My first 36 hours in Nashville!

Favorite Event: Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium

Favorite Spot: Frothy Monkey Coffee House

First Time: Staying at a B&B and visiting a new city completely on my own

Monday morning I packed up all my things and headed to the airport to fly out to Nashville. I can’t totally explain what compelled me to go to Nashville on this trip, but I just knew I had to go. I guess my pull was mainly driven by the fact that country music is one of my guilty pleasures. Growing up in a small, somewhat rural town, a lot of people listened to country. That was reason enough to hate country music, I guess. During the fall of my senior year of high school, I drove over to Colorado Springs to visit my dad and Kay, which is about a five-hour drive from Durango. For some reason, I couldn’t find any station on my XM radio that I could stand to listen to for more than a few songs. Then I switched over to “The Highway”, which is their station for new country hits. I loved that the quality of the vocals were actually something that I could appreciate and I felt like these artists had talent, which is a different breed than most of the new pop artists today. The rest of the drive I was hooked on country and my appreciation for the genre has only increased since then.

The other thing that swayed me to visit Nashville is that I always knew that I wanted to go to the Grand Ole Opry at some point in my life. Another station on my XM radio plays the Grand Ole Opry live every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday night. I had grown to enjoy the sound of it on the radio, because it’s an eclectic mix of older country artists and the newer artists. From what I could tell by listening to it on the radio, the show sounded like it would be a neat experience. Everyone said it was a must see in Nashville, since that is probably one of the top venues that has given Nashville its name in the country music industry.

I arrived Monday afternoon around 4PM and headed straight to my B&B to check in and drop off my massive amounts of luggage. By this point in the trip, I had been gone for 2 weeks already. As a side note, I packed literally enough clothes, shoes, and stuff to move anywhere on this trip. My mind wasn’t quite as clear and organized as it usually is after the morning events that led up to my departure from Boulder. Never again will I let myself take such a big bag. To put it into perspective, my bag weighs just slightly less than half of my weight. Going up and down stairs with it is quite a site to see! I was unsure about what to expect from my first B&B experience, but based on it being rated the #1 B&B in all of Nashville on TripAdvisor.com, I knew it wouldn’t be bad.

I pulled up in the taxi to a gorgeous Victorian house in a neat old neighborhood near downtown Nashville. All of the houses had either a Victorian or Bungalow feel about them, the trees were massive, and the gardens were beautiful. I walked up the stairs to a white partially wrap around patio equipped with white wicker furniture and striped blue and yellow cushions. Exactly what I was hoping to find from a Southern B&B! I walked in to find one of the Innkeepers chatting with another couple about what to do and how to get there. She was a sweet lady, but so scattered and talking a mile a minute. Her directions that she jotted down for the other couple and I were on note cards and consisted of drawings or names of landmarks for how to get where. They contained no street names, no addresses, and no phone numbers of the place. I knew that I would quickly need to get on the internet and do some of my own research about what to see in the neighborhood where I was staying.

It took no time at all to realize that I was in a pretty up and coming neighborhood. There were lots of little local businesses, restaurants, and bars within a few blocks walking distance. It didn’t hurt that I stayed so close to Belmont University as well, so there were plenty of cool college town shops spread around. I wanted to walk to a nearby coffee shop for a light dinner and to get a feel for the area. I pulled up the menu the one that was rated highest on yelp.com in the neighborhood only to find out that they had a great selection of breakfast food, salads, and sandwiches. Halfway down the sandwich menu I came across one called “The Ned” and in parenthesis they explained that it was named after Nederland, a town just up from Boulder, Colorado. I couldn’t believe that I came all the way to Nashville to find a sandwich named after the town 20 minutes away from where I live. I knew I had to go there to check it out after that, so I set out to walk the five blocks or so to the coffee house named Frothy Monkey.

