It wasn't easy to wake up for check in at 5am for my expectant flight to DC the next morning. But it looked like my best option to get home. I think I dozed off for another 90 minutes. Our windows were closed, but mom sleepily opened her phone and said in stunned disbelief that it was snowing outside. I thought it was a joke until I raised the shade and sure enough, flakes were falling from the gray Music City skies.
Well we knew what that meant. The trolley was being canceled yet again! So there is still so much of Nashville I haven't seen from the Parthenon to the State Capitol to Midtown to the Gulch. Maybe next trip.
I hit up the gym and ran 2 miles, which was kind of fun as I watched the snow falling on the other side of window. Honestly, it's getting tough to run. Maybe it's the shoes, maybe it's that the gym was hot as hell. But after 17 minutes, I had enough. After a few minutes of lifting, it was off to one last quality breakfast. Still can't believe how good that yogurt was with the berries and granola mixed in.
The focus was finally getting to the Country Music Hall of Fame, my first time there in decades and I knew it had been fully renovated. Well I think this a museum where you really need the audio option to really appreciate the music. One thing I didn't understand is that there was a lot of space dedicated to temporary exhibits for people who aren't inducted yet. Martina McBride, Chris Stapleton, even Florida Georgia Line... for reasons nobody knows.
The current main temp exhibit is the Lis Angeles and West Coast influence on country music. The Byrds, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Flying Burrito Brothers, Poco, the Eagles, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin, Desert Rose Band, Los Lobos, etc. That's simply some of the greatest music ever made. Maybe not the most popular or famous, but definitely among the most influential.
They also had a large section dedicated to new artists, which I guess I didn't really mind since it gave a glimpse of where country music might be heading. Sadly there was some woke shit with Brothers Osborne. The sign said love is a terrible thing to hate? It's really sad how people use love as an excuse to sin.
But probably the highlight for me was the recording studio. I sang Wagon Wheel and got to keep my recording. That said, I did have a few issues. First, how can there only be 4 songs? Second, how is one of those 4 songs by Queen?
There was even a place to make an electronic version of a Hall of Fame plaque. And that sounded awesome. But... after the machine took my picture, I could only select from eight pre-determined names for the plaque. How in the world can they not figure out how to customize our name on the plaque. What a letdown.
The rotunda with all the plaques was probably the other highlight. Hopefully the likes of Steve Wariner, Eddie Rabbitt, Earl Thomas Conley, Clint Black, and Restless Heart will get their day to be inducted.
We had a little time before our 5:48 flight and through a google search, we discovered a place called The Goat in Sobro. Whereas the other restaurants had been north of the hotel, towards Broadway, this one was south.
It reminded me of a renovated warehouse with the high ceilings and open steel interiors. But it was still warmly decorated with vibrant colors and contemporary furniture. We started a baby kale salad; mom just wasn't going to not order that. I guess we hadn't eaten too healthy on the trip and she was making up for it. But I'm sorry, when then temperature is down to 20 degrees, I'm not in the mood for freaking baby kale. Ok I confess, it was a nice salad, the sugared pecans added some much needed texture.
For the main course, we split the sweet tea brined chicken, buttermilk biscuit, hot honey, and greens with a side of mac and cheese. We really didn't know what we would get, but it was basically divided on plates: 2 chicken tenders served over a biscuit with ahot honey/Asian glaze with some southern greens in between. Very well made, quite creative. Can't say I was full afterwards, but it was pretty satisfying.
We took an Uber to the airport, and even though we were four hours early for the flight, it seemed to be necessary. The check in line was crazy. It was almost impossible to figure out ticket lines were for American, Alaska, Southwest and Allegiant. That airport is way too small for the amount of people that fly in and out. There was no doubt there would be issues with so many cancelled flights with the extreme cold. But what bothered us was the gate agents were not giving any information. We were at our gate C15 by 4:30 for the 5:48 flight. 5:30 came, no info. The Philly flight left instead. That one took priority over ours and thats fine, but they could have at least told us there would be a delay. Instead, we boarded an hour late and sat on the damn runway for another hour before departing.
Now why was I even flying to Raleigh when I live in Norfolk? Because I couldn't get an open flight to Norfolk on Monday or Tuesday, everything was either booked or oversold both days. So we took the nonstop to Raleigh, and we were very thankful to get on. Think of the alternatives, it would've sucked to spend 300 bucks plus on a rental car or get a hotel room for overnight. Although they made us sit on the plane for an hour before we left. Couldn't they at least have served us drinks? I mean, I was in first class!
And then there was Emily in Row 3. Now for context, I'm in Row 4 and Mom is in Row 1. But Emily took all the attention. She kept yelling at the flight attendant about when we take off and how it wasn't fair because she was going to be late for work. Because clearly, the world revolved around her. The guy next to me, Emmanuel, he and I couldn't stop laughing. We didn't want to make fun of her, but after all the travel BS we had been through that day, we appreciated the entertainment Psycho Emily was putting on. And we know her name was Emily because she was on the phone with her grandma panicking over HER problems. And she was still on the fucking phone even as the plane was taking off. And the flight attendant wasn't doing a thing to stop it. I wanted to scream at her, "Bitch, turn the damn phone off!"
But he and I had a good chat about everything from liquor to air travel to football to music. It was really freaking cool. And I got him into the greatness of whiskey gingers on airplanes.
Anyway, we landed, mom took an Uber to her place and I attempted to sleep in vain on the couch. The next morning, she drove me 3.5 hours to Norfolk and then drive the 3,5 hours back to Cary. If I haven't said it in the 15 years of writing this blog plainly enough, I will say it now. She is a good mother.
