American Thumb - Day 17 - More Nashville, Tennessee

When I was a kid, there was a point in every holiday when I would hear real life calling me back.  It would normally be at the end of a particularly fantastic day.  Or when I realised I had just crossed the halfway point of the holiday and there would always be less than half of the holiday to go.  Or when there was just a week left and I could imagine what I was doing a week in the future.  As an adult, I've largely managed to snuff out that way of thinking, because I've realised there is no joy at the end of that line of thinking.  But today I heard that little call from real life, just faintly.  It's testament to what an awesome holiday this is.  And today has been a particularly fantastic day.  Today is also Sunday and in 168 hours, I will be dealing with the dark knot of dread in my stomach as I prepare to get back to work* on Monday morning.

The sun is out this morning and we head towards Downtown Nashville.  A tip from our hosts sees us park over the river and cross over into the city on the grand, iron pedestrian bridge named after local notable, John Seigenthaler.  It's an awesome way into the heart of the city, the view getting better the further you get along it and the activity gets clearer and clearer.  There are vibrant parades of shops and rooftop bars full of people, even though it's only 11 in the morning.  I assume they're all having elevenses, but they could be boozing.

The Johnny Cash Museum greets us as we hit street level, next to Mr Hats, which sells Stetsons and boots.  Round a corner and we're on Broadway and you can't hear the traffic for all the music that's going on.  The place is lined with bars which are already busy and in every one of them, there are people on stage playing music.  Some are solo acoustic gigs, some are full band.  From out on the street, S and I watch one band for a little while.  She's entranced by the drummer.  With only a little encouragement from her dad, S is very into drummers and drumming and for her 3rd birthday (which is on the 19th), we've got her a drum kit.  It's okay for me to tell you this; she can't read.  It'll be a nice surprise for her to get home to.

We eat lunch at a diner that first opened in the 1940s and I'm pretty sure we're served by one of the original waitresses.  When we go in, we can only order off the breakfast menu.  By the time our food gets to us, they're serving dinner.  The oldest waitress in the world may also be the slowest.  A mathematical error sees me leaving her a massive tip.  But fair play to her, it can go to the retirement plan.  But she's lovely and the food's great and now I feel bad for making fun of her.

With S asleep in her buggy, we visit the Nashville Visitor Centre and the Country Music Hall of Fame and check out all the stars in the walkway.  We also go to Hatch Show Print which has printed gig posters in Nashville and further afield forever and still does.  We picked up a few things there.  Then we ended up in the Nashville branch of that boot shop we were in the other day.  Given that the podiatrist told me to throw out my old black boots and brown boots, I did the decent thing and got a new pair in black and a new pair in brown.  E got new boots and we even got some for S, which we justify by saying they will do her for winter.

We go back to Drifters for dinner, the place we chickened out of last night.  The mood is much more relaxed, it being a Sunday night and the sun still being out.  There's a band on called The Willies, who are much better than the name suggests.  They play honkytonk style bluegrass and are superb.  After dinner, S wants to join the other people dancing, which means I hold her and bob about a bit while, for some reason, she beats me about the head.  Music really moves that kid, sometimes in a weird way.

We drive home through neighbourhoods, rather than the major roads we're used to.  It takes us through the balmy Sunday evening where people are going about their own rituals before starting another week.  People sit on porches, kids ride bikes, families walk, people queue out the door at a couple of local eateries.  Every side on Nashville is awesome.

This holiday has been so amazing, hearing that call back to real life has only served to entrench the fantasy of living here, in one of the mindblowing places and awesome communities I've had the joy of experiencing.  I would love for this holiday to last forever and I'm glad there's a good bit of it left.  

But that said, I know that real life isn't bad at all.  I love where I live and we have a great life.  And now, I have two pairs of cowboy boots that I can mosey into work in.

*I love where I work and 90% of my colleagues are wonderful.