Down in the Honky Tonks

So last week I went to the CMA's! It was SO amazing! :) I went with a girl that I work with. She is in some special group that can get the tickets before the go on sale to the public.

We left on Tuesday, November 10. We flew out of Salt Lake City to Denver. Where we almost missed our flight. :) Luckily, our gate was right across the way. So we ran over and got on the plane. haha We arrived in Nashville at about 11:00 pm. Our hotel was really nice, but unfortunately was located in the scariest part of Nashville! haha So we were advised not to walk around after dark. :)

The next day was the Country Music Awards!! We got to stand outside the red carpet. :) It was amazing! I got to see so many stars! I met Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Steel Magnolia, Gloriana, Clay Walker, and we saw lots of others! I got to see my love Kenny Chesney! The awards were really cool. I got to see some of the biggest stars in country music all in one night.

Thursday, we walked around downtown Nashville and did some shopping. We ate lunch at the world famous Tootsies. It is a dive bar, but is known to be the hangout of many stars. :) We didn't see any stars though because I am not 21 yet. So I could go into the bars.

On Friday we started out by going down to the Country Music Walk of Fame. Then we went on a tour of the stars homes. I saw the houses of such stars as Alan Jackson, Carrie Underwood, Little Jimmy Dickens, Ronney Dunn (of Brooks and Dunn), Ms. Dolly Parton, Brad Paisley, and lots of others. We didn't get to see Kenny's or Dierks' homes. :( After we went to Jack's BBQ. It was so good! :) I got to eat some real southern bbq. YUM!

Saturday, we went at 7:45 am to stand in line to get a voucher to meet CARRIE UNDERWOOD!! I was number 61 out of 80!! :) There were some ultra fans! Like one of the girls sitting by us had seen her 13 times! Holy smokes! haha That is intense. Some of the people got lined up at 10 pm the night before. We were lucky that we just happen to hear about it and then happen to be able to get in line. That day, after we got our voucher we went up to music row, then we walked across town to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was pretty cool. Got to see a lot of old memorabilia. Then after we scooted over to meet Carrie. She was so cute and nice! :) After meeting her we got to see her sing at the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium. It was a treat, we got to see Martina McBride, Rodney Atkins, Carrie Underwood, and Jake Owen. That was a packed day of fun!!! :)

The next day, Sunday, we drove out to a beautiful lake/river. It was call the old Hickory/ Cumberland river. We cruised around on a pontoon boat. We went with a cute older brother and sister. It was so relaxing. :) Afterwards, we drove out to The Bluebird Cafe. It is where a lot of of the country stars got their start. The most recent one was Taylor Swift. I got to meet the guy that wrote a lot of the hit songs for Kenny Chesney and Trace Adkins. That was pretty cool.

Monday we flew home. That was the longest vacation that I have ever been on without my family! I missed them so much!

It was so cute, Luke thought that I went to Nashville to win an award. He told my mom that he hoped that Taylor Swift and Emmy win. After my mom told him that I just went to watch not to win. So when Annie asked him how it went and if Emmy won he told her that I didn't want to sing, so I just watched. haha He is such a sweetheart! :)

I miss Nashville. It was so beautiful and warm. I loved how green everything was and how many trees and forests there were. I would love to go back during the fall or spring. I have heard that it is gorgeous!!