Before hittin' the road again, we drove into the city to see the Ryman Auditorium. Interestingly enough, this building was originally built by Thomas Ryman as a permanent place for a traveling evangelist, Sam Jones, to preach. It was completed in 1892 and was known as the Union Gospel Tabernacle. When Ryman died, Jones had it renamed as Ryman Auditorium. The building was used for religious revivals, music recitals, operas, ballets, political debates and even boxing matches. In 1943 a radio show, the Grand Ole Opry, started broadcasting from there on Saturday nights. After the Grand Ole Opry left for its new building in 1974, there was talk of tearing the Ryman down. It was renovated and reopened in 1994, and in 2001 was named a National Historic Landmark.
Our next visit was to the Grand Ole Opry House. As many of you may know, there was a devastating flood in that area last May. The Opry just reopened this week - the Opryland Mall has not reopened yet - they are still trying to clean everything up from the flooding. We took a couple of pictures, but chose not to pay the price for the tour of the auditorium. I did pick up a special fly swatter (shaped like a guitar) for Mike in case that pesky fly from Salina, KS keeps following us.
One last stop before we go - I wanted to see the Hermitage - the home of Andrew Jackson. One of my favorite movies is "The President's Lady" (with Charleton Heston and Susan Hayward), and I just wanted to see the house. I was very disappointed to find that the house was not even a tiny bit visible unless you paid the entrance fees. What makes me saddest, though, is all of the people that can't afford to pay for this, cannot even get a glimpse of this piece of history. Unfortunately, that is the case with all too many national treasures.
We drove to Chattanooga and another time zone - we are now 3 hours ahead of Seattle. Checked into our motel, and wouldn't you know it - that fly checked in with us. He looks a little tired from his long flight - for some reason, I'm tired too. Tomorrow . . . .
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