It was a very quiet night at the Flying J and we slept soundly. This morning I made reservations for three nights at the Jellystone Park Camp Resort one mile from the Grand Ole Opry. Luckily it is a Passport America CG so half price at $30.00 a night.
We were assigned our site and when we arrived there was a Jeep parked in the site. I had to get the people to move their Jeep so we could get in. The sites here are very tight and their 45 foot MH just fit with no space for their car. We just fit with our car partially hanging into the road.
We set up and then took a ride to the Grand Ole Opry to try for tickets to the Friday night show. Neither one of us is really a country music fan but we do enjoy the Grand Ole Opry!!!!
There were only a few tickets left so we got best available in the upper balcony. The venue isn’t that large so just minor nose bleed seats. LOL We inquired about the back stage tour and decided to book it. I was shocked when Ron agreed and paid the $140.00 for the tour and show without batting an eyelash!!!!!! Who is this man!
We had 45 minutes to to kill before the tour so walked around the grounds and over to the Opry Mills Mall across from the theatre.
They have an interesting restaurant called Aquarium and inside you are surrounded by aquariums. Looked like an interesting place to eat but there was nothing on the menu that appealed to us so we opted to try something else after our Backstage Tour.
The Backstage tour began promptly at 12:30 pm. Our tour guide was very nice but not very enthusiastic. We watched a brief video on the history of the Grand Ole Opry then were taken to the back entry used by the performers. At he desk is the Grand Ole Opry Post Office where each performer picks up fan mail.
Each entertainer is assigned a dressing room. There are 18, each decorated quite beautifully.
There is a dressing room specifically used for performers outside the country music world. The Grand Ole Opry stage is a venue that many performers want the honor of performing on so they set aside a dressing room specifically for those performers.
We stopped in a backstage area of the Opry that is used for several different venues including the filming of He Haw back in the 70’s. There is a display set up for the TV show Nashville with the itsy bitsy dresses the female leads wore on the show’s debut. I swear they are really miniature people judging by the size of the dresses.
The green room where the performers wait with their families is very nice and not green at all. Looking at the wall on the left is a black metal bar that indicates how high the flooding was inside the Opry back in 2010.
You can see the water line stain on the mural that hangs on the wall in the green room.
Part of the history of the Grand Ole Opry is that it is not a concert hall but a radio station that broadcasts three evenings a week. So during the show the announcer actually does commercials. In it’s eighty-nine year history the Opry has never missed a broadcast, not even during the flooding of 2010. The radio show was broadcast from the Ryman Theater while the Opry was being repaired.
On stage there is a circle of hardwood flooring that was brought form the Ryman designating where every performer from the Ryman once stood before a performance. Today we were able to go on stage and stand in the same spot of all the present and past performers.
.Of the twenty or so people in the group we were the only two people that have been here before, have seen a show and will being seeing another show. No one else plans to see the show this weekend I guess.
Walking over to the mall we stopped to admire the daffodils that were in full bloom throughout the area.
Although it was overcast we enjoyed walking around outside knowing we didn’t have to deal with snow and ice.
We ate at the Macaroni Grill for lunch and got way more food then we needed. So much food that we could only eat half of the meal. Ron and I decided we need to start sharing meals. The good news is that we have left overs for dinner on Friday. Despite the lack of sunshine we had a very nice day and are looking forward to Friday nights’ show.
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