Going to Nashville
While I was in Wisconsin, I had the opportunity to visit my niece and her husband in Nashville. I arrived on a Thursday and Katie took Friday off. She said that she had a surprise for my birthday.
There I was in Nashville with Katie picking me up at the airport! We went home to her cozy house in Franklin TN. I saw Lola and Brian and we had some soup for supper. When I got upstairs to my room, I saw a present sitting on the bed. I took it back downstairs to Katie and Brian and said, “look what I found.” It turned out to be tickets to see the Rockette’s at the Grand Ole Opry House for Friday night! What a great surprise birthday present!
The next morning when I got up about 8, Katie took the day off and she already had a beef stew melting away in the slow cooker. Lola was trotting around keeping us company and Katie wanted to try baking a red velvet cake. She had Brian’s Grandma, Mama Ruby’s recipe for the frosting and she wanted to try it out. It’s Brian’s favorite cake.
We baked the cake and hung out around the house for a bit having some breakfast and coffee. Then we ventured out to take a drive around. We went to Macy’s at the mall and I got a Christmas present for my mother there and used the gift certificate that Carol gave me for my birthday on a sweater. When we got back to Katie and Brian’s the cake was cool and ready to be frosted and the cream cheese was softened. We didn’t use all the powered sugar that the recipe called for and it tasted great. I explained that when you spread the frosting on the cake you shouldn’t touch the cake because then it will pull up and get all mixed up with the frosting. The cake looked great!
Soon it was time to make the noodles for the beef stew and then Katie and I ate as Brian was not home from work yet and we wanted to be early for the show. The cake was wonderful. The frosting was perfect. I would make that cake at home too, I got the recipe for the frosting. I wore my new sweater and we got all ready to go out to the Grand Ole Opry. It’s in its own complex in Nashville, not downtown. Nashville is spread out and it took us almost an hour to get over there or maybe it was 30 minutes, I can’t remember. It was frosty out and we found a good parking spot and walked over. We were early and had time to take pictures out front. A clueless person took some pictures that weren’t very good and then we found another person who knew what he was doing. He was there with his girlfriend and we took his picture and he took ours in front of the guitars that are out front. It’s a quaint looking building and it was all lit up for Christmas. We checked through the gate and went into the lobby, it was all decorated with lights and garland and red ribbons. We had our picture taken by the enormous Christmas tree. The gift shop was full of cowboy stuff, but we managed to find some Christmas ornaments that we bought. We also bought water and some popcorn and went to our seats. They were way high up in the last row so we had a bird’s eye view of the show and could see all the choreography. Santa was in the show and the Rockette’s were fabulous dancers. It was a nice evening and we didn’t have any trouble getting home.
Katie and I at the Grand Ole Opry to see the Rockettes
The next morning, we visited their next door neighbor Joanne, a really nice woman. She has a pretty garden behind her home and helps Katie with gardening tips. I liked her right away, She had a lavender Christmas theme as that is her favorite color and her living room looked elegant with a decoration on the mantle with lavender ornaments. Her dog looks just like Lola too. For Christmas, her son is a chef and she has to wait to see when they will have their celebration, but it will be at her home and, from what she was saying, it sounds like she is a great cook.
We went to the Dickens Fair in Franklin and heard bell ringers in period costumes play the Carol of the Bells which was a real treat.
Playing Carol of the Bells... amazing.
We went back to their house and had a chance to relax and then went for dinner in Franklin and had a variety of things including shrimp. On Sunday Brian made eggs over easy and I was impressed because I’ve never attempted it! They turned out great too. We drove into Nashville to see the city and took a walk down the main street and had some pictures by the river there. It was a nice day. We also found the American Pickers store but it was somewhat of a disappointment. The show is so interesting with all the stuff they find. But they didn’t have really must stuff for sale there, they were really trying to sell T-shirts instead. But they had some old things, like a dressmaker’s dummy cage type thing all draped up with an American flag that was nearly in shreds it was so old. It was an interesting place to walk around, but smaller than we expected.
