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We lucked out today! The forecast had been lots of rain for all of Nashville, but after a small shower in the morning, things stayed clear for the rest of the day. For some breakfast we got some Cracker Barrel, swapping out our last books on tape. We really enjoyed "The Golden Compass", it's coming out as a movie later this year, looks good so far! We met Nate after breakfast, and gave Brian a call. He and Rachel have yet to explore or see downtown Nashville, so they went to do that while Nate, Dena, and I decided to go to Opryland Hotel, since I'd never been.
What a hotel it is! One of (if not the) biggest indoor inclosures, the hotel has 4 indoor gardens that are massive. Lots of waterfalls and walkways all over, so there's plenty to see. There was also a Red Hat convention going on, so it was cool to see all the balconies decorated up. There were hundreds of them! My favorite was definitely the Delta Island one, where there's an indoor river that goes around the central island where there are shops and such. Some of it was under construction, but it didn't detract. We took a small boat tour around the river, which was pretty cool, and they had a lot of info on the hotel. The most expensive suite is $3500 a night! Yegads.
After the hotel Nate was pretty hungry having missed breakfast, so we headed into downtown Nashville and got some food. Next door was a furniture store that had a lot of European designer items, so we went a browsed in there for awhile. Very nice things! But of course, very expensive. And then I went and hut myself. I'd like to say it was something dramatic like a motorcycle outside, or a bus that crashed through the front window, but none of that would be true. I was taken out by not even a rogue coffee table. Instead I was beaten by a coffee table sitting there minding its own business. I went to take a turn and my left foot decided it liked being where it was, so it stayed. With the coffee table as a perfect pivot point, I tried to bend my knee in a direction it didn't want to go. Amazingly I didn't break anything as I crashed to the floor, aside from my pride. My knee wasn't feeling to great either, but I could still walk. Or limp. But since there wasn't screaming needles of pain, I figured I wasn't too bad off. We made our way out of the store, where Dena and Nate proceeded to laugh at me, being the true friends they are.
We had planned on going to some botanical gardens, but since walking seemed like a bad idea now, we decided to go to the Oprymills mall and maybe see a movie. Getting there we saw that there was still a mass of people trying to get cast on Deal or No Deal (they had been on the news in the morning before we left the hotel). Strange people! Strangely there were no movies showing for the time we got there, with nothing starting until about 2 hours later. We adjusted and went to Barnes and Noble to hang out for awhile, and called Brian to see if they wanted to meet for dinner. They did and after they arrived we ate at the Aquarium, a pretty cool themed resturant in the mall similar to Rainforest Cafe, but a little less crazy. We debated on the usage of the name Murfreesboro in everyday speech, and then Rachel and Brian went to feed the stingrays before we left.
Heading to Nate's house we gathered around the firepit in the backyard, just laying back and chatting it up. Nate's housemates at first thought we were strange fire making burglars, but were quickly assured everyone was a friend. We passed the remainder of the night, but since 4 of us had some serious driving to do the next morning we couldn't stay too long. My knee was feeling better but still pained, I knew it was going to be real fun trying to sleep on it. Nate drove Dena and I back to our hotel, and we picked up some Icy Hot for me. Tomorrow we shall have to wave goodbye to Nashville once again!
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