DAY 40 NASHVILLE
(photos: inside the Opryland Hotel; Nora's first carousel ride.)
It was a gloomy day this morning. I went up to the office to get David some of the free morning coffee they offer here. It was a bit weak for his taste. I also found out that the shuttle to Opryland advertised in the book was more like a $50/person Gray Line tour that happens to pick people up from here. So that was out. We were going to be driving. I didn’t really know what was at Opryland, just that it was something people always go to see. We drove to the area and parked in the bus parking, which was free. (Car parking, though closer, was $10.) I knew there was a boat tour of the gardens inside the Opryland Hotel courtyard, so I figured it must be pretty big. We walked up to a hotel employee we saw outside and said we were just sightseeing and asked where we should go. She directed us inside, where we passed through the hotel lobby into a stunning indoor garden with waterfalls and fountains and suspended walkways. It was beautiful. Also Nora gets REALLY excited about fountains, so she was happy. And that wasn’t even the room with the boat tours. We kept walking and went into another fountain/garden room. All the hotel rooms seemed to face onto these beautiful domed courtyards. At the end of this second room, we were looking down into what looked like a fantastic buffet. There was fresh-baked bread, shrimp cocktail, a waffle bar, roast beef -- and all of it looked really gourmet and great. We forgot it was Sunday, though. It turned out the buffet was nearly $30/person, so we passed. We moved onto the Delta courtyard, where there was a river with boats that ran along a track. There were also some fantastic fountains that moved and leapt and gushed. We bought some overpriced Pizza Hut and sat in front of one of the fountains on some chairs. Nora was actually giggling with excitement watching the fountain. She was still talking about it over dinner back at the camper tonight. Then we walked on an outdoor path to the Grand Ole Opry, home of the longest running country music radio show. You couldn’t really see the auditorium without getting show tickets, and there weren’t any shows on Sunday. We walked across the parking lot to the Opry Mills shopping mall, which was enormous. We didn’t buy much, but Nora took her first carousel ride with David. “I rode the HORSIE!” she told me when she got off.
Back at the campground, we pulled in and were met with a questioning look from the campground owner. I guess we were supposed to check in this morning, even though I thought I had paid for two nights over the phone. They had already given our site to someone else, but luckily had another one available. They had thoughtfully collected our doormat and dog tie-outs from our old site. After we moved and had a snack, we went to the camp office to ask a question. We ended up in the back room behind the office, where they have computers you can rent and free board games. David and I played a couple games of checkers. Then Nora and I went to the playground while David and Michael talked to the owner. Nora really liked this playground, even though it was mostly really old, metal playground pieces badly in need of a coat of paint. She hardly played with rocks at all, moving from one play car to another and asking to go down the slide “again” and again. After a while I was freezing and insisted we go back. After we warmed up, and while David was making pork stir-fry, Nora and I went to the book exchange and turned in three of our old paperbacks for some new (used) ones.
After dinner, David asked Nora if we should have dessert. Her eyes lit up and she said, “Cookies,” and pointed to the snack cabinet. David tried to get her off the subject, but she kept pointing. David said, “Nora, do you have a one-track mind?” She said, “Cookies. COOKIES!”
Nora went to bed in her sweatshirt and no pants because she wouldn’t cooperate with David in getting her pajamas on. But other than those battles, she really has been very good. She rides happily in the stroller or the backpack and usually goes along with whatever we’re doing.