Nashville Part One

Crystal has been talking a about visiting her family in Nashville for two years now. Between week long trips to the beach every summer and my desire not to spend large portions of time with small children in cars, we had not made it out yet. This summer Crystal and her cousin made a plan and last week we set out to do it.

Tuesday morning we were all ready to haul the kids 9-ish hours West in one hell or high water road trip. Then we found out one of the young ones we were going to visit had a fever. We called an audible and decided to break the trip up into two days. The first leg of Tuesday we spent at Virginia Safari Park, a zoo off of 81 that was surprisingly awesome. We walked around and fed the animals, grabbed a bite to eat and then drove our car through a path that brought us face to face with all kinds of beast. At one point we were pinned in on three sides by zebras, a lama spit on my window and we found out Crystal is legit afraid of ostriches. It was a fantastic time.

We picked up from the park and legged it down to Grandfather Mountain in Linville, NC. At the top we stepped out to a chilly 61° F afternoon. It was great for a short hike across a one mile high hanging bridge and over the top to an amazing view. After the mountain we found a hotel, beer and grabbed a bite to eat by the pool.

Wednesday morning we got up to find out the fever had broken.We had complementary breakfast at the hotel and got out on the road toward Knoxville. At noon we pulled into the city center and had lunch in the Knoxville Market Square. A great spot to relax, get a bite and take a quick stroll through a sculpture garden. Back at the car we only had three hours left to Nashville. When we pulled into the music city we got warm greetings from our family and spent time catching up.

After putting the young ones to bed, the adults went out for a night on the town. We started by celebrating our host birthday at Lockeland Table in East Nashville. It was great and very similar to the Blue Goat in Richmond. Post dinner we went to Broadway and jumped around to a few honky-tonks. I provide the wiki link because I honest had no idea what they were before we saw them. It was a blast.

Thursday we woke up and helped Crystal's cousin and her husband get out the door to work before taking Kaden and his cousin out to Riverfront Landing. A park right next to where the Titans play. It over looks the river and has a water play area and climbing walls for the kids. The boys played for hours while Crystal and I lounged in the shade with Ward. Later that evening we had an early dinner in and later on tried to teach our host how to play Pandemic after too many beers and wine.