I walked up to this awesome Bungalow style home that had been converted into a cute little coffee house. It was funky and comfortable inside, similar to most college town coffee shops. The girl at the counter was super friendly, like most of the people I met in Nashville, and recommended that I eat the “CalifornIA” for dinner, because it was light. It was sourdough toast that was topped with two eggs over easy, sliced avocado, sprouts and homemade salsa. It was amazingly delicious and their coffee was tasty. I had almost fallen completely in love with this shop as I sat outside on their front patio surrounded by bushes and flowers when I saw something flickering over the grass. Then I saw it again and again. To my delight, I realized it was fireflies buzzing around. They started to appear everywhere and I was like a kid in the candy store. Not growing up around fireflies, my heart literally jumps when I see them. I absolutely love them! The coffee house closed at 9PM and I headed back to the B&B. Fireflies lit my entire way home and I was ecstatic!

The next morning, I enjoyed my first B&B breakfast experience and was joined by a middle-aged couple from Albuquerque, NM and a younger couple from Pennsylvania. They were both friendly and had some advice about what they had seen so far and what I should take the time to see. We all had tickets for the Opry that night, so everyone was excited for that. I decided to enjoy the coolness (relatively so) of the morning and set out to walk over to a coffee shop near the Belmont campus that Niels' friend who goes to school at Belmont told him that I should grab a coffee there. It was a neat college town type coffee shop, but completely different from the Frothy Monkey that I had went to the night before. The baristas were not nearly as friendly and the place was buzzing with flies. I continued on my journey through a few more blocks of historic homes and huge trees to the Belmont campus. I wanted to see the Belmont mansion on the campus and just wander around. Now that I am done with college, I have a weird fascination with touring other campuses. It is a gorgeous campus with several old buildings, amazing gardens surrounding fountains, and a neat art gallery.

After a few hours of wandering the neighborhoods, I made my way back to the B&B since it was starting to heat up quite a bit. I couldn’t get the internet at the B&B to work consistently, so I went to get an iced tea at my favorite coffee shop. I spent a few hours out on their patio looking for places online to see in Nashville before I left. I got back at to the B&B in time to shower and get ready to catch a cab downtown to the Grand Ole Opry.

Since the flood in Nashville, the Opry was moved from Opryland to its original location at the Ryman Theatre in downtown Nashville. The Ryman was built in 1891 to be used as a tabernacle until 1943, when it became the home of the Opry. The show was broadcast live nationwide on an AM radio station from the Ryman until the mid 1970s when the Opry was relocated to Opryland. During the years that it was the home of the Opry, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and countless other big names in the industry performed there. The moment I walked into the auditorium, I felt like I was back in Catholic school going to church. The seating is all on wooden pew style benches and the windows at the back of the theatre are stained glass. I guess in a lot of ways the building is best described by its nickname as “The Mother Church of Country Music”. I sat next to a fun, mid-60s aged couple who were touring the South for a few weeks. On the other side of me were two guys from Toronto, Canada. It was such an amazing performance by country artists James Otto, Terri Clark, Bill Anderson and so many more. Each artist sang three or four songs and there were about ten artists total who performed. The acoustics in the theatre were amazing and everyone in the crowd, myself included, were completely thrilled to be there. If I lived in Nashville, I think I would have to find a rehab center from my addiction of going to the Opry for every show. It is without a question the best concert I’ve ever seen and definitely on my agenda for any future visits to Nashville!

Stayed tuned for my next post on the last part of my Nashville trip and a weekend out on the racetrack in San Marcos, TX!!

4th of July weekend in Houston

As I should know by now, especially by the events that led up to my trip, nothing ever goes as planned. My plan to escape to Nashville last week on Friday or Saturday didn't quite pan out. Hurricane Alex brought tons of rain, thunderstorms, and some flooding to the Houston area that delayed my departure. Not to mention the price of a ticket out of town on 4th of July weekend was ridiculous. I wasn't feeling desperate enough to head somewhere for the weekend to pay the price tag of between $550 up to $2500, so I decided it was a lesson in patience and to wait it out. Niels had already left town for work, so I was stuck staying alone at his place near downtown Houston. It started raining on Thursday night and continued to pour until Saturday evening. It rained like 6 inches on Friday alone, absolutely unheard of for those of us that live in the arid climate of Colorado. At first I loved the rain, because it cooled everything off. After it continued for another 48 hours, I felt like I had finally gotten my fill.

