For awhile we weren't too sure what vehicle we would be driving in but it just so happened that I started my lease on Dorothy my Nissan Rogue three days prior to our departure hahaha why not break her in right off the bat! This trip actually turned out to be how Dorothy got her name through some aggravation and hilarity along the way to Nashville. Being the geniuses that we are we somehow decided to start driving around midnight in hopes to bypass the majority of traffic and give us extra time once we got there. Welllllll Alex sort of needed to take a nap before departing and slept from about 11pm till 2am. As I awoke to countless missed calls and texts I dialed Habz and chucked while saying "Heyyyy buddy whats up?". Just so happens that Habz made a whole pot of coffee and drank the whole damn thing around midnight to prepare for the trip HAHAHA Alright so I throw my stuff in the car and head over to his place, grab him and set off for Smashville around 3am with a projected drive of about 9 hours, without stops. She turned into about a 10 and a half hour drive with how many times we stopped along the way. About a hour in Habz passed out, somehow; for about three or four hours. Pretty sure he woke up somewhere around Cincinnati. Finally I had someone to actually talk to and could listen to louder music to keep myself awake haha
We ended up passing through Kentucky and started seeing signs, out in the middle of nowhere; for The Kentucky Speedway. It was coming up on lunch time so why not stop at the Subway close to it and check it out while we stretch out legs. Now I've never been into Nascar but it was pretty sick to see and take in. I actually have to admit that it would be something to try and see one of these days just to see the whole spirit of it. The Speedway itself was pretty massive, as well it should be with how fast those guys are driving but I guess I never really gave it a thought until I took it in with my own eyes. We perused through the gift shop and I got my dad a Mustang license plate since they've kind of become the family go to fun car ever since I got my first one in college and he recently got one for retirement. After that it was a straight shot to Habz's homeland :)
After about a half hour contemplating if we could live here for three days and not get mugged or freak out about the bed sheets we were supposed to sleep under and the ceiling caving in during a shower and covering us in unknown drywall mold fragments we decided to do the only logical thing and call our parents to try and help us out. Little did we know ahead of time but apparently a large amount of people from St. Louis made the trip to Nashville to see the same game we were going to and hotels were booked all throughout the city. We came up with a plan that Habz and I would pay a third of the hotel we could find and then my parents would pay a third and then his parents would pay a third. The best place we could find for the price happened to be on Broadway herself but about 1-15min walking distance from the arena and all the action. It was perfect!!! Except the price. We ended spending over a grand staying at this deluxe Hilton. But looking back on it, I sure as heck will save up to go back to that hotel when we visit Nashville again someday. The hotel was awesome from the staff they had bartending to the food to the room itself being awesome with adjustable memory foam beds and a personal Keurig.
So we start off our first night in Nashville by having a few brews at the hotel bar and pregame going down to the heart of Broadway via a shuttle the hotel runs till around midnight. Being overly talkative we made friends with a older couple in their 40's or 50's and jumped on the shuttle for downtown and to follow them to some of the must see bars and live music. Jump off the shuttle and start heading for our first destination called Tootsies that apparently pretty famous. Get in line and start our check in with the bouncer, walk inside, turn around, Habz is missing. I'm standing ten feet inside the bar looking around in bewilderment and immediately a woman introduces herself to me and then introduces her daughter to me. What a wingman mom was trying to be! haha But at the time I was so out of it thinking about my friend I said hi and immediately followed the couple we made with on the shuttle. We made our way upstairs and got a round and bought each other some drinks while I texted Habz and called him to try and find out what in the heck was going on. Apparently the bouncer received Habz's i.d. and immediately knew it was of the Fake variety. Told him you need to get out of here while Habz immediately pulled a 180 and started swiftly walking down the sidewalk haha. We were screwed.
First bar we attempt to get into and my buddies fake gets nabbed. What in the heck is there to do now? We made our way to a techno club place that was 18+ but it was $10 or $20 to get in so we declined that place and kept walking the streets thinking of a plan. Now I'm sure theres these types of people in really any busy american town but I have to say I and Habz were caught off guard with this one character. We're standing on a corner contemplating getting a cab and just going back to drink at the hotel when a very tall fellow wearing a trench coat, multiple piercings and contacts that happened to make his retinas look completely white and like that of a snake. Comes up to me and goes "hey buddy you into SHROOMSSSSS" I start freaking out and feel my heart pounding. Guess I'm a tad sheltered, but somehow don't freak out other than probably my face probably torquing into a uneasy state and saying uhhhhh no man were good, as his buddy that he's with comes walking by and slaps me on the ass. They both head off down the sidewalk and I'm just all out of sorts making sure his buddy didn't nab my wallet hahaha. So we start walking up the street in the direct opposite direction of those characters and I spot a bar just opening its doors to the masses at 10pm. This place, Honkey Tonk Central, is three stories tall and people are entering about 4 people wide with only one bouncer on the right side, I grab Habz and start pushing him in that direction. He starts tweeking out thinking theres going to be hell to pay if this guy cards him but I force him to keep going and hear me out. "Habz, walk on the far left and just keep walking, I'll talk to the bouncer" "Oh hey buddy hows it going! Yeah just here for the first time from Pittsburgh taking it all in you know, hoping this place is a good time?" Notice over the bouncers shoulder that Habz is in and proceed to enter myself. Habz runs straight to the back of the bar and starts smiling, we pulled it off. Alright, whats on specials? Bud Lights for $2 okay. "Hey bartender! 4 bud lights!..... Habz you ordering anything?" 4 more bud lights hahahah We walk away with two beers in each hand, hey if he's getting caught we might as well enjoy ourselves while we can!!!