Christmas in Franklin, TN
There I was in Nashville with Katie picking me up at the airport! We went home to her cozy house in Franklin TN. I saw Lola and Brian and we had some soup for supper. When I got upstairs to my room, I saw a present sitting on the bed. I took it back downstairs to Katie and Brian and said, “look what I found.” It turned out to be tickets to see the Rockette’s at the Grand Ole Opry House for Friday night! What a great surprise birthday present!
The next morning when I got up about 8, Katie took the day off and she already had a beef stew melting away in the slow cooker. Lola was trotting around keeping us company and Katie wanted to try baking a red velvet cake. She had Brian’s Grandma, Mama Ruby’s recipe for the frosting and she wanted to try it out. It’s Brian’s favorite cake.
We baked the cake and hung out around the house for a bit having some breakfast and coffee. Then we ventured out to take a drive around. We went to Macy’s at the mall and I got a Christmas present for my mother there and used the gift certificate that Carol gave me for my birthday on a sweater. When we got back to Katie and Brian’s the cake was cool and ready to be frosted and the cream cheese was softened. We didn’t use all the powered sugar that the recipe called for and it tasted great. I explained that when you spread the frosting on the cake you shouldn’t touch the cake because then it will pull up and get all mixed up with the frosting. The cake looked great!
Soon it was time to make the noodles for the beef stew and then Katie and I ate as Brian was not home from work yet and we wanted to be early for the show. The cake was wonderful. The frosting was perfect. I would make that cake at home too, I got the recipe for the frosting. I wore my new sweater and we got all ready to go out to the Grand Ole Opry. It’s in its own complex in Nashville, not downtown. Nashville is spread out and it took us almost an hour to get over there or maybe it was 30 minutes, I can’t remember. It was frosty out and we found a good parking spot and walked over. We were early and had time to take pictures out front. A clueless person took some pictures that weren’t very good and then we found another person who knew what he was doing. He was there with his girlfriend and we took his picture and he took ours in front of the guitars that are out front. It’s a quaint looking building and it was all lit up for Christmas. We checked through the gate and went into the lobby, it was all decorated with lights and garland and red ribbons. We had our picture taken by the enormous Christmas tree. The gift shop was full of cowboy stuff, but we managed to find some Christmas ornaments that we bought. We also bought water and some popcorn and went to our seats. They were way high up in the last row so we had a bird’s eye view of the show and could see all the choreography. Santa was in the show and the Rockette’s were fabulous dancers. It was a nice evening and we didn’t have any trouble getting home.
Katie and I at the Grand Ole Opry to see the Rockettes
The next morning, we visited their next door neighbor Joanne, a really nice woman. She has a pretty garden behind her home and helps Katie with gardening tips. I liked her right away, She had a lavender Christmas theme as that is her favorite color and her living room looked elegant with a decoration on the mantle with lavender ornaments. Her dog looks just like Lola too. For Christmas, her son is a chef and she has to wait to see when they will have their celebration, but it will be at her home and, from what she was saying, it sounds like she is a great cook.
We went to the Dickens Fair in Franklin and heard bell ringers in period costumes play the Carol of the Bells which was a real treat.
Playing Carol of the Bells... amazing.
We went back to their house and had a chance to relax and then went for dinner in Franklin and had a variety of things including shrimp. On Sunday Brian made eggs over easy and I was impressed because I’ve never attempted it! They turned out great too. We drove into Nashville to see the city and took a walk down the main street and had some pictures by the river there. It was a nice day. We also found the American Pickers store but it was somewhat of a disappointment. The show is so interesting with all the stuff they find. But they didn’t have really must stuff for sale there, they were really trying to sell T-shirts instead. But they had some old things, like a dressmaker’s dummy cage type thing all draped up with an American flag that was nearly in shreds it was so old. It was an interesting place to walk around, but smaller than we expected.
Christmas in Franklin, TN
Comments