I'm surprised that we aren't discussing our trips, so here goes...

First off, if anyone gets the chance to go bowling with the stars (Lonestars fundraiser) I'd highly recommend it. When your name is actually drawn to bowl, my first response was no, I don't want to do that *L*, but it turned out great. My team member was Rhet Akins and he was really sweet and gave me bowling lessons! When you aren't bowling, you can wander the lanes talking with the other stars there. Brian White was in the lane next to me, and PinMonkey in the other lane. Many artists were there, and they are all happy to chat, sign, and take pictures with you.

There was so much to do at fan fair, I'm sure we missed a lot. Besides the nightly shows, riverfront shows and exhibit hall, we watched the archery contest and the tractor obstacle course. The tractor course was a blast, they had to manuver between hay bails and cones and were timed for speed and acuracy, most of them were not very good *L* Tanya Tucker was there, and they taped her portion for her TV show, should be fun to see, I have a feeling some of us may make an appearance on tv since they filmed us cheering her on!

We had some surprise guests at the nightly concerts, Dierks Bently, Kenny Chesney, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Urban Ok, so we missed him, don't ask!!!!! Anyway, it was tons of fun!!

We went to a few fanclub parties, Chris Cagle, Lonestar and Chely Wright. They were all really fun and I think the parties may be part of my favorite thing to do now. I like the upclose small mini concerts they do.
And of course the softball game is always a blast. Vince was in rare form, dancing around and just being goofy He is always so much fun to watch.

And seeing everyone at the luncheon was of course my favorite

Great idea pam We just had the best year in Nashville yet. I had two friends with me and we had our room booked next to katie and ken. The 5 of us had a blast and laughed so much. I think we slept about 15 hours in 4 days but it was worth it.
We went to Montgomery Gentrys Fan club party which was awesome, we went to the Coliseum shows ( a first for me and a great time), we went to the Trust Fund Benefit at the Ryman ( a great show this year), the Saturday night Opry ( another great show), the member lunch (always one of the highlights of my week).
Oh man we just did so much....we went to the Convention center which was really neat. Had dinner at the Palm (delicious), went shopping in franklin and at Opry Mills.
One thing that I always love to do is tour around the outskirts of nashville. This year we not only went to Franklin but we also drove out to the Loveless cafe and toured around Bellevue looking at open houses. I swear it would not take much for me to move to Nashville as I found the perfect house but as a Canadian citizen there are so many laws required to move to the states it would take alot fo time and work....maybe one day.
We went out to the Golf House of Tenessee (another one of my favorite drives).
Next year dez wants to come back again and I want to tour around the outskirts even more. I love that there is so much to do during fan fair but I would also love to go there sometime when nothing is going on and maybe go golfing and to a Predators game. Oh to have the money.....I would be there much more often.

