Nashville
As usual, it's been awhile since I wrote anything here. My main excuse is that I was out of town. That's not a good excuse, but it is an excuse.
Late last week, I started to prepare for a business trip to Nashville Tennessee. I had asked my wife if she wanted to come and she did. I got our plane tickets quite awhile ago and then I had to make sure to get a rental car in my name for the road. Nashville, here we come.
Sunday morning, we had to get up early. My wife had to get up a lot earlier than I did because she has so much more to prepare than I do. All of our bags were packed and we were ready to go. We were leaving the kids home for all day Sunday and Monday morning after our daughter went to school she was to stay with her friend across the street. It turns out that she left my son Sunday night asking him if that was OK. My son said that the only mistake he made was watching "I am legend" which scared him for the evening (serves him right).
Anyway, we caught the plane to Atlanta and had a nice flight. We were able to watch TV on the flight and see where the plane was whenever we wanted. This made the flight seem to go quicker. We had a two hour lay over in Atlanta so went to a TGI Fridays for lunch. The water there tasted quite bad. The flight from there to Nashville wasn't good. We sat on the tarmac for around 30 minutes waiting in line to take off. I don't think the flight was even that long.
After getting our luggage and car, we headed out to the Gaylord Opryland Resort. This was a beautiful and huge place. The gardens were beautiful and we found that it was really easy to get lost in this place. It was interesting to watch newcomers after we had been there who were completely lost. Ten acres of gardens all indoors is a lot and the more we wandered around there the more we found. Our room was one with two queen beds which we found to be refreshing. We could be in the same bed for intimate moments, but then separate for sleep (especially with my c-pap machine. We went to a dinner at Shoneys and then came back and wandered the gardens.
Monday morning was the first real morning of the conference for me. It was a conference put on by IBI. Breakfast was first thing and then the opening of the whole thing started. They started out by putting a Minnie Pearl wannabe (and she has a far way to go) onto the stage. She sounded more like Dolly Parton. There was then some country music with dancers coming down all the aisles. Then there were the cloggers. After that, there was some of the advertising about how great the IBI products are. Thank goodness they had a break before they had a bunch of guys get up and discuss whatever came to their minds about the product. I went to my room during that time because I could sleep better there than in the conference room. Of course, I got back in time for classes, and went to the classes until 5:00.
My wife played for most of the day. She did some swimming and just kind of enjoyed the day. When I got there, she told me that we probably shouldn't go to the Wildhorse Saloon because John McCain (the Republican presidential candidate) was in Nashville and she wasn't sure she wanted to fight with crowds while there. Instead we went in with Paul, Mogie and their wives to go to the Old Hickory (a restaurant in the resort) for the most expensive dinner w have ever had. We were able to write off our own portions to work so each of us shared with our wives. We had Filet Mignon for $42 and then a salad that cost another $10, then Asparagus in Hollandaise sauce for another $12 and finally a souffle' that I have no idea how much it was. All we know is that once the tip was added in, it was about $100 each. Mogie took care of the bill, and we had a good time just visiting. We stayed there for quite awhile. Once we left there, we wandered around the gardens together, and then went to our respective rooms. It was a good evening.
Tuesday was more of the same as far as the conference went. I had some good classes and then left just a little bit early to be with my wife and get to the Grand Ole Opry. My wife had spent the day swimming and shopping with Kami (Pauls wife). I wanted to show my wife where I wanted to take some pictures of the hotel from and then we decided that we should head over to the Opry (it was within walking distance) early. Luke Bryan was playing outside of the place and we really enjoyed what we were hearing there (although neither of us knew him). We went in at around 6:45 for the 7:00 show (my co-workers were going to go to the 9:30 show). The whole thing started out with some old country music, and I found it to be more enjoyable than I thought it would be. At 8:00, Carrie Underwood (a current star who started her career on American Idle) came out, and the house went wild. A guy sitting next to us was in Carries fan club. I don't think I have ever seen such a starry eyed guy when somebody comes out.
I left my wife while I tried to get some pictures with my camera. They didn't seem to be coming out very well. I decided to ask my co-workers if they could get some good pictures. I probably spent too long a time away from my wife in trying to get those pictures, so I did go back. Anyway, we got the Oakridge Boys and Gentry. The last half of the show was phenomenal. We also had Luke Bryan in the last half. Once again, a nice evening with my wife.
Wednesday was more of the same, but by the time the work day was winding down people were getting tired of the sessions. I had the best session as my last session to go to. I completely skipped Thursday morning because it was either repeats or sessions that really weren't worth the time.
Wednesday Evening, all of us from IT got together with our wives and boarded the General Jackson Showboat. This consisted of Jana (her brother and sister), Mogie, Paul, Darrin (and their wives) and us. We just had the buffet that was outside and had an enjoyable three hour cruise. We stayed together for awhile but then my wife and I enjoyed being on the top deck listening to the band and watching a bunch of women (passengers) dance to the music. At one point, they said that since they were dancing they could choose the next song. When the suggested "Girls just wanna have fun" they were told that's a girl song and we have hairy legs. Then they told about somebody on another cruise that asked for a girl song with $100 so they sang that song. They then chose to sing the song and anywhere that it got weird he would pause and make a face and then sing the weird part. Well, the next thing you know the girls came up with a bill. He said that they now had $100 so they would sing the song. After singing the song he pulled the bill from his pocket and said, "Hey this bill is missing a couple of zeros", and handed it to the drum player who actually sang the song. Anyway, it was kind of fun.
We got back late, but had a fun time.
Thursday, I skipped all the classes, and we headed over to the mall to just take life easy. My wife got a nice massage, and we went to the Aquarium for lunch. The Aquarium has huge tanks with small sharks, stingrays, and a guitar fish (about 6 feet) as well as some other fish that swim while you eat. It was kind of fun to be there.
After getting some shoes for my wife, we went to the Grand Ole Opry so we could go through the museum there. That was really quite fun and we learned a few things. Quite a bit later, we went and had dinner and then wandered around the gardens (where we ran into most of our group).
Friday, we had to check out of the hotel. We did that, and then went to the Parthenon with Paul and his wife. We had a tour guide talk to us for quite awhile about some Greek mythology and had an educational and fun time there. We then headed to Chilies and had lunch. Paul and Kami left us at that time to get to the airport. My wife and I went toward the airport and went out for a milkshake and to grab a couple of things to eat on our way home.
The trip home was absolutely horrible. Our plane was delayed in Nashville for a half hour because of a check engine light. They were thinking about putting us on a different flight through Atlanta, but cleared it up in time to get us to Cincinnati. We thought we had to hurry over to our concourse because originally we only had 45 minutes as a layover. We ran there and were told that the plane had been delayed because of pilots coming into Cincinnati. I'm not sure what that is all about, but we sat there for another 45 minutes. Finally we got on the plane where we just sat there. The plane stayed by the gate for about 10 minutes and then went out to the tarmac where we sat for another 45 minutes. There was a high whining sound the whole time we were sitting there, and it wore on our nerves. Finally, we were told they were taking off and had to reroute since there were weather problems in the midwest (it was tornadoes and such). There was an inflight movie, but the monitor in front of us didn't have good contrast so you really couldn't see, and because the plane was old it made a lot of noise and the headphone speakers would not go up high enough to drown that out. It was a long flight. After picking up our luggage at midnight, we headed out to catch the shuttle to our car. Three shuttles passed us up because they were too full, and another one was going to the garage. We finally got on a shuttle and ran into some of the guys from work that had come home on a different flight and airline. They had left after us and had a two hour layover and still got there at the same time we were there. Anyway, we arrived home around 1:30.
Overall, the trip was great. My wife and I really enjoyed it.
