St. Charles Parks Department Nashville & Grand Ole Opry July 22-25, 2018 Itinerary Sunday, July 22, 2018 7:00am Depart Blanchette Park, St. Charles for Clarksville, TN with rest stop and coffee & donuts in route. 11:30am-12:30pm Lunch stop at Culver s Restaurant ~Lunch on Your Own~ Culver s 140 S. Hampton Pl Clarksville, TN 37040 Phone: 931-919-2573 12:30pm Depart for Nashville, TN 1:30pm Arrive Nashville Visitors Center for rest break and orientation. Nashville Visitors Center 501 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 Phone: 615-259-4747 2:15pm Depart for Holiday Inn Express 2:30pm Check into overnight lodging for three-night stay. Holiday Inn Express-Nashville Downtown 920 Broadway Nashville, TN 37203 Phone: 615-244-0150 We will spend three nights at the Holiday Inn Express Nashville Downtown Conference Center located in the heart of downtown Nashville. With 287 guest rooms this hotel complex offers many additional amenities to include a full buffet breakfast from 6:30-9:30am and a complimentary evening reception with live entertainment, light snacks and refreshments from 3:30-5:30pm daily. Ideally situated along Broadway, the Holiday Inn Express is within walking distance to dozens of popular honky tonks, as well as major attractions like Country Music Hall of Fame, Ryman Auditorium, Johnny Cash Museum, George Jones Museum, Patsy Cline Museum, Honky Tonk Highway, Music City Walk of Fame, Wildhorse Saloon, Music Row and Historic RCA Studio B, just to mention a few. 2:30pm The rest of the day and evening explore the many attractions that Nashville has to offer at your leisure. ~ Dinner on Your Own~ 1
Monday, July 23, 2018 6:30-9:30am Full Buffet Breakfast at our hotel at your leisure. Since this Nashville trip is one of our Adventure Tours, travelers will have the opportunity to choose the attractions they would like to attend and when they would like to visit them, the choice is up to you. Some of the notable attractions you may want to consider visiting: ~Lunch & Dinner on Your Own~ Country Music Hall of Fame The definitive home of American country music, the Country Music Hall of Fame holds more than 2.5 million priceless artifacts, including countless recordings and photographs, stage costumes, musical instruments and more. Situated in the epicenter of Nashville s up and coming music scene, the museum consists of 350,000 square feet of dynamic state-of-the-art galleries, archival storage, education classrooms, retail stores and special event space. A short 8-minute walk from our hotel. Ryman Auditorium Home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, the iconic Ryman Auditorium has highly influenced country and gospel music. Today, this 2,362-seat performance hall is one of the top venues in Nashville to see a live music act. Your visit to this famous National Historic Landmark begins with, Soul of Nashville, a new state-of-the-art theater experience that puts you at the center of the Ryman s fascinating history while legendary performances come to life. A short 8-minute walk from our hotel. Music Row & Historic RCA Studio B Take a tour of Music Row and visit historic RCA Studio B, the famous recording studio where Elvis recorded more than 200 songs. Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Chet Atkins, Eddy Arnold and many more recorded classic hits here. Music Row is widely considered the heart of Nashville s entertainment industry. Not surprisingly, the heartbeat of Music City is driven by music from country to classical. Tours of RCA Studio B depart daily from the Country Music Hall of Fame. About a 15-minute walk from our hotel. 2
Musicians Hall of Fame The Musicians Hall of Fame honors musicians from all genres of music, who have played on thousands of iconic recordings. The museum exhibits take you on a tour of cities that greatly influenced music culture. Their newest addition, The Grammy Museum Gallery, is a 9,000-square foot, interactive exhibit where visitors learn about every aspect of the music industry from songwriting, playing instruments and singing to producing and engineering. About an 18-minute walk from our hotel. Johnny Cash Museum The Johnny Cash Museum is dedicated to the life and music career of the late Man in Black Johnny Cash! Exhibits featuring the world s largest most comprehensive collection of Johnny Cash artifacts and memorabilia chronicle Cash s legacy through stunning graphics, artifacts and interactive technology. Items include stage costumes, instruments, personal letters, artwork and handwritten lyrics as well as contributions from family members and notable friends. About a 