Nashville

Have meant to do this for days, but alas, Verizon coverage has been iffy lately.  Our connection has been minimal for days now....and you know how I hate to get behind!!

So I am sitting at a table at Pebble Isle Marina with, finally, a good wi-fi connection. We stopped here to do laundry and get fuel (cheapest we've seen since last spring) use there courtesy van to get groceries, the usual pit stop for us.  Actually it's a pretty good deal all around.  It's .95 cents a foot per night which is around $40. for our boat.  With that you get to do laundry cheaply, use a car to buy groceries (at Wal Mart yet) for free, get a pump out and fuel (not free :-( ) and meet another nice bunch of people, Loopers and marina employees. It is nestled in the crook of  the Johnsonville State Historic Park on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee.

They even have a dog that you can 'borrow' when you go for a walk, an he helps with the lines, but hear he was just interested in that pesky old flea!

                       NASHVILLE!!!    WAS A BLAST....

We got there around 10:30 on last Monday and promptly walked up the hill from the town dock right onto Broadway where all the action is.  We went to the visitors center to get a feel for what to do and after a quick lunch went to our first Honky Tonk. (euphemism for bar)..yup, the music starts early here and goes all day and half of the night!  Everyone playing for tips and hoping to make it big in Country Music.  We saw some great bands and some that were, to be nice, were pretty bad.  The main problem we thought was that the acoustics were awful.  The band could have been great but the instruments were so loud they overpowered everything.  It was still awesome!  We made ourselves take a nap every afternoon so that we could stay awake to go out past eight at night (SO SAD, that's the level we've sunk to) this boating life is not conducive to late nights, unless you're 21!!   But we did stay out for four nights in a row.  

We went to the Grand Ole Opry and saw Vince Gill and a few country singers from the past and a few up and coming artists.  It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to and can't wait to go back.  We decided since our anniversary was so close (44 years....can't hardly believe that) we would justify the fun we were having (that means $$ spent) by celebrating it for a change!!  So we went out every day and night,  A Blues Club ...some of the very best music...Honky Tonkin', the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville farmers market, and the Parthenon and Vanderbilt University.  We also ate out, the entire time. "What" you say, you cheapo's eatin' out??)   No dishes to wash, no toiling over a hot stove, yeah, I could get used to that...... great fried cat fish and the best Barbecue ever thanks to son Cory who told us we couldn't leave Nashville without eating at Jack's.  He was right, seriously good and seriously reasonable.  

As in every city Nashville has a homeless population and I'd say more than their share.  You couldn't walk down any street  without someone asking for a dollar or at least looking like they were going to ask....it was pretty hard to say no in some cases.  

The slide show highlights some of the things we saw.  I'm sorry I couldn't label every picture but if you have any questions just ask and I'll be glad to tell you what it was.

Nashville   slideshow

As always ( a reminder for those with a memory like mine) click the i for the captions and the speaker if you don't like the music!  Enjoy