Yep, I am. Because I need to get photos from my husband from trip #1 to Georgia the last weekend in October, I'll post about trip #2 to Nashville the first weekend of November first.
Nashville was girlfriend's weekend with my bff Nurse Nancy. We were looking for a getaway weekend and thought that because I've never been to Nashville, and she's only been there once for a conference, and since the Southern Living Idea House was there, that Nashville would be a fun place to visit.
Day one found us on an early (7 am) flight from Newark. It was uneventful. We landed in Nashville and proceeded to get a rental car - and since it was a girlfriend weekend, we chose a VW Beetle. While it was a fun car, it is not for one with bad knees! We ventured into Nashville, with a few bad directions from Google Maps and a detour for construction, we finally made it. First up was a tour of the Ryman Auditorium.
We wandered through town and found that there sea a very, very noisy motorcycle weekend going on. My eardrums were throbbing thanks to the woman in front of us, who was obviously enjoying some drinks and encouraging the cyclists to rev the engines - most of which were Harley's. After mass we ate at a great Mexican restaurant - very local place. We called it a night as we had been up since 4 in the AM to catch our early flight out of Newark.
Sunday morning we ventured to the Southern Living Idea House at Fontanel, the former estate of Barbara Mandrell. This was one of the reasons we chose Nashville for our weekend. It was a great experience to see all the innovative designs and materials used. Of course we had our won criticisms too. We are both looking for ideas for our further retirement houses, so looking at show and model homes is a fun thing to do.
First, a few things I liked.
Interesting light fixtures.
A few things I didn't like were the location - the rear of the house backed up to the road, which I didn't expect. The kitchen, though large and beautiful, lacked wall ovens, which I have come to love so I don't have to crouch over to use it. There was no wine fridge which surprised both of us since we fully expected one. There microwave was installed in the island and was a pull out drawer style. I couldn't figure out how to clean the top if anything splattered.
We then headed to the Opryland compound to check it out. Nurse Nancy attended a conference there and was anxious to explore a little more. So explore we did.
We didn't get into the the Grand Ole' Opry - they are getting it ready for the Christmas Rockette Show.
Saw this interestingly dressed woman outside the Opry and again inside the adjacent mall. Weird.
We met up with Nurse Nancy's cousin for dinner - she's an Army Captain who flies Apache helicopters! And later went to see Last Vegas to round out a busy day.
On Monday, we headed to the Nashville Antique Archaeology Store - the second store owned by Mike Wolf of America Pickers fame.
Cool building and lots of neat stuff. I settled for a t-shirt.
Then to Franklin Tennessee to see fellow blogger Lauren of The Mental Pause Chronicles, who recently relocated back to her home town from Connecticut.
After a tour of Franklin and lunch at Puckett's, we headed to The Hermitage, the home of President Andrew Jackson. It was a glimpse into my retirement as my husband has informed me that when we retire, we are going to visit all of the presidential homes and libraries - just what I wanted to do. Oh, and we are going to visit lots of antique car museums too. Aren't' I a lucky girl?
We were up and out the next day to head back to Newark and reality. All in all, a wonderful girlfriend's weekend. Well, except for the cold I caught and, after three trips to two different doctors and one to the ER with an asthma attack brought on by the cold. I guess we must all take the bad with the good.
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