Sam, my friend from Durango who now lives in Houston, was in town for the 4th of July weekend. We went to the Galleria near downtown, because everyone said it was something that I had to see. It is a retail/business district that also encompasses a hotel. I had been to a similar mall in downtown Chicago over ten years ago, so it was interesting to see that style of development again. The mall itself is massive, I could barely figure out the mall directory maps to find the stores I was looking for because there were so many levels and sections. They even have two different macy's in the same mall at the Galleria, how crazy is that?! All I really wanted was a good coffee shop after I finished getting the few things I came there for, but of course that was a hard find amongst the massive amounts of chain stores.

Niels had wanted to show me this cafe in Rice Village called Croissant Brioche where they apparently have the best pastries, but we had run out of time. Fortunately for technology, Sam was able to look up directions to get from the Galleria to the cafe and within fifteen minutes we arrived in this awesome neighborhood of shops and boutiques. Such a stark difference from the mall and way more of my style. Since I was sent there to eat pastries, I did just that. Sam and I ordered three different pastries between the two of us, as well as lattes. We ordered a brioche, since it was the name of the cafe, a fruit tart with custard filling, and a chocolate croissant. It took us a good hour of great conversation to work our way through about 2/3 of each of our pastries as well as finish off our coffees. The pastries were absolutely delicious and the fruit tart was certainly the best I have ever had! What a perfect way to deal with the rain!

On our way back to Sam and his girlfriend's condo, we stopped by Niels' house to make sure it hadn't gotten flooded with the ridiculous amount of water that had accumulated over the day. Luckily, the main flooding took place several blocks away and everything was fine. We headed on our way up to their condo to feed and walk his dog and catch up more over some tea. It was so nice to finally get a chance to just sit and talk to Sam for hours, because since we both left for college, our visits are normally limited to an hour here or there before we would have to rush back to our lives in our college towns. We called it a night fairly early and he took me back down to Niels' house. He is my oldest close friend and I treasure my friendship with him so much!

On Saturday, Niels convinced me to venture out on my own in the city. I was terrified at first, because driving in Houston seemed completely terrifying. Stella, his car, has navigation which helped ease my fear of getting lost in the city. One of the places that he and his family told me that I had to go to was Spec's, an enormous liquor and specialty store. I started my adventure at Catalina, my favorite little local coffee shop, with a nice latte and a half hour of reading. I'm getting really crazy on this trip, can't you tell?! After the coffee, I plugged in the address for Spec's into Stella's navigation and was on my way. Soon I realized she decided to take me through downtown Houston. I thought I was going to die for sure, but thankfully their downtown is pretty quiet on weekends and it wasn't scary at all. Shortly I arrived at the superstore of food and wine and couldn't believe my eyes. They had every kind of meat, cheese, and cooking ingredient that you could ever need. Even their salt selection was two huge metal shelving units wide and contained everything from mineral salt to vanilla infused salt. Who knew that even existed? I sure didn't! The food selection was incredible, but nothing compared to their wine selection. It certainly rivaled Liquor Mart, our local alcohol superstore in Boulder. It was an incredibly neat store to visit and admire all of the variety of possible ingredients you could cook with!

Saturday night Sam invited me and some of his friends from work over for drinks and games. As this type of gathering normally goes, we just all crowded into the kitchen and talked instead of ever starting a game. It was a interesting group of people to say the least. His friends Erin and Kevin having been dating for about 6 months, both very sweet people. Erin is a good old country girl from Montana and is quite proud of her heritage. Kevin on the other hand was born in India and moved to the states when he was in elementary school. The other couple, Amid and Silki, were both born and raised in Houston, but their grandparents moved here from Pakistan. They both were totally content with staying in Houston for the rest of their lives and couldn't even imagine the idea of living in a small town like where Sam, Erin, and I grew up. The idea of camping was something that neither of them had any interest in and didn't plan to ever participate in such a weird activity. Kevin had gone camping with his family when he was growing up and actually enjoyed it enough to think it would be an important activity to continue. His family had always taken ski trips to Breckenridge in the winters and he definitely had grown an appreciation for small town life. It was such a diverse crowd and the conversations that blossomed that evening were interesting to say the least.

