2/26-2/27: Tennessee

I don't think the dates on this are right, but I can't remember exactly when we were there, so they will stay for now. We actually stayed 2 nights in Tennessee.

Our first night was in Nashville. Upon driving into town we met up with a friend of mine from 30 Days of Hustle (a Facebook group I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before...). We met up at one of her favorite restaurants for dinner. There's a definite reason it's one of her favorites! (Side note: we ended up there the next day for lunch ;) ) We had lovely conversation, talking about our trip and her life adventures. It was such a fun time together, meeting in person for the first time but feeling like we had known each other longer.

By the time we finished it was late, so we headed to the hotel for the evening. We planned to head out to tour first thing after waking up. However, the next morning I woke up with a bad migraine, so plans changed. Instead we rested in the room with the lights off while I waited for the medicine to kick in. Thankfully this was one of only a handful of times over the course of the trip that my migraines greatly inhibited our plans. After I felt better enough to head out, we went to Nashville's Pantheon. We greatly enjoyed walking around and taking pictures at this location. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

Our next stop after lunch was to walk around downtown and look at the stars with musicians names on them. We walked passed the Country Music Hall of Fame (that we couldn't afford to enter!). Alyssa went into a couple bars to listen to the live music playing there. I waited outside to help my head; I could listen plenty well outside! Haha. Outside one of the bars I ended up in a very interesting conversation with a young man. He was very interested in the trip, and I didn't mind sharing with him about the adventure I was on. However, then he started making comments about girls walking by who were much younger than me. I decided it was time to let Alyssa know it was time to move on. ;)

*Country Music Hall of Fame behind us

On our way out of town we debated about going to see Opryland Hotel. We were tired and wanted to get to Knoxville. Yet we were intrigued. So we decided to go in. We loved it!!! All of the gardens were beautiful, peaceful, and intriguing. Spending the night there one night officially entered my bucket list. ;) I think pictures best show off our time there.

The next day after our night in Knoxville, we went to see the Peabody Ducks at the Peabody Hotel in Knoxville. We arrived just in time for the morning ceremony. You can pay to be the "duck trainer" for the day which basically means you can accompany the man who works at the hotel during the ceremony. It's pricey... Anyway, the day we were there the duck trainer was young boy who had a birthday that day. He was so happy! The ceremony basically consists of the trainers going up to the area where the ducks live at night, walking them into the elevator, going down to the lobby where everyone is watching, then walking the ducks (1 male and 5? females) down the red carpet to the fountain in the middle of the lobby. So adorable and hilarious and fun! Check out the history of the Peabody Ducks if you want to learn more. This was a bucket list item for me, so I'm glad it worked out!

After the ceremony it was time to head on to our 49th state: Arkansas!