To complete the summer update up to this point includes just a few more trips that we have gone on most recently in the past month.
Our first trip was to go visit my dad in Tulsa, OK. Sadly, Houston is pretty far away, so visiting always requires a plan ride (unless anyone wants to volunteer to drive 8 hours… no thanks). Fortunately, we were only a week away from Father's day so my sister got to come spend the weekend with us as well to celebrate. We started off the weekend with some Tulsa Tough which are competitive bike races around the city (very intense), so we headed on down in town to watch the competition and hang out around there.
The next day we got breakfast ad went to walk it off at the campus of ORU just to look around. This place was beautiful. We got the opportunity to go up into their prayer tower which is a place where students can go to just be with the Lord. The tower was built to look like a cross from any direction and also was built with a crown of thorns. The architecture of this campus left us in awe as we finished up our tour.
After we did some walking around campus, we decided to go hiking. We only got lost a couple of times - haha.
Because we were exhausted, we came back to the house to just relax and get ready for dinner. Being that it was "Father's Day" we had to celebrate. We went out for dinner and our dad opened up a present that he had already guessed… typical.
Because I am on summer break, I got to stay around an extra few days to get some good quality time in with dad. We watched some basketball, ate some pizza, worked out, and I even got a haircut (much needed)! I would say we had some excellent time together - sadly, tropical storm Bill was arriving this week during the days when I was trying to get home. Because my Nashville trip was literally back to back and leaving out of Houston, I had to head home early in order to beat the storm. It was upsetting to have to leave early, but I am thankful that I made it home safely. Overall, I loved spending time with my dad and of course I love me some Tulsa so it was a pretty awesome trip.
Next up: Nashville
For our anniversary, Casey (knowing that I have really wanted to go to Nashville) booked us a little vacation up in Tennessee. SO PUMPED. We left BRIGHT and early Thursday morning to head to Nashville… and by bright an early.. I mean we woke up at 3:30 am. SO early.
When we arrived in Nashville, TN it was only 8:30 in the morning, so we had the whole rest of the day to adventure…
Our first stop was at Bread & Co. to get some breakfast as recommended by many friends. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I had a bagel with my omelet that was AMAZING.
After stuffing ourselves full, we decided to go walk it off at Vanderbilt since it was just around the corner. What a beautiful campus filled with trees and amazing landscaping! Pictured here: a building and my handsome man!
After that, we hit up the Parthenon down the street. We weren't super interested in touring inside, but boy was it incredible to walk up to and around.
Most of Nashville was filled with food and tours so our first stop in town was the Johnny Cash Museum. This museum was filled with so many items from Johnny's past and his musical career. They had iPads set up for every decade so we could listen to how his music developed over the years. So many records and memorabilia from this man's life. It was amazing to walk through. To watch history being made all over again. This was by far Casey's favorite stop on our trip.
During the Johnny Cash museum we got the sweetest call telling us our room was finally ready (Praise the Lord!). Remember me saying we woke up at 3:30 am… yeah, we were exhausted. After an afternoon of some cat napping we got ready to hit the town (mind you, I am in a town where it is socially acceptable to wear cowboy boots all the time… I was in heaven!). We had a delicious dinner at Puckett's and then got to listen to some amazing live music on Broadway at Tootsie's and The Stage. Both had some great music and just a fun scene… all in my cowboy boots.
The next day we got to sleep in (hallelujah) and had a nice workout because we were on our way to the Pancake Pantry! We were told that it was so delicious, but that there was always a line out the door. They were correct.
And in case you were wondering.. the line didn't take that long!
To make ourselves feel better about all the food we ate we decided to walk around Radnor Lake to get a nice view and some more exercise.
If we had more time I would go back and spend some time really hiking around there. It was just stunning and peaceful. The perfect start to the day!
Because we had just worked out and walked, we were still in our stinky clothes so we needed to go change for the day!
