Roadtrip Chapter 2- Nashville to Louisville

WE got to Nashville in the early evening on my birthday and decided to just call it a night. We went to the hotel ordered some pizza from a local place and all got ready to head down to the hotel pool. It was a beautiful night - it had just rained so the air was cool (in comparison to the 90+ heat we had been dealing with) and the kids were SO excited to go swimming.Thor is like a little river otter - even though he can't swim yet he just jumps right in. I helped him navigate the pool for a while and then asked Baleigh if she wanted to leave her perch on the pool steps to go swimming with me. She said "no". I took her in anyway. I have never seen her so terrified in my life. She shrieked and wrapped herself around my like I was trying to drown her. I only took her for one lap around the pool but she was pretty mad at me after that. We're going to start looking into swimming lessons for them to get her over this fear of water. Swimming lessons are the one thing that my parents made sure all of us kids had and I think that it is an invaluable skill to possess.

Monday morning the kids and I got up early and enjoyed a simple hotel breakfast before packing the car and waking Jake up. By this point the cool of the night before had worn off and  it was 92 deg. and about 90 % humidity. That didn't stop this family from heading to the Nashville Zoo! We got in with our Association of Zoos and Aquariums pass from the Waco Zoo so it didn't even cost us anything. If you get the chance to check this zoo out it is really nice - and if you ever find yourself living there - get a membership! The one attraction that blew me away wasn't even animal related- it was the 65,000 sq foot "jungle gym". It is a maze of slides, and rope nets, and towers! The kids loved it and the misting areas that are all around it to assist in cooling off. Both the kids were very excited to see a Blue Hyacinth Mcaw - because it was just like the one they saw in "Rio". Thor was also brave enough to feed the Lorakeets when went into their enclosure. They give you a little nectar in a cup and the birds come to you and eat out of your hand. Pretty cool!  When we left the zoo we were STARVING so we headed down town to get food.

The Pancake Pantry was featured on Man Vs Food (Host : Adam Richmond) a few weeks back and I took some notes. We didn't go first thing in the morning because they are ALWAYS really busy. Getting there around 1:30 PM we were seated immediately and had our food in under 15 minutes. I ordered the Village Smithy and it was phenomenal. It is a cornmeal pancake that is incredibly light and fluffy while being loaded with green chiles, bacon, cheese and topped with picante and sour cream. They encourage you to drizzle a little maple syrup on it and I have to say it does bring it to a whole new level of deliciousness! Thor wasn't feeling the pancakes so he got two sides of bacon and in his words "devoured it". I have never been to a place that bakes their bacon instead of frying it. It is a correct level of crispy with no burnt bits and is always flat and perfect looking.  Baleigh got eggs and silver dollar pancakes that she laid into and she said that the blueberry syrup was very yummy as well. Jake got the Cinnamon Raisin Pancakes and they come with a complementary  caramel syrup that rocked my world. We were all STUFFED when we left there and even with the tip the whole meal was under $35! The kids got to keep the cups that their milk was served in so they even came away with a little souvenir cup that reads "At the Pancake Pantry Kids are Little Kings and Queens".

Now that blood sugar has returned to an acceptable level we went a few streets over to  see the Parthenon. That's right- Nashville has a life sized replica of the Parthenon in the middle of one of their public parks! Inside of it is a 45 ft statue of Athena. We didn't actually get to see Athena because the museum is closed on Monday and it was Monday. Bummer! It was fun to walk around it and really think about the remarkable feat it was to construct something of that magnitude with no modern machinery. Even though we missed out on the full experience it was so worth it!

We had talked about going to the Country Music Hall of Fame and The Grand Ol' Opry but in the end we decided we had done enough for the day. Getting back on the  road we headed towards Kentucky!