I looked back in the blogs to try and get a count, and I think this is like the 7th or 8th time to the opry. It has clearly become the goto getaway for me and my bride. We visited this hotel together on our way home from Kentucky on one of our first trips as a married couple. And I hear others talk about the next cruise, or beach trip, or mountain trip, but within our conversations, it is the next opry trip. And given that our Marriot card gives us a free night at any hotel each year, you can guess where I look to plan that night. But our free night is limited in points, so that limits the opportunities for these trips to random weekends in January apparently. Where we saw quickly that there were not many people here on this weekend. I had some extra hotel points to make it two nights in our favorite home away from home, Marcia gave me the thumbs up on a text, opry tickets were ordered, and all that was left was a 3 hour drive up on a Saturday.
Magan had not been feeling well the prior two weeks, but with some medicine, she was feeling well on this Saturday, and we were hoping things would stay that way, as we have had prior trips to the urgent care, I think twice on this trip. On arrival at the hotel, I did not tell Magan, but received a text that we had been upgraded to a junior suite. But then at check-in, we were a little early (12:30PM), so our suite was not available. I told them about this being our favorite place, and really excited about that suite, and asked if any other suite was available (Yes, these were just free nights, but the Platinum member perks help the confidence with these requests). The guy at the front desk, Red, walked over to his supervisor and came back to tell me they approved us getting into a full suite. Then he handed me two sets of keys and told me I actually have two rooms that connect to be the full suite. Boom!
Then I walked back to Magan to surprise her, and showed her into the first room that was normal with a balcony, and walked back out to take the cart back, then walked over to our other room and opened the connecting door to knock on it. Magan said she was afraid that there were just some kids next to us, and this would not be good, then I called her name and told her to open the door. Then we just walked around for the next few minutes laughing at our little room that could have easily fit our whole family. She quickly called the bathroom in the larger room as hers, and we walked out onto both of our balconies, quickly becoming the kids that cant believe they won the grand prize.
Usually we have some time to just relax on this first day, but the opry was only on Saturday this week, so we had a 7:30PM appointment with some country music. We gathered some clothes and such and went over to enjoy the spa to help prepare us for the evening. After hanging out a bit in the relaxation lounge, I again checked our opry tickets and found that it started at 7PM...so we had to get going. That evening, we went to the German Bierhaus Restuarant (Magan's pick, not mine...but you will never hear me complain) because magan was looking forward to the Pork Schnitzel. And it was amazing, coming with some gravy and mushrooms. We also had a pretzel with cheese, and my meal was some pork loin with red cabbage and spatzle. Dear me, I love german food. And would you believe they had Milka chocolate for sale for $1 a bar at the counter. YES, PLEASE! We got our normal oktoberfest pictures, but also a new one with the mugs Magan found. This was Magan's idea for the picture with the big booby mug for me and the lederhosen mug for her.
We had to park a LONG way from the opry house, and it was cold on this night, but we were just two kids in love with our favorite place for music shining the light ahead of us. As it was end of January, and very light crowds, the line up did not have any mega stars, but that was not a problem. We had lower level left side seats on the aisle, but with the lighter crowds, I immediately began scoping out the sections that were light so that we could move forward at intermission. But after all that German, I also could not hardly keep my eyes open, so Magan let me take a little nap on her shoulder before the show.
Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry! And first on the list was the Opry Dancers kicking legs all over. Then we had the old time Cowboy singers "Riders in the Sky". They yodeled and had one guy that basically played one part of the song slapping his face. Magan said she knew her dad would have loved this group. After them was a lady I bet we have seen 4 times at the opry, and when Jeannie Seely was announced, they also said it was her 5,399 time on stage at the opry. WOW! Next was Christian Lopez, who apparently had a big group of fans up in the balcony. Pretty good voice, but not much in the land of personality.
And to close out the first session of the Opry before Intermission was Don Schlitz. He was simply amazing, and his performance is what makes the Opry one of the best shows around. Who is Don Schlitz? Yeah, I had no idea either...so I read this...
"Don Schlitz was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017. He is among the most influential and beloved songwriters in the history of country music.
His chart-topping songs -- among them “The Gambler,” “On the Other Hand,” “Forever and Ever, Amen,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her”, “The Greatest,” and “When You Say Nothing At All” -- are touchstones and inspirations. His works have been recorded by Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, The Judds, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Keith Whitley, Alison Krauss, and many others.
His fifty Top Ten singles include twenty-four Number One country hits. He has won three CMA Song of the Year awards, two Academy of Country Music Song of the Year prizes, two Grammy Awards, and four consecutive (1988-91) ASCAP Country Songwriter of the Year trophies."