10-minute walk from our hotel. Patsy Cline Museum Though she left the world tragically at the age of 30 in 1963, Patsy Cline made an indelible mark on country music and remains one of the biggest names in country history. The Patsy Cline Museum celebrates the life of the legendary songstress and features hundreds of never before seen artifacts, costumes, awards, letters, videos and personal belongings. The Patsy Cline Museum is located above the Johnny Cash Museum. About a 10-minute walk from our hotel. The George Jones George Jones had more country songs on the Billboard chart and more top 40 songs than any country artist in history. His influence is heard everyday through the biggest country music artists. Experience his legacy and see George Jones memorabilia up close and personal in one of Nashville s best museums. Watch performances, listen to some of his many hits and immerse yourself in George s powerful story. The George Jones has a restaurant and bar on 1 st floor and George Jones Museum on 2 nd floor. About 15-minute walk from our hotel. 3
Honky Tonk Highway Nashville s Honky Tonk Highway, located on lower Broadway, is a row of beautiful establishments pumping live music into the streets from 10:00am to 3:00am every day, I mean every single day. One of the best parts: it doesn t cost a thing. And you never know who you ll see in these lower Broadway clubs. Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Gretchen Wilson, Dierks Bently and other stars began their careers on this amazing street. About an 8-minute walk from our hotel. Music City Walk of Fame The Music City Walk of Fame on Nashville s Music Mile is a landmark tribute to those from all genres of music who have contributed to the world through song or other industry collaboration and made a significant contribution to the music industry with connection to Music City. The stars on the Walk of Fame, spanning genres and generations, honor those that make, create, record, perform and present music to and for the world. About an 8-minute walk from our hotel. The Parthenon The Parthenon stands proudly as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, Nashville s premier urban park. The re-creation of the 42-foot statute Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals. The Parthenon also serves as Nashville s art museum. The Museum displays a group of 63 paintings by 19 th and 20 th century American artists donated by James M. Cowan. About 1½ miles from our hotel. Hermitage Nashville s premiere historic site, The Hermitage, was once home to our 7 th U.S. President, Andrew Jackson, from 1804 until his death in 1845. The mansion is a National Historic Landmark maintained to look just as it did then. Costumed interpreters lead visitors through the mansion. On the acres surrounding the mansion are the humble log homes where the enslaved community lived. About 10 miles east of Nashville and will probably require a tour. Wildhorse Saloon A must see in Nashville is the famous Wildhorse Saloon for lunch or dinner. The Wildhorse, a fixture in the live music, dance and restaurant scene since 1994, is a must. More than 1.5 million music lovers and catering groups stampede through their doors annually to catch the hottest in live entertainment, learn the newest dance steps and dine on their award-winning Southern smokehouse cuisine and fan favorites like their fried pickles. About a 14-minute walk from our hotel. 4
Tuesday, July 24, 2018 6:30-9:30am Full Buffet Breakfast at our hotel at your leisure. Travelers will have up until 3:00pm today to explore at their leisure any last minute must see destinations in the downtown Nashville area before we head to Opryland for dinner and a Grand Ole Opry experience. ~Lunch on Your Own~ 3:00pm A local Certified Step-on-Guide will join us on the bus as we do a city tour of Nashville and head to Opryland for dinner and a Grand Ole Opry performance at the Opry House. 5:00pm Dinner at Santa Fe Cattle Company Santa Fe Cattle Company 2520 Music Valley Drive Nashville, TN 37214 Phone: 615-885-7852 Menu Our menu will be a choice of Steak, Chicken, Ribs or Catfish Dinner. Santa Fe Cattle Company Our formula is simple: delicious, made from scratch food, served in a comfortable, fun atmosphere. We age and hand cut our steaks, bake our yeast rolls, and make our famous sauces in house. Not only is our food made fresh daily, it s very affordable, making for a perfect combination. We capture the authentic flavors of the Southwest and deliver them to your table. 