Days 78-83 Nashville, Tennessee....

WARNING NUMBER ONE- LONG POST ALERT!

So, last Thursday the great day came. I was about to leave Iowa for the first time in nearing three months. I couldn’t have counted the number of people who had told me to ‘get out of Iowa City and see America!’ on my hands if I’d had thirty pairs of them. In other words, it was about time I finally got on the road. That’s not to say things haven’t been going well in the lab, in fact, before leaving I had (we think!) successfully ligated two types of RNA and auto-acylated them with my modified amino acid- the most success I’ve had in weeks and with qualitative electrophoresis-gel proof, no less. Still, I was ready to feel the (considerably warmer) Tennessean wind blowing through my hair and left the lab Wednesday evening rather excited.

A road-trip to Nashville was one of the very first things I discussed with my lab-mates, J and G, the day I met them at the Mexican bar. Both of them have family in Nashville and asked If I wanted to tag along sometime to see some of the States. Eleven weeks to the day later, J picked G and I up and we hit the road around lunchtime- heading south towards Missouri. 

our route from Iowa City to Music City….

'Hold the wheel while I check my
phone?' Student driving….

Drive-by Saint Louis Arch
at night...

The long-range weekend plan was pretty flexible but we were planning to be in Tennessee as soon as possible- save for a bathroom and subway stop, which was eventually followed by a ‘Gas’* stop somewhere in Illinois so that J and G** could switch their driving vs. sleeping road trip ‘jobs’. I assumed a dual role of ‘entertainment’ and ‘navigation.’ We saw the most beautiful sunset, and got a good glimpse of the Saint Louis arch, all lit up in the dark of the city. 

*‘Gas’ being Petrol, which interestingly is much cheaper over here. A full tank for a honda sedan costing only the equivalent of £26.00, from which we did about 350 miles. 

** J had been up of the night before cramming for a phys chem exam and desperately needed a sleep- since I have never driven on the right hand side of the road and hardly at all at high speeds, it was decided that though G only has a learner’s permit, It was his turn to step up to the wheel. 

Luckily, J’s car featured not only good gas mileage, but satellite Sirius XFM radio- Pop 90’s and Pop2K churned out many a throwback pop anthem that kept us crooning until we reached eastern Nashville (in a pretty giddy state, by now) where we dropped G off at his Aunt’s. One down, we headed to Lebanon, Tennessee, in the Nashville suburbs where J’s Mom and Step-dad live, around 1AM- at which point we were warmly welcomed by J’s super-lovely Mom and, thankfully, ushered into our awaiting beds! In the morning I was introduced to J’s sister, step-sister and step-father and the six of us headed to the family’s country club for an early lunch, overlooking beautiful views right across Tennessee.

WARNING NUMBER TWO- at least 75% of this post will be food/drink orientated. 

EMMA- SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN THESE TREES IS TAYLOR SWIFTS ACTUAL HOUSE

In the afternoon, I was taken to my first ‘real’ American mall- since apparently, as I was told by a bemused J, Coralridge Mall in the next city over from my apartment doesn’t count! I saw my first Nordstroms and Macy’s and J Crew and so many other stores- could have spent the whole weekend there alone! Next in line in my day of ‘Firsts’ was my first cookout (for which were joined by J’s sisters friends and her step-sister’s partner), first s’more (SO GOOD!) and the hilarious revelation that J’s highly-praised and much talked about vegetarian food pronounced ‘Keen-wah’ is actually just Quinoa, which I had been calling ‘Quinn-oh-ah’ my whole life! We found out in a similarly coincidental fashion that we share the same favourite cheese, which we then proceeded to scarf with pretzel crackers, yum yum yum! We had a fabulous night- wine, homemade hamburgers and plenty of laughing.

The Pancake Pantry

J’s Mom also gave us the local’s tour around Nashville’s landmarks that morning- Centennial Park and the two scale replica of the Athenian Coliseum, Music Row and the RCA studio B where Elvis recorded 150 of his hit records, the beautiful campus of Vanderbilt University and up-and-coming trendy neighbourhood, The Gulch, where we indulged in yet more shopping!

RCA Studio B on Music Row

WARNING NUMBER THREE- you’re likely to become a little more jealous...

