We've had a crazy few weeks of travel and travel adventures.
And by travel adventures, I mean we went places and
our car broke (it was the valet's fault!). I
also mean we went places and were reminded of why we hate our luggage. I
also mean we ate a lot of
fried chicken. I also mean we had a great
time. We laughed, we walked, we ate, we slept too little. It was
perfect! We love to travel together and see new places.
I
was very excited to visit Nashville for a week. I've been watching the
Vandy Cams since Emily became a Vandy Girl and the cam just does not
compare to the real thing! I wanted to see where my beloved niece lives,
eats, studies, walks, gets drunk on weekends. I wanted to see where she
was
being a college student. I wanted to see where I imagined her
being. As luck would have it, Emily needed to be
packed up for summer
break and we were happy to help. This also made me think about how fast
time flies. It seems like just yesterday we were crying about her being
gone. One year of four down!
We loved Nashville.
LOVED it! I can totally see why Emily chose Vanderbilt from all the
options. It is beautiful, colorful, quirky, and the people are friendly.
We made some observations while we were there:
1. With the exception of
Loveless Cafe, almost everywhere we ate had a cute female hostess and primarily male servers. It's a town full of waiters. Where do the waitresses work?
2. Macaroni and Cheese in Nashville is not good.
It's sour and white. We know this because we tried it everywhere.
Hashbrown casserole is good there, order that. Also, Nashville does
sweet potatoes better than we've ever had.
3. Women in Nashville do their hair, wear makeup, accessories, and have confidence! A belted shirt or
dress, a denim jacket and makeup looks good on anyone, no matter what your size is. The style is colorful and bold and it seems nobody is too shy to wear red shoes.
4.
Driving in Nashville is terrifying. There's a fork in the road or a
triangle shaped round-a-bout at every corner. You have to be prepared
to pick a side the entire time you are driving. Also, the street signs
are tiny and poorly lit.
5. The stone walls, patches of green grass, old trees, and ivy and moss covered rocks are beautiful and picturesque. Driving into the more rural areas is like visiting England. I long to return with my walking shoes. I can see where so many songwriters get their inspiration while there.
6.
Parents of college kids think their kids do not realize they were also in college once. Or even that they were once 18.
7. College kids think their parents know nothing and more importantly, that we "just do not understand" life.
If only we got a dollar every time we heard a parent say "they don't
realize we were them once" or a student groan, "Moooommmm, you do not understand..." we
could afford first class tickets to Nashville monthly. It was hard not to be giggling all the time.
8.
The toilet in our Hilton hotel room broke. We were too exhausted to deal
with it when we realized it late at night, so we flushed by hand. Ah,
the joy of
sticking your hand in a toilet tank to make the lever work.
When we told the front desk about the broken toilet (and a burned out
light bulb), the front desk girl did not say sorry or that they'd rush
to fix it. Uh, when your hotel guest says the toilet is broken, you
better say, " I am so sorry, we will fix it immediately!" The toilet was eventually fixed, but the light bulb was never changed.
9.
The
french toast at the Hilton was on my Best French Toast Ever list.
It totally made up for the hand flushing and doing our makeup in the
dark.
10. Houses and front doors in Nashville are colorful! Red doors,yellow doors, green doors! I could totally live there.
I can't wait to go back to Nashville in a belted shirt and denim jacket. Tennessee, I love you.
*Photo by Karen of us being us.
There are more photos in my flickr and instagram.
