The edamame that saved the evening...

We had a fantastic weekend in Nashville. It is a very groovy little city. It is a much smaller town than I had pictured, but that lent it a certain feel of down-hominess and it was certainly easily navigated. We pulled into the downtown area before noon on Saturday and after ten minutes of driving around, we had successfully located the shopping/entertainment/tourist area. About 4 blocks of kitchy souvenir shops, BBQ joints and honky-tonks spewing the smell of stale beer, fresh smoke (for those of you who don't know, I quit smoking the day we moved here so this smell was not even enticing to me) and lively bands at 11 am. The first thing to do: stop in one of the tourist shops and buy a little something to keep Griffin's hands full for the next hour or two...hence, the tambourine.

We enjoyed peeking in a few more of the stores and we even bought Griffin a Christmas present there. SHHH don't tell him...it's a small, but real guitar...we felt like getting his first guitar in Nashville would bless him with some good musical juju. We found a crowded but delicious little BBQ joint to have lunch in. All the tables were full inside so I scoped out the "patio" and found this little oasis in the city which gave us all a chance to relax on a beautiful day.

After our time in downtown, we decided to look for some open space and had heard rumors of a Parthenon recreation in the city and it wasn't hard to find. It was in the middle of a great park filled with picnickers, exercisers and families.

Griffin enjoyed using the platform as a stage, complete with song and dance. When that was boring, he decided he would try to push over the columns...no sweat, right?


That's what tipped us off that is was time for a nap. We headed to a very modern Hotel Preston to check in and take a little nap. That was after, of course, we requested a complimentary fish and lava lamp be brought to our room. I'm not even kidding! I don't think I have seen a lava lamp since college, but it was kind of relaxing to watch. That night, Bruce took us to my favorite chain restaurant, The Cheesecake Factory, for dinner. As expected, there was an hour wait for dinner (they don't accept reservations) during which we hung out at the Starbucks next store. Griffin spent his time putting on a "show" of singing and dancing for all the twenty something daters sitting around us. Luckily, they thought he was pretty cute and the time went by quickly. That is when we entered the "danger zone". We had an exhausted starving 3 year old in a nice restaurant at 8 pm on a Saturday night --- yes, we were those people. But come on, what choice did we have? I guess we could have just ordered in a pizza but Bruce and I are somewhat indulgent and wanted to CELEBRATE our anniversary. That said, as soon as we sat down and peeked at the menu we heard the angels singing the hallelujah chorus -- they offered a big ol' plate of plain edamame as an appetizer. Once Griffin had that in front of him, we were good to go for a whole HOUR!! He just sat quietly, occasionally casting flirtatious smiles to the group of college girls sitting next to us, picking his way through the green, building a tower of empty shells. It really was fantastic and we were sooooo proud of him and thankful for our peaceful meal.

We spent Sunday walking around a little fall festival at a local plantation/museum and the Opryland complex. Neither was all that thrilling, but we were all pretty tired by then. Overall though, I would give Nashville an "A" as a family vacation destination.