Well, this year, Bruce and I decided to take it easy...we only scheduled to do one thing per day...so, starting with Saturday, June 3rd, we went to the late Opry show...Vince was great as usual and he sang 'Bye Bye Love' with Jenny, Kim Keyes and Dawn Sears...it was such a fun song!!! Am happy that I made sure to record the early show while we were gone...am just now getting a chance to watch it!!! 'The Mess Around' was also a really fun song!!! Would be fun to hear Vince do a whole medley of Ray Charles sometime!!! Ok...on to Sunday...we were lazy until the early afternoon when we got dressed up and went to the Palm for dinner...we enjoyed the New York Stip Steak with veggies, but we were so full that we had to order that awesome chocolate cake to go!!! Leah, you were not kidding when you said that cake was really good...it took us 2 days to eat it!!! Monday we went out to Mt. Juliet and watched the Cops & Jocks softball game. Vince showed up a few minutes before game time, signed in, got his jersey and promptly took off his shoes. He carried his glove under one arm and his shoes in his other hand...once he got onto the field and was warming up, I asked him where his shoes were...he said he had played 36 holes of golf that day and had been in his shoes since 7am and 'his dogs were tired'...so he played most of the game in his socks...he still pitched a great game and am pretty sure that his team won...there were alot of antics going on, like at the COH softball game and Bruce got some great pics and I took some video of the event. Vince was so tired once he finished the game that he signed a few autographs, posed for a few pictures and he left...you could tell he was just beat...let's see, Tuesday we spent the better part of the night at Chely's benefit...this year I didn't even go upstairs to the auction...I let Bruce scope it out..he said there weren't any Vince or Amy items up there this year and they auctioned all the concert trips and m&g's from the stage...they used 2 incredible auctioneers...I believe I heard that they raised over $100,000 for Reading, Writing and Rythmn this year. We were lucky enough to hook up with Pam, Jennifer and Christine after the show and talk and hang out with them while we waited to meet Chely...we left there about 2:30am...on Wednesday, we had planned to go to Darryl Worley's fan club party at 11am...but I was so tired after being up late the night before that I just couldn't make it...I did send Bruce along without me...Bruce said he felt funny to be there alone..seems he was the only man that wasn't drug there by a woman..LOL!!! And Darryl was nice enough to personalize a picture for me and told Bruce that he hoped that would 'get him out of the doghouse' for coming without me!!! On Thursday, we went to the Opry Trust Fund Benefit...we stayed until the auction closed...we decided to go upstairs and check on what they had to auction and wound up with 2 passes to meet Vince at the Bluegrass Nights show next month...and then on Friday, we had a wonderful time at the luncheon...it was great to meet old friends and meet new ones as well!!! Saturday, we went back to the Opry for the early show and enjoyed seeing Montgomery Gentry, Gretchen Wilson, Keith Anderson and several others. After the Opry, we caught the last part of Keith Anderson's Opry Plaza show on the stage outside the GOO...then we decided we were hungry, so we popped over to the Cracker Barrell...when we were taken to our table, we walked past Bill Anderson and his band eating dinner between shows. Bruce had another sighting last week...when he was driving past the Waffle House on McGavock Drive, he saw Porter Wagoner in his car, stopped at the traffic light and talking to a policeman in the car beside him. He never would have known it was Porter if he hadn't rolled his window down to speak to the policeman!!! That was our week!!! We left and came home on Sunday...tired, but really happy about the week we spent in Nashville!!!

Guys – I just don’t know where to begin. My first experience in Nashville was a very emotional experience for me. There were times I cried – the most is when Vince sang “Go Rest High On That Mountain” at my request, and he looked at me and said, “you want to hear it, I’ll play it for you”. ---That was a moment ---- a very SPECIAL moment for me! I’ll never forget it.

Meeting my special on-line friends was another emotional moment. I never thought I would EVER get to meet any of them! Pam and I grabbed each other like we were sisters. Nina and I talked so much about our soldiers, and I met the “other” Cathy! Oh, the memories. Leah is a doll. Becky and Bruce are definitely some kind of a photography team! Katie and Ken – precious!!!!!!! Mr. Ken and Ms. Betty --- I met first at the Neal McCoy fan club party, and they sat with us. What a couple! They are an example of what I want to be!!!!!! Loved them both!

OK – here goes about the rest of what I did!

CMA Celebrity Close Up: Josh Gracin, Diamond Rio, John Corbett with LoriAnne Crook. Oh my goodness – the laughing we did! John Corbett was hilarious. Diamond Rio assured ALL of us that none of their butts would be seen in their videos! Too funny. Josh Gracin was a doll baby!

Ryman Saturday Matinee: I was silly in the back (unnoticed other than the ushers I was with) and clogged with a lady usher. We had a blast doing that!! Then I square danced with a man usher who had just asked me to step aside from a doorway in the back of the Ryman. As I stepped aside --- Sara Evans walked out and pretty much rubbed my arm as the guards walked her around to the back of the stage. I turned very slowly back to the usher, and when I finished my comic routine of chewing him out for not telling me WHY I had to move away from the door, he and I both were dying laughing and he reached out and hugged me. THAT was fun ----- then he and I square danced behind the back pew when Sara was on stage. I had a blast! He told me I was a lot of fun!!!! Well Yeah, he told me that AFTER he made me miss a photo op with Sara!!!!

