We took off late on a Thursday for a flight to the heart and soul of TN, Nashville. It was Alexis’s birthday trip and we decided to go visit a city that had some good nightlife and also close to a national park, known at Mammoth Cave.
When we land we quickly got a rental car, but the car the Alexis request for her birthday was not available. So we got upgrade to a new Mercedes, would end up being a interesting driving experience. Alexis ripped down the highway in the sedan and we found the hotel in the Vanderbuilt District. After the checkin, we walk the area to get some food and drinks. 1st Stop was the Tavern, which was extremely thick in the bro scene. We had a fun lofty position to survey the meat market at work.
After I tired of people watching there, we went to this awesome speakeasy that Alexis had found. Called the Patterson House, we have to walk through a unassuming door and be greeted by a host as stand. We were then led through a curtain to the backroom with a awesome bar scene. The drinks and atmosphere were awesome.
Friday
In the morning, w awoke and did the normal tourist activity of the town. We had stay very close to the Parthenon. It was a very odd site to the see an accurate replica of the real Parthenon in the middle of the US. The lands from the old worlds fair had now been convert in to a very cool pubic park. Finishing the tour, I was craving some coffee and we manage to find a awesome shop called 3 Brothers Coffee. They not only had great coffee they were also attached to a sweet outdoors. In the cement floor the have impression old cam lobes.
Next stop was the country music hall of fame. I was very impressed with the museum even though my knowledge of country music is very limited. (more of a rock and roll personality). However there was one thing that was burned into my skull during this visit. The Blake Shelton Experience featuring Blake Shelton and special guest Blake Shelton, produced by Blake Shelton.
We were not quite hungry, so we hit the main drag of Nashville. We located some hotchicken sandwhich and watch countless drunk party pedals roam up and down the street. I got to pretend to be Josh Groban for a lady in a haberdashery. She almost had a heart We finished out the night with a lovely appetizer dinner and drink at the Skull Room (with a side of burlesque).
In the morning we left Nashville and drove north to Kentucky. It was whiskey sampling time. During our drive through the countryside, Alexis had found a weird side stop of the Kentucky Stonehedge. Some people decide to just replicate stonehenge in the middle of Kentucky
Our first stop and distillery was Heaven hill distillery. This was a major operation and had a massive visitor center. We got to tour one of the massive rick-houses. Next stop was the small batch distillery known as Willett Distillery Small house. This was a really cool and person tour of the distillery. They only had one still but it was a very impressive. The whole operation was very cool. There also were cats everywhere which made Alexis happy. With a good bit of daylight left, we decided to drive up to Louisvile, Ky.
Here I was almost eaten by the Ohio river. I jumped on a pylon, but then when I was walking along the cement bank I hit some slime and slide towards the river. I was covered in Mud, but i was able to locate a large grass field and roll around until I got clean.
By then it was dark and we drove back to Cave City to stay in a hotel that Alexis had booked. I had no clue what was I was instore for, but I was very happy. We pulled in a dense foggy area with the faint red glow of a neon sign. I read it aloud very slowly, “wig…’wam”. Then it all click, and i couldn’t believe it. We had been booked to stay in a Wigwam Village. These were concrete huts created in the 1930s. It was a pretty neat experience.
Sunday
Sunday we left the wigwam huts and went on our way to Mammoth Cave. We were unable to secure spots on the wild-cave tour, but we did manage to do to normal walking tour. They cave was very massive and hard to wrap ones head around the shear scale of it.
Thoroughly caved out and tired of tour groups of people, we made our way back to the city of Nashville. We were spending the night at Opryland Resort, which was kinda like a massive biodome for business conferences. There were several giant glass structure that held the inner features of the resort. We were able to sneak in some free parking by using the mall parking. We enjoyed the use of the hot-tub and got some sleep before our red-eye flight back to Charlotte, were we would go directly back to work.