Sunday I ventured back to downtown to check out a different food superstore called Central Market. I think of it as a Sam's Club sized Whole Foods. Every type of fruit and vegetable that you could imagine, tons of fresh meats, and everything else you could want. They had lots of bulk food and even a alcohol section that carried Ska and Avery beer all the way from Colorado! I grabbed some delicious looking organic raspberries and Icelandic yoghurt that was similar to Greek yoghurt to eat for a quick, cool lunch. Outside they have a nice patio with live music every weekend, so I was able to eat right there and listen to the sounds of a local band! It was such a fun place to kill an hour! I found myself back at the Galleria after that to go to Nordstrom, a store which I can somehow never get enough of. Strangely enough considering the heat, I ended up buying a featherweight cashmere wrap. The sales associate was a sweet girl from Houston who is going to graduate in a May with a Marketing degree. She wanted to hear all about my trip and what made me compelled to take it, because she said she would never be brave enough to do something like it. I tried to convince her that I was that same girl up until I got the itch to travel a bit and live life a little more. I love having conversations which complete strangers that aren't all that different from the ones you have with your close friends!

That night I ran to the store to pick up the ingredients to bake some chocolate chip cookies, because I was starting to really miss cooking and baking. Up until that point I had really only cooked two meals besides a few breakfasts in the week and a half that I had been traveling. Niels' roommates who had moved out the week before had all of the baking stuff, so I had to buy some tin cookie sheets and all of the ingredients. Of course, the one thing I didn't think of at the store was a mixing bowl, which he didn't have anymore either. I ended up using his wok, which worked surprisingly well. The cookies turned out great, if I don't say so myself, and just as I finished pulling them out of the oven, I heard the familiar booms from fireworks. I went out onto his porch and was able to see two firework displays that were neat. Watching fireworks alone in a city that was foreign to me was definitely an interesting experience.

Monday morning I got packed up and ready to fly out to my next destination, Nashville!!!

First Stop: Texas

After 36 hours in Durango building our "Lily Garden" and spending time with family, I was finally starting to feel stable enough to start my trip. It only took me a few minutes on mapquest to realize that getting to Houston from Durango would be two nine hour days. Then I looked into the total cost of a room at a B&B and gas for all that driving and I started to question my method of travel. So last Wednesday afternoon, the day before I was supposed to set out on my trip, I booked a flight for the same cost as the room and gas. It was such a relief to know that my travel time would be 6 hours instead of 18 hours of driving and 36 hours lost total. I got up Thursday morning and drove to the airport in Durango. There are no direct flights to Houston from Durango anymore, so I had to take a short flight to DIA and then from there another short flight to Houston. The best part of flying instead of driving is that I could sleep during my traveling instead of being bored and exhausted from driving. By Thursday at 4:30PM I was traveling down the interstate in Houston!

My friend, Niels, had mentioned that his parents were headed out of town for the weekend and offered that I could stay at their house to watch their dogs and water their plants. I spent my Spring Break at their house about 3 years ago and fell in love with their home, dogs, and the fact that I don't feel like I'm living in the city. They live in the suburbs outside of Houston and their property is covered with incredible trees that must be between 75 and 125 feet tall. You can't see anything but blue skies and lush green trees when you look up at the sky, its beautiful. They have a gorgeous pool, as well. It felt like a luxurious vacation spot! I spent my first 3 days in Houston laying out at the pool and swimming with their dogs. It was just what I needed to feel relaxed! Here are some pics of their adorable dogs and beautiful backyard:

I have been eating well since I got here as well. Niels, took me and some of his other friends to his one of his favorite spots in Houston, Benjy's on Washington Ave near downtown Houston. He told me that they had the best scallops there, so of course I had to try them. They were cooked just right and served with steamed green beans over black Japanese "forbidden rice". They tasted like butter, just thinking about them now makes my mouth water again. They were so amazing that I ordered the same thing when we went back later in the week! For someone who appreciates good food, Houston is the place to be. I have yet to have a bad meal here honestly. I am loving all the fresh seafood the most probably. I had crab cakes my first night in town, scallops the 2nd night, homemade lasagna the 3rd night, and freshly grilled sockeye salmon the 4th night. No wonder so many people say they have a hard time not gaining weight when they move to Houston, I totally understand it now. It's hard to leave anything behind on your plate when the meals are so delicious!

