So, most people know that I went on a 3 week vacation this summer. I am just now getting around to blogging about it. Before my trip I have put together what I called my "travel binder". This binder was divided out into the different places I was going with Itineraries, maps, places I wanted to see, emergency phone numbers and addresses of all my friends who I was visiting. Some people laughed at it, but I called it organized! I wanted things to move as smoothly as possible. I had 6 different flights, a couple different train rides, rented a car and took a ferry. There was so much room for disaster but I organized everything out to try to avoid that.
On June 23rd I headed out to Nashville Tennessee at 8:25 am. When I got to the ticket counter I was asked about the emergency exits. They asked if I would be able to help with the emergency exit if need be. I thought...of course! I mean I am glad there were no disasters or crashes and don't wish to be apart of one. Although I did play with the idea of living my own version of LOST! With me at the emergency exit this means I very well could have become a main character maybe even the "Kate" of the whole experience. The other emergency exit people where not even kind of "Kate" material, so this definitely gave me more of a chance. I started checking out everyone on the plane and realized that there were no suitable guys to be Jack, Sawyer or Sayid! Turns out normal people are not nearly as good looking as the stars on TV!
After arriving in Denver for my 2 1/2 hour layer over, I volunteered to get bumped if they needed my seat because the plane was over booked. This totally southern guy standing next to me in his "God Bless America" Hat and shirt was pretty angry that they would over book and kept talking about how you used to be able to travel with guns and now you cant! He then was trying to talk to me about what line was for what, I almost said "Listen Mr. God Bless America! I don't know why the plane is over booked and I don't know why they are in that line! So, stop talking to me!" But of course I just said I don't know and smiled. I was the very last person to board the plane and thankfully they got me on. My friend Joe had some awesome stuff planed for that night and I would have missed it all if I hadn't gotten on the plane.
When my plane landed I pretty much booked it to baggage claim. I was so excited to see Joe that I could hardly stand it. Joe is one of my friends from New York. He worked at Starbucks with me and now lives down in Nashville. I haven't seen him since I visited NY 2 years ago! When I saw him, he gave me a big hug! We grabbed my bags and jumped in his car and didn't stop till we got to the Loveless Cafe. Joe works for the radio station WSM and they produce a show every Wednesday night out at Loveless. This Wednesday was a tribute to Bluegrass. We hung around there for a little while, had some excellent food, biscuits and beer! Joe introduced me to one of the Bands playing that evening. They are called The Farewell Drifters, I fell in love with there music! It's more contemporary bluegrass, and I listened to them all week in Joe's car! He also introduced me to several of his friends and all of them were very nice and welcoming. After we hung out there we went back to Joe's house, I was dressed in usual Oregon attire and needed to change into more Nashville appropriate clothes (shorts and flip flops). After I changed we headed out to a New England style bar that Joe frequents. We had some more drinks and some fried Pickles and headed home to hit the sack!
My first morning in Nashville was very uneventful. Joe had to work so I just hung out and waited for him to come home. I walked down to Portland Brew "a taste of the Northwest" It was a coffee shop just down the street. Then I sat at home a read my book waiting for Joe to come home. We went to lunch for "meat and 3" Your choice of meat and 3 sides. I had Meatloaf, Sweet potatoes, Fried green tomatoes and mac and cheese. It was a huge lunch but so good! The rest of the day Joe worked and I had his car so I drove around and went to some touristy things that Joe had no interest in. The Dukes of Hazard Museum was really Ghetto and sad. It was called Cooter's Place, I was going to go to Willie Nelson's museum but didn't want to pay $8 to get in. Sadly because of the flood, the wax museum was closed! That evening I went back home, made some cookies and went to bed.
The next day Joe and I went out to his Starbucks where I got my Nashville mug! He drove me all around Nashville showing me his old neighborhoods and such. We also went on the General Jackson Showboat, It was fun but definitely as Joe called it a "blue hair" tour. The best part of the day was when we were all waiting on the bus to leave, the "tan" people got on. They were all accountants and we really fancy and annoying. After waiting for 2 of their friends to get on the bus we were pulling away when the girls all starting saying "oh, Anna, we have to wait for Anna" One of them asked the bus driver if he would kill her if she had him wait for Anna. His response was "no but the others might". When Anna finally got on the bus Joe looked at her and said "I am so glad you could make it, Anna!"
The entertainment was super cheese and the food was OK. The best part was really the 2 couples that sat at our table. The first couple were very nice and from Oregon. The other couple Joe and I referred to as Mr. and Mrs. Grumpus. Both we miserable, everything Mr. Grumpus did was wrong and everything was not as good as they wanted. We were very happy to leave them! After the boat ride we went home and took naps! we then met up with Joe's friends Troy, Dylan and Stephen and had dinner and some drinks. They were super fun and had to be the most random group of friends ever!
Joe had to work at 10:30am so I took the car out to the Belle Meade Plantation and walked around there for awhile. It was kinda boring and I thought it was weird how they would try to spin a happy feel to slavery. It was kinda weird!
I then went back to the bar that Joe works at to watch the end of the USA World Cup game. It was a sad game. I hung out there with Joe's friend Stephen until Joe was off work. Joe and I went to dinner that night at Jack's BBQ downtown Nashville and then we went to The Grand Ole Opry. That night there were a lot of Oldie Goldie's singing but the best part of the show was when Loretta Lynn came out! They are broadcasting The Grand Ole Opry from the Original Ryman Auditorium because the newer one is closed due to the flood. She was amazing! She only sang maybe 4 or 5 songs but it was great! We then stayed downtown and went "honky tonkin" We would go in one bar and have a beer and listen to the band play and then we would go next door and do the same thing. It was pretty fun a little loud but we had nice time.
My last morning there we got up early and went to The Pancake Place, I guess they are famous and celebrities go there. We then went back to his place to wait for the cable guy who never showed up. Joe was pretty mad! So, before he dropped me off we went and had a beer on our way to the airport. I was really sad to say goodbye. Joe is such a good friend to me and I really miss seeing him! I also love Nashville and really want to move there, it is a fabulous city!
Here are some of my pictures, I didn't take very many but here is what I did take!
