Retired Nomads: Country Music Hall of Fame, Johnny Cash Museum & City Tour

June 14

We did the Hop on Hop off Trolley today. I had pre-purchased a Trio Pack that included a backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium and the Johnny Cash Museum. I mistakenly thought they were good any day during the week they were purchased since that’s how it was presented online for purchase. "Ticket choices for the week of….." Anyway, I should have read each voucher carefully before we went. The Grand Ole Opry tour needed reservations which I called that day and got them for the next day no problem. (it is located in a different area of Nashville than the downtown area where everything else is.)

We separately bought tickets to the Country Music Hall of Fame and in planning our day, we decided to do that first, then ride the trolley to our lunch spot and then catch the other 2 museums after lunch. Seemed like a good plan…..

We enjoyed the Country Music Hall of Fame (though neither of us are big country music fans).

Webb Pierce's "silver dollar" convertible

Elvis Presley's "solid gold" Cadillac

wall of solid gold records

Hee Haw

Willie & Waylon exhibit

Kris Kristofferson's Army shirt

Dolly Parton, Ray Charles & Jeannie C Riley

Keith Urban & Dixie Chicks

all the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame

We then caught the trolley to Hattie B’s Hot Chicken for lunch. OMG, was it worth the long wait to get in. It can be up to 2 hours wait, but I think we only waited around an hour. The story goes that Hattie caught her husband cheating and decided to make him chicken so hot it would punish him. On the contrary he loved it. Then, they started making it for others and they now have 3 locations around Nashville. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. It comes in Southern Fried with no heat, mild, medium, hot, damn hot and “shut the cluck up”. Greg got hot and I got mild which was still quite hot. The sides were all good as well. We tried the greens, the pimiento mac & cheese and the baked beans. Sooooo Good!

Farmer's Market

Centennial Park

Yes, a life-size replica of the Parthenon

Hattie B's Hot Chicken

we were told this was a short line today....

We then had to wait a half an hour for the trolley to come. One came by and it was full and the next one was scheduled for 20 minutes later, but it took a half hour. Here is where if I had read the tickets carefully we would have done the Ryman first and then the Johnny Cash museum. The Ryman closed at 4:00 (since they get it ready for concerts at night), but since I thought it was good all week we figured we could catch it Saturday. Turns out it was only good on Thursday.

Music Row of recording studios

home of the Nashville Predator's Hockey Team

Anyway, we stopped for something sweet at Goo Goo and then went to the Johnny Cash Museum since it was right across the street.

Goo Goo Sundae - brownie, hot fudge, chocolate ice cream & whipped cream

It was a great museum, but poorly laid out. (very narrow and crowded right as you came into the museum) It was really crowded and took a long time to get through. If I had to have missed one of the museums, it would have been that one. Anyway, we got to the Ryman right after 4:00 and they already had closed the ticket counter and were bringing out the metal detectors for that night’s concert. If we had been just a few minutes earlier, we would have caught the last tour.

We then walked to the Ryman via the Music City Walk of Fame.