Utah Visits Nashville

Not too many people would make a last minute decision to drive across the country to visit us, but that's exactly what Grandma and Grandpa Roush did. They left Salt Lake on Sunday and arrived here on Thursday the 29th.

On Friday we decided to go to the Nashville Temple. When we arrived, we found out there were not enough people at the temple to do an endowment session, so we were asked to stay and do sealings. It turned out to be a really nice experience. After we finished the sealings, we were given the opportunity to sit in the celestial room together for a while. We felt like we had the whole temple to ourselves. It was sad there were so few people there that morning, but it turned out nice for us. The man who was at the front desk saw us walk to the front of the temple and came outside because he thought we might like to have him take our picture. He said he was breaking the rules a little bit but he thought it was ok since no one else was inside the temple. After the temple we went to McCallisters Deli for lunch. As you can see from the pictures, Nashville is beginning to bloom. Spring is here! The temperatures were in the high 70's and mid 80's all week.

Since we didn't know we were going to have company, we had plans with three other couples in our ward to attend the Nashville Symphony at the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Friday night. We felt like we were abandoning our company, but they encouraged us to go. We are new symphony goers, so I called the person who invited us and asked her what I should wear. She said she likes to get really dressed up for the symphony and was planning on wearing a really dressy black lace dress. The whole day I stressed about what I should wear and finally decided to get really dressed up. I realized later that I could have worn just about anything and been ok. The Schermerhorn Center is, as was explained to us, one of the finest symphony centers in the United States. The Symphony was great! We were so close that we could see the sweat on the brow of the Alexander Kobrin (the pianist). He was second on the program and performed with the orchestra doing Tchaikovsky's "Cercerto No. 1 in B-flat minor". This music was actually somewhat familiar. The first performance was the orchestra performing a new composer's piece called "Variations Without a Theme". It sounded like it's name...enough said! After intermission the orchestra performed Stravinsky's "The Firebird". It was done somewhat like you would see in an opera where the words from the story are projected so you can follow along and visualize what is happening with the music. I don't know if we can handle so much culture...but it was a fun evening and we may even do it again sometime.

Between conference sessions on Saturday we went to the "must see when in Nashville" Loveless Cafe. We enjoyed lunch and the famous Loveless biscuits after our scenic drive through the green hills of Tennessee. This is beautiful country!!

Sunday we stayed home and watched both sessions of conference and just relaxed around the house. It's a good thing we rested on Sunday though because on Monday I think I walked their legs off. We went to the Grand Ole Opry, the Opryland Hotel, and the Opry Mills. We walked so much that we just about did my dad in. Of course, it didn't help matters that we lost each other when we stopped for a potty break. We had agreed to meet in the shade outside the building...so when my dad was finished, he went outside the building to meet us. We had stepped around the corner inside the building to look at something real quickly and then returned to stand right outside the restroom door where dad couldn't miss us. We waited and waited and waited. Finally we became a little concerned and decided to call his name inside the mens room. When there was no answer, Carolyn went inside to see if he was in there. We were relieved that he was not in there, but then wondered where he had gone. I finally decided he must have gone to the hotel (which was going to be our next stop) so I had Carolyn wait in the shade where we said we would be and I began walking to the hotel. I didn't get very far when I saw my dad walking toward me. He had come and gone to the hotel twice looking for us! We then walked to the hotel for what now was his third time. The hotel is huge and has so much to look at inside. We walked around for a while until dad finally said he needed to sit down and rest. After that, he was pretty much done for the day. I can't blame him. If the women would just do what they say they are going to do....poor dad!

They left for home on Tuesday morning. I don't know too many 79 year olds who would drive across the country like that. It's a long drive from Salt Lake to Tennessee!!