TN Day 8 – Goo Goo and The Grand Ole Opry

Posted byPeter IrelandPosted inTennesseeTags:, ,

After some fine sausage and cream cheese bars for breakfast courtesy of Kylie and Samuel, it was off for our chocolate making experience with the Goo Goo Chocolate Company. Located just off Broadway and opposite the Johnny Cash museum at its original location, Goo Goo have been making their clusters since 1912. Their claim to fame is that they were the first US Company to combine ingredients into a bar and they remain a Southern tradition, with their main sales outlet stores like Tractor Supply and Hobby Lobby rather than grocery stores. Their main factory is South of town but this central location still makes 50,000 lbs of chocolate a year.

Our classroom.
The ingredient selection
To place inside the chocolate wheel, we each chose two “wet” and three dry ingredients. Mine were caramel, Nutella, pecans, pretzels, and coconut. Later, when I tasted my finished product, I realized the Nutella flavor was somewhat overwhelming.
Bailey was happy!
Building our own Goo Goo Clusters
The whole gang.
After we had made them, they needed topping off with chocolate. We had named them. This one is Janet’s GooLeah. Chocolate melts at 82 degF, but it helps if it is tempered. The reservoir of chocolate was 120 degF.
The top layer of chocolate is my creation called My Sweetness. The chocolate comes out at 85 degF which helps it solidify quicker.
The final step of smoothing the bottom. After some rapid cooling, we got our creations back and placed them in their box
Bailey was even happier that they gave us several free samples too.
We were all pretty happy!

Next up was lunch. We had had to resist eating our chocolate! We drove back to The Gulch to a small Italian restaurant called Vito Focaccia.

We shared this pizza on focaccia bread .
Jett approved

On our way back to the car, we saw this Fire Engine party bus. We had seen several different types around town, some with the patrons cycling!

The afternoon was relaxed before an early dinner of chicken with gnocchi, thanks to Jett and Bailey. Then it was our night for a performance at The Grand Ole Opry. It was a short drive and even though it was busy, they had plenty of parking.

There isn’t a bad seat in the house. We were in for a treat. There were eight acts, and each played 2-3 songs. The show still broadcasts live on the radio so the event is structured with us as the live studio audience.
Each performer played with the Grand Ole Opry band. And the “On Air” light lit up.
First up was 83-year-old Jeannie Sealy, who has appeared over 5000 times. She was talented and funny.
Each act was introduced by Charlie Mattos, who briefly interviewed each of the stars. Charlie also announced the sponsors and associated adverts.
Next up was Julia Cole from Houston
Whitey Morgan and The 78’s made their first performance on this stage.
Charles Esten gave an excellent performance. You might recognize him as the evil father from The Outer Banks TV show.
Connie Smith, another 83-year-old, has been a Grand Ole Opry member since 1965.
Gray Mule Deer had all of us laughing out loud. He was very funny.
Grammy Award winners Old Crow Medicine Show played some hillbilly music.
The CEO of Sony Music presented Ketch Secor with this award to commemorate 25 years since he wrote Wagon Wheel, building on a chorus by Bob Dylan. The band finished their set with the number which has sold over 16 million copies and has been listened to on the radio more than 4 billion times!
Vince Gill closed out the evening with some bluegrass numbers which he dedicated to a friend who had recently died. While Janet knew him for country music, he would soon be heading to Manchester for a show with The Eagles, which he has been a part of since 2017.

It was a fine evening’s entertainment.

This page is part of our Tennessee set of posts.

Published by Peter Ireland

"Cajunlimeys" combines Lousiana (Janet) and England (Peter). For "limeys," check out scurvy in the English navy. We love adventures and use blogging to write a photo diary to preserve our memories. Some crazy friends enjoy following us and my notes might help others plan.

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