Day 2 of 9 "Spoons & Tunes": Nashville, Memphis & New Orleans

Today was our first full day in Nashville. I think everyone in the group welcomed the opportunity to sleep last night after our long day of traveling yesterday. I can't seem to sleep late no matter what I do, so I got up early to have coffee on the balcony of my hotel room and then headed out the door to explore this humongous property of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. Here are a few shots of my travels within the indoor hotel grounds:

I also learned today that not only do they have 105 ice machines on site, but they also have over 3000 employees, from 94 countries, on staff. I met 2 of them today (they were working the concierge desk) and of course I got them to sign my memoir cookbook (see post from yesterday for an explanation of this).

They also have a radio station that broadcasts live daily from the hotel property!

Then I did some shopping at some of the many boutique shops at the hotel...

...before we hit the road in our luxury coach with Alvin at the wheel.

Derek, our Collette Tour Manager, gave us the low-down on many interesting facts about Nashville and the property we are currently staying at, and kept us entertained along the way as we traveled to...

...the Johnny Cash Museum!

If you ever come to Nashville, the Johnny Cash Museum is a must. There is no bigger collection of Johnny Cash memorabilia and artifacts than this.

Then we had about 3 hours to go and explore Broadway (a most popular shopping/eating district in Nashville) for shopping and lunch at our leisure. Yes, I bought a pair of boots - you wouldn't believe the selection. And there is live music EVERYWHERE! This city is overflowing with talent - it is truly amazing.

During my exploring, I also met up with John at the Broadway Brewhouse for a tasty beverage (or two), and later we were joined by Marcia and Denise for a lunch of catfish, hushpuppies, nachos, and crawfish soup.

The group met back at the tour bus and we headed off to Nelson's Green Brier Distillery for a private tour and tasting from one of the oldest Tennessee distilleries... makers of the Belle Meade Bourbon, among others.

Aging the whiskey in the barrels is what gives it great colour and they even filter their Tennessee whiskey through natural lump charcoal!

Yes, they too  love the Big Green Egg. This is their staff one they have on hand for events and such. They are as proud of their Egg as they are of their Tennessee Flag!

Back on the bus we gave all of our guests a classic Nashville treat that has now been around for 106 years: Goo Goo Clusters! The Goo Goo shop was actually just across the street from the Johnny Cash Museum.

We then had an opportunity at the hotel to unwind before dinner, and so I took advantage of my balcony for the second time and had a drink (again, or two - because can you really have just one?) of local whiskey.

My room is to directly to the right of where these lovely ladies are standing (Christine & Tracey are Guests on the tour).

For dinner, we met as a group (dinner included again on the tour) at the Jack Daniels Restaurant onsite at the hotel. This is just 1 of 17 restaurants located in the hotel.

And as usual I got our servers to sign my memoir cookbook.

Tomorrow we are off early to visit the RCA Studio B; we're doing a city tour of Nashville; seeing the Country Music Hall of Fame; and then in the evening we all have tickets included in the tour package to see Rascal Flatts perform live at the Grand Ole Opry! It will be a later night tomorrow night so I will also be later with my blog post than these past two nights. We hope you guys are all doing well back home. Talk to you again tomorrow...