Coal Miners Daughter ! !

“Well, I was born a Coal Miner’s Daughter, in a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler.”  Loretta Lynn’s Ranch was absolutely beautiful.  If you are looking for a place to get away from it all, cute cabins, hiking, horseback riding, and special concerts and events throughout the year.  Very little cell service and spotty satellite reception, then this is the place for you!!!!  I had made a reservation for a cabin the day before, and they had a good military discount. It was an easy 2 1/2 hr. drive from my brothers place in Alabama, so I got there around 11ish.  After dropping my stuff off in my cabin I headed for downtown Hurricane Mills.  Loretta and Doo bought the entire town, which still has a county road running through it and the Post Office is attached to her General Store/Gift Shop.  I bought my ticket for the tour and had some time to kill before it started so I walked around her museum.  Wow…. amazing…. NO PICTURES/VIDEO  inside the museum and home… sorry.  So now it’s time for the tour… I walked over to the gazebo where I was told to show up about 10 mins before the tour.  I’m standing there looking around and I’m the only one there.  The tour guide walks over and says, “Hey, it’s just you and me”  Perfect !  I ended up with my own tour guide for the day.  There is a replica of the house that she grew up in and they filmed some of the movie in it…. I could see the movie in my head as we walked through.  Over at the big house I saw the 2014 Jeep that her daughter bought Loretta for her birthday, because that’s what she wanted.  Also some of the horses and animals that they have still on the ranch.  One of her grandsons takes care of all the animals, including her peacocks.  Inside was like a step back in time.  She keeps just about everything that fans send her and has a lot of it actually in her house, and she is a huge Avon fan, little Avon displays all over.  A while back they built another smaller house directly behind the big one, and Loretta lives there now.  The whole thing was surreal, and I kept thinking how much my mother would have loved to see all this.  She was on my mind a lot this week.  After the tour and some more wondering around the different buildings, and of course some souvenir shopping, I drove back to my cabin. Saw some Tennessee wildlife…. Big Black Snake ! ! ! No satellite reception, so I was left with sitting on the back deck and enjoying the sounds of nature while reading a good book.  I’m sure Mom was smiling……