This past week I have been in Nashville attending a conference at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort. The conference organizers were able to host this year’s gathering at this deluxe hotel due to the bargains they were offering to keep it open following the flood. Otherwise I might never have seen this place.
It is beautiful, and amazing, and completely over the top. I didn’t take a single picture worth posting so you’ll have to google it if you want a glimpse of the opulence and fabulous gardens and waterfalls. Just imagine acres and acres of gardens and man-made rivers and waterfalls, under 9-story high greenhouse domes, every nook and cranny filled with palm trees, orchids, and other exotic plants. I can’t even imagine the amount of energy required to maintain the tropical environment inside. We’ve walked around with our jaws dragging on the floor all week, and though I have enjoyed all the beautiful indoor scenery the meals have been wickedly expensive and I’m quite ready to go.
My two travel companions are flying back to San Diego today; I am taking a detour over the weekend, driving up to the Farm for a quick look-see and a day or so of project time. Wish me luck on ducking winter storms, they’re to the south and to the north this morning, but the hundred-thirty miles or so of highway I’ll be on are presently clear.
Thistledog's Farm 
I think you got out just in time. A friend of mine is driving to San Diego and got stuck in Bryant, Arkansas by the brutal storm that clobbered Oklahoma and Texas. She had to stay in the motel for a day longer than she had wanted to. The next day, she only made 400 miles. It was 15 degrees in Dallas???? Yikes!