It was half price to fly into Nashville instead of Huntsville, about a $500 difference. Since we would have rented a car anyway all we had to do was pay gas, its about a 2 hour drive so why not. We actually decided to add a couple days to the trip and spend some time in Nashville. I'd last been in Nashville on a work trip in 2001 and really liked it.
Our first stop was "Biscuit Love" restaurant but sadly I didn't get any pictures. If you're in Nashville I'd suggest you check it out.
Second stop was the Johnny Cash museum, and I'm so glad we went, this place is amazing. I thought I knew a thing or two about Johnny Cash although most of his activity predates me. The museum isn't very big but is just packed with great stuff. We spent about 2 hours there and could easily have stayed another hour.
Our chariot was this sweet Dodge Challenger, it rode nice and did okay on gas considering we thrashed it pretty hard.
Did you know that Antique Archeology (The Pickers from the History Channel) had a store in Nashville? Angie's mom is a big fan so we stopped in. There were no antiques we were really into but we did buy some swag.
I'm embarrassed that I didn't get a picture of the hotel, we stayed at The Kimpton Aertson which is right by Vanderbilt University. Great hotel, best hotel coffee I've ever had by far. Best part is it was free on points earned from corporate travel...
We spent the afternoon on a Segway tour through a terrible rainstorm. I thought I had video of the rain but can't find it. The rain was amazing, it pounded down for about 15 minutes, then stopped like somebody had flipped a switch, by dinner the roads were dry. We did have to detour slightly around some big puddles that would have drowned our Segways.
This was our second Segway tour, the first was in Chicago in 2016, don't hesitate to try them out, yes you'll look like an idiot but everybody does and if thats the worst thing that happens to you thats pretty okay...
Dinner was at Martins BBQ which is definitely one of the 5 best BBQ places I've ever been to. This area of the country is known for its "spicy mayo" sauce which is odd but not bad. We arrived pretty late and got the list of what we could have. I like that, it means what you can have is what they still have, which means they're not cooking extra batches during the day which means what you get is quality. It was too, so good...
Huntsville was great, the convention was great, I forgot to take pictures. The convention was held in an Embassy Suites which worked out really nicely. I now understand better the draw of a hotel convention. I was disappointed we didn't get to camp but at one point we were in the indoor pool when I really big storm moved through. I was glad I was sitting in the pool watching it rather than huddled in my tent...
Huntsville is the "Rocket City" and home to the US Space & Rocket center so of course we had to check that out. Pictured above is the return craft from (IIRC) Apollo 16. Its an amazing place and I strongly recommend taking a whole day, I think we were there for 4 hours and could have spent another 4 easily. We didn't find the Apollo room until late and sadly had to rush it.
The light-up was really nice, the hotel is on a canal which made for a great venue. I wish we had brought something to light but it was hard with the flight...
Since we flew I hadn't planned to buy much, then Angie won this sweet cooler as a door price at the banquet. I'd gotten roped into helping draw door prize numbers. Somehow I always get roped into something. ;)
Anyway since I would be shipping the cooler back anyway I took the opportunity to buy a glass shade from Craig Seabrook. I paid extra for the nickel band which I think really dresses up the shade. I put it on a CQ I've had for years which has a place in our living room.
Finally on our way home we took another half day in Nashville. We "visited" the Grand Ole Oprey but only went in as far as the gift shop. Neither of us is particularly into country music. We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport, if you have the opportunity don't hesitate to skip that place, if we'd paid for it I'd be upset. On the positive side we had a nice dinner at Flyte.
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