Viva Nashvegas! - 14/12/2007 - 17/12/2007

I have to admit, I miss Nashville and especially my friends in Nashville. Brian and I spent our first weekend of our big US trip in the unseasonably cold South. Beth and Henry were kind to offer a roof over our heads and a dinner party Saturday night. The rest sort of worked itself out.

Not a big surprise for Continental or Newark, we were off to a late start with an hour or so delay getting to Nashville. We arrived to Beth and Henry's after their bedtime and were welcomed by all, including Suzy and a bigger and more vocal Spooky. The next morning, shy Spooky overcame his bashfulness for a biscuit. Every dog has his weakness.

With bad weather, Brian and I decided to show him Nashville's touristy side. We headed for downtown, a place I hadn't visited since Sarynna and Chase got married in December 2004 and insisted on honkytonk wedding pictures. Let's just say that Brian can now use the word honkytonk in a sentence, too. We had drinks and listened to country music at The Stage and Layla's Bluegrass Inn. Much to my (and the bartenders') entertainment, Brian attempted to order high brow drinks from low brow establishments. The Stage's idea of good whisky was Gentleman Jack but he was able to get brandy. The Bluegrass Inn had no such fancy stuff, the bartender got a few laughs and Brian had to settle for bad vodka. In consolation, my juice there was pretty terrible, too.

Cold, wet and honkytonked out, we stopped by Tony and Kristen's to catch up in the peace and quiet. Then we headed back to Beth and Henry's for the dinner party. A few earlybirds beat us there, but otherwise we were ahead of the crowd. It was great to catch up with everyone, many of whom I hadn't seen since our going away party in August 2005. With the exchange rate being very anti-American these days, it's not so easy for visitors to head in this direction. After some of the earlybirds left, Brian offered a lesson in whisky tasting for everyone who was interested. He hasn't converted me yet but others enjoyed it. More importantly, to Brian especially, they appreciated that there was more to whisky than Dewar's and Chivas Regal.

Sunday's weather was a bit better, cold but dry, so we took the dogs for a walk with Beth and then met up with Sheila, Gene and Rachel for a walk at Radnor Lake State Park, a lovely little park in the south of Nashville where the draconian little old ladies rule and there will be no running, dog-walking, cycling or other offensive behavior, as listed on the park signs. The fine for any of these offenses is $196.25.

Brian surprised me by not only admitting that it was cold but accepting a hat and gloves from Gene for the walk.

On the way down from the first ridge, we spotted a family of five deer munching happily on the brush just beside the trail. One doe and a number of not-quite babies but not quite yearlings. They seemed completely indifferent to our presence and the noise we were making. I got within about 10 feet of one of the smaller ones before the group ran off.

We ended the walk and rewarmed ourselves at the Whole Foods cafe in Green Hills.

Lunch was late and dinner later. After some semi-successful Christmas shopping with Rachel, we met up with Brit and Bill and baby Jaq in Murfreesboro. Dinner was at their favourite Indian buffet in town. It was great to catch up, if only briefly, and then we headed back to Tony and Kristen's for a bluegrass picking party.

We got back to Beth and Henry's pretty late and headed for sleep after convincing Spooky that we really were still ok.

Monday morning was earlier than the previous two so we could catch up with Beth before she had to work. Then we headed to Vanderbilt to catch up with the Civil and Environmental Engineering current staff a certain escapee.

After lunch and more catching up, we headed for the airport and a long delay to get home. High winds (25-35mph... ha!) closed Newark airport so we were rerouted to Philadelphia and, as a consequence, placed on the "special" list for security screening. That killed about 20 minutes of our 4 hour wait. Brian got me drunk and then I got a laugh watching him test the massage chair. Video of that should be forthcoming.