Day 23: Something for Everyone in Nashville

We kicked off our morning with a trip to Centennial Park where they have a nice one-mile loop around a lake. On the walk, the boys loved sticking their sticks in the water, seeing the huge shells of what may have been snails, and even small turtles swimming in the water. This was a close match on the fun scale with climbing trees on the other side of the path.

There is a replica of the Parthenon there, too, which Rob wanted to see. We walked around the outside, but decided not to tour it. This first part of the morning was for Rob.

Next we hit “Honky Tonk Land” (or whatever they call it) on Broadway for some live music. We scored big-time listening to this incredible musician, Stephen Paul, who was playing next door to Mike’s ice cream. Nicholas enjoyed strawberry, Cooper had chocolate peanut butter cup (a little wild for him not to just get chocolate), Rob had Pralines ‘n’ Cream, and I had raspberry white chocolate cheesecake. We all agreed the ice cream was REALLY good.

Once we finished, we headed down Broadway to check out the music. It was a bit over-stimulating between the loud competing music from adjacent bars, people, big buildings, and party buses passing by, even with few people out at 11 a.m. on a Sunday. We did a loop up and down the main drag and then headed over the old train bridge to check out Nissan Stadium (home of the Tennessee Titans).

We were getting hungry for lunch and wanted to head back to the first musician we listened too. Unfortunately, they had no outdoor seating and most of the tables inside were occupied, so it didn’t seem COVID-friendly. We tried Rock Bottom, which we used to have in Seattle, but their patio seating was playing really loud music, which we’d all had enough of. We opted to head home for lunch in the RV after that. This part of the day was for Kelly.

After lunch we hit the go karts. We all had a blast, and fortunately Rob had set expectations that it will likely be really fun and we will want to do it again, but it is expensive and we were only doing it once. I buddied with Cooper, and we were super fast, getting to pass lots of other karts. Nicholas was a bit timid by the speed, so Rob took great care of him so he could enjoy the experience. Both wanted to do it again, of course. This was Cooper’s activity for the day.

After the race we drove to the Grand Ole Opry. Even though it was closed we wanted to look at the grounds. Again, another activity for Kelly.

Once we were back at the campground it was time to hit the pool. The water was not warm so the boys were the only participants. This was Nicholas’ activity.

We enjoyed a yummy chicken, green bean and, cheesy pasta dinner made by Rob while watching the Seahawks game. Remember that ridiculous outdoor TV and the other one the size of the kitchen table? We had them both on today. Watching football was really important to Cooper.

After that we headed back to the pool area where the campground has free performances in the evenings. The boys loved it, and already being dressed in their jammies, it was the way to wind down the evening.