two areas of black ice, which made for interesting travel :)  We got to the airport in plenty of time, and enjoyed a very uneventful flight to Nashville. Craig met us there and brought us to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Talk about opulent! I spent the better part of Wednesday photographing the three main indoor garden areas; more about that tomorrow.

One of the many water features at Gaylord Opryland.

The grand staircase.

Warm welcome for Culvers franchise owners and employees

Once settled into our rooms, we spent the afternoon at Culver's trade show. On Tuesday evening, Culver's reserved the famous Wildhorse Saloon exclusively for Reunion guests. We dressed up in country western garb, piled onto a coach bus, and headed to downtown Nashville for a really fun night that included a great meal, and a performance by country music star, Craig Morgan. Danne, the manager for the North Mankato Culvers was particularly excited to see him perform.

Left - right - Craig, Danne, Bobby, Don, Mary and Brian

 Here are a few shots of Craig Morgan. He put on one heck of a show! We learned that most of his band mates are from Wisconsin!

Nashville! Day 1 - Monday, Feb. 21

OK - Maybe I'm erring on the side of caution, but I'd prefer to share my recent trip to Nashville AFTER the fact, rather than announcing to the world wide web before or during the trip - "Hey - I'm away from home, and my house is going to be empty for the next week!"

So this will be a recap of a trip to Nashville last week for a Culver's Reunion. (For those of you who don't know, my boyfriend, Don, and his brothers own two Culver's franchises in Mankato/North Mankato.)  Five of us travelled from Minnesota, and Don's brother, Craig, drove from Virginia. The reunion went from Monday - Wednesday, but we Minnesotans stayed until Sunday so we could enjoy some of the sights and sounds of this amazing city.

Day 1 - Monday, Feb. 20. Actually...I headed to Don's house Saturday night because a huge snowstorm was forecast for Saturday night/Sunday, and I didn't want to have to drive in it.  Mother Nature didn't make liars of the weather forecasters. She DUMPED about 18 inches of heavy snow throughout the day Sunday.

We set an alarm for 12:30 a.m. Monday morning (still snowing...) hoping we'd be able to make it to the airport. Brian and Mary came over, and we learned around 1:00 a.m. that our flight was cancelled. The earliest we would be able to leave was 6:15 Tuesday morning.

Here are a few exciting vacation pictures - pre-flight :)

This is Don's son's plow, and my car behind it. 

Don was plowing the restaurant lots, so I shoveled his sidewalk and was "snizzled" on while I worked.

This is my car Monday evening, Feb. 21. We'd shoveled the driveway once, but hadn't cleaned my car off. 

Happy New Year from one pokey blog poster

He's from eastern North Dakota; she's from southern Minnesota. They met in college, and the rest is the beginning of their history together. Andrew and Leah, and their puppy, Milo, came to see me today for their engagement session. Every single image we took with Milo involved his full attention - absolutely adorable!!  (It helped that my sister, Shawna, was behind me making strange noises that kept Milo guessing.)

We braved deep snow and chilly temps and got several nice images. I'm looking forward to their July 9 wedding, where we'll trade frostbite for mosquito bites! I wish them the best in their upcoming endeavors. Andrew is serving our country as a newly commissioned officer in the USAF, and Leah is a grad student studying meteorology.