Retro Post

5/31/2006
Looking at Music City USA for the first time...
I love Nashville. I love the whole country music scene. I will never forget the first time I saw Nashville.

One of the first things I did after I retired from the AF Base was to go on a bus tour with my daughter to Nashville. It was 1990 and I was so excited. I love classic country music. I must say today's country music is hardly worth listening too but in 1990 there were many great country singers.

Our first night in Nashville we were taken on a tour of Opryland Hotel. What a sight. It was Christmastime and the decorations and lights were so fabulous. I was awestruck. Sounds silly I know, but I had worked most of life since I was 16 years old. I had always wanted to visit Nashville and this was my first time to do so.

On the tour of the hotel we stopped to watch for a minute a wedding party's reception. A young man with a beautiful voice was singing "Nobody Answers When I Call Your Name." Vince Gill - he was one of my favorites. I just stood there and listened until he finished the song. The tour group went on without me and my daughter had to come back for me.

Many exciting things happened on that first trip to Nashville. I have visited Nashville quite a few times since then. My daughter and I went to Fan Fair one year and in 1995 Jim and I went to Nashville for our 40th anniversary and stayed at Opryland Hotel. It was Christmastime again and we could look out the window of our room at the beautiful lights.

Opryland Hotel has a different name now and the Opryland Theme Park is now a giagantic shopping mall.

Progress I guess.

*** "First we want. Then we get. Then we wonder why we wanted it. Then we get again."