Music City, USA

This long weekend, Amanda and I packed up and hit Music City, USA. Well, actually we drove past Nashville to Franklin, TN, home of everyone with money in the Nashville area and also Cindy’s cousin’s family. It has been quite a long time since I had been to the Nashville area and I wanted to make good on a promised vacation with Amanda. We were supposed to go to the Wisconsin Dells last summer, but Cindy was never well enough for a 4 day car trip and water parks. Amanda had been after me to go where we can "stay in a fancy hotel". To Amanda, anyplace that is not home is a fancy hotel - I hope she always believe that because that will save a TON of money in the coming years! On a side note - many of the houses in Franklin are unbelievably huge. If you get a chance to go that direction... just drive around. It’s worth the cost of gas!

In fact, we did stay at a "fancy" hotel - the Hyatt Place in Franklin on Friday night. I picked that one because they had a pool and I guessed that a Hyatt would keep their pool fairly clean. That kinda stuff is important to me! They did, in fact, have a pool.... an outdoor, closed for the season pool. Luckily they had a 42" LCD TV in the room which is the next best thing for Amanda and dad!

Anyway, this trip was also a vacation for Joe. A 4 hour trip with a 5 yr old is a vacation. A 4 hour trip with a 5 yr old and a 22 mo old is torture by anyone’s definition, therefore, Luke got to stay home with the grandparents. I was also in need of some time away from our "grind". I have not had a lot of time away from home and it’s rare I get fun time with Amanda. I also wanted Amanda to have some time with her nearly year old cousin. Cindy was very close with her cousins and I want to try and nurture that bond with Amanda and the next generation of cousins, too.

Cindy and I had been to Franklin a number of years ago and loved the quaint downtown. I thought of that trip as I drove I-24. I burst into tears, not even conscience that I was doing it, as I began to think of Cindy. What was supposed to be just a vacation ended up a trip through my memories of Cindy. She and I vacationed nearly every fall in Gatlinburg so I could place a memory at nearly every exit and every town along the way. I remembered our 1st (pre-dating) trip to Johnson City, TN to see a DC Talk concert. I remembered her driving my old ‘93 Eagle Talon on that trip and helping her adjust the driver’s side mirror as she drove along the Interstate. I remembered that we didn’t correct a car salesman when he took us for an engaged couple so that we could spend the afternoon test driving a Honda Del Sol alone. I remembered that after that particular trip we started dating. I remembered her knowing exactly how far it was to anyplace else since she had driven that road numerous times on her way to and from Milligan College in the eastern corner of TN. I remembered how often we would say that eating out was the reason you went on vacation.

It was a good trip. Our hosts were awesome. I also met a wonderful Christian couple with whom I have now become friends through a golf tournament that I didn’t even attend (a blog for another day). A very nice sheriff’s deputy in Franklin was also kind. (Another story for another blog!) It was a good trip.

A good vacation and a good trip down my memories.