How it started:

A couple of years ago I was about to turn a landmark age and my wife asked me "what do you want for your birthday"? I wasn't really interested in a party and there honestly wasn't anything I really needed. So I said to her how about a trip? We talked a little and decided Nashville might be a cool place to checkout since we had never been there before. That is where our adventure begins...

Getting there is half the fun (sometimes)

So we had the hotel all set through one of those sites that lets you find the lowest price and we had the flight all set as well. Her and I arrived at the airport after work on a Thursday night eager to get our journey started. We sat and patiently waited for our flight to begin boarding. And waited. And waited. And waited. I usually plan flights so we have enough time between connections to get to our next flight, but as I looked at the time on my phone I was starting to get nervous. Finally an hour and a half after our flight was supposed to depart, we started boarding.

We got to our lay over in Chicago and by then our next flight to Nashville was long gone. No other flights were leaving until the next morning and they couldn't guarantee we would even get on the first one. They suggested we stay in the terminal overnight on some cots they had put up. After some digging by one of the workers, they discovered the jet we were supposed to be on had mechanical issues so "great news" we can put you up in a hotel here tonight.

Needless to say we ended up in some suburb of Chicago, got to the hotel at around midnight, and paid for a night at the hotel in Nashville we didn't use because I had booked through a third party site and couldn't cancel the reservation. The next day we got up, made it to the hotel and got a new flight to Nashville no problem. Hooray!

Stepping out in Nashville Day 1

We rented a car from the airport because we knew it would be expensive to take a cab everywhere and I hadn't yet taken the plunge into the whole Uber thing, so we needed a way to get around. We got to our hotel around noon on Friday and decided to take a little nap because we knew we had something big planned for that night:

We got up from our nap and decided to get some food and libations at the hotel bar because it was happy hour. We felt the food was actually very good at the DoubleTree where we were staying and we were introduced to some new beers from a local brewery called Yazoo. After filling our tummies, it was off to the Opry!

We did take a cab to the Opry because I didn't really know where I was going and cab rides from Downtown to the Opry complex were a flat $20 fee so we didn't have to worry about traffic or anything like that.

The Opry

The Opryland resort area is massive. It is basically a city unto itself. There is a mall, hotel, eating establishments, anything you could think of, all in one place. This was my first trip to the Grand Ole Opry and let me just start by saying it was amazing. From the stage to the church pews everything just oozed country music. During the show my wife turned to me and said "I feel like we are on Hee Haw" and I could tell she was having just as great a time as I was. We got to see some fantastic acts:

The knowledge that you are on a live radio show that has been broadcast for so many years to so many states and so many people is pretty humbling. We had a great evening just listening to the music and having some more beverages.

Finally, it was time to head back. We took a cab back to Downtown area and decided to eat a place called Demos'

They were packed but my wife and I were escorted to a small two top table after a short wait. We shared an entree where you can pick two kinds of pasta and sauce. I am not a food snob by any means, but I thought it was fantastic. So much so that we went back the night before we left to eat there again.

After the long day of travel we headed back to the hotel for some sleepy time. What will tomorrow hold for us in Music City? Stay tuned to find out!