A band starts playing and we post up to the right of the bar on the first level so we can have a view until I notice a table with two older women and ask if we could rest our beers there while trying to polish off 4 beers each. After a couple minutes I'm making friends with them and getting to know their life stories haha. They happened to be friends back in high school and college and ended umpiring quite far away from each other but decided to start a tradition of meeting up at least once a year and hanging out for old times sake! By this point I pulled Habz into the convo and we were telling them about our adventure and what brought us to Nashville and then started buying each other drinks and shots of fireball!! It was pretty funny in hindsight. But the friend making was far from over, I was standing at the bar trying to order another round of fireball shots when I met another older woman trying to get served as well. We joked about what wed have to do to actually get some service! We decided whoever got served first would instruct the bartender that the other person had been waiting so that we could help each other out. Things worked out and we both got our shots and wet back to our parties to partake. Little did I know this woman was sitting at the table right behind ours with her daughter and all her college friends. It couldn't have been more perfect! I noticed and called her out and then got introduced to three or four of her daughters friends and her daughter haha I'm not really sure how this all transpired but I ended up getting the number of Vikki, and her daughter Lindsy and was texting them all weekend haha. They all happened to be from Chicago, ironic since we were there two weeks ago; but Lindsy was currently living in Mexico City working as a teacher. Crazy stuff. Well after indulging probably a bit too much, Habz and I shoved off and started making the walk back to the hotel. All I know is Habz was struggling and I had to hold him up a bit at times haha. We even stopped in a gas station on the way back and somehow they happened to be playing Habz's favorite song ever "Everybody Want's to Rule the World' which he somehow remembers. The one thing I remember was walking through the lobby of our hotel at 3am(ish) holding this fellas up and waving the the check in dish as if everything was A-OK hahaha Not only that but when I checked in earlier I put myself down as a single room with no other people supposed to be in it haha they didn't care. Thank God.
The next day we woke around the early timeframe of about Noon and walked downstairs to partake of the hotels brunch buffet. To this day we still look back in it pretty fondly, the Mac and Cheese was the best Mac n Cheese either of us have ever had for sure and the Catfish was a new experience to me that I knew the south was pretty into. After getting seconds of pretty much everything we shoved off to purchase supplies to pregame that night and before the preds game since Habz didn't have a i.d. anymore. While we were out we decided to go hit up some sights that Chris wanted to check out including a We Believe in Nashville Muriel(?), a sweet t-shirt shop and also try and go look at his house where he grew up. The shop and muriel were pretty cool but the best part of the afternoon was checking out Habz's childhood home. We strolled up and I parked my car at the end of his old driveway so we didn't seem like intruders and started taking pictures before slowly walking up the driveway to possibly meet who was living there now. Surely a woman came out and asked if she could help us or what we were approaching her about. After explaining that he had grown up there and just wanted to come by and reminisce and see if anything changed she was still hesitant to actually interact with us which was perfectly fine and we we started to head back to the car. After a second she actually called back to us and asked if Chris would like to take a step inside and see the renovations that had done over the past ten or so years since he lived there. It was really nice of her to give us a tour and have Habz explain how the whole place was when he was growing up and seeing how everything had changed. It was sweet experience for me so I can only imagine how much it meant for him.
The next day we woke around the early timeframe of about Noon and walked downstairs to partake of the hotels brunch buffet. To this day we still look back in it pretty fondly, the Mac and Cheese was the best Mac n Cheese either of us have ever had for sure and the Catfish was a new experience to me that I knew the south was pretty into. After getting seconds of pretty much everything we shoved off to purchase supplies to pregame that night and before the preds game since Habz didn't have a i.d. anymore. While we were out we decided to go hit up some sights that Chris wanted to check out including a We Believe in Nashville Muriel(?), a sweet t-shirt shop and also try and go look at his house where he grew up. The shop and muriel were pretty cool but the best part of the afternoon was checking out Habz's childhood home. We strolled up and I parked my car at the end of his old driveway so we didn't seem like intruders and started taking pictures before slowly walking up the driveway to possibly meet who was living there now. Surely a woman came out and asked if she could help us or what we were approaching her about. After explaining that he had grown up there and just wanted to come by and reminisce and see if anything changed she was still hesitant to actually interact with us which was perfectly fine and we we started to head back to the car. After a second she actually called back to us and asked if Chris would like to take a step inside and see the renovations that had done over the past ten or so years since he lived there. It was really nice of her to give us a tour and have Habz explain how the whole place was when he was growing up and seeing how everything had changed. It was sweet experience for me so I can only imagine how much it meant for him.
