Long Day from Nashville to Chicago

We got an early start today and headed North towards Chicago with no particular plans or hurry to get there. Just outside of Louisville, we decided it might be fun to visit Churchill Downs (home of the Kentucky Derby) and found out there was a museum. We arrived there around lunchtime and managed to catch up with a tour that had just left to view the track. It's definitely a sight to behold. The amount of money that goes into a two minute horse race once a year is a little overwhelming.

Next we toured the museum for a while and caught a movie. Not only was the movie well done and insightful, it was presented in one of the most original theaters I've ever seen. it was oval shaped, and had screens around the entire wall. It created a beautiful way of showing panoramic images, including a full 360 degree view of the track. The only improvement that could be made is swivel chairs instead of stools. Other than that, I was really impressed.

After that enjoyable stop, we headed across town to grab lunch at Whole Foods before heading North again. Along the way we passed through Indianapolis, but didn't find a reason to stop. We had an interesting experience with diesel fuel at a truck stop and managed to find out the hard way that the rapid fill pumps for semis don't work well with our truck. We found this out by repeatedly covering both ourselves and the side of the truck in fuel.

After that minor fiasco we headed North and considered a detour through the ghost town of Gary, Indiana before finding that we were forced to make the side trip as a construction detour. I definitely see why it's considered a ghost town at this point. Also of note was that Molly and I had exactly the amount of cash/change necessary for the toll road between the two of us. Navigating Chicago was a whole different beast of its own. Our GPS became useless for a good while as many of the roads it was giving us were low clearance (we need 13' or more) or restricted truck traffic. After winding our way around Chicago towards Evanston (our hotel destination) we thought we had nearly made it when we found our path to the hotel obscured with less that a quarter mile to go. We had to zig-zag our way North a fair number of blocks before we finally found a street that had clearance to get under the Chicago rapid transit rail lines. Don't even get me started on the parking.

At this point we were starving and managed to find a nice little Italian place for dinner. The food was tasty, and cravings for dessert ensued. We wound up at Ben & Jerrys and fixed that problem. The preliminary plan for tomorrow is to park the truck north of town and ride the rapid transit lines into downtown and spend the majority of the day there. I'm excited - first time in the main part of Chicago. This city is huge.

Last Day in Nashville

Today got off to a nice relaxed start. I woke up and did a nice workout for just about two hours while watching the Tour De France individual time trial. It's really nice to have something genuinely interesting to watch while working out. I'd be watching it anyway, so I may as well get the workout in as well. I met up with long lost friend and mentor Brent McClun who I knew in Alaska. He now lives in the area and it was great to catch up a bit after not having seen him for three or four years.

After lunch Molly and I decided to go check out the Grand Ole Opry. I had a basic understanding of what it was all about, but checking out the museum really gave me a perspective for the incredibly important role the Opry has played in the development in country music and music in general. We didn't get to see the inside of the main stage, but it was still a good experience. Next door we checked out a Gibson guitar retailer briefly and I bought some shorts for work, and then we decided to see Wall-E. It was decent, but after all the hype and people calling it epic, I was a little let down. The first 15-20 minutes set it up to be really good, but then after that it felt a little cartoony. I think I was expecting something a little darker and deeper. But hey, it's a G rated Pixar film. It has to have a happy ending.

For dinner we met back up with Nate and tried out a taco place. The food was really cheap and pretty good, and I ended up with a lot of food. If I went to Vanderbilt, I could definitely see eating there fairly often. Tomorrow Nate will be staying in Nashville an extra day, and Molly and I are going to leave town early headed towards Wisconsin and see how far we feel like going. We may drive all day and end up in Pleasant Prarie, or we may get sidetracked along the way and end up doing somethig fun. I'm game either way.

BBQ and Honky Tonk

Tonight we got dinner at an excellent BBQ Place called Jack's. I got the combo, including pulled pork, beef brisket, and sausage. It was some of the better BBQ I've ever had, and probably the most authentic. After that we headed next door to listen to some live music. We heard the Western Swingers, and they were rather good and definitely enjoyable. Next we headed up the street a bit to find another band. They took far too long to set up, and in the mean time I said hi to my friend Jack, as Nate put it (Jack is from the area). The band wasn't anything amazing, and Molly, Nate, and Nate's girlfriend headed back to the hotel. I stayed another couple songs and headed down the street just for the sake of wandering. I had an interesting encounter with a large and somewhat menacing homeless guy who was nice enough that I was ready to buy him some food assuming he was actually hungry, but as it turns out he wasn't going for me being willing to put some food on my card and instead was rather ATM focused. Long story short, he was looking for a "hotel" and I managed to talk/trick him out of getting anything out of me at all.