Nothing much happened in these last couple of days, so I'll spare you the details.
Late last week, I started to prepare for a business trip to Nashville Tennessee. I had asked my wife if she wanted to come and she did. I got our plane tickets quite awhile ago and then I had to make sure to get a rental car in my name for the road. Nashville, here we come.
Sunday morning, we had to get up early. My wife had to get up a lot earlier than I did because she has so much more to prepare than I do. All of our bags were packed and we were ready to go. We were leaving the kids home for all day Sunday and Monday morning after our daughter went to school she was to stay with her friend across the street. It turns out that she left my son Sunday night asking him if that was OK. My son said that the only mistake he made was watching "I am legend" which scared him for the evening (serves him right).
Anyway, we caught the plane to Atlanta and had a nice flight. We were able to watch TV on the flight and see where the plane was whenever we wanted. This made the flight seem to go quicker. We had a two hour lay over in Atlanta so went to a TGI Fridays for lunch. The water there tasted quite bad. The flight from there to Nashville wasn't good. We sat on the tarmac for around 30 minutes waiting in line to take off. I don't think the flight was even that long.
After getting our luggage and car, we headed out to the Gaylord Opryland Resort. This was a beautiful and huge place. The gardens were beautiful and we found that it was really easy to get lost in this place. It was interesting to watch newcomers after we had been there who were completely lost. Ten acres of gardens all indoors is a lot and the more we wandered around there the more we found. Our room was one with two queen beds which we found to be refreshing. We could be in the same bed for intimate moments, but then separate for sleep (especially with my c-pap machine. We went to a dinner at Shoneys and then came back and wandered the gardens.
Monday morning was the first real morning of the conference for me. It was a conference put on by IBI. Breakfast was first thing and then the opening of the whole thing started. They started out by putting a Minnie Pearl wannabe (and she has a far way to go) onto the stage. She sounded more like Dolly Parton. There was then some country music with dancers coming down all the aisles. Then there were the cloggers. After that, there was some of the advertising about how great the IBI products are. Thank goodness they had a break before they had a bunch of guys get up and discuss whatever came to their minds about the product. I went to my room during that time because I could sleep better there than in the conference room. Of course, I got back in time for classes, and went to the classes until 5:00.
My wife played for most of the day. She did some swimming and just kind of enjoyed the day. When I got there, she told me that we probably shouldn't go to the Wildhorse Saloon because John McCain (the Republican presidential candidate) was in Nashville and she wasn't sure she wanted to fight with crowds while there. Instead we went in with Paul, Mogie and their wives to go to the Old Hickory (a restaurant in the resort) for the most expensive dinner w have ever had. We were able to write off our own portions to work so each of us shared with our wives. We had Filet Mignon for $42 and then a salad that cost another $10, then Asparagus in Hollandaise sauce for another $12 and finally a souffle' that I have no idea how much it was. All we know is that once the tip was added in, it was about $100 each. Mogie took care of the bill, and we had a good time just visiting. We stayed there for quite awhile. Once we left there, we wandered around the gardens together, and then went to our respective rooms. It was a good evening.
Tuesday was more of the same as far as the conference went. I had some good classes and then left just a little bit early to be with my wife and get to the Grand Ole Opry. My wife had spent the day swimming and shopping with Kami (Pauls wife). I wanted to show my wife where I wanted to take some pictures of the hotel from and then we decided that we should head over to the Opry (it was within walking distance) early. Luke Bryan was playing outside of the place and we really enjoyed what we were hearing there (although neither of us knew him). We went in at around 6:45 for the 7:00 show (my co-workers were going to go to the 9:30 show). The whole thing started out with some old country music, and I found it to be more enjoyable than I thought it would be. At 8:00, Carrie Underwood (a current star who started her career on American Idle) came out, and the house went wild. A guy sitting next to us was in Carries fan club. I don't think I have ever seen such a starry eyed guy when somebody comes out.
