We walked the Pedestrian Bridge from Symphony Drive in downtown in the east direction to Nissan Stadium. It wasn't a very pretty walking bridge like they have in Pittsburgh. There were a few weathered Titans flags hanging from the top and I thought it was pretty symbolic of their current standing after 4 straight losses. Torn, beat up, struggling to hang on. Ok, not much different than the Jets.
We headed back to the room and I watched the first half of the Packers vs Dolphins game in the hotel. It just wasn't a day be outside. I even jumped on YouTube with Jeremy for a few minutes. Now as far as Christmas dinner goes, about the only options are the super bougie places and the Waffle House and Cracker Barrels of the world. So we headed over to the Hard Rock Cafe on east Broadway where we watched the rest of the game from the bar. With the Jets really needing the Dolphins to lose, it was cool seeing a couple of Packers fans sitting next to us. We didn't eat, and I just had a subpar local beer from Yee Haw. The couple next to us mentioned how good Jason Aldean's bar is, and it opened at 4. So we hung out at HRC for another 90 minutes and then walked a block west. We found two seats at one of the 3 or 4 bars inside the establishment, and of course the barback is a John Deere tractor. Points for creativity. I ordered a mule made with apple whiskey just for something different; I really didn't want another beer at this point.
For food, they only had 7 or 8 items available for Christmas. The redneck nachos were one heck of an app with potato chips queso PLUS cheddar, pork belly PLUS bacon, and bbq sauce. I'm impressed mom was able to eat as many of them as she did. They had live music with a really cute girl from Minnesota and it can't be ideal to perform on the holidays. But I guess that is part of the deal for trying to make it in the music business. I also liked the industrial feel of the establishment, it felt very welcoming and contemporary. Great bar to visit on Broadway.
I was feeling a little restless, just wanting some down time where I didn't need to make sure I was on my game to make sure mom and I were cool. But she stayed with me and we went another block west to Dierks Bentley Whiskey Row. It was a good deal darker and this wasn't an acoustic set, this was a loud 5 piece band. I was a little alarmed about 20 bucks per request as a suggested tip. So yeah, I kept my money to myself. But maybe I should have paid them 20 to not play any Underwood.
For drinks, I had two spicy margheritas with Don Julio, and they impressed me. The rim looked like it had some cayenne pepper on it. For food, we just got sliders: I went with the cheeseburger and hot chicken. Nothing short of excellent, and usually sliders are pretty ordinary. But the chicken was crispy, the beef was thick and juicy, the rolls were fresh. Very impressed by these bar bites.
OK, let's fast forward. The next morning, I set a freaking alarm for 5 am so I could check in for my expectant flight to DC the next morning. It looked like my best option to get home. Our hotel windows were closed, but mom sleepily opened her phone and said it was snowing outside. I thought it was a joke until I raised the shade and 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 Opry to the State Capitol to Midtown to the Gulch. I may have to plan another trip for the rest of the city.
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