We had an interesting drive down to the big city. Every horrible driver from every surrounding state seemed to be traveling I-65 yesterday, getting in their last vacations before the start of school. Alan was none too pleased with their lack of driving skills, which just made me laugh because there was NO WAY anything was going to ruin my "birthday weekend"!Even though the mini-trip was for relaxation, we did have some business to attend to. Syd, that devilish little critter, has managed to destroy all of his toys with the advent of his adult teeth. Even at just 6 months, he has become a destructive little boy. So we stopped at PetSmart and picked out some GREAT new toys for him, Halloween themed ones at that! Also a new collar because he's outgrown his current one, a sturdier leash, and some Glucosamine and Chondroitin treats for his little hips and joints, which he can eat now that he's 6 months old (all the packages say that?!). ANYWAY, this morning 90% of the toys have been destroyed. What a lovely child. Looks like we're just going to have to get him an old tire to gnaw on!!
We then decided to get some lunch, Greek to be precise. It's great - you can search by type of cuisine on the points of interest preloaded on the GPS, so the handy old machine pointed us in the direction of a Greek/Italian/Mediterranean resteraunt about 5 miles away from PetSmart. Well...it was shut down, dilapitated to be more precise, and in the worst possible side of Nashville that one could fine himself in. I've never felt as out of place on a street before as I did yesterday! There was even a socks-stand on one corner, right down the street from "Gun City USA". Weird!
So we moved on to a different area of town and found The Greek Islands/The Breeze, a great Greek and Mediterranean restaurant in downtown Nashville on Music Row. We had a wonderful Greek lunch surrounded by the historic recording studios of the country music industry. The food was fantastic! I should have taken a picture, but we ate it too quickly! We had turkish cigars with apple chutney as an appetizer, and I had one of the greatest gyros I ever ate, while Alan ate Chicken Shish Kabobs. It all was wonderful and we'll definitely be back.
After lunch we had a beer at Dan McGuinness, the Irish pub up the street. It was such a great atmosphere in which to relax, digest all that GREAT food and enjoy some fabulous company with my husband! They were also playing some great music. If you're ever in Nashville, it's a great place to hang out.
We then wanted to find a book store in the area, so the GPS led us over to Church Street to OutLoud Books, which just so happened to be a specialty store for the gay and lesbian community. We didn't discover this until we were inside and realized that a lot of the books had naked same sex couples hugging each other and in other scantily clad positions! Nonetheless, it was a very cool store filled with lots of counter culture items and a very friendly staff. That situation would have gone MUCH worse had it been any other misguided couple from the "south" that are not nearly as accepting of others as we are! It's refreshing to see a store like this as well. You've got my support!!
We found a Borders Books nearby, but it was on the Vanderbilt University campus, and it was PACKED, but we came across a little gem across the street called Cumberland Transit. It's an outdoor clothing and equipment store full of wonderful things! Tents, backpacks, clothes, shoes, bikes, climbing gear and a large area dedicated to fly fishing and the art of making a beautiful fly. I found a great "Good Karma" t-shirt by "Life is Good" that is made of 100% Organic material. What a great store!!
Our last "must-do" stop in Nashville is always The Game Keep, that old traditional geeky board game and miniatures store that smells musty, is falling apart and is just pure bliss. It is here that we found the catch of the day! A copy of Agricola, the hottest game of the year that is becoming harder and harder to find as it's in high demand and on back order from nearly every online game store out there. That's why it's so important to support your friendly local game store (FLGS in geek speak), they just may have it in stock! Over the years, we have amassed over 100 board games ranging from the Eurogames to the typical Ameritrash and even a few of the old standards available at Wal-Mart. We LOVE board gaming. I think that's what we'll be doing today; playing our favourite games and enjoying some new ones, relaxing a little more and spending some quality time at our lovely home with each other and with our favourite little pooch!!
Happy Labor Day Weekend!
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