So that meant I was traveling for 4 days with no books, no printed itinerary, no pen and paper, no tablet, but worst of all, no phone chargers...and my Samsung Galaxy 9 is not exactly known for its battery life at this point in its existence. Thankfully, mom had not left Raleigh yet and was able to bring an extra charger. I made my flight to DC with no real drama, I didn't even have somebody in front of me in the security line. It was the 1st time I have ever connected through DC Reagan and I really like the great hall which opens into each of the 5 individual concourses. The American flag is large, and there were several enormous Christmas trees displayed. I had about a 2 hour layover so I decided to get away from the terminal and go over to the chapel, which I don't believe I've ever done before in an airport. I found a small daily devotional book and I began reading it. All of a sudden a brown skinned guy in basketball clothes, maybe early to mid twenties, comes in. He immediately takes off his shoes and I know exactly what he's going to do. He gets a blanket from the corner, unfolds it, and lays it down and does the whole Muslim kneeling prayer ritual. I would guess he was out of there in about 3 minutes. And I thought to myself I admire his dedication and discipline but does he do this because he wants to, or because he is supposed to? It has nothing to do with judging another faith, but I am curious how different faiths affect people's mindsets.
I did give in and buy a pair of wired headphones just to have a little bit of sanity. But I have to admit I felt a little bit hollow, a little bit naked with no backpack on because it's an absolute staple when I travel.
So I headed over to my gate and I was 5th on the standby list out of 5 people which immediately gave me a bad feeling because I knew they were only about 4 or 5 open seats. As they were boarding the flight, I immediately dropped to 7 of 7, and now I really had a negative vibe about making this flight. But I guess these other folks either didn't get through security, their connections didn't work out, or they upgraded. Because the only 2 standbys that I know of that got on were number 5 and me. Last seat in first class, and I can testify that the morning screwdriver went down well.
As the plane descended through the dark gray clouds and began to see the greater Nashville area, it was pretty surprising to see it covered in a shallow blanket of white. It was 0ﾟ and very windy outside and there was so much bad weather going on that it took us 30 minutes to get from the runway to the gate. But mom's plane from Raleigh took over an hour to get from the runway to the gate so I guess we got a better deal.
And the Nashville terminal is rather small but quite nice with multiple restaurants bars and live music options. There may not be a whole lot of places to sit, it definitely needs to be expanded but it's a good place if you're waiting on a delayed flight.
It took about a 1/2 hour for the luggage to come through, clearly this crew is not used to dealing with freezing weather. But there were no real issues aside from time, and then we got an Uber to drop our luggage off at the Hyatt house which is on the Southern part of downtown Nashville. And then we had the driver take us to lunch at Puckett's and we tipped the driver 15 bucks for it.
Puckett's is a pretty well known barbecue and Southern style restaurant located on Church St downtown. We ordered the whole farm which was a mixture of brisket, pulled pork, baby back ribs, a smoked half chicken, baked beans, skillet macaroni and cheese, and Cajun corn cake. That's not too bad for $35.
And then the Presley parfait with vanilla wafers, banana pudding, peanut butter mousse, and whipped cream. And it's served inside a Mason jar. Oh my goodness, was that ever indulgent. Definitely the best dessert I had on my trip.
Service was a little bit slow on a cold Friday afternoon when the restaurant was maybe 20 percent full, I didn't mind the food taking some time since it is BBQ. But the servers were a little slow on drink refills, and it took time just to get an extra glass of ice.
We then started walking down Broadway which is the Main Street in Nashville. I even went into a couple of boot shops to see if there was anything worth buying, but it's a little hard for me to imagine spending more than a $100 on a pair of shoes if they're not running shoes. I didn't wind up making a purchase, at least not yet.
Yet with the weather being so inclement, a lot of tourist attractions had already shut down for the day, which wasn't a good omen because we knew a lot of places would also be closed Christmas Eve as well as on Christmas Day. But the Johnny Cash museum was operating so we went there. I still remember the shivering cold walking through downtown Nashville on Christmas weekend, it was actually reminiscent of downtown Chicago. But it was a great museum, just because it was Cash and I give them credit for being open on a day when a lot of businesses shut down for the day.
There were so many awesome artifacts such as guitars, family furniture, army discharge papers, Bibles, and plenty of Cash recordings to listen to. They even had a producer's exhibit where you can adjust the volume on different songs, messing with the vocals and the instruments to create the sound you want. Of course my headphones weren't working, which was pretty disappointing because I am a big fan of interactive museums. And I know nothing about producing music, but this is my opportunity to give it a try!
We headed out the door and back into the freezing cold; the wind was whipping in our faces and our cheeks were getting bright red. It was hard to walk more than five minutes without stepping inside for a reprieve. With the ice all over on the ground, it was not easy to make quick foot traction. I really tried to walk slow for mom, but I was dying to start running to escape the frigid atmosphere! But we got back to the hotel, huffing and puffing, and settled in.
We made the choice to go to a Nashville Predators game since prices had been plummeting and I'm willing to bet the weather had something to do with it. Oh and the Bridgestone arena is only 3 or 4 blocks away from the hotel. The arena was really nice, very well laid out, very inviting. The one thing I didn't really like was they needed more escalators, I think they only have 2 in the whole building. I would also say the hot dog bun could have been a little fresher. But oh well. I did get my commemorative puck which I do for every single hockey game I go to. And the game was very tight and competitive, with the Colorado Avalanche winning in overtime 3 - 2.
As for the hotel room, it is nice but incredibly small, so much so that the way the lamp and night stands were set up in between mom's bed and my sofa bed, as I opened up the couch, I had to move the lamp out of the way and the nightstand all the way over next to her bed so there would be enough room for the sofa bed to fully open. We are incredibly tight on space, it almost feels like being in a hotel room in Europe or something. But at least we slept well.
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