I thought it would be impossible to beat the first few great days of our trip, but somehow Saturday night managed it. J’s family and I got showered and ready, and caught a taxi-van to downtown Nashville (whilst drinking the nicest cocktail ever to have passed my lips; Tequila, Amaretto, fresh lemon and mint with carbonated water and plenty of ice!). I have never before experienced the feeling of stepping out into a city and honestly having the excitement and genuinely pulsing atmosphere wash over me as happened in Nashville. Live country music blared out of dozens of open bars along ‘Broadway’, Downtown’s main strip and people everywhere laughing, dancing and drinking Jack Daniels! We headed to Rock Bottom, a rooftop bar overlooking the Cumberland river and had a few civilized drinks (diet coke for me, whilst it was still light enough outside for the waiters to care about seeing IDs!) 

From there we headed to an authentic honky-tonk, Rippy’s, where J’s Mom treated us to beers and deep-fried pickles (another unexpected delight!) J and her family had planned tickets long in advance of our road-trip to see the Chicago Black Hawks vs Nashville Predators ice hockey game at the Bridgestone Area, so I met up with G and one of his cousins, whom he’d been staying with, to spend the night absorbing the ambience of the Tenessean capital. We shared Jack Daniels and Cokes at another honky-tonk, cocktails and fried shrimp at Dick’s Bar and generally wandered the attractions of broadway, indulging in plenty of live country music. 

Later that night, I said goodbye to G and cousin and reconnected with J and her step-dad in an exclusive restaurant and wine bar, whilst the other’s enjoyed being over 21 and being allowed into bars after ten o’clock at night! (I literally cannot wait for that to be me too, in just four months time...) J and I ordered a couple of glasses of Malbec before meeting up with everyone else for the ride home. There was time for one more ‘first’ before we collapsed into our beds-J’s mom poured me a limoncello and we said our goodbyes to those of the party who were leaving on early flights the following morning. 

J and I awoke Sunday morning a little earlier than we had actually planned- we were supposed to be collecting Gibbs to drive back to Iowa City via St Louis at around 11am, but by that time, we only needed to glance out of any window to see that the weather was going to throw a spanner in the works. According to the weather forecasts, strong winds, storms and tornadoes were heading across the midwest. It was predicted we would intercept with expected bad weather along most of our route for the rest of the day. We texted our boss with the information, and he agreed with J’s parents- safety first, we would stay another day in Nashville and drive home Monday instead!

This unexpected extra day was such a nice surprise, even if the weather got in the way of our original plans. J managed to do some of her schoolwork, I watched a film, read some of my books and had a long shower, we then headed out to the family’s favored mexican restaurant for dinner (mexican, as previously established by this blog, is my ultimate cuisine, making me one happy girl!) I ordered sirloin fajita quesadillas and they topped off  our day of relaxation beautifully. That night, before our super-early start the next morning, we said our goodbyes and tried to get in some sleep before the 3.30am alarm. 

J’s generous and warm family made an exciting trip, even more memorable, special and just generally fun- and with an invitation to their Thanksgiving Dinner, I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again soon! 

We picked G up at about 4.30am and began our longggg drive back to Iowa City, J and I having a lengthy games of ‘noughties/nineties karaoke’ and ‘who’s iphone can capture the sunrise best’*** in the front seats, until the five hour mark when we stopped for an ever-nutrious maccies breakfast (totally different to the UK options, I feel I must note) and J and G swapping driving responsibilities over for the second half of the trip. 

*** Now is probably a good time to add that many of the above photos were taken by the more artistically gifted, J, and I stole them from her for you all to see what we’d been up to-many thanks!

We made it back literally just in time for J’s 2.30pm school labs, and G and I headed into work for the afternoon- running on little more than four hours sleep in the last forty-eight this proved to be a little over-ambitious! I prepped six DNA sequencing reactions, laughing hysterically for no reason other than the delirium of exhaustion, and realized it was finally time admit the road-trip had ended to go back to my apartment. 

I’m usually pretty stoic about this sort of things, but I have to admit, I kind of unexpectedly fell in love with Nashville and even more in love with traveling- can’t wait for some more trans-USA trips in the near future!!!! 

Wow, what an essay!

Hope everyone’s well, only 24 days until I head home for Christmas- exciting!

Love love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx