Monday, August 15, 2011

Nashville Get-Away

Mary and I have been thinking about a four day weekend get-away and something to do for her "29th" birthday.  We had a few places in mind; Jekyll Island, GA., maybe finally making it to Charleston, SC., or our favorite place Nags Head, NC.  Instead we decided on something different, a trip to the country music capitol of the world, Nashville, TN.

Plans are just starting to come together, locking in our hotel at the Hampton Inn & Suites Downtown last night and securing a place for our Italian Mastiff Maggie, hopefully sometime today.  Mary is also working out the care of our three boys Jake, Inky and George, either in a cat hotel or have a family member check in on them.

There seems to be a lot to see and do while in Nashville. Mary and I like to do the tours on the first visit to a new location and then if/when we return we can investigate a bit more on our own. With this in mind we found that Gray Line Tours is available and will pick up in the hotel lobby.  We want to see the zoo, do the riverboat dining tour and the downtown discover Nashville tour.

We will be close to the waterfront and there will be plenty of good places to eat and music to enjoy. We are both looking forward to the time away from work and the chance to explore someplace new.

6 comments:

Steve said...

Ooh, sounds like a lot of fun. I've never been down to Nashville.

Frank Van Haste said...

Gary:

Pat & I (and N631S) were in Nashville last week! We landed at John C. Tune (KJWN) and were well pleased. Self-service AvGas at $6.13 but if you buy fuel and park it yourself then no landing fee and no parking charge.

The FBO organized a small car from Hertz for us at $40/day.

We did not go for the music. Greatly enjoyed visits to The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson's plantation), Belle Mead Plantation and drove down to Franklin where we saw Carnton Plantaion and the Confederate Cemetery. We groove on all that stuff.

We did tour the Ryman Auditorium (meh.), walked up and down Historic 2nd Avenue and had dinner at Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant (pretty good, live music).

Oh...you may want to file for 10,000 on the way out and 9,000 on the way back. Some of those hills get pretty tall.

Enjoy,

Frank

Gary said...

Steve- We are lookign forward to some good food, entertainment and hope to have some pictures to post.

Frank- It seems like I have been following you around lately. My trip last week to/from First flight and now Nashville. Not sure what tours we are taking but there are a few battlefield excursions I would like to be on. I'm sure we will do the river boat lunch or dinner and Nashville downtown.

Chris said...

I love the anticipation that comes with planning for a flight someplace new. Have fun!

Looks like that route would take you close to K22, Big Sandy Regional in southeast KY. There's a decent cafe on the field there, Cloud Nine if you need a break from flying.

Gary said...

Chris- We will pass just north of K22. I am trying to balance baggage and fuel to get there. Right now there will be three of us, Mom-in-law is joining us and that makes baggage for two ladies. That means I'll have a plastic shopping bag for my clothes :).

Calcs with one rear seat removed (-14) and 45 gallons fuel with 60 lbs of baggage has me at gross. A first stop at CRW is just over 2.5 hours, but fuel there is $1 more a gallon. So, if tailwinds are good I may try for Big Sandy for cheap fuel and good eats!

Thanks for the heads up.

Chris said...

Good luck, Gary. I admire the flexibility you have with removing your back seats easily - I noticed that in one of your dog rescue flights.

By the way, traveling with a toddler presents a similar conundrum. Lots of bags for the kid, one little bag shared by the adults!