Let's not kill each other!

We arrived in Nashville around 2pm Friday. We made it without mishaps and the girls did pretty well considering the long ride with only a couple squabbles in the last hour. As we were approaching the Opryland area, a General Lee car was beside us & my brother got all excited waving at them & blowing the horn! He got more excited as we pulled into Cooter's Place, where I had to pick up the Dukefest tickets. I waited in one line for 10 minutes only to be told the tickets were actually in the front! ARGH! I stood for another 15 minutes in that one while my family went through the Museum that featured displays from the original hit series show: General Lee, sherif's car, photo displays of Bo, Luke & Daisy Duke and even lunchboxes.

We paid $8 and went into the Music Valley Wax Museum which included figures of country music legends from George Jones and Waylon Jennings to Johnny Cash and Alan Jackson. Also here is the Sidewalk of the Stars with hand and footprints of 250 stars.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Downtown which was conviently only 3 miles away from the motorplex. I suggested Demo's Steak & Spaghetti House and a complimentary shuttle took us there. We had an awesome waiter and good food. Broadway Street was crowded with people as we checked out some of the souvenier shops and strolled past the honky-tonks with bands playing country music.

Saturday morning the arguments started with my mom & my brother's girlfriend over pink cowgirl hats my mom had purchased for Emily and Lydia.

Thank goodness I was at breakfast and missed the whole thing. I was also glad I had my own room. We didn't get to the fairgrounds till about 9:30am and my brother was mad at the long lines to meet John Schneider and Catherine Bach. Even a long line to take a ride in the General Lee. The silent treatment happened between my parents vs my brother & his girlfriend. I was stuck in the middle trying  to help everyone get along. We looked at the 150 General Lee look-a-like cars and yes my brother had to look at ALL of them! There was one that was rusted and junky looking to which Danielle said "Why is everbody looking at that piece of s#!t!" We found out that it was an original car actually used on the series! By 1pm we decided to leave and come back for the evening show at 8pm.

We went back to Cooter's Place so Kenny could buy some things and had dinner at the Opry Mills Mall at the Macaroni Grill. Again, another great waiter and good food with lobster stuffed ravioli. My parents didn't go to the evening show so the 5 of us went back and got to see the Dukes of Hazzard cast on stage which was pretty cool. Daisy. Bo, Cletus and Cooter minus Luke who was absent were singing "Just a Good Ole Boy". Then John sang a set of songs and there was a parade of General Lees and sheriff cars around the track. even Emily and Lydia seemed to enjoy themselves.

Back at the hotel, my parents watched my neices and the 3 of us walked down Broadway to get a beer. Most of the honkytonks were crowded and we finally went to Rippy's but didn't get waited on so we ended up at Lengend's Corner. It's my favorite bar there anyways. Nothing too exciting except we saw the usual Elvis look-a-like and a woman got her picture with him. We passed on that.