7:00pm We visit the Grand Ole Opry for a live stage performance. What began as a simple radio broadcast in 1925 is today a live entertainment phenomenon. Dedicated to honoring country music s rich history and dynamic present, the Grand Ole Opry showcases a mix of country legends and the contemporary chart-toppers who have followed in their footsteps. The Opry, an American icon and Nashville, Tennessee s number-one attraction, is world-famous for creating one-of-akind entertainment experiences for audiences of all ages. It s been called the home of American music and country s most famous stage. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people make pilgrimages across town or around the world to the Grand Ole Opry to see the show live. Grand Ole Opry House 2804 Opryland Drive Nashville, TN 37214 Phone: 800-733-6779 5
From Philadelphia to Fiji, everyone knows the Grand Ole Opry is the show that made country music famous. How it earned that reputation is quite a tale. It began on the night of Nov 28, 1925, when an announcer on Nashville radio station WSM introduced fiddle player Uncle Jimmy Thompson as the first performer on a new show called The WSM Barn Dance. Now, more than 80 years later, the show Hay started is still going strong. Along the way, it has launched countless country music careers and led the way for Nashville to become Music City. Early Opry performers such as Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb and Bill Monroe became musical foundations for the Opry during its years in residence at the historic Ryman Auditorium, later welcoming to the stage artists who would become entertainment icons in their own right including Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Bill Anderson. The Opry said goodbye to the Ryman Auditorium on Friday night, March 15, 1974 to take up residence at the newly built Grand Ole Opry House. Still, they could keep in touch with the traditions of the Ryman because a six-foot circle of hardwood was taken from the Ryman and placed center stage at the Opry House. 9:15pm After the performance of the on-stage Grand Ole Opry Show, we will participate in a Back Stage Tour of the Grand Ole Opry House. After we watch the show, we will see what it s like behind the scenes! We will walk in the footsteps of superstars and get an exclusive look at what happens on the other side of the curtain of the show that made country music famous right after the show ends! We will visit the artist entrance where everyone has walked in for the show earlier that night, and we may even have the chance to step on stage and into the famed wooden circle just as a parade of artists have done a few minutes earlier. We will also get a glimpse of some of the Opry s 18 uniquely themed dressing rooms, which help tell the part of the Opry story that Darius Rucker and Opry announcer Bill Cody will share via videos. Post-show tours often also make a stop in Studio A, a live television studio and former home of HEE HAW. After we take in an Opry performance, they will officially greet us with Welcome to the Family! 10:00pm Return to the Holiday Inn Express-Nashville. 6
Wednesday, July 25, 2018 6:30am-9:30am Full Buffet Breakfast at our hotel. 8:45am Bags down by the bus for loading 9:30am Depart for Grand Rivers, KY 11:30am-1:30pm Lunch at Patti s 1880 s Settlement Patti s 1880 s Settlement 1793 J H O Bryan Ave Grand Rivers, KY 42045 Phone: 888-736-2515 After lunch you will have some time to visit any of the 8 Gift Shops located on the property. Menu Salad: Fresh Garden Salad & Homemade Flower Pot Bread Entrée: 1 Pork Chop a smaller version of our big house specialty. A half-pound of pork, charbroiled over an open flame and basted with our special seasoning and sauce. Served with a Baked Potato. Grilled Chicken an 8oz boneless chicken breast, charbroiled and basted with a carefully blended array of herbs and spices. Served with a Baked Potato. Catfish Dinner Catfish filets rolled in our special flour and seasoning and deep fried, served with hushpuppies and a Baked Potato. Beverage: Iced Tea, Soda, Coffee Dessert: Bill s Boatsinker Pie a rich dark double fudge topped with coffee ice cream, piled high with whipped cream and drizzled with a chocolate syrup and topped with a cherry Sawdust Pie a coconut, pecan and graham cracker pie, in an egg batter and baked in a flakey pie shell, topped with fresh sliced banana and whipped cream. Our House Specialty! Old Fashioned Butter Crumb Apple A careful mixture of sliced apples, brown sugar and cinnamon baked in a flaky pie and finished with a butter crumb topping drizzled with caramel. 1:30pm Depart for St. Charles, MO with Rest Stop in route. 5:00pm Arrive Blanchette Park, St. Charles, MO 7