8/20/2011

We had breakfast and then drove to Murfreesboro to visit Stones River National Battlefield. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Over 25,000 men were killed. After touring the battlefield we went to the cemetery which held several thousand of the men. Afterward we drove to Andrew Jackson’s home named The Hermitage. It is a beautiful old mansion that was on his cotton plantation. Jim wanted to go back into downtown before we went to the Grand Ole Opry and see the full size replica of the Parthenon that was built for the Tennessee centennial in 1897. It was quite impressive, and on the inside was a huge statue of Athena in all gold that Jim called cheesy. We visited a fifth brewpub and walked around the main drag downtown where I talked to an Elvis tribute artist. We left downtown and drove to the Grand Ole Opry. We saw: Larry Gatlin, Bill Anderson, Jimmy Dickens, and Vince Gill. They were the hosts of four thirty minutes segments. The other performers were: Jimmy C. Newman, John Conlee, The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, Mike Snyder, Jimmy Wayne, Jan Howard, James Wesley, Connie Smith and Bradley Gaskin. The Opry Square Dancers performed twice. We really enjoyed the Opry and thought Larry Gatlin and Jimmy Dickens were the best. Larry Gatlin was very personable as host and his first song of the night was “Houston”. Little Jimmy Dickens was 90 years old and he was so funny. He told a lot of jokes and sang. John Conlee sang “Rose Colored Glasses". We waited for the parking lot to clear and then went back to camp and had a very late, quick dinner.