Loretta Lynn's Ranch and Cissie Lynn Country Store

We had fun touring the Clement Railroad Hotel and Museum and then we were off again and heading towards home.  We saw the signs for Loretta Lynn's place and of course we had to stop.

We took the exit and followed the signs.

The tour consisted of walking and riding around in a van to the various structures around the property.  Our tour guide was awesome and we enjoyed listening to him as he shared all about Loretta Lynn.  I was very disappointed that we were not allowed to take pics but apparently Loretta Lynn is concerned about the quality of the pics and people selling them online.  Well there goes my retirement plans...sheesh.

There was a post office so y'all know that I had to take that photo op.

We purchased tickets for the tour. 

And here are some pics of things that I could take pics of

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Have you met my friend Jack?

Here's our tour guide. I sure wish I could remember his name because he was really good.

I have so much fun when I'm with my husband.

We were starving after finishing the tour so we stopped at Cissie Lynn Country Store to eat.  We thought it was a restaurant but it turns out it's more of a convenience store combination mini lunch counter kind of place.

It's owned by Loretta Lynn's daughter Cissie and it was no surprise that they offered a fried bologna sandwich on the menu so that's what I ordered.

While waiting for our meal I chatted with a guy named John for a bit who, if I remember right, used to live in Irving.  He was a friendly guy and chatted with a couple of people that came in and then I saw who I thought was Cissie Lynn come in.  Turns out the guy we'd been chatting with was her husband!  While I didn't get a pic with her I did say hello. A brush with the celebrity world... Well here's a pic of my sandwich.

After finishing off our late lunch we got back on the road headed towards home.

And the adventure continues...

 

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Clement Railroad Hotel and Museum

Our next stop was the Clement Railroad Hotel and Museum.  It's a small spot in the middle of a sleepy little town. 

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When we first walked in no one was around so we took it upon ourselves to start browsing the displays and exhibits.

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There was a display with some Coke items and y'all know I love Coke! 

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More pics as we were browsing around...

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Later on a docent did come by and she was very helpful and informative.  We also had a great convo with the guy in the train room.  There was also a really nice man in the gift shop area.  It's just really awesome when we get to meet some nice folks with interests different from ours.

Y'all know I have a thing about bathrooms...right?  Well here are a couple of pics of bathrooms that y'all might enjoy. Pay close attention to the warning on the second photo.

I'm in the banking business so the Confederate money was interesting.

I just love looking at old things and while not necessarily my decorating style I do love all things vintage and would love to have them in my home.

Such a fun time in a little sleepy town...now we were off to Loretta Lynn's place.

<3

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Tour of the Tennessee Capitol

Thursday started with a tour of the Capitol of Tennessee.  This one was just a tad better as the docent was full of info and she was willing to share.  However, it was still not a full guided tour and so a lot of it was just looking and not really knowing what we were looking at despite having our handy dandy self-guided walking tour brochure.

Here are some pics of the surrounding buildings.

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So here's the Capitol

Now the really cool part of this was the hallway you had to go down to get to the building.  I thought this was totally awesome and very movie like.

When I go back and sort the photos that I'm going to include in my blog I notice that I take a lot of pics of the ceiling / light fixtures.  Not sure why but most times I think they are pretty.

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Like I said earlier, if I had paid attention I might have remembered what room this is a pic of but I don't.

I found myself in the middle of a press interview and I'll be honest I wasn't prepared but I did my best.

We were able to tour the chamber area.  I'm not entirely sure if we were allowed on the actual floor but no one stopped us.  They looked at us like we probably weren't supposed to be there but hey...try and stop us.

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We did go out a door that was cracked open and led to a balcony.  It was not clearly marked that we weren't allowed out there but it had a really great view and we couldn't resist.

 

Tour was over...not much to look at to be honest but we enjoyed it just the same.

Of course we had to go back through the tunnel. 

We walked back to our car and headed off to our next adventure.

<3

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The rest of our Nashville tour

So while we did enjoy the whole tour I will say it really does feel rushed and like you don't have enough time to enjoy and browse at the places you visit.  But we did get to see many things so that was good. On the tour and an expected stop was to a local Nashville honky tonk. 

We ended up at Legends Corner.

And true to form there was a guy playing hoping to make it big. 

He did let us know that any tips received that day were going towards his dental work.  Gotta love a singer who's keeping it real.

The walls were covered with various memorabilia and other items which of course I found very interesting.  Could've stayed longer but again, we were on a time budget on this tour.

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On the way out I did run into my famous friend and he graciously posed for a pic.

Fun, fun times and yet there was more to come...

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Our Nashville Tour

After a fun filled day touring Graceland we headed toward Nashville and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.  We planned on taking a Gray Line tour of Nashville the next day.  We had no idea how much they pack into one tour but we would soon find out.

 

Our first stop was the Ryman Auditorium which is known as the birthplace of country music. 

 

Lots of cool and interesting stuff to see but we really didn't have very much time to enjoy and browse at our leisure.

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It's always interesting and fun to tour a historic place.  Next time we travel there we'll plan on spending more time.

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Here's the two of us having a blast onstage.  The paparazzi went wild and the audience clamored for our autograph when it was over. 

So after the really quick tour we were shuttled off to tour the Country Music Hall Of Fame.  Now this place is big and again, we really needed more time to enjoy it.  Just another excuse to go back! :)

The building itself has meaning. The windows are like keys on a piano, the hand rails are shaped like treble clefs just to name a few.

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My favorite things to look at are the vintage things at an exhibit.  I just think they are really cool and interesting.

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One of my favorite pics.  It's somebody's jewelry...I've already forgotten who it belongs to but I thought it was pretty.

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