By now, y’all will know that I love to travel and see new things. Meet new people. Experience different cultures or areas of our country and our world. Last year I was on a cross country trip during Thanksgiving and was in Chicago on Thanksgiving day. So when I had the opportunity to visit Nashville on Thanksgiving this year, I jumped at the chance! I am actually thinking this might be my new gig-visit some place new each year on Thanksgiving. I love it! Especially now that I have the van. Anna Lee and I can hit the road.
But for now, I’ll tell you about my trip to Nashville. I haven’t been to Nashville in years, and that was to visit my family when they lived in Nashville. This trip was all about seeing the Polar Express ICE exhibit at Gaylord Opryland. I’ve never been to Opryland before. And I’m not entirely sure that we visited THE Opryland. Or at least not the Grand Ol’ Opry. And I didn’t see any country music singers. But I had a blast nonetheless.
Opryland
First up is this gorgeous entrance to the hotel! It was simply stunning. And then you wind your way through the hotel to get to the atrium. And you see that tree first thing! There’s also a lazy river that runs throughout the atrium. There are hotel rooms that overlook the atrium with sweet little balconies that have tables and chairs on them. You can sit there and enjoy your morning coffee and just watch everything that is going on.
Boating
We took a cute boat ride around the lazy river. We got to see a lot of the sites and there was a whole story about the decorations, how long it takes to put it all together, and even how many lights they have strung around the atrium. They also told the story of their version of the ‘Partridge in a Pear Tree’ theme. It was so cute! I think my favorite part, if you couldn’t tell, were the Santa’s Checklist hanging from a tree.
Other Cuteness
There was a gift shop attached to the ICE exhibit and there was also some shopping back in the atrium. We had to leave the actual hotel building to get to the ICE exhibit so we poked around in the shopping places first. Most of the pictures above were taken in the Starbucks! The chocolate and the Nashville sign are both in the Starbucks. Cute, right?
The Exhibit
And the grand finale is the actual Polar Express ICE exhibit. Y’all. It was so amazing. And cold. They give you these big parkas to wear and I had my trusty hand knits with me, but it was still cold. Thankfully I was too much in awe to really notice that I was cold. My pictures don’t even do it justice. If you have the opportunity to see this exhibit, you totally should.
We ended the day with ice skating and my first stop at a Buc-ee’s gas station. And then being caught in a high speed chase going the wrong way on the interstate–the wrong way on our side of the interstate. Thankfully we spotted it coming and were able to pull off to the side. The car ended up hitting a tractor trailer in front of us, which probably saved everyone else from getting hit. I felt bad for the tractor trailer driver, but thankful that none of us were hit.
And that’s it friends! That’s my 2023 thanksgiving trip. It was a good day. I hope to continue this tradition.
’til next time
-k
xoxo