After grabbing a bite we head back to the hotel to pregame the night ahead. Since we weren't
exactly sure where Habz would be able to get in we went the extra mile before jumping on the
shuttle to downtown. Our hopes really were to find a place where they had the game on. You see
the Nashville Predators were in Chicago the night before we would see them taking on the Blackhawks, so we wanted to catch it locally. What started off as a bar hunt turned into a fun filled and unexpected night. So we get dropped off by the shuttle right beside Bridgestone Arena, where we plan to see the Preds play the next night, and a scalper approaches us trying to sell tickets. Little did we know Billy Joel was in town and we both knew one song by the famous magician haha. Well, $20? Why not, we'll only regret not doing it in the long run, plus they have to have the game on somewhere in the arena they call home!
We make our way to the section entrance where were supposed to enter and a nice flat screen has the Preds game on vs. the Blackhawks and we post up. The concession stand right beside us actually served us both and we started taking in the arena while watching the game and hearing Billy play right through the opening not twenty feet away. During the first intermission we took a poke to see where our seats actually were located, I mean hey we only paid $20 and it was Billy Joel. We happened to be positioned directly behind the stage at the highest point possible hahaha! No worries, as long we heard Piano Man we were happy, and we got to watch the Preds all the same!
What came as a surprise though was the usher we met. She was probably in her 50's and happened to ask us where we were visiting from. Who would have thought we would meet a woman who grew up in Pittsburgh and still bled black and gold. We talked to her for probably two twenty minute sprints and heard about how she planned to take her granddaughter back to the burgh and drive her through the tubes to give her the full effect! And that she even wore a Steelers jersey to games whenever the Pens came to town because she didn't have any Penguins gear. I promised her that at some point I would return with some Pens gear or ship her some! Theres something to mark off the bucket list.
After a very much less eventful night after the concert we arose to try and attempt a 5k around the city of Nashville that we paid for months in advance. First off I suck at running. Not just because of my accident, which doesn't help; but I've always sucked at and loathed running. So why not run 3+ miles while hungover. It was a great time. Seriously. We got to run throughout the whole city and take in some views at a better pace and most would just driving through on their own. And to be honest my body rose to the occasion and I didn't suck as bad as I would have assumed and finished it all in about 28 minutes. For me thats surprising haha. It happened to be only about six minutes after Habz pulled it off and we were greeted by the part I found most memorable, a charity event for shelter dogs! We went around petting dogs that they were trying to have people adopt, as I sent pictures to my parents, while they told me I wasn't allowed to return with
a furry friend; as well as meeting dogs that people brought to join in the enjoyment. We actually ended up playing frisbee with with one dog and I got Habz on camera throwing the frisbee to him/her before we settled down and grabbed some grub. We ended up trying some southern pulled pork from a food cart they booked and it was surprisingly nice because they served you the pork on two mini sandwich buns and you got to choose which space you would prefer put on top. We posted up and enjoyed our sammiches before walking back to the hotel, grabbing some interesting whipped creme liquor along the way and a cool pic by a Nashville building painting. At this point we geared up in what we needed for the game and had some drinks before heading down in case Habz couldn't get served again. The shuttle dropped us off at our destination and we joined the crowd filtering into Bridgestone Arena. Now this game was a bit disappointing to us but there still was a great deal of enjoyment. Usually when I visit each new arena my thoughts are singled out to a picture of the entrance, a t shirt and official puck and a picture center ice with me recently wanting panorama pics of the inside of the arena from our seats despite the glow of the ice lighting up the entire picture. But this time we checked out professional player equipment during intermission and a Xfinity couch that we sat on to get free rally towels that somehow just happened to be run by a girl who graduated from RMU! Small world again! And she happened to know someone we worked with before.
The game wasn't as bad as the score dictated though. The Preds gave themselves a chance throughout the game but they were clearly not surrounded by a majority of fans. As I stated before the town was a bit preoccupied by people that happened to be from St. Louis. The arena itself probably had about 60-70 percent Blues fans that made the trip down from St. Louis to ruin our time!! But it still had its sparks. At times the Preds faithful had such a voice that it overcame their adversary and when they scored it erupted in a chorus that we can only hope to join in on again in the future. The Blues may have taken the two points in this one outing we got to witness live but we still got to meet the hometown faithful, take in Bridgestone Arena and see some of Habz's favorite players in person on home ice. After all that it only gives us that much more of a feeling of urgency to make a road trip back to the city of music to witness a Predators victory on home ice, see our favorite bartender at our hotel, destroy some hotel mac and cheese again, explore Nashville some more and also be able to see Habz enter a bar legally haha.
Ps. This looks nothing like how it did when I wrote it or edited it, no clue why the pics are all over the place, sorry.
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