My Opryland Hotel -- Before and After the Flood.

Several years ago, sweetie and I were sipping margaritas on the patio of a local restaurant when I pondered what we might do to celebrate in the event I ever landed on the New York Times bestseller list. I mused that a trip to Italy might be fun. He paused. Took a long drink of margarita, then said, "Oh. I was sort of thinking along the lines of a weekend at the Opryland Hotel."

The woman at the table next to us burst out laughing. Then said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be eavesdropping, but I have to vote with your wife."

As luck would have it, shortly after that dinner I did have my first book -- after several close calls -- hit the list and we ended up making both trips, squeezing in a fabulous dinner with our son, who lives in D.C., at the Inn at Little Washington. All three events were grand ways to celebrate. But the Opryland Hotel is the place we return to several times a year. Whenever anyone visits from out of state, we take them to Nashville for a night there, because, although we've traveled all over the world, we've never experienced anything quite like this jungle/rain forest/bayou beneath the world's largest glass dome.

We discovered it on our first of seven back and forth trips from Arizona to the southeast, looking for a new state/town/house. The search took several months, during which time I wrote Far Harbor, my second Coldwater Cove book, in the front seat of the Tahoe that towed the trailer we'd bought to take our ancient dog and insane Siamese cat on the journey with us. The minute I sat down with a glass of crisp chilled Chardonnay and a crab salad beneath that glorious glass ceiling, I began to feel the stress of miles of travel slip away. Every time we passed through Tennessee, we'd treat ourselves to lunch there. It became my haven. And continued to be once we finally settled in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee.

Here are some photos of the hotel in all its glory:
Just driving up to this entrance, I can feel myself beginning to relax.



And what a lobby! Nothing subtle about this hotel!



This is the Cascade atrium, adjoining the registration desk -- where everyone is always unfailingly friendly and has their hometown and country on their name tag. The Opryland Hotel is like a mini United Nations and it's always fun to chat with people about where they're from and how they ended up in Tennessee.



One of my favorite bars in the world is the one on the Cascades level, that slowly revolves past these waterfalls. (And yes, all the plants and trees in the hotel are real.)


We always spring for a balcony room because the views are so terrific. I prefer the Cascades level, because of the waterfalls, but the Delta level is lovely, too. These are photos taken from our Delta balcony on a trip there last summer with my dear friend Elen Grey and her husband.



The Delta level features a river filled with floating flowers and catfish. One, which is kept in the boathouse, is 80 pounds! When they built the river -- which you can ride around in a flatboat -- they sent out empty Jack Daniels bottles (that whiskey, if you didn't know, is made in Tennessee) to the governors of all the states and several foreign countries. There are bronze plaques where you can see where the water from your home state came from.



Here's sweetie's and my home state's plaque:



A Christmas at Opryland is not to be missed:





Tragically, over this past weekend Nashville received an unprecedented amount of rainfall, causing the Cumberland River -- which is right next to the hotel -- to overflow. It crested last night at 12 feet above flood stage, the highest since 1937. So far twenty-eight deaths have been attributed to storms in Nashville and neighboring areas and more are expected.

This was the outside of our beloved Opryland Hotel Monday morning:



And this is the Cascade's level yesterday afternoon. The bar and waterfalls are just to the left of the frame:



This final photo is of downtown Nashville, yesterday afternoon, before the river crested:



Our hearts and prayers go out to all the wonderful people of this friendly, generous city who've been so cruelly affected by the storm and the continuing aftermath. We know you'll survive and come back even bigger and better. Meanwhile, for those who'd like to help, click here to donate to the Middle Tennessee Red Cross.