But he walked out on that stage, and clearly others had not read this background, because they were not cheering like I was. He said "You guys don't know who I am, do you", then he started talking about what he had eaten that day. And just the weirdest funniest story about his day, he shared, then sung a song that we all laughed along with him while he sang "Cigarette". Great song, funny words. He continued to the next song, saying that the Opry told him he has to tell people when he has written the song, otherwise everyone will think they are listening to just poor karaoke. So before he sang the next song, he quietly whispered into the mic "I wrote this song"...then played "When you Say Nothing at All" made famous by Allison Krauss. Finally, he talked about being in Nashville writing songs in '73 and just trying to make it thru, then in '76, a guy by the name of Kenny Rogers sang this song of his...then he played "The Gambler". And of course we all sang with him, and both he and we loved it. And while I have been to the opry several times now, that was the first time I remember jumping to my feet after a performance. He was not the Mega-Star, but his words have helped shape a few megastars of country music.
After intermission, Magan and I walked down to an aisle seat on about row 6 right in the very middle. Boom, and had amazing seats for the second half of the show. First up was Madeliene Edwards, who had a Norah Jones sound, and a pretty good song about the only voices in her head she listens to being "Momma, Dolly, or Jesus". Then Charles Esten from the show Nashville came up to sing songs from his new album. He is clearly only on that stage because he is a good actor, and does not seem very genuine, looks like he watched some Bruce Springstein videos to prep for tonights show. Then his momma was on stage, a few rows behind me and Magan (Magan and I both looked at each other and I whispered...we got better seats than his momma). But he was ok, and we will agree with the announcer as he left the stage "Charles Esten, folks, wow, he has a lot of energy". Next was Maddie and Tae singing some really pretty songs, one Magan and I knew from radio...something about a "Broken Heart".
The clean up group for the second set was "The Isaacs" with a family of a momma, her two daughters, and son that are apparently one of the top gospel vocal groups. First song was good, but I was trying to figure out why they were in the spotlight set at the end. Then they pulled out Chicago's "You're the Inspiration" in accapella, and yep, now I knew why they were on that stage...WOW. One of the sisters has an amazing deeper voice, reminded us of Cher. And I can't remember the name of the final song, but it was perfect bluegrass with some funny dueling between one of the sisters and a steel guitar. We could not stop smiling at the end of the show. Maybe one of the most fun shows we have been to...and I told Magan how much I loved coming here with her.
In the store afterwords, I went on a shopping spree. Apparently the fun time I had blinded me and the use of the credit card, because I walked out with TWO new shirts, a new book and a poster with the lineup of that night's show. Hahaha, we laughed because this "piece of paper" was FREE with purchase of the book. Then because we spent more than $70, they gave us another free gift...Another poster ("piece of paper") of the Grand Ole Opry. Then they offered me a $2 cardboard tube for both of my free pieces of paper. We laughed and laughed about my "shopping spree" and then I had to do a "fashion show" back in the room to show my new stuff.
The next day was more relaxed, but also saw Magan start to feel bad again. At this point she was just feeling tired, but we had nothing to do, so she just rested on this day. We did visit a church that morning that was not too far from the hotel. Sitting on the patio later this afternoon, Magan was telling me about some things she had bought for Belle for our Universal Trip. I asked "You bought it for MAY". "No", she said frustrated that I couldn't hear her again, "For Belle". So that prompted Justin Timberlakes "Its gonna be May" being sung often for the rest of this trip. I also remember her telling me about Belle maybe liking a boy. And then I thought about her driving soon. And I saw so many little girls walking around that hotel with big eyes at the amazing waterfalls, remembering my little girls once walking thru the conservatory searching for fairy houses with me. And my heart started aching.
Dinner that night was Paula Deens, where magan was already not feeling well, and could not eat much, so I tried to compensate and ate 3 pork chops, 2 pieces of catfish, 2 cheese biscuits, a bowl of creamed corn, mashed potatoes, collards, and sweet potatoes, washing it down with 3 glasses of sweet tea. We then watched a movies, laughed at Miss Universe girls saying their country names, laughed at Michael Che and Colin Jost trading jokes, and finally went to sleep. I moved to the other room in the middle of the night, and Davis would have laughed at me...but I ate too much at Paula's and felt like I was going to puke that night.
And on our last morning, Magan started dropping quickly. I could tell she was not feeling well. She did go over to the spa to get ready to go, but it was not in her on this day. She was asleep in the relaxation lounge when I came to pick her up, but not so much from relaxing, but more from just being sick. We went to the german place one last time, and when she saw the gravy on my rouladen, and turned away from the table, I knew she was just not well. So we arrived in Nashville as excited kids, but left with her starting what would be a 102 fever for the next three days, and a full body (head to toe) rash that is still around now 8 days later. But fever is gone and she seems in better spirits. She will probably remember the last part of this trip more, but I hope she also remembers the Saturday first day also. Because that day was really fun.
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