We are very happy together (my fortune from Chinese food night at the Nasvhville RV park)
Nashville 7/1 and 7/2
Tuesday morning my sister, nephews and family left Louisville for Nashville. We woke up at our leisure, and left around 10 am. It's only a two and a half or three hour drive. We arrived in Nashville around 1pm, and drove straight downtown. We planned to go check out the downtown area before heading to the campground via RV since we don't have a car and renting a car in Louisville proved to be a pain.
Downtown Nashville is very small, probably half the size of Denver. The main touristy area is 3 or 4 blocks of mainly bars they refer to as the "honky tonks" and shops. A few blocks away at the end of the street is the river. They were setting up for a huge street concert for the 4th of july weekend. Almost every bar has a big neon sign and it's a really cool sight.
Our 1st order of business, was figuring out how and where to park the RV. We googled "rv parking Nashville" and came up with nothing that helped, so we decided to drive around and wing it. After driving around for 10 minutes in circles, we realized unless we found 2 parking meters on a corner, it was going to be impossible to park this rig. We drove by an old hotel called the Hermitage hotel, and 5 valet guys were standing outside like they were all looking for the challenge of parking a 33' long vehicle. I pulled over and asked them if they had any advice for a spot to park. After questioning if we were staying at the hotel, or eating at the hotel (both "no's"), they looked around for a minute. One of the guys offered to run across the street to the office building, and ask if we could leave it in their loading zone, and the valet guys would watch it for us. A few minutes later he came back and said that would be work, so we backed up and took our spot in the office building loading zone. I flipped the keys and $20 to the valet, and we started walking the few blocks to Broadway.
As you're walking the streets of downtown Nashville, each door of the different bars has music from live bands spilling out of the doorway into the street. We tried to go into a sports bar to eat lunch but they quickly told us it as a 21 and older establishment only. The US national team was playing and we were hoping to catch some of the game. We ended up at a place called Rippy's which was BBQ. They had a band playing on the stage that was decent. We ordered the kids food quickly and people watched. The food was pretty bad but it was a cool experience since there was live music, cold beer, and a photo booth. After lunch we walked around a bit more, and got some ice cream at an old fashioned candy store. It was 96 degrees and very humid. After our ice cream treat we walked back to the RV to head to the campground.
Random car in bar people stand on?
Listening to a little music
We drove about 20 minutes to the Nashville KOA to check in. The Nashville KOA was way nicer than Lousiville. It wasn't as nice as the Mt. Rushmore KOA, but a big upgrade from Sunday and Monday nights.
After checking in and getting the RV set up, we went to the pool and the kids swam while Tracy, Colleen and I sat on the edge of the pool and talked. We were all pretty tired. After a few hours of swimming there we decided we were going to order Chinese food delivery to the pool for dinner. My sister got a kick out of the fact that half the time in the RV we would order delivery, and sit at a picnic table eating, while the neighbors in the RV park slaved away at a grill.
After doing favorite part of the day we went back to shower and get ready for bed. Nashville was clearly a better city than Louisville, and we looked forward to the next day. At night my sister would put her kids to bed in their bunks and lock her cabin and come over and hang out with Tracy and I. We would have a blast telling old storeis and teaming up on each other. We were a little delirious later in the night, and my sister had a little flash light on her key chain. Tracy said something silly, and Colleen flashed it about an inch from her eye exclaiming "you stupid"! We all laughed so loud we almost woke up the kids. Getting "flashlighted" is now the penalty for saying something stupid on this trip. It happened about 30 other times that night and every other night thereafter.
Favorite part of the day:
Davis - when Caden drank bottle of water in 1 sip
Daddy - when the hotel valet let us park there
Tracy - when tucker ran into office. Oh yeah I forgot when I went in to the office to register at the campground Tucker came running in and Tracy running in after him. He snuck out of the RV when I got out.
Arden - playing with two new girls in the pool
Austin - going to downtown Nashville and listening to the music
Caden - ?? somehow didn't write his down
Nashville day 2
We woke up and let the kids play around the campground for a few hours while we got ready to go downtown for the day. My aunt Di, cousin Debbie, and her daughter, cousin Ashley, left at 6am to catch up with us in Nashville. We were going to play it by ear whether we'd drive to Atlanta tonight, or Thursday morning. Later in the day after confirming they had a cabin for my aunt and cousins, we quickly decided it would be fun to stay an extra night in Nashville.
One of the cool parts of doing a trip like this is we can decide at any point to change the trip plan. Even if we ditch an RV spot for the night we've already paid for it's only $50-100. We took the 11 am shuttle down to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame is a few blocks from Broadway where all the honky tonks are. We planned on going to the Hall, and then walking a few blocks away to a restaurant that was recommended to us for lunch. The first few floors of the Hall of Fame are what you'd expect. Elvis' outfits, and guitars next to a few pictures of him wearing them. Same for Dolly Parton. It was clear the boys were not going to be into this. Their spirits lifted briefly when we saw Tex Ritter. (no relation/John Ritter's Dad for those of you under 50. Jason Ritter's (Parenthood) grandfather for you under 30) A few exhibits later there was the Smokey and the bandit II car which peaked my interest, but they didn't care about that either. The highlight of the Hall of Fame was the Taylor Swift wing, where there was an interactive exhibit which allowed you to design a video set, wardrobe, and other things, in addition to steping into a recording studio in a life sized Taylor Swift tour bus, and record your karaoke of one of the songs. Arden was very excited. She loves this kind of stuff. The kids played in there for a while. Tracy, Arden and I sang Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". It was a really fun experience, and we all thought we sounded great until we got the recording e-mailed to us. We left to walk the few blocks to Demos' restaurant which the woman at the campgroud had told us was a good spot for the kids.