I left my wife while I tried to get some pictures with my camera. They didn't seem to be coming out very well. I decided to ask my co-workers if they could get some good pictures. I probably spent too long a time away from my wife in trying to get those pictures, so I did go back. Anyway, we got the Oakridge Boys and Gentry. The last half of the show was phenomenal. We also had Luke Bryan in the last half. Once again, a nice evening with my wife.
Wednesday was more of the same, but by the time the work day was winding down people were getting tired of the sessions. I had the best session as my last session to go to. I completely skipped Thursday morning because it was either repeats or sessions that really weren't worth the time.
Wednesday Evening, all of us from IT got together with our wives and boarded the General Jackson Showboat. This consisted of Jana (her brother and sister), Mogie, Paul, Darrin (and their wives) and us. We just had the buffet that was outside and had an enjoyable three hour cruise. We stayed together for awhile but then my wife and I enjoyed being on the top deck listening to the band and watching a bunch of women (passengers) dance to the music. At one point, they said that since they were dancing they could choose the next song. When the suggested "Girls just wanna have fun" they were told that's a girl song and we have hairy legs. Then they told about somebody on another cruise that asked for a girl song with $100 so they sang that song. They then chose to sing the song and anywhere that it got weird he would pause and make a face and then sing the weird part. Well, the next thing you know the girls came up with a bill. He said that they now had $100 so they would sing the song. After singing the song he pulled the bill from his pocket and said, "Hey this bill is missing a couple of zeros", and handed it to the drum player who actually sang the song. Anyway, it was kind of fun.
We got back late, but had a fun time.
Thursday, I skipped all the classes, and we headed over to the mall to just take life easy. My wife got a nice massage, and we went to the Aquarium for lunch. The Aquarium has huge tanks with small sharks, stingrays, and a guitar fish (about 6 feet) as well as some other fish that swim while you eat. It was kind of fun to be there.
After getting some shoes for my wife, we went to the Grand Ole Opry so we could go through the museum there. That was really quite fun and we learned a few things. Quite a bit later, we went and had dinner and then wandered around the gardens (where we ran into most of our group).
Friday, we had to check out of the hotel. We did that, and then went to the Parthenon with Paul and his wife. We had a tour guide talk to us for quite awhile about some Greek mythology and had an educational and fun time there. We then headed to Chilies and had lunch. Paul and Kami left us at that time to get to the airport. My wife and I went toward the airport and went out for a milkshake and to grab a couple of things to eat on our way home.
The trip home was absolutely horrible. Our plane was delayed in Nashville for a half hour because of a check engine light. They were thinking about putting us on a different flight through Atlanta, but cleared it up in time to get us to Cincinnati. We thought we had to hurry over to our concourse because originally we only had 45 minutes as a layover. We ran there and were told that the plane had been delayed because of pilots coming into Cincinnati. I'm not sure what that is all about, but we sat there for another 45 minutes. Finally we got on the plane where we just sat there. The plane stayed by the gate for about 10 minutes and then went out to the tarmac where we sat for another 45 minutes. There was a high whining sound the whole time we were sitting there, and it wore on our nerves. Finally, we were told they were taking off and had to reroute since there were weather problems in the midwest (it was tornadoes and such). There was an inflight movie, but the monitor in front of us didn't have good contrast so you really couldn't see, and because the plane was old it made a lot of noise and the headphone speakers would not go up high enough to drown that out. It was a long flight. After picking up our luggage at midnight, we headed out to catch the shuttle to our car. Three shuttles passed us up because they were too full, and another one was going to the garage. We finally got on a shuttle and ran into some of the guys from work that had come home on a different flight and airline. They had left after us and had a two hour layover and still got there at the same time we were there. Anyway, we arrived home around 1:30.
Overall, the trip was great. My wife and I really enjoyed it.
Nothing much happened in these last couple of days, so I'll spare you the details.
posted by Craig's Blog at 11:24 PM
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