Friday: The Arrival
Note: Our first day was over 12 hours long, so bear with me.
Dear Diary,
Woke up around 4am this morning. I can’t believe I got myself up out of bed and starting listing all the things yet to do. I had packed most everything I needed for the trip last night. Now all I had to do was eat breakfast and check that I had everything. It was bad timing too, because yesterday I had gotten a few packages from http://pixiestreasures.com/ and it included a few neat dragon figures. I opened up the packages to make sure they were okay, then I arranged them in my room. They’ll be waiting for me when I get home.
The Westlake Cab Co. came about 5am to pick us up. The guy had to wait a few minutes while I checked over the house to make sure it was secure and that we hadn’t forgotten anything. It was a quiet ride and we got to Cleveland Hopkins in plenty of time. We were using Northwest Airlines. Yahoo Travel had offered us Delta initially, but my mother wasn’t pleased the last time we used Delta to go to Albuquerque, NM last year. I had checked us in online, so all we had to do was to check our baggage and head to security. We did this without an issue and continued our walk to the gate. It was before 7am and most places weren’t open in the airport. I wasn’t until after 7am that my mother needed coffee and I went to Cinnabon and got Cinnastix and coffee. I didn’t seem like too long of a wait, for we were on the plane before I knew it.
The sun wasn’t up yet, but sky was layered in light yellows and pinks. My mom got the window seat, which was fine this flight. I told her we’d switch so I’d have the window in Memphis. I had bought some gum in the gift shop so I had a few as we headed for the runway. It was about 7:45am as we left the ground. I was dead tired from only getting about 4 hours of sleep the night before, but suprisingly I couldn’t fall asleep. I used my discman when we got high enough and just sat with my eyes closed. My mom was reading some newspapers next to me. She attempted to talk to me, but I said I was too tired. I rested the rest of the flight.
Memphis airport was a learning experience for me. They had changed the gate and we didn’t find out until late. We had ten minutes and we speed-walked to the new gate. The second flight was only 30-45 mins from Memphis to Nashville. As we flew over Memphis I though of The King and if I could see his house from up high.
http://www.elvis.com/graceland/
Finally arrived in Nashville around 10:30am Central time. They had this country singer at the airport singing and selling CDs. I bought 2 for $10. His name is Shelby Merchant, and I met him and he signed my CDs for me.
http://www.shelbymerchant.com/
After collecting our baggage we called the airport and they picked us up. Nashville speed limits are usually 55 or 65 on the freeway. We got to our hotel, the Alexis Inn (http://nashvillealexishotel.com/) and there was a problem. Apparently they didn’t have us as having a reservation and they had to contact someone at Yahoo and get it straightened out. It was around 11:30am so we couldn’t check in yet. The hotel also didn’t have a complimentary shuttle, or a pool like they said on the phone. They only took you to&from the airport free of charge. So then my mother thought maybe we could get around by bus, but that didn’t work out. Finally we just threw up our hands and rented a car from Enterprise. They have an office in the Holday Inn across the street so we went over there and got a car. Don’t remember the make and model off the top of my head.
We decided to go out for lunch. We ended up at a Ruby Tuesday’s. We have never eaten at this particular chain before, and weren’t very impressed at the end. The waitress was nice, and was a New Yorker earning money to go back to school. The turkey burger was good, as in it didn’t need any ketchup or other sauces. The bun was bigger than the burger, though, and my mother and I split this sandwich. We also split the Caesar salad and soup we ordered. We had spent over $10 for a meal and we both left still a bit hungry.
After lunch we went and drove to downtown Nashville. It’s a very nice looking city and very clean. We first went to the visitor’s center after parking for $6 in a garage.
http://www.nashvillecvb.com/
As it was around 3pm we found something nearby to visit. It was the Tennessee State Museum, which contained the history of the state from prehistoric days through modern times. A lot of Civil War information and articles about Andrew Jackson. My mother liked the quilt room.
Leaving the museum, my mother realized we’d need a corkscrew to open the bottle of wine she had purchased. We walked down the street and she first stopped at a hair store. My mother had forgotten her hairspray on this trip. We then went a few doors down to Walgreen’s, where we found a motherload of nice $9.99 touristy Nashville shirts. I bought a red long-sleeved and a navy-blue short-sleeved shirt, but they didn’t have any corkscrews. We payed and went across the street. I stopped at a store called Sam’s Clothing and Shoes and I found some nice shirts on sale. My mother came in the store after finding a corkscrew at the Dollar General store next door. She gave critique to the shirts I liked and charged the ones I bought. One was red with a chinese dragon, and the rest were all Lot 29 (Looney Tunes design) shirts.
It was near dinnertime and a guard at the museum had mentioned a good place to eat called Demo’s (Steak and Spaghetti House).
http://www.demosrestaurants.com/
It was 180 degrees from what we got at Ruby Tuesday’s. For $8.49 each we got a salad and a big portion of lasagna with garlic bread. I’ll eat there again. We ate in a hurry, since I was planning on going to the Sounds game that night. We drove out of downtown and headed to the stadium, but we realized by looking at the traffic that we would have to park aways. We parked in a lot that we weren’t sure we were allowed. We asked everyone else who was parking there and they said they didn’t know if it was okay either. We just did and walked to the field.
http://www.nashvillesounds.com/
I had a coupon from opry.com for buy one, get one free on tickets. We got 2 reserved seats for $10. The stadium reminded me of the Akron Aeros. As we looked for our seats printed on our tickets, it turns out there were people sitting there already that weren’t supposed to. As the night went
one, I saw this happen again. At this point I had been up for over 12 hours and was really getting sleepy, and was tempted to get some caffeine via a Coke, but they were $3 for a 20 oz. The most I’ve paid was $2. So we stayed for most of the game, leaving at the top of the ninth inning. As we got back to the car we waiting for the fireworks to start, for it was fireworks night. As they shut the stadium lights off, we sat and watched the show. It was excellent and a great way to end our first day. We got a little lost getting back to the hotel. We stopped twice to find directions and finally got back. After checking in we got our bags up to the room. It was warm in there so we right away turned on the air-conditioning. I fell asleep very easily after getting out my pillow from my bag(yes, I bring a pillow from home, some hotel pillows are awful).