Nashville

As some of you know Dan and just got back from Nashville. I'll explain how and why we got to go. Dan works for Townsend Tire. Once in a while Bridgestone/Firestone pays for someone from the tire companies to go to a conference somewhere in the states. This time it was for training in Nashville. George and Matt offered the trip to Dan and I. Bridgestone/Firestone paid for both Dan and I to go - 1/2 our flight, our hotel, and meals. It was awesome! We left last Sunday (Dan's parents looked after the kids) we got to Nashville around 5:00pm. We spent some time the first night downtown then to the Opry Mills mall the next morning. Let me tell you this mall was HUGE! There were over 200 stores and the stores were huge too. We looked around for the morning then Dan had to get back to the hotel for the classes to start. I of course went back the next day by myself to do some serious shopping!

Anyway the reason we were there was for Dan to attend classes. He had 1/2 day on Monday then the rest of the week was 8-5. I didn't mind at all. I got to sleep in, see him on his lunch break then after 5 we had the night to go out. Did I mention we stayed at the Sheraton Music City hotel which was much fancier then we're used to! Thank god we didn't have to pay for it or the meals. We had $80 coupons to use for supper every night plus breakfast and lunch meals on top of that. The food was very good!

We went back downtown on Wed night with 5 other guys from the class. It was a fun night of barhopping! I couldn't believe how many bars and clubs were downtown and on a Wed night they were all packed! We went to the Wild Horse Saloon, Buck Wild Saloon, Coyote Ugly, The Stage, Tootsies and Legends. One of them was a Karaoke bar and all the singer that went up were better then American Idol! It was crazy. It was a great night of lots of drinks and lots of laughs!

Thursday was the last day of classes and the tour of the Bridgestone/Firestone plant. I went along to see it too. I think all of us were surprised to see how much actually goes into each and every tire. The plant was enormous with lots to see.

That night was the end reception with everyone. It was a great group of people who we'll keep in touch with and hopefully see next year at the second set of classes. Although we didn't get to see much of Nashville's attractions we had an amazing time. It's always nice to go somewhere new and have a break from the ordinary. But we're back to reality again....laundry, cleaning, cooking, and getting up early!