Nashville for nerds

I am here to say that, bloggers block is a real condition  While it is no worse than say something  like Gynecomastia, Formication, or muzzle mouth which my oldest sister suffers from bless her heart, it is still a cumbersome  condition.
  It has been a busy summer, so excuse me while I play catch up the events of the Dunn family.

  My summer started with  a Nashville trip with my best Friend Bianca. She flew into St Louis and we rented what they told us was a car, but giving it that tittle seemed to me to be an insult to automobiles  everywhere. I prefer to call it an over sized moving mushroom. Luckily its seemingly soft exterior acted a cushion when Bianca backed into a little old man in a golf cart. I digress.
  We spent 3 days sleeping in and singing along to country music Richard and the kids stayed back to allow me the opportunity to miss them! It is a toss up as to whether Bianca talked more about her dog Atlas or me about my little herd.
  First on our scholarly agenda was a visit to The Hermitage; the home of our 7th president Andrew Jackson.

Like a good friend Bianca laboriously read the pamphlets about President Jackson, in an attempt to make herself appear as though she was as creepily fascinated by him as I am.

We walked through Rachel Jackson's garden,

and through the cramped slave housing.

We finally ended with President Jackson and his wife Rachel's grave. The Hermitage had a great audio tour of the property. I would recommend this tour to anyone going through Nashville,  I am excited to take my kids there someday, Sorry Bianca NO dogs allowed!

Next up on our plans was a nap, not because we were tired, but because we could! With that out of the way, we headed down town for some impressive music and what turned out to be dreadful Nachos. They consisted of chips and iceberg. letus for crying out loud! No beans, no salsa, and no olives? It was a mockery of the divine food group that is nachos.
  My grievances  over the nachos were soon set aside as we enjoyed live music.

The fun did not stop there. The next day we boarded an old London double decker tour bus named Eleanor.

The tour took us through the main downtown, as well as music row, where Elvis recorded some of his music.

In addition to being so close to the stop lights that you could all most touch them, we had to duck several times to avoid being smacked in the face by trees the city had not yet cut back for patrons of Eleanor.

Our girls weekended with a tour of the Belmont mansion

Bianca made me ring the bell to this mansion built in 1849, after all that is how Adelicia Hayes Franklin the original owner would have wanted it Bianca insisted.  The grounds of the house were occupied by Union troops the period of a couple weeks in 1864, prior to the Battle  of Nashville ( I love civil war facts).

   Adelicia adorned the mansion with beautiful mirrors and gifts from such people as Napoleon III and President Polk. It turns out we were not suppose to take pictures of the art, but here you go!

With all of the beauty and history the mansion had to showcase,  I think the real draw back for me was that President Andrew Johnson had visited the mansion. Yes I do hold a grudge against a president who died 109 before I was born.
 All in all it was a fantastic trip with Bianca.

  Gong home meant getting to see Levi on his last day of Kindergarten and continue the awesome summer I started in Nashville.

  Trips without kids are great, but I think perhaps the best part is getting to see these two and their hot father upon my return.