Bad news out of Nashville

Neither Suzi nor I are big partiers, but we agreed when we went to Nashville that downtown looked like a really good time.

Even if we found the pedal taverns — yes, bars on wheels that groups of people cycle on the street — a little odd.

But now it looks like that party scene downtown is a major source of the city’s coronavirus spike. Outbreaks are bad no matter where they are, but I hate hearing that about Nashville, because we had so much fun there.

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Relationship status — traveling

A post on Rosie Culture uses an interesting term to describe not lingering so long on past travels that it keeps you from living in the here and now — “breaking up” with where you’ve been.

“I’ve said goodbye, for now, and visit the happy memories every once in a while. But I won’t spend time yearning for something that once was.”

But what if we looked at our travels like they were dates? What would that look like? (I should say these are my own opinions from my own trips. Your mileage may vary.)

Beginnings and endings on New Year’s Day

I know that today is the first day of the year, but Jan. 1 feels more like the end of something than the beginning.

It’s the end of the holiday season, a two-month sprint from Halloween packed with travel, family, events, parties, shopping, bowl games and resolutions (although my gym was pretty empty tonight).

Nashville travels: Thanks for the past four days

You want to know what cool is? Cool is having these prints in your hotel room.

They’re made by a company called Anderson Design Group, and I want to go to their website and buy pretty much everything. I do have a feeling my wife and I will be acquiring at least a few of them.

Nashville travels: Looking for one open door at the stadium

Vanderbilt’s football stadium is directly behind the parking lot of the Holiday Inn my wife and I were staying at in Nashville.

This explains why the price was $300 per night with a minimum three-night stay when Vandy was home last Saturday, and why we stayed at a different hotel that night.

The football stadium, baseball field and Memorial Gymnasium are all clustered together, so while my wife was at a work meeting this afternoon, I was going to try to see them.

Nashville travels: The arc of history in Centennial Park

Since Nashville is the “Athens of the South” — I’m curious to know what the home of the University of Georgia thinks of that — why not have a full-scale replica of The Parthenon?

Built in Centennial Park for Tennessee’s 1897 Centennial Exposition, The Parthenon is the city’s art museum includes a full-scale statue of Athena inside, which we were able to see this morning.

It’s large.

Nashville travels: The Ryman is a place for everyone

I’m the furthest thing from a country music traditionalist — for most of my life I didn’t even care for it — and while I find it fairly ridiculous that the current site of the Grand Ole Opry is basically in a mall parking lot, my primary reason for wanting to go to the Ryman Auditorium was to respect the history it represented as the Opry’s home for decades.

Nashville travels: Facing history at The Hermitage

Please forgive me if I don’t get the story exactly right, as I’m mostly writing from memory and didn’t take notes or a picture of the marker, but there’s a story on a marker at The Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s Nashville-area estate, about a conversation between one of Jackson’s slaves and a white man.

Nashville travels: Taking it to the Waffle House

“I ain’t in no hurry to get fatter.”

I don’t know who the guy was, but between his nonchalance about waiting for a seat at the Waffle House this morning and his “How to pick up chicks” T-shirt that was a step-by-step guide to … picking up a small chicken, he seemed OK by me.

He also didn’t seem particularly fat, but that was neither here nor there.

Nashville travels: Of old and new

The Grand Ole Opry wasn’t open for tours yesterday because they were preparing for their holiday show, but I’m sure it’s a fine place to see a show.

However …