Monday April 6: Nashville

Our plan was to start the day off early. Alas, we're on vacation, and apparently getting up early is a difficult thing for us to do. So, we rolled out of bed close to 10am, had our showers and grabbed some continental breakfast. The hotel clerk thought it odd that we mixed our peaches with our bran flakes, but then he went on to describe how he only eats popcorn with ketchup. Sounds messy, if you ask me.

Once fooded up, we hit the road for Nashville. Our hotel is located about 20 minutes outside the downtown core, and with some skilled navigation from yours truly we arrived on Broadway street, where all the action is (or so we were told). Right off the bat our interest was piqued by a sign advertising "Wild Bill's Cajun Doughnuts" and we just had to go in and try some. The dougnuts were made right in front of us and reminded me a lot of the Dutch doughnuts (ollibollen) my dad used to make every New Years. Very tasty!

Now, for some music! The guy at Wild Bill's had recommended his favorite place, but unfortunately it wasn't open on Mondays, so we headed next door to a venue called Robert's Western World. There was a very friendly guy on stage named John Sheppherd who kept trying to elicit song suggestions from us. Since neither Chris nor me are very familiar with country music, his attempts weren't very successful. We asked the bartender if she had any local brews so she gave us a couple Yazoo Pale Ale's which were very tasty.

After enjoying some old Willy Nelson and Johnny Cash tunes, we headed out to find some more adventure. We happened upon a store advertising the Charlie Daniels museum with no admission charge, so we figured, why not? Again, neither of us were at all familiar with the singer, but it seems he's done some pretty impressive things. Tons of awards, citations from his time in the military, and pictures of him shaking hands with various presidents. The store also sold cowboy hats, which Chris insisted I try on. Pink's not my color, all I'm sayin'.

Wanting to hear some more live country music, we stopped off at the Legends venue. Some guy was on stage (we didn't catch his name) but he was pretty underwhelming and we quickly moved on. We ended up at The Stage which had just opened it's doors and a full country band was just starting a set. We ordered some coffees and sat back to enjoy. Again, we didn't catch the name of the band (if they even had one; the waitress didn't seem to think they did) but they were very good; the entire bar was filled with toe tapping, and sometimes dancing, patrons. The Stage had some odd rules about solicitation. The women there complied, being so subtle that Chris and I didn't even realize if any of them were trying to solicit us.

Unfortunately we were running out of time, so we hopped in the car and headed back to the hotel so I could throw up this post (and keep all of you people who are undoubtedly on the edge of your seats satisfied) and we could get ready for our visit with Cali. I'm so looking forward to it.

More later. Oh, and by the way, I did end up buying a cowboy hat. But it's not pink. =)

Sunday April 5. Parting is such sweet, sweet sorrow... OK, what's next?

Good morning everyone. After a hugely successful first day of our trip, Pete and I were eager to see what day two held in store for us. Unfortunately, it started with the downer of having to bid farewell to our hosts from Ohio and get back on the road once again. For the second day, Pete and I are much, much later in our departure than we had hoped. A combination of sleeping in late, and Celer cooking up a nice pancake breakfast, it was almost noon before we climbed into the car and pointed it south. Due to some clever planning on our part, however, we find we are not really in a hurry to get anywhere today. The weather is nice, and we have what we believe to be only 6 hours of driving ahead of us. As we cross the border between Ohio and Kentucky, we look down the road with scepticism. We were incredibly pleased the state of Ohio, our entire time there felt exceptionally comfortable and familiar, very similar to home. The people were nice, and Celer even called his drink a “pop” which shocked me greatly. I have been trying to practice calling it a “soda” for quite some time now, in the hopes of easing language barriers.

Although many of you know this already, I would like to formally announce that Peter is now 28, such a great age to be. Please join me in helping wish him a happy birthday as he spends it trapped in a small bubble of metal and plastic with me.

/raise glass in a toast to Pete

As we travelled through Kentucky, we find that it too is quite beautiful, but for some very different reasons. The landscape has transformed from farmland to some rolling hills, with nature and color constantly attempting to drive back mans intrusion into this lush environment. Since the foliage has been at least temporarily halted by the pavement, it has begun an aerial attack, but reaching over the road and besieging civilization from above. Gorgeous.

Eventually we arrived into Tennessee, and were soon looking for a place to stay. After stopping in the welcome center of the state and scouring over coupon books, we located what looked to be a cheap motel called “America’s Best Value Inn”.

NOTE: Before I go on about the hotel, Pete and I were pleased to see our a unique example of local art. It appears to be some statues of flat people. We aren't quite sure what is means, but I suspect that it is an open hand of greeting to all visitors, combined with a severe expression of teenage rebellion.

Seeing as we are all about experiencing Americas best everything, it seemed like a natural choice. All in all, we have no complaints. Took a bit of effort to get a room with a working door, but eventually we had a room all to ourselves. Once we had unpacked, it was time to eat. After driving around for a few moments, we stumbled upon a restaurant called Cici’s Pizza. Having knowledge of this restaurant from my time in Florida, it seemed like a good choice for a couple of hungry men who hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We gorged, and then returned to the room where we were quick to shut down for the evening. The next day was to be an early morning, full of everything the US has to offer to the world of music.

Ohhh, I am out of time. The morning did not turn out to be early, and it is time to go find some breakfast before they put it all away. Wish us luck that they saved us some.