Day 23 - Heading Further East, Update of Seeing the Grand Ole Opry and Nashville Honkytonks

Today we drove further east to Virginia. It was a long travel day. It was good to finally get to Charlottesville from Nashville. Tomorrow we plan to tour Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. This post, though, is more about what happened last night.

Yesterday was a busy but very good day. We started out going to Graceland in the morning (see previous post) and then we drove to Nashville. We previously bought tickets to the Grand Ole Opry. Shane had been to Nashville before on a business trip, and he knew how great the Honkytonks in downtown were, and he said I had to see that also. So after the Opry, which was a great show, we Ubered downtown and got to hear more great music.

Us in front of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Shane in our second row seats before the show started. The seats were close, but say to the side. 

The Opry is a live radio broadcast with live commercials during the show.

The first act was Connie Smith.

This was mostly our view through most of the show... this cameraman's backside.

Country boy band King Calaway performed.

More of King Calaway and the backside of the cameraman.

This was the Opry debut of Chris Bandi, who did a great job. 

Next was the band Restless Heart who sang a song Shane knew... "Why Does It Have to Be Wrong (or Right)."

In the gift shop they had a dress on display worn by Loretta Lynn.

After intermission, the duo Stiking Matches performed, and they were the best of the night. Their guitar skills were amazing.

Next up was a comedian named Dusty Slay, who was pretty funny. 

Then we saw Grammy-winner Jason Crabb, who did some gospel.

Finally, the headliner, Ricky Skaggs was great. It was a really great show. So glad we did it.

After the concert at the Opry, we went down to Broadway to hear more live music. 

 

These ladies could play!

These guys played some classic rock and also were pretty good.

The last place we went was called Robert's and was the best band yet. They played old-time country and were great.

Robert's also served food, and though it was late, I had to have a fried bologna sandwich. I loved it!

Here's the map of our travels today. It was about 8 hours of driving, but it was rainy most of the way and then when it got dark, there was thick fog. We've had almost every type of weather during this trip. After we arrived in Charlottesville, it started to thunderstorm.