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| Julia's Trip to Nashville | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 8th to 14th 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arrived in Nashville around 6 pm local time got our luggage and caught a cab to our hotel, Comfort Inn Music City, which was a $25.00 ride from the airport. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We checked in with no problem, and went up to our room to unpack and relax. After relaxing a bit, we decided to explore our home away from home a bit, and booked our fan fair shuttle pass for Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sunday. Before heading back to our room to crash for the evening. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We woke up at 5:30 am, and got ready to head out to Blake Shelton's fan club party at The Wildhorse Saloon, later that morning. We finally made it out of the room at just after 6 am, and had front desk call a cab for us, and made it to Wildhorse between 6:30 and 7:00 am, and we?re let into the building shortly thereafter. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After getting our party packets, we found a table to leave our things at, and got in line for the meet & greet. Finally, it came my time to meet Blake, and any nervousness and shyness I might've had left me, and I walked up to him and started talking to him and got a handshake. I told him Debbie from Canada asked me to give him a birthday hug and kiss, which he happily accepted (and boy did he smell nice), and I told him about the local opener for Clay Walker, named Al Lopez who did an awesome cover of the Baby. Beth and I each got our photo taken with him, and then both with him. After the meet & greet, we first each had our photo taken with Kaynette, and found another table and got our breakfast (which was surprisingly tasty), and then Blake came on stage and performed a few songs, one which was his new single, "Some Beach", then the birthday girls presented him with a special made guitar which he loved immensely. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After a brief question and answer period with Blake, we mingled a bit, and had photos taken with Carol, Patti, and Larry, then left walked over to Subway and got lunch, found a payphone called a cab and headed back to the hotel for a rest. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After a brief nap, we were bored, so we called Grayline and arranged for a shuttle over to Opry Mills Mall, and had supper at TGIFridays and walked around for a few hours until it was time to catch the shuttle back to our hotel. Where we went to bed early, so we could get up early the next morning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We woke up at around 8:00 am, got dressed and got our things together and went to the Lobby to partake of the free continental breakfast the hotel offered and waited for our shuttle that would take us downtown. At around 9:00, our shuttle arrived, and we found out the driver Susan was to be our driver for the week, and we both got our shuttle pass to hook on to the lanyard with our fan fair pass. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First stop today was The Trap for Darryl Worley's fan club party. We got in found a table, and ordered pop while waiting for the buffet line to die down before getting breakfast. At the appropriate moment we joined the line and got some scrambled eggs, bacon and a biscuit, and sat down to eat, and enjoy Darryl's performance, getting to preview some of his new material. After quite the wait, and purchasing a t-shirt from his merchandising booth, we finally made it to the meet & greet, and later met his lovely wife Beverley, and also had a photo taken with her, and we both had one taken with her. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We then walked over to the Coliseum to catch the shuttle bus over to the Convention Center where we were able to experience our first taste of fan fair and meeting the different artists such as Lila McCann, Kyle Jennings, Daniel Lee Martin, John Arthur Martinez, just to name a few. I do have to say; the experience of meeting so many country stars in one day was a total thrill. What we've waited for a long time. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After closing, we took another shuttle over to the Coliseum to catch our bus back to the hotel, not realizing that we would have had to wait until after the last concert was over, but some supervisor from Grayline was able to get us on a shuttle back to the hotel, and turned out to be our regular driver Susan. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We got back to the hotel in one piece, and Beth went for a swim while I stayed in the room and watched some TV. Beth came back shortly after and went to bed early, but I couldn't sleep, so a couple of hours later we both walked downstairs to get a snack from the vending machine, and came back up to the room and read a bit and finally fell asleep, waking up at 8:00 am. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After our usual continental breakfast, we boarded our shuttle and drove to the other area hotels to pick up passengers and then headed for our destination, the Gaylord Entertainment Center. Where we picked up our registration packets and bags, and then walked over to the Convention Center for more autographs and photo ops, and a few hugs too. First half of the day we met Erik Heatherly, Jamey Garner, George Canyon, Lance Miller, Blake Stamper and others. Beth headed off for a bit, so I wandered around and collected autographs by artists such as Damon Smith, Ken Mellons, 4Runner, Brad Wolf, Lane Brody, Suzanne Edwards among others. Beth and I met up later and continued our autograph hunting, meeting Billy Yates, Trini Triggs, Beth met Suzanne Edwards, and then we headed over to the Blake Shelton booth so Beth could purchase a Bser t-shirt that was sale for $5.00, and then we grabbed a bite to eat at a concession stand, and went in search of the Nashville Convention Center booth which turned out to be part of the Tower Records booth, and had the pleasure of meeting one of my favourites, Billy Currington. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After meeting Billy, we decided to take a breather and relax for a little bit, then went back into the exhibition hall, where we were lucky enough to catch our last meet & greet for the day, which by total surprise were The Wilkinsons, and we were the last in line to meet them as the hall was just closing. Beth and I left the building and went our separate ways, she went to the Coliseum for a concert, and I caught a cab back to the hotel where I napped for a bit, straightened up, and then around 9:30, ordered a yummy pizza from Castrillos, a local pizza place, and waited for Beth to return from the concert, then when she came back, she fell asleep shortly after, and I stayed up writing this report, and laid down shortly after, trying to get some sleep. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We woke up around 8:00, and at first I was planning to sleep some more and meet Beth later, but realized the shuttle bus came by at a different time then I thought, and ended up getting ready in a hurry, and heading downstairs with Beth, grabbed a bottle of pop from the lobby pop machine, and sat down on the couch only to get up maybe 5 minutes later when the bus arrived. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Our first stop was to have breakfast at a honkytonk on Broadway before starting our day, for $11, we enjoyed bacon, eggs, and cheese biscuits, and juice while listening to live country music. Next up, a tour of the Historic Ryman Auditorium, which was incredible, a dream comes true to be there. We sat down and watched a dj from WSM radio interviewing someone on stage, having no idea who this artist was. When the dj said his name, Beth's eyes went as round as saucers, and her jaw hit the floor, as it was one of her old favourites, Ken Mellons. After the interview was done, we headed to the stage for autographs and Beth got her photo with him. We then continued on our tour, getting a photo op at a Hee Haw backdrop with each of us holding a guitar like we were playing, with a guy dressed up as the donkey from the Hee Haw next to us. He then gave us an autographed photo of him that I thought was neat. We then took the elevator back down to the lobby, and had someone take a photo of us by the Minnie Pearl bench, changed film in the camera, and headed over to the convention center to meet some more artists. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Over at the convention center today, we met such artists as Brad Cotter, Miranda Lambert, Tracy Gershon, and Kyle Jennings again (and I got a great hug, photo with him), Blake Stamper again, so Beth could get her photo with him, and we ended our visit with an autograph and photo from Katie Cook, Lance Smith and Ty Herndon. We also had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Kassie DePaiva, a singer and actress who portrays Blair on the ABC soap, One Life to Live. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We ended up missing our shuttle back to the hotel, but flagged down a taxi, and not a moment too soon because not even 10 minutes after we got in, it started to POURING rain out, not even stopping when we got back to the hotel, thankful for the awning. After recuperating some, we started packing a bit for our departure on Monday, when Beth discovered a few ants in her dresser drawer, so I went to the front desk to report it, and ended up chatting with the two behind the desk, until Beth came down wondering where I was. We hung around there for a good half hour chatting away, then came back upstairs and headed to bed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Well, it was our last full day in Nashville, and what a great day it was. We started with one last sweep of the convention center and met a few up and coming artists, Lee McCormack, Tim Ash, Joe Houck and Keith Norris, with on last goodbye to Blake Stamper and I then said good-bye to the Johnson sisters at the IFCO booth and got their autographs, and said our good-bye to Carol and company at Blake Shelton?s booth, and headed over to the CMA Fest booth to purchase a t-shirt. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We left the convention center for our last time and hopped on a satellite shuttle over to Riverfront park so we could pick up some souvenirs from Cotton Eye Joes, and walked across the street to have a lunch at Hard Rock Caf�, and later caught a shuttle over to Opry Mills Mall where we walked around for a few hours before catching our shuttle back to the hotel at 6:30. During our shopping trip, we picked up some last minute items, and a couple small souvenirs. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We got back to the hotel around 7:00, and while Beth went for a swim, I went through all my bags and re-arrange things, then packed a little bit, and took a shower and got ready to go out to Dierks Bentley's party at the Tin Roof. We left the hotel around 8:30, after asking Lee at the front desk to call a taxi for us, and we arrived at the club shortly before 9:00 pm, and got in and found a seat. We had a pleasant surprise when we bumped into Ruth Moser there, and later saw Anna. We also had the pleasure of "meeting" Jake, Dierks' dog, and what a cutie he is! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dierks put on an awesome performance, and sounded and looked wonderful. We then got to watch his new video for How Am I Doin. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| We had the pleasure of meeting his bass player, an up and coming singer, Michelle Poe, and she is just as beautiful in person as she in pictures and in the My Last Name video. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Finally, the meet 'n greet with Dierks arrived, and Kai the tour manager told Dierks I was from Canada, and before even hello he just wrapped me in a hug which made my night! I gave him the gifts I brought him and Jake, and he looked at all of them, oohing and ahhing over both the shirt and ball cap, thanking my over and over. He said that Jake would "open" his own gifts, which I thought was cute. When Kai took our picture, I was flattered when Dierks pulled me real close, and then Beth got in a photo with the two of us. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| After I went back to the booth to get my things, as I passed Dierks where he was signing autographs, I said goodbye, and he looked over at me, and said, "take care sweetie" which made me smile. We then had the bartender call us a taxi for us and headed back to the hotel to finish packing, and fell asleep. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| June 14 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Well, this is goodbye already! We finished completely packing and called Rick to arrange for a 11:00 am pick up, and I went downstairs to bring the cookies and George Jones playing cards to Lee, and he went CRAZY over the cards, just freaking out, and I was able to talk to the manager about our stay, and the minor problems, all the while Lee was showing off his cards. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11:00 arrives, and we say goodbye to Lee, exchange hugs and got our stuff into the trunk of the cab and it was a very short ride to the airport. We checked in and got through security, and made it to our gate with plenty of time to spare, and it ended up our flight was delayed by half an hour due to the bad weather in Detroit. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The flight home was uneventful, we both fell asleep for the most of it, and the plane touched down late, we headed to baggage claim to get our luggage, and met Beth's parents and walked to the van, and headed home, making it through customs with no problem and got home, and officially ended my vacation. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| All in all, the whole trip was a dream come true, and I made a lot of wonderful memories. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||