The need to get in as much activity as possible during a period where R and R from regular life responsibilities is the original goal.

Anxiety, time management fever, Google Map and Trip Advisor searches, hangriness, parking challenges, incessant wandering, among other symptoms.

Don’t panic, sleep in, and chill for the first half of the day. When its time to figure out what to do next, expect the search to be annoying, as will be the travel. Don’t freak out. Just roll through it the best you can. Maybe you’ll find some good social time with lovely strangers!

After scoring away a night of music, chicken, ice cream, and beer, and a long restful time in the AirBnB, I decided to keep my itinerary light. There was obviously too much to do in Nashville, some of it likely not accessible, unless during weekends.

Despite, its time to find my fortune. First, food. Shotgun Willies BBQ.

Then, I decide to romp through the course of finding a highly rated and well loved coffee shop in the area. This is where one typically ditches Google and Trip Advisor for Reddit threads. Sometimes, the best recommendations you can get are from the people, not the paid reviewers or the company itself.

The search-and-destroy for this process was an ordeal. Its a strain driving out to a location to determine it’s either full up (remember that I’m driving a vehicle), or it’s some empty, stroad hampered, concrete-and-asphalt isolated spot with no vibe or community feel.

However, after bumbling through, and two parking lot brain-breaks, I finally found my fortune in Crema Coffee Roasters, just south of the Cumberland River on the Nashville side.

By this time in my road trip, my smile is well-recited and my tongue is lubricated with easy conversation-starting. I make quick acquaintances with the staff, a group of genuinely friendly and awesome individuals. The place was alive, but not too busy. Plenty of personality, and people watching between spouts of writing.

After a few hours, I decided that I needed to hit up this fabled Parthenon that I’ve been seeing in photos online.

For context, Centennial Park hosts a full-size replica of the Parthenon in Athens, built in the 1890’s, and is meant to function as a museum of Ancient Greek history, as well as a visual art museum.

There is FAR too much to present about this place in a single blog post, so I’ll just point you to the history page of their site, and you can oooo and ahhhh it from there:https://www.nashvilleparthenon.com/history

However, I will say that if you ever make your way out to Nashville, I recommend getting the tour. There are preserved artifacts, beautiful architecture, and a few very big ladies!

One in the form of Athena, the other in the form of [insert big sports brand]!

Woof!

I’m reminded of a common thought I have when traveling. I imagine how cool it would be to travel somewhere in a vessel of some sort, and then be able to park that vessel, step out, and then shrink it down to size so I could fit it into my pocket and not worry about it.

Its some Ant-man and Wasp kind of technology that doesnt exist, but I could never resist thinking about it.

I bring that up because, frankly, I hate parking.

As I get older, I also have started hating cars in general, and regretting getting tricked into buying an SUV which was the only hybrid electric option Toyota offered at the time. Plus side; less driving emissions and better mileage. Downside; large and not really better for the environment through the emissions of its overall manufacturing so… *facepalm*. I miss my hatchback. Neat balance of cargo space, small size, and just quirky personality.

I’ll skip over the couple hours of me trying to park at a nameless arcade/bowling complex with zero parking friendliness, and a bunch of expensive inconvenience. Some road trip experiences are just shit.

Now, we enter the highlight of the evening!

Jackalope Distillery. A warehouse-district hangout in the northeast of the city. My mission, crash the Gleeful Meeple gaming gathering and enjoy some social time with 20s-40s board gaming geeks such as myself.

https://www.meetup.com/gleefulmeeple/

I quickly integrated, enjoyed some laughs, a couple drinks, and tried a couple of new games I hadn’t before.

Even better, I managed to make quick friends with a couple of the organizers, and come to find out that they ALSO host a lovely podcast about board games!

Shout out to Emily, JK, and the rest of the Meeples!

I’ll write up a blurb on the site soon. Hope find myself in Nashville again in the near future!

That it for today.

Tomorrow, it is off to Kentucky, Mammoth Cave, and Louisville.