Tennessee

This year we chose the BYU vs. Tennessee game to go to.  

 Off we go...Clara had a weird thing on the descent on the flight.  Her ear started hurting like crazy.  She was screaming in pain.  It was so weird.  We gave her pain meds but we couldn't get her pain to go away.  She was crying which she never does.  I felt so bad.  Thankfully as soon as we landed it went away. 

Our first stop was at Hattie Bs for lunch.  It is a famous hot chicken place.  We loved it. 

  

We went and checked in to our hotel and then headed to the temple.  Of course Cameron found a golf course for us to visit on the way.

The Nashville temple was very pretty.  It was very small.  The people were very friendly and thrilled to have visitors.  

 I am so thankful that my kids love to go to the baptism when we are on vacation.  They are such a good example to me. 

 Cameron was able to baptise a man who had recently been baptised.  It was his first time at the temple.  It was a great experience for Cameron.

 After the temple we went to downtown Nashville.  It is an active fun place.  It is just bar after bar with bands playing great music. 

 It is not really a kid friendly place but we didn't feel unsafe.  There were people everywhere just not a lot of kids. 

 We stopped to do some boot shopping.  Dave was buying boots for Clara for her birthday.  We got three pair total. 

 There were neon lights everywhere.

 We found the original grand ole opry but no one seems to really care about this place anymore.  I would have loved to have visited it but we didn't have time and it was closed at night. 

 The next day we went out to the current Grand Ole Opry.  I was so excited.  There have been so many legends who have performed here.  The family humored me with my giddyness over this place.  I did start playing Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and all the old country stars. I am happy to say that we found some everyone liked and I got to listen to plenty of country music while we were in Tennessee.

 Grand Ole Opry

Clara is living her best life in her country get up.  That jacket was like 350 dollars.  No we didn't buy it. 

 
The next day we drove to Knoxville.  We visited the campus of Tennessee.

The people in Knoxville were so nice to us.  They treated us with real southern hospitality.

And Cameron finds another golf course. 

We stayed out in Pigeon Forge.  We went in to Gatlinburg to eat dinner.  We found a pretty tasty BBQ place.  

 I Felt like Gatlinburg was a lot like Park City.  One of the best things about this trip was that Aunt Kristin's family lives close by so we rented an air BnB and had a great time.

The next day was the BYU game.  We had little hopes of beating them but the stadium was beautiful.  It is set right on a river. 

My nephew, Carl is a big tailgater so we met up with him.  He had reserved a spot right in the middle of Tennessee fans.  I was a little worried but most people were super friendly.   There was one group that was a little obnoxious but my nephew is HUGE and he took care of them.  We had a great time. 

 Go cougars

It was blazing hot.  Notice Clara still wore her boots. 

 My nephew had so much food.  We were stuffed.  He also set up TVs and had Madden hooked up. Cameron was living his best life.

 We had some other friends who came to join us.  My nephew was nice enough to cook for everybody. 

 This is our view from the stadium.  It truly was so pretty.

 This stadium was huge.  It was loud and the fans were crazy.  It was a really fun atmosphere.

 Here come the cougars. 

 
We won.  It went in to overtime.  Unbelievable.  It was such a fun crazy night. 

 A lot of the fans stayed and waited for the team.  Everyone was cheering and dancing and the players were so excited.  It was such a fun night.

 The next day we went to church and then headed into Kentucky.  First we stopped for pizza.

Cameron loves checking new states off of his list.  

 Look at this little crew.  We had such a fun time traveling together.

 I love my sister and I love when we get to play with our kids.

 Look at this little photo bomber.

Our drive through Tennessee and Kentucky really was beautiful.  We love visiting and seeing new parts of the country. We live in a beautiful place.