The heat and humidity didn't seem all that bad the first few days that I was in town. It has rained everyday since I got here. Absolute downpours in the evenings with lightning that lights up the entire sky. I love Texas rainstorms so much, so I guess in a lot of ways I would choose this type of weather. The mornings have been generally sunny and gorgeous and then it clouds up in the afternoons. The evening rain really cools things off thought, so its really refreshing! Today was supposed to be a the day that Hurricane Alex hits Mexico and part of Texas, but as of now it is just overcast. I am actually kind of nervous to be this close to a hurricane, since I've never experienced any severe weather like it in my life. From what all the locals tell me, the worst that would probably happen is some rain and a bit wind here. All the alert signs along the interstates read "STORM IS COMING FILL UP YOUR GAS TANKS", which is only slightly disconcerting for someone who hasn't been near a hurricane. Hopefully it really will just result in rain and wind!

After spending my first 3 days in Houston, Niels and I drove up to Austin on Monday morning. We planned to take his parent's porsche, but Sunday evening we realized the convertible top wasn't working. After spending 3 hours at the dealership with it Monday morning, they determined that they didn't have all the parts necessary to fix it. The only way to put the top on and take it off was manually, which isn't really all the difficult. So off to Austin we went with the top down and the dark rain clouds brewing above us. It was already like 95 degrees as we left town and any time we slowed down we started roasting in a matter of seconds. The wind and heat of riding in the convertible reminded me of riding in my parent's boat on Lake Powell when I was younger. There is something about the combination of wind on my face and heat that puts me into full on nap mode. That isn't really the best thing to have happen when you are trying to stay awake to look at all of the rollings hills and small towns between Houston and Austin. After getting a frappuccino and a big bottle of cold water at a gas station, I was able to keep my eyes open again fortunately. The drive was actually quite quick, we arrived in less than 2.5 hours, because there was no traffic in Houston as we left or Austin as we arrived. From the outskirts of Austin to Downtown took no time at all, it was the easiest city to get into that I've ever seen. Nothing like the horrors of Houston traffic or even the traffic on I25 to get from Boulder to Denver.

We stayed right next to the Capitol in downtown Austin, just a few blocks from 6th Street in Austin. We got there around lunch time and I was on a mission to get some good Texas BBQ. We figured out that Stubbs (like the BBQ sauce you get at the store) was located just 2 blocks away from our hotel. It is in this really cool old historic building. I had a delicious shredded BBQ chicken taco with fried okra. I had never tried fried okra, but figured since I was in the South I had to try it. It was really interesting. Kind of like a tater tot mixed with vegetable tempura. I even got a local texas beer to go with it to complete the whole meal, which was fun. I am not a beer drinker at all, but with a meal like BBQ, its hard to choose anything but beer. There is an outdoor auditorium in the back of Stubbs that is pretty neat, below are some images.

After Stubbs, we made our way down to see 6th Street, which was surprisingly uneventful in the middle of the afternoon. It took me by surprise, because I was expecting something like Pearl Street in Boulder that has retail shops for daytime entertainment and bars and restaurants for the nighttime visitors. Niels had a friend who went to school in Austin and knew of some places to go to, so we got the names of where we should go from her and continued on our way. It was blue skies and so hot and sunny though, which made it nearly impossible to be walking between places for more than 30 minutes. We made a stop at a nice little coffee shop/bar called Halcyon and had some delicious iced coffee drinks and refilled our water bottles for our next adventure in the heat. Niels wanted to go to Mellow Johnny's, Lance Armstrong's bike shop in downtown Austin, so that was our next destination. It was an easy place to spend an hour for us, as we found some nice t-shirts, admired all the amazing bikes, and browsed through some interesting books on cycling. Downstairs they have a training center with stationary bikes and TV screens that are for virtual training, it was pretty crazy. There is another coffee shop at the bike shop, so we got some hibiscus iced tea and relaxed in the air conditioning for another half hour before heading out.

