Tennessee

May 4, 2018

Friday

Nashville/Knoxville

Today we got up nice and early at 5:00 and loaded up and headed for Tennessee. We were headed for Nashville but had to stop in Memphis for some breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I apparently need to stop being in charge of choosing where to go for breakfast. At first I was going to take us to Bryant’s cafe to be authentic but it was way too ghetto for Jeff. So we settled with Cracker Barrel. No regrets. Lol.

We set off for Nashville and this state gets prettier and prettier the further you go. It took us about 5 hours to get to Nashville and Easton did so good. He has a pattern of losing it like 45 minutes before we get to each place we’re going to stop. Without fail lol. And lucky us we had an additional 35 minutes added to our trip with a car wreck so he was grouchy. But he hung in there! Nothing a good show can’t fix and Dad to entertain.

We went directly to Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage so we could enjoy it as long as we could and give Easton ALL the space he needed to walk as much as he wants. We were here for probably 2 hours or so. It was just so beautiful! Everything was green and lush and plus it just rained so the weather was just right….. and sticky. Haha. Easton loved walking on the pathways and all over the magnolia leaves and in the grass. He made it the most fun.

After he decided to take a moment to relieve himself, he was at his ends and so was Jeff so we headed to the car after a quick stop in the gift shop to get our souvenir. We talked about getting patches for our bags and they had the peel and stick ones for only 4 bucks! Winning. I also loved the quote on them. “I was born for the storm”. Or something like that. I am too lazy to go look haha. After we got Easton changed and in the car we headed for food. We were all starving since it was now like 3 o clock. I really wanted to try Hot Chicken since that is what Nashville is known for I guess. But the line to the most reviewed was literally a mile long. The closest hot chicken place next to Hattie B’s was about 5 minutes away, so we figured: Easton is DEAD asleep, I’ll just run in and order it to go. Easy Peasy. WRONG it took FOREVER. Jeff was not happy with me haha. I got our chicken and Jeff’s nachos and we got outta there. Easton ate his chicken so good and had THE BEST ranch ever with his, which I selfishly stole for my hot chicken since it was a little…. hot haha.

After eating we headed for our hotel. We got there and I was less than thrilled with the accommodations but we would survive and so we let Easton run around for a bit. After sitting for a good 30 minutes Jeff made the comment that he didn’t realize how far away we were and that we should’ve just gone to Knoxville two more hours away and saved ourselves time tomorrow……..I was READY to be out of this place. I was not going to sleep well. We would be up another 3 hours at least. So we checked out after maybe 30 minutes of checking in, wasting money on my most expensive hotel for the whole trip, we booke a hotel in Knoxville, and hit the road. I have never been more happy about a decision in my life. Easton did SO good. Jeff read his book out loud and we just hauled 2.5 hours to Knoxville. Rolling in around nine.

Man, thank you Holiday Express Inn and GOODBYE Alexis something or other inn. This place is a 5 star hotel compared to that place. The Ritz!

Apparently booking.com messed up our booking and so we may get charged twice. They couldn’t find our reservation in their system, but the front desk lady was AH-mazing. Got us a room, and will try to figure it out for us before we check out. First things first was to check out the indoor pool. It was the perfect temperature. So while jeff ran and got milk for Easton, me and Easton went swimming to run him down a bit so he will sleep.

He only threw a mild fight to go down but once I rubbed his back and his face. He was toast.

So now, tomorrow won’t be too bad on everyone driving wise. We can sleep in a little, enjoy breakfast, and make it to Virginia!!!