In other news, if I get a chance tomorrow night, I'd like to check out B.B. King's Blues Joint.

Nashville by Day

After a morning workout, a conference call, and watching the exciting and unexpected finish of today's Tour stage, Molly and I headed downtown to do some more exploring. We went along part of the same route I took last night before branching off to the Northern part of downtown. We saw the original Presbyterian Church, the State Capitol building, Several Court Buildings, Printer's Alley, the Bicentennial Mall, and then I headed off West to to Centennial Park. Centennial Park is home to a replica of the Greek Parthenon (either at 1:1 scale or 2:3 scale) which is slightly odd. There's really nothing Greek about this city as far as I can tell.















There are also plenty of Canada Geese.














I headed through the northern edge of Vanderbilt's campus, stopped at RiteAid for some shaving cream and multivitamins, and now I'm back at the hotel before dinner.

Nashville on a Sunday Night

After writing that last post, I decided to wander downtown and see what Nashville was all about.

First off, let me say that I keep tricking myself into thinking it's going to cool off at night so far this trip (I know it will eventually happen further north), but as a result I went dressed in one fleece jacket too many.

Second, it's becoming all too apparent that I need a better camera and a better phone. This problem will be solved shortly.

Anyway, I first started off by investigating the large hole in the ground near our hotel, which will eventually turn into a multi-use high rise owned by Intercontinental Group. I continued towards downtown and came upon some fabulous old architecture, including the Union Station Hotel and the Customs House.







(Customs House)







Next I came upon the main strip of bars, saloons, and clubs in downtown. I was rather surprised by the number of people out on a Sunday night, and equally surprised by the loud live music at most bars. This city is known for country, but if one were to judge solely by the drinking scene, it would be a confusing mix of country, jazz, and hip hop. There were also an abundance of cowboy boots for sale, but no one out drinking seemed to be wearing them.







(Numerous boots)







I saw the oddly-shaped AT&T building up close, and made my way down to the riverfront to catch a glimpse of LP Field, where the Tennessee Titans play home games. Near the river I found Coyote Ugly. I took a quick look at Fort Nashborough (not much to see in the dark) and looped my way back around towards the hotel. On the way back, I took a closer look at Sommet Center, the home ice arena for the NHL's Nashville Predators.















As a whole, I was impressed with the livelihood of the city on a Sunday night. Downtown has a very clean, cozy feel with music pouring into the streets and lots of cute girls who aren't afraid to say hi to you.

From Atlanta to Nashville

Today I woke up somewhat early to watch stage 2 of the Tour De France, only to find that Versus had no signal. As disappointing as that was, I did get to watch the first sets of the Wimbledon finals, which was pretty epic. We got free breakfast because we are "elite" Marriot members - people who have been on the tour for a while have racked up lots of nights of stays. This last weekend has been my first on the concierge level, with free meals and perks. Definitely a nice bonus. We left Atlanta for Nashville about noon, which unfortunately meant I missed the conclusion of said epic tennis match, but I was pleased that later today I did get to watch the finishing part of stage 2 of the Tour.

The drive from Atlanta to Nashville was fairly uneventful, but I got to drive one of the trucks on the highway, which pretty much confirmed that I'll be perfectly comfortable driving a larger vehicle. I rode with Molly and it was good to get to know her a bit better and hear a little bit of back story, considering we went to the same college and are now somewhat randomly on the road together on the other side of the country. We went through Chatanooga, Tennessee and didn't really get to see it, but it still has a cool name and is therefore worth mentioning. We arrived in Nashville in the middle part of the afternoon and immediately checked into our hotel, the Hotel Indigo, a modern, stylish place to stay in a good location. It's a little difficult to describe the styling other than modern making use of wood, brushed aluminum, and quirky artwork, so perhaps some pictures are in order.

I caught up online a bit and we headed to dinner at a place near the Vanderbilt campus that had a 2 for 1 special on both pizza and beer. We ended up with lots of good food and drink for a pretty reasonable price, and Nate gave us the rundown both on his past schooling and leading up to this position, as well as a really insightful take on what this job is all about. We just got back to the hotel, and now I get to figure out what to do with the rest of the evening. I may make it an early night, or I may stay up a while and find something interesting to do.