Opryland Christmas Trip

Last year for Christmas we went on a family trip as our Christmas gift to each other and we loved it so much we decided to do something again this year.  This time we headed to the Opryland Hotel outside of Nashville.  Since we had just been to Nashville a few months before, we didn't even go downtown at all - but spent the whole time at the resort and loved every single minute!  

There is a huge mall next door, so before check-in we started our trip with lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.  Their animatronic animals and thunderstorms were cool but our favorite part was anytime anyone ordered the brownie volcano dessert the waiter had to walk all through the restaurant shouting "Volcaaanoooo!"  I bet that gets old after a while.  

Next, we went to this big indoor ice display.  We weren't sure what to expect and they give you these coats to wear over your coats so we figured it must be kinda cold.  
   Yep, it was.  At first we didn't mind because everything you see if carved out of huge colored ice blocks.  Literally everything is ice.  It was so creative!
 But someone came down with a fever and cold the day of our planned trip and wasn't feeling his best, so we tried not to spend too much time in the freezer.  Poor Grant.  He was a champ.  We had a jam packed schedule and we pumped him full of meds and he was a big time trooper.   

 The final ice nativity was my favorite.  No colors, just all clear ice.  It really was beautiful.  
The guy that checked us into the hotel gave us our room keys and started to explain how to get to our room when he said to hold on, took the keys back, and then gave me a new room key.  He said he changed our room and upgraded us to a room with a balcony view.  I have no idea why he changed his mind (maybe he saw sickly, comatose Grant sadly sitting on the couch waiting for me) but it seriously made my day!  I said thank you a million times and got outta there before he took my keys back again!  We felt like we won the lottery and spent 90% of our time in our room on the balcony just people watching.  
    We spent a large part of the afternoon roaming the indoor gardens and getting lost over and over again.  Even with a map it took us a while to figure out how to get back to our room.  
 
 We walked to the Grand Ole Opry next door to see the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular.  It was equally spectacular to be in the Grand Ole Opry! 
 
 The seats are like church pews.  It was actually kinda comfy.
 That night we enjoyed more of the balcony and got lost walking around the atriums again looking at all of the beautiful lights.  It was breathtaking. 

 It was raining a ton, so we couldn't get any closer to the outdoor lights than this, but it was stunning.  I don't think I've ever seen lights like this - even at temple square.   
 Breakfast on the patio.  

Since Grant was still pretty sick, we skipped Mammoth Caves on our way home.  But even so, it was such a special trip.  I love spending money on memories and am so grateful we were able to have such a special overnight trip.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Science Center & Niagara Falls

Image
Brian took this picture of a bridge competition that was going on at the conference center.  That is a lot of bridge players! While Brian was conferencing, we ventured out in our car to the Science Center across town.  It was awesome!  We loved the interactive displays and things to do.  It was way, way fun. This frog is the cutest, saddest, frog I've ever seen.  He was so adorable. Haley loves turtles! We tried some Pizza Pizza for lunch in the cafeteria.  Not bad! This wooden slide was awesome in their little forest.  Grant went flying down it like a rocket.  Once he didn't get his footing right to stop and he kept on flying.  It was sooo funny.  He had a little bum rash from the slide, but was okay. What a good sister...picking out the mulch from Grant's shorts after he went flying off the slide.  hahaha. After finding so many good deals at the outdoorsy place the night before, I decided we ne...
Read more

Aquarium & CN Tower

Image
The next morning, we walked over to the Aquarium and beat the crowds.  It was a really cool aquarium - better than we expected.   Our favorite part was the tube that you could walk through.  This big sea creature was just sitting on the top of the tube.  It was so cool to check him out and to see all the sharks everywhere.  You really get a good look at all their crazy shark teeth when you are below them!   After lunch, we headed for an afternoon swim at the hotel pool. Then we headed over to St. Lawrence Market and met Brian for dinner.  I got fish and chips, Grant got homemade ravioli, Haley got chinese and Brian got perogies.  Everyone was happy!  It was fun to walk around the market. Next, we headed over the CN tower as a family.  It's a very high way up! The glass floor was super crazy to walk on.  It made me so nervous!  Man, that is a long way down! ...
Read more

Dearborn, Michigan

Image
On our way to another conference in Toronto, we stopped over outside of Detroit in Dearborn, Michigan - where the Ford headquarters are.  We stayed at the historic Dearborn Inn, which Henry Ford designed, and is now managed by Marriott, and went to the Henry Ford Museum.   There are tons of Ford factories, offices, test tracks and museums all over...but man, do they need to pave their roads!  They were full of potholes everywhere.  Poor Detroit/Dearborn.  Hopefully they can pave someday soon.   Brian and I had been to the museum before, but it has been over 20 years for me...and they had changed quite a bit.  It was fun to walk around and look at all of the neat cars, trains, airplanes and other equipment.    This is the original oscar myer hotdog mobile.   This is the actual bus - not a replica - of the bus in Montgomery Alabama where Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus.  Grant is sitting in her ...
Read more