By that time, it was already almost 6PM and we decided to head back to the hotel to look at the menus at the concierge stand and make a choice and reservations for dinner. We decided on another seafood place called Truluck's in downtown. We got there around 8, and it was pretty quiet. There was a piano player in the bar, so we decided to sit in there instead of in the dining area. Unfortunately, this piano player was not so dedicated to playing and took several 20 to 30 minute breaks. At least while he was playing it was enjoyable though. I had a wonderful greens salad with apples, incredible goat cheese, and a deliciously peppery vinaigrette. The salad was to even out the unhealthiness of my entree, the fried king prawns and fries. You only live once though, so I had to try the shrimp and fries. It was as good as I expected, if not better. After dinner I had a great french pressed coffee and we ended up closing down this exciting restaurant at like 10PM. We were walking down 6th Street and the bars were all filled with live music. We ended up going to a bar called Friends that had a great blues/jam band playing. They were fabulous and we ended up spending a few hours there watching them play. The crowd was all obviously just enjoying the music as much as we were. They ranged for mid-twenty year olds all the way up to a couple who was celebrating a 60th birthday. It was really neat to hear such good music in the "live music capitol of the world".

We got up the next morning and headed out to get breakfast at this coffee shop/cafe that Niels had been to before. It was quite a hike from our hotel, but well worth the walk. I just had the traditional scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and rye toast. The bacon had a smokey flavor about it that was wonderful, the rye actually had caraway seeds in it to give it that rye flavor, and the potatoes had sauteed onions and bell peppers in the mix. I also got a latte there, which was also good. Jo's is near Ladybird lake in downtown Austin, so we went down after breakfast and had a look. It has a nice trail for running and walking along the water that is covered by lush trees. Our last stop in Austin before heading back to Houston was to tour the Capitol building. Again, the walk in the heat across all of downtown was a bit much, but like everything else is Texas, the Capitol building was overly air conditioned once we arrived. The actual building is beautiful with very elaborate wood and marble work everywhere you look. There are walnut chairs and desks that have been restored from the 1850s and artwork that dates back to around the same time as well. It was a tour that I am glad I went on for sure. We decided to keep the roof up on the porsche for the drive home, which was much more enjoyable in the heat and rain of Tuesday. We made it back in no time at all and our little mini vacation was over.

Yesterday, I spent the day at Niels' house near Washington Ave in Houston, just working on the blog and trying to decide where to plan my next adventure to and when to leave. It was raining all day, which spoiled my plans for walking anywhere. I met up with my friend, Sam, who is from Durango, for dinner and grabbed some incredibly cheap and delicious fish tacos from El Ray's taco stand on Washington. Apparently they are famous for their fish tacos and at $2.50 a piece I just had to try them while I was here. They were as good as I had hoped, just simple and good. Grilled white fish fillets, shredded cabbage, and cheese wrapped in corn tortillas. Afterwards, we went to see his girlfriend and his new condo just outside of downtown Houston. It was a really nice little place and their two dogs are adorable. Sam has a cairn terrier who is 6 and his girlfriend, Alina, has a fluffy 2 year old havanese. We enjoyed catching up over some delicious cardamon tea, while we were entertained by their dogs playing for a few hours. It is always so nice to enjoy great conversation with great friends while you are on vacation!

Today, I have spent my morning at a cute little coffee shop called Catalina in a historic building on Washington Ave. Niels is leaving town for work tonight, so we are going to grab lunch and wander around the Galleria and Museum Districts this afternoon. Tomorrow will be my last day in Houston, but I haven't quite decided where to go next. Unfortunately it is 4th of July weekend, so flights out of Houston are extremely expensive. I am looking into stopping by New Orleans for a day or two, then Nashville for another few days, then maybe leaving the South. The heat and humidity makes it hard to explore the cities on foot, but I feel like renting a car and driving everywhere won't allow me to take in the full experience of each place either.

Miss you all lots and lots! Hope everyone is doing well!