The kids barely made the walk to Demos', they were so hungry and tired. The restaurant was perfect. We learned it was family owned, and it felt like it. The kids were starving, and ate a bunch of garlic bread and pasta. They offered cheesecake, but we planned on walking to get ice cream at Mike's, which we heard about yesterday. This would be my first of two trips to Mike's that day.
On the way walking the two blocks to mike's, we stopped in a cool tourist "junk' store and bought a bunch of junk. I bought a few shirts for friends, and my nephews got little pocket knives made out of a bullet. At Mike's there was a line out the door. It was like an old fashioned soda fountain and appeared to have homemade ice cream. We got our ice cream and walked outside to eat it. Nashville was so warm and humid the ice cream was very soft and tasted great. We walked back to the country music hall of Fame to catch the shuttle at 3:30 to go back to the campground. Davis had bought a little guitar at one of the shops, and when we got back to the Country Music Hall of Fame to wait for the shuttle he and the kids were "panhandling" while Davis played guitar. Each of us adults gave them a buck or two, and they were hilarious at splitting up the money. The shuttle was a little late but we got on safely. My aunt and cousins were about a half hour away from the campground and would end up beating us there.
When we got back we made our kids rest after eating a snack. "Resting" is a daily practice of making the kids lay in their beds and watch movies for 30-60 minutes. It's amazing how well it recharges their energy. After resting we did the tour of the RV with my aunt and cousins and went to the pool. My Aunt, sister and Tracy went to the Boot Barn to find boots for Tracy. She had looked downtown for boots and couldn't come up with anything she liked. One of the stores had a 3 for 1 sale but the 1 pair cost $300. They wouldn't sell her one pair for $100 so she didn't buy anything yet. I thought it was ironic she ended up at Boot Barn because they have those in Denver 15 minutes from our house. While they went to Boot Barn, I swam and hung out at the pool with my cousin Debbie. Debbie is one of my favorite people in the world. She has such a great attitude and is a special person to everyone she meets. She's the kind of person who puts a smile on your face just hanging out with her. She'd do just that to me a few days later at the 4th of July party. It was nice catching up with Debbie because we only see each other every other year or so. Aunt Di, Sis, and Tracy got back with Kentucky Fried Chicken for everyone and we ate at the pool. When we were kids we used to eat Kentucky Friend Chicken all the time having picnics in the parks. I remember the mashed potates and gravy. As an adult KFC is disgusting. I reluctantly ate what I could.
Aunt Di, Debbie and Ashley talked about going downtown, and I offered to take them using my Aunt's car. She had driven the whole way from Chicago, so she was teetering on whether she wanted to go or not. I pushed her to go because it was cool and I thought if you're going to drive all the way to Nashville for a night, you should at least experience the downtown area and some music. Debbie, Ashley, Aunt Di and I left, and the kids went to bed. We arrived in the downtown area and parked at the Ryman Auditorium which was where the Grand Ole Opry was from the 1940's to the 1970's. It is half a block off of the main strip of bars and tourist area which is on Broadway. We walked up and down Broadwaay for a bit. Stopping in a few stores to look in gift shops. We went to Mike's Ice Cream (see above) for my second trip of the day. We walked closer down by the river where they were setting up the stage for the 4h of July concerts they have. They had already blocked off most of the streets down there. While we were walking I brought up Johnny Cash, and my 16 year old cousin exclaimed she didn't know who Johnny Cash was. I explained to her and even pointed to a picture of him on a t-shirt. You know, the one where he's flipping off the camera? One block later while we were walking a street performer Johnny Cash look a like was playing his guitar on the street, and Ashley turned around and said "is that Johnny Cash"? We laughed and I explained Johnny Cash was unfortaunately no longer alive.
Debbie, Di and Ashley
I wanted to make sure we all got the experience of listening to some live music but most of the bars only allow guests in that are over 21. Tracy ironically offered to let Ashley take her license as a potential fake ID before we left. I think Tracy was bummed when the group reminded her Ashley was less than half her age. We made it back to Rippy's which is where we ate lunch earlier in the day. They had a great band playing and only a few people in there. We sat down and the lead singer immediately asked us what we wanted to hear. I told him my cousin had never heard Johnny Cash, and they said they'd gladly play her first Cash song for her. We sat there and had a few drinks, and listened to music for the next hour or two. It was really fun to be able to experience downtown Nashville at night, and to be there listening to live music with my Aunt and Cousins. On the way out the band was in between songs and we said thank you. I asked if Ashely could get up on stage and take a pic with the band and they said yes. She was reluctant at first, but I coaxed her up on stage and she took the picture. The band leader asked us to tag him on facebook which was funny. We left and got home around 10:00 pm. I called my sister on the walk back to the RV to see if she was up but got no answer. I was hoping to hang out with her and when she surely said something stupid to shine the flashlight in her face. When I got to the RV the kids were fast asleep and Tracy was laying in bed relaxing. We were both tired and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up around 8 and all trickled over to the main KOA office. They had a little cafe there that served breakfast sandwiches and pancakes. Those were the only two menu items. If you wanted extra bacon with your pancakes you could get it. They had a small coffee bar with lousy coffee too. I drank coffee there every morning, and was bummed it wasn't better coffee every time. I gave the kids a few bucks to go rent banana bikes again and we started packing up. We all agreed on a 10 am exit time. I went back and got the RV slides in, cleaned out all the holding tanks (gross!) and disconnected the electrical and water. We left around 10 am and my aunt followed us in her car. We planned to stop in an hour or two for lunch and then get to my brothers house in Atlanta after lunch.
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