Our first "tour" for the day started at the Belle Meade Plantation. This use to be a plantation where racehorses were bred. There was so much history that lied on this piece of land.. the families that lived here, the horses that were bred. It was just amazing to walk around and learn about the history of this plantation. We got to tour the mansion on the plantation (which unfortunately I do not have pictures of) and then afterward had a wine tasting. Now, normally I am not one to drink a lot of wine, however, the Belle Meade Plantation makes this Blackberry Wine that is to die for. It seriously was like a bottle of amazing blackberry juice. I wanted to buy 4 bottles right then and there.
If you trust me and want to order some wine… you can do that here. You won't be disappointed.
After the Belle Meade, we decided to go stand in line at the Bluebird Cafe because a singer/songwriter I have been listening to for about 6+ years (Kate Voegele) just happened to be there while we were in town. The doors open at 5:30 for the 6:30 show and there were only 24 first come first serve seats available. I had done some research through my cousin who use to live in Nashville and decided that getting there at 4:00 would ensure us a spot…. Wrong.
When we arrived at the Bluebird at 3:55 there was already a pretty significant line. I was in shock. We decided it wasn't too long so we stood in line for our chance to see a show. When the doors opened we ended up being numbers 23 and 24. I couldn't believe it. We were IN! Props to my amazing husband for standing in line outside for an absurd amount of time so we could do this.
Notice, I am still in the boots...
So if any of you have seen the show Nashville on ABC, most of the time you will notice they have some sort of stage. The way the Bluebird is set up normally is completely different. There are 4 singer/songwriters that sit in a circle in the middle of the room. Tables surround them and they each take turns singing a song. This is place where they can play songs that have never been heard before, experiment with songs they are working on, and just play their original music. The music was INCREDIBLE. I wish I had videoed full songs though because I now I want them to listen to and I can't find them anywhere! Here is a song I loved listening to by Jeffrey James. I just love his acoustic music and this song was written to a friend that was lost. The friend you spend time trying to invest in, but for reasons unknown ends the friendship ends anyways. Here is one of the pieces of the song I got:
After the show, because the Bluebird is actually quite small, I got an opportunity to meet and get a picture with Kate Voegele. I was cheezin SO hard and may have gotten super splotchy. No judgement.
The next day we toured a lot. We got to tour the Country Music Hall of Fame first, which I have to admit was quite overwhelming. It was just a lot of information with lots of things things to look at and learn. It was fun though seeing how country music has evolved over time.
Excuse the finger.
After the Country Music Hall of Fame we went to tour the Ryman Auditorium. If you are in Nashville I highly recommend this as one of your tours. It was originally built as a tabernacle to God and became a place where some of the most famous musicians came to play the Grand Ole Opry… where all people were welcome. All I could do was stand in awe at the history that came with this auditorium.. all the people that had come through there to listen and to play their music.
After the Ryman, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Grand Ole Opry! The Grand Ole Opry was moved from the Ryman as it got more popular and they built a special auditorium that could house twice the amount of people for a show. The way the radio show is conducted it that it has several different performers who all play 2 songs. We got to go to a show Saturday night and then got a backstage tour, which was nothing short of amazing. We got to walk across the stage where a 6-foot circle stands. This circle is original wood from the Ryman that was built into the stage at the Opry so we literally got to walk across the same piece of stage that all of the greatest musicians have walked. I mean… no big deal… right?
And that was the end of our trip! What a great was to end with the Opry!
Nashville was such a sweet gift from my husband that gave me memories that will last a lifetime… and of course I cannot wait to go back!!
After Nashville, we got to come home and head to Dallas to go visit my mom! It was such good time with her and she treated us to a late happy anniversary dinner at Three Forks! So nice!
Piper Bear had so much fun with her Grandma that it was unbearable to leave..
Plus she didn't want to go ride back in the car..
Now that we are back in town, we are back to our normal routine resting up for more fun filled with weddings and just a LITTLE more travel!
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