October 19

I just got back from Nashville on Thursday, and now I am off to Barrie, Ontario tomorrow to spend a few days with my old school buddy, Brian Hartzell and his wife, Carole.  On Wednesday, I am flying to England from Toronto.  I have an 8 day Brit Rail pass so I plan to see as much of England, Wales, and Scotland as I can squeeze into 8 days.  Nashville was great!  It was my second time there.  My gal and I took in to the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium, and we spent a fair amount of time on Music Row.  There is no shortage of entertainment in Nashville.  We also toured Madame Toussad's Wax Museum where we got up close and personal with all the country and western stars.  Last Saturday, we attended a college football game between University of Nevada Las Vegas and Vanderbilt.  Our airbnb was only a ten minute walk from the stadium.  On Tuesday, we rented a car and toured the countryside around Nashville.  The highlights were a hike in Percy Warner Park, a walking tour of Franklin, Tennessee (lovely town with antebellum architecture right out of Andy of Mayberry), and Lieper's Forks ( an authentic small village in the Tennessee hills).  The weather during our stay was gorgeous...usually in the high twenties.  Our airbnb had a lovely deck on the east side where we started every day with coffee.  All in all, a great holiday.  Flights were all on time and everything went smoothly.  Only misfortune was Deb spraining her ankle on our hike.  My next blog entry will be all about my UK train adventures.  Until then...