It was August 1986; Tammy was nineteen and Jennifer was sixteen, Eva and I thought it could be the last summer vacation that Tammy would go with us on. She had just finished her first year in college and might have other plans in future summers. It had been a while since we had been to Opryland USA and our girls loved theme parks and the music shows there. We had not been to the Grand Ole Opry since it had moved to the new Grand Ole Opry House there in Opryland USA. We had been when it was still in the Ryman Auditorium, and we thought our girls would enjoy shows in the new Opry House.
Our first stop on that trip was in Memphis. We went to Elvis Presley’s house and to see his jet. While we were there, we went to see the old Memphis Victorian homes. An opportunity to visit the glory years of the past for the “well-to-do.” From there we went on to Nashville where we planned to stay a week and see several of the shows and museums in the Nashville area. Tickets to the Grand Ole Opry had to be purchased in person and most of the shows would sell out, so the shows we could get tickets for were a few days later. We planned our days at Opryland and other places around the shows we had tickets to see.
I took two hundred pictures on that trip, maybe one day I will take the time to scan all of them and make a DVD for the family. There were a lot of fun rides at the park then, but the camera I was using on that trip was not meant for amusement park rides, so the pictures were from shows at the park and during the Grand Ole Opry. Opryland had many exceptionally good shows, both inside and outside theaters. It was a wonderful place for young performers to get a start and have some great experiences. Many of the entertainers also worked at other places in Nashville, but some were still in high school and college.
The costumes were first-class and involved several changes during many of the shows. There were gazebo-type buildings at various places around the park where groups would perform several times a day and small bands that would walk around the park playing songs. Several good places to eat were scattered around the park and a lot of trees provided shade during the hot summer days. The park was constructed along the Cumberland River. Tammy and Jennifer got to meet the members of the Cumberland Boys and some of the performers around the park.
We attended the taping of “Nashville Now” and another daytime TV program conducted in the recording studio that was located at the park. They had a medical clinic also located onsite. We spent a day in Gatlinburg shopping and walking down the river. We drove to Staunton Virginia to the Statler Brothers Legend Museum and Restaurant which was the old Johny Mack Brown High School that they went to in high school. They had bought it and remodeled it for their business. They were on the road that week, so we missed seeing them.
That was another of our family trips when we made some great memories.
Statler Brothers – Do You Remember These
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