We had a wonderful 36 hour trip to Nashville over the weekend. Woohoo to Southwest for the direct flight (one hour gate to gate) and really cheap tickets (thanks to our friend William who tipped us off about the special)!! So on Friday evening we took the 6:30 flight to Nashville...picked up Katelyn at 8:30 and went to a really good Italian Bistro on West End...Amerigos (a chain restaurant that can be found in Nashville, Memphis, and Mississippi). We enjoyed dinner and hanging with Katelyn. We dropped her off at her dorm with plans to meet the next morning at the Pancake Pantry.
The Pancake Pantry is on the must-do list for the Hillsboro Village area...famous people eat there...the lines are usually very long...they serve at least 30 different pancakes! Our plan of attack was that Rich and I would get there at 8:30 and begin standing-in-line and Katelyn would join us at the last minute! When we arrived we were able to park across the street....there was no line...and before we knew it we were in and seated and perusing the menu of pancakes. I really wanted to order the potato pancakes and then our waitress (who has probably been there since it opened...so I trust her opinion) said quite calmly..."Have you had them here before?" to which I replied "No, this is my first time here!" "Don't get them they aren't any good..." Hmmmm, so I got Silver Dollar Pancakes...a bit of a letdown to my elevated expectations that had built up over the last YEAR!!!
Despite all...we enjoyed our breakfast with Kate and after immediately returned her to her dorm (10:00 am) as she had a full day of studying to get to and we were headed to Franklin, TN for some Christmas ambiance! Little did Rich and I know that we had picked the perfect December weekend to visit...the Dicken's Christmas was in full swing. Who knew...I didn't bring a costume!
Rich and I enjoyed strolling about in the frosty air...drinking hot cider and people watching (and there were tons of people to watch). I didn't get a pic, but it was kinda funny seeing beautifully costumed people standing about drinking Starbucks and Texting!!!
We picked Katelyn up at 4:30 that afternoon and headed over to...
Another very trendy area in Nashville...The Gulch...home of Urban Outfitters. I tried to snap a pick of Kate...but she's fast, that one! We shopped and met Rich at Cantina Laredo for dinner! Then it was off to some serious shopping at Hillsboro Center...home of a beautiful Anthropologie, The Paper Source (a crafty person's dreamland), Binks (the Patagonia/Northface superstore haha)...
Rich and Kate are pictured here at Hillsboro Center (love the tiny pics my new Iphone takes...)! We quickly moved on to the big mall with a purpose...brown casual OR black dressy boots for Kate. I gotta tell you that she is my dream shopping partner...she can power through a huge mall and not waste too much time pondering cause she knows what she wants when she sees it...it's a skill!! Finally, after an hour and several stores (Nordstrom's included) we ended up at ...Dillards, where there were more boots than time to try them on. Try them on she did and finally she chose a cool pair of brown casual boots...black boots will have to wait!! Almost 10:00 o'clock which I know is early by some standards...but we were tired (Kate not included :) and so we dropped her at her dorm, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the Hotel Indigo to listen to some country music in the lobby bar and then pack up...we had to leave for the airport at 6:00 am!!
We loved spending a bit of time with Katelyn in her new world during our quick trip to Nashville. She loves Vandy (even though a couple classes have been wickedly difficult)! She has met some great girls and has gotten involved with the Young Life organization, and after a semester of training, was recently placed on a team that does ministry work at a local high school. Next semester she is going in a different direction academically and is so excited about that!! Rich and I let out a collective sigh of relief...seeing and realizing that alas our youngest is where she a) wants to be, AND just as important b) where she needs to be! Life is good!!
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