Trying to make lemons out of lemonade, my family and I evacuated for Hurricane Gustav to the lovely city of Nashville TN for a mini vacation. Nashville has always been on our places to go list – we just didn’t think that we would go this past week!
We were very fortunate that all we lost was the little bit of food left in the fridge and freezer and one bird feeder that I forgot to take down. A small price to pay to come home safely to Algiers with no damage to our house. I hope that each of you remained safe through the storm too.
As always, the camera was with me and I thought I would share some photos of our evacuation/vacation:
We left early Saturday morning, before contraflow started, so the traffic was not an issue. The further north we went, the more beautiful the views became.
Downtown Nashville – the Symphony Center
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
The obligatory visit to the Hard Rock Cafe for burgers, hats and Tshirts.
A little retail therapy at the Opry Mills Mall, where there is a beautiful carousel in the Food Court and Sting Ray Reef, where the kids can touch and feed the live sting rays.
We took a day trip to Lynchburg, home of the Jack Daniel’s Distillery and an old fashioned town square. There was a terrific lunch at the BBQ Caboose Cafe that was topped off with creamy cones from the local ice cream parlor.
Back in Nashville, we were lucky enough to get tickets to the only weekday performance of the Grand Ole Opry, the long running radio show that originated out of Nashville. Joe Newman opened the show with a mix of country and zydeco that made the crowd of mostly evacuees put their hands together at the sounds of home. He was followed by Jean Shepard, a bluegrass band (sorry, can’t remember their names, but that’s them above), Chris Young, Little Jimmy Dickens, Billy Currington, Little Texas and Bill Anderson. Even my kids that "don’t like country music" had a good time.
We topped off the trip with a tour of The Hermitage, the plantation home of Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States. I think my husband thought he would have to drag me out of the garden, since there were so many beautiful pictures to take….
I hope that your evacuation brought you somewhere you could be with family or friends and have a little fun at the same time. Even though we had a great time, it was a relief to get back to the West Bank and I was reminded once again that there is no place like home.
All photos copyright 2008. Lisa Heindel and West Bank Living. All rights reserved.
I am so glad that you didn’t have much loss! Looks like you made the best of the situation – how fun!! I have driven through Nashville but didn’t have time to sight-see and have always wish we had!
So glad you and yours are ok! I’ve been waiting to hear!