CMA FEST Weekend...YEEHAW!!!

Where do I begin with this post?  This past weekend was one of my best yet here in Nashville.  It was the CMA Festival and I had my very good friend, Allison, come to visit for the first time.  I feel like we did a ba-JILLION things so I’m gonna try my best to give you the short and sweet version of all of our activities.

Allison got into town Friday night; we grabbed a quick bite to eat and then went downtown to the Honkeytonk bars. 

Allison and I waiting outside of Tootsies Orchid Lounge...this place is a Nashville MUST!  Performers have taken the stage here since the early 1960s in hopes of being discovered.

Allison, Me and Ellen

The 4 of us...Claudia, Me, Allison and Ellen

This guy was a little tired...

And this old guy was trying to hit on girls....

Claudie girl and me!

Then we decided to move on to Whiskey Bent Saloon.

As Garrett would say "Thumbs Up America"

Then Claudia tried to teach this fella here how to line dance.  It was pretty hilarious.

Saturday morning we all got ready and went to eat at this lovely Mexican restaurant in East Nashville called Rose Peppers.  It was absolutely delish.  After we got our bellies full of yummy Mexican food, we drove downtown and parked in the building I worked in.  I gave Allison a tour and showed her some of the pretty views of downtown from our lobby.

View of downtown...notice the stadium to the right of the river, that's where the CMA concert was held Saturday night.

View of Riverfront Park where some of the concerts were held throughout the week.

View of Broadway and the Ryman Auditorium.

Another view of Broadway.

View of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Bridgestone Arena.

Then we walked over to the Country Music Hall of Fame for a tour.  It doesn’t matter how many times I go on a tour here, it never gets old and I always learn something new about country music.  I absolutely love it. 

Us getting ready for the Tammy Wynette exhibit.

The entrance.

Some of Tammy's jewelry..is it sad that I want the majority of these?

One of Elvis' Cars

Elvis' gold piano

The inside of the Hall of Fame

Me and Garrett outside of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

After that we headed downtown and low and behold, there was a dog show.  How awesome?  We could have stayed and watched these little pups all day long. 

Then we decided to grab a bite to eat before the concert.  We ate at Bailey’s downtown on Broadway.

Me and my handsome Cattleman.

When we finished dinner, it was about time to walk over to the LP Field because the concert was about to start.  Here are a few pics of some folks on our way there.  The crowd to CMA Fest was….interesting.  The best way to explain this shin-dig is that it’s like a Woodstock, but for REDNECKS!  I didn’t get as many pictures as I could have, but it was a fascinating site to see.

After a little hop-skip-and-a-jump, we’re in the stadium and ready for the concert to begin.

Chris Young started the night off

Then Little Big Town

Clint Black playing during the acoustic set change.

Then Mr.Josh Turner sang...gosh he's so HOT!!!

And my favorite surprise guest of the night...are you all ready for this??????

Mr.American Idol: SCOTTY MCCREERY!!!!!  I seriously stood up and screamed like a teenager when he came out.  I don't think I've acted like this since I saw the Backstreet Boys my freshman year of High School.

Is he not just precious???

Then Big and Rich play with the surprise guest Gretchen Wilson.

And Trace Adkins followed.

Onto Martina McBride

With another surprise guest: Lauren Alaina (American Idol Runner Up)

So Sweet!

And last, but not least....Rascal Flatts ended the concert.

Whew!  I'm tired of this post already and I'm not even the one reading it.  Geesh, I apologize for it being so long, I just couldn't leave anything out.  On Sunday we slept in a bit and headed to Centennial Park to show Allison where Ellen got engaged.  If you haven’t read my post on that proposal, you should.  Click here.  It was such a pretty day.

We walked around and took a few pictures at the Parthenon then headed to grab some lunch at the Tavern.  I kid you not when I say this..this place has the BEST guacamole I’ve ever had in my entire life.  It’s guacamole with pistachio’s and goat cheese, served with a bag of tortilla chips.  Goodness gracious it’s delicious.

Then we went over to the Hills Center and did a little shopping.  It was such a great way to end the weekend.  We all had so much fun…it just didn’t seem long enough. 

I know this is a little over due, but hopefully all of you had a great weekend as well.  Do you ever wish you could go back to that Friday and just re-live the weekend all over again?  Haha, that’s how I felt on Monday.

RGL