After a great night's sleep (on our sleep number bed) we awoke, I checked emails and such, and down to breakfast we went! Richard - Richard Demonbreun, the B&B's owner and namesake - is a fine cook, and we ate a hearty breakfast before "retiring" to the hot-tub for a soak and to read the paper... which was of course a mistake; reading the news only served to somewhat upset my formerly happily filled stomach!
We actually "hung" till a bit after 1:00 p.m. before leaving to start our explorations of the day; first stop... Centennial Park - where we attended the Memorial Weekend Festival at "Musician's Corner." (Free! Which is for me!) Food trucks... BAR stations... ("Jack" and lemonade for me; "Tito's and lemonade for the Poops!) A really cool family friendly gathering - the perfect springboard to our main Centennial Park destination: Nashville's Parthenon!
What can one say about Nashville's Parthenon? (Attn: Maria Theodoropoulis Leiter: "Our" Parthenon is better than "your" Parthenon!) Anyway... check out the website info!
Next up... SNACK TIME! And for our snack... HATTIE B's! Finger-lickin' good "hot" fried chicken and fresh-made lemonade and iced tea! (Yum-yum-yum!) We got there just a bit after four o'clock - after the lunch crowds but before the dinner crowds. Even so... we spent maybe five minutes on line and fifteen minutes or so waiting for our freshly-cooked-to-order to be served. (We ordered "to go" so as to bring it "home" to eat poolside.)
What can I tell ya? DAMN... FINE... CHICKEN...!!! (In fact, we still have a breast in the fridge as "reserve!")
After "snacking"... and after some pool and hot-tub action... it was time to head to the Grand Ol' Opry for the Saturday show and live radio broadcast. From the B&B it took us maybe 20 minutes to get to The Opry. (And because I'm me we found splendid free parking. Though all the parking is free - the Opry is part of a huge hotel and shopping mall complex - getting a good space requires patience and a bit of luck!)
The show? WONDERFUL! The headliner? Jaimie Johnson - one of my favorite country stars. But, hey... the Opry is only partially about the headliner - it's about "The Show" as a whole... as a tradition... as FAMILY entertainment put out by America's country music FAMILY. Makes ya damn proud to be an American...
We had planned on the show ending at 9:00 p.m. and therefore made dinner reservations at "Firefly Grill" for 9:30 p.m. but the show actually didn't let out till after 9:30 p.m. - meaning we were late for our reservation. Thing is... it wouldn't have mattered. When we arrived at 10:00 p.m. the place was - literally - empty!
(*GRIN*)
No... thank God, NOT empty of staff... not CLOSED... but it turned out that this being an out of the way gem with a customer base of locals AND it being Memorial Day Saturday, most of their regular patrons were either away for the weekend or else barbequing (or whatever). In any case... it really is true that all's well that ends well! The host told us "ya'll com'on in" and sat us down, gave us menus, and quipped, "The good news is... you'll have the chef's full attention!"
Anyway... the food was GREAT! We split a very unique mac & cheese as an appetizer (a little tangy... slight kick to it... just a different kind of "cheesy"). Mary had gnocchi with cauliflower and kale in a cherrry tomato reduction while I had the chef's take on Shrimp and Grits. (With chorizo!) Again... AWESOME! (And... since we were the only customers left... we chatted with our server throughout the meal - chatted about politics in fact!)
After dinner we drove down the road to the world famous (thanks to "Nashville" the TV show) Bluebird Cafe! It's actually a tiny little place set in a small strip mall and while you can apparently sometimes get lucky and get in without a reservation... last night was not to be our lucky night. (They were packed; plus, the show had started already.) Still... we got to see the place!
(*WINK*)
Tired... stuffed... at that point we decided to call it a night. We arrived "home" at around 11:30 p.m. and...
(*HUGE FRIGGIN' GRIN*)
TO BE CONTINUED...
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