Nashville Recap part 1( Thursday)

We were planning on leaving around 9:30 on Thursday morning, but we weren't too worried about leaving exactly on time. Good thing! LOL I needed to run to Magness Creek and pick up Gary's granola from Andrea and I needed some good luck hugs and kisses from Livia and Kylie! By the time we got all of that done it was already 9:30 and we still had to pick up Robert and Kelly. They had their own errands to take care of and the timing worked out just about perfect that they were ready to go when we arrived.
Kelly and I rode in the backseat and talked and laughed pretty much the whole way to Nashville. If you have to take a long trip Kelly is a great travel partner!!

Gary had also left Thursday morning and we were keeping in touch throughout the trip. We had left earlier than he did but we stopped for lunch and Gary ended up getting to Nashville before we did.

Kelly and Robert had reservations at a Day's Inn but were planning to check to see if there were any cancellations at our Hotel "The Ramada at the Stadium" so we went there first. Gary was waiting for us outside and had already befriended most of the Hotel staff by the time we arrived!
We got our room key and we all headed that way, our room was HUGE!!! it had two beds and was just very roomy so we all decided that Kelly and Robert would just stay with us since there hadn't been any cancellations. It really did work out well and the room was large enough that we were never on top of each other.

On the way to the Hotel we passed by the Gerst Haus.. a German restaurant that I remembered going to when I lived in Nashville in 93-94. We decided to go there Thursday night, most people probably wouldn't think of having German food before a marathon but they had a large menu and it was easy to eat light and healthy. Of course not everyone ate light!! LOL and we did partake in a bit of beer. I had the grilled Salmon salad and it was really very good! After dinner we wanted to go somewhere to dance... again not something you would think of 2 nights before a marathon but we were being rebels!! The staff had pointed us to one "nightclub" but as we got close it looked pretty dead so we headed back to the Hotel. They told us we were just about a mile away from downtown and there was a pedestrian bridge we could use. So off we went, but not without a ton of laughing and practically rolling in the streets!! The pedestrian Bridge was interesting, it was beautifully lit and the view of downtown was great!!! the interesting part was it seemed to be a sort of Lover's Lane... there were ton's of couples, quite a few of them "making out". LOL

Once we hit Broadway we just kind of wandered around, it was Thursday night so although there were quite a few people out and about it wasn't very exciting. We did end up in Coyote Ugly. It was OK, I think the guys probably enjoyed it more than Kelly and I did!! LOL

After that we were starting to get tired so decided to head back to the Hotel... Gary was pretty dissapointed that we didnt' get to go dancing and was pouting all the way back!! LOL He is SO funny and such a great guy!!

I think we managed to get in bed by 11:00 or so. I was a little nervous about what it would be like all of us sharing a room and preparing for bed but it all worked out great with no problems.
Once we settled down and the lights were out we all said good night "Walton's" style. G'night John Boy etc.