The softball game was a blast ----- just a little too hot for this little old lady!!!! It was fun though. Not sure I would ever do it again.

The Coliseum shows were a blast!!!!!!!!! I even passed on the Opry Trust Fund Show and ate those tickets I already purchased because I was having too much fun at the Coliseum, and I figured Vince wouldn’t show up at the Ryman – so I didn’t even bother. I hated missing that Trust Fund Show ---- but my money for the tickets was well worth it as a “donation” to that fund. Oh well ----- maybe some other time!

Neal McCoy’s fan club party was fun ------ he didn’t sing ---- but he certainly made us feel that we were at his house for breakfast – that’s for sure! It was a buffet! Darryl Worley and Charlie Pride snuck in for a few minutes – and that was pretty cool!

Clay Walker’s fan club party was more on the elegant side! We were at Loew’s Vanderbilt Hotel in the ballroom. It was a sit-down breakfast and we were served a great meal! The souvenirs at each seat were awesome. We had miniature beach chairs which held our name tag. Each person had a ticket for one picture with Clay, and the photo was taken by a professional photographer. Clay is a doll! I told him I was from Texas, and we were practically neighbors ------ he lives less than an hour from me! He grabbed me and hugged me and told me, “ah, you’re sweet!” After the picture he just kind of gave me a slight squeeze and I said, “uh-uh, I want a BUBBA HUG”, and being from Texas – Clay knew what I meant, and he just about squeezed the daylights out of me as we laughed! Oh, that was fun!

Oh – did I forget to mention that Clay had his entire band with him and gave us a FULL concert, complete with the wonderful dance moves he does on stage? There were only about 200 people there ---- so we all were able to see the stage. Clay REALLY put on a show for us! When the squeals would start, he would just die laughing and tell us that, “you guys are just nuts!” It was so fun!

I’m rambling, ya’ll, but ya asked, Pam!!!!!

Oh –TV? Oh yeah!!!!!! We were filmed at the Coliseum, and the Celebrity CloseUp. At Clay’s party, a London radio station interviewed me and said I would be on their station. THEN, again at Clay’s party, I looked up and saw my favorite anchorman from our ABC Channel from Houston! He was walking by our table WITHOUT HIS CAMERAMEN WITH HIM, and my sister and I called out his name, and he was thrilled when he came to our table for pictures with him, and he was so excited that we were from the Houston area. He walked out, and about 5 minutes later, he was back with his cameraman and stenographer, and wanted our names, city, and then he interviewed me first, and then my sister. He said that Houston would be having a CMAfest special on July 23rd ----- and we would DEFINITELY be on. He seemed to like the answers we gave! OH ---- that should be something!!!!!! My local family and friends will be laughing about that for some time to come. Especially my co-workers, who at my retirement party made the remark, “well, I guess Cathy will be chasing Country Music Stars now!” YEP ---- it’s official ---- that’s what I’m doing!!!

I’m tired ------ trying to unpack from Nashville in order to pack to go to my daughter’s house for my two G-babies’ dance recitals – and then pack again as we will be off to Vegas on Monday.

I love you guys ---- If I seemed “cranky” in an earlier post ----- I was. Just love me anyways!!!!

Sure sounds like everyone had a fabulous time in Music City....I'm just always amazed at how much a person can cram into a few days!

TC

Sounds great everybody. So glad you all enjoyed the week. I had a great time. I love hooking up with people I had met before and meeting some I had not met. (Bestamaw and Maggie,Ken and Betty ) So many I can't remember. Oh yes ,I had a chance to thank Alison in person . We didn't do anything ( didn't plan anything ) but the lunch. I only had 1 week off work so it was my choice. We did the whole week 4 years ago and I don't think I'll do that again.

The next time I go to Nashville I want to do some of the sight seeing around the area and not be in all the hoopla. Will always try to be at the lunch and see Vince where ever I can ..........a good time was had by all.

Hey -thanks for covering our trip Leah! A lot less for me to have to type! LOL!! Yes, we had a blast - maybe too much fun hey!? This was hands down, the best vacation I have ever had - so many great memories.
One inparticular comes to mind at least every second of every day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!