Nashville Road Trip with Friends

For a couple years now, Heather and I have planned on taking a day trip to Nashville to walk on the pedestrian bridge and drive around downtown in music row.  Whether it was one thing or another, we kept missing out on opportunities to go.  A couple weeks ago, her husband had to work and mine was out of town, so Heather, Zoe and I loaded up the car and headed south for the day.  We planned on going to Marcy Jo's Mealhouse for breakfast which is about an hour on the other side of Nashville and then to drive back into Nasvhille to walk the pedestrian bridge.  The weather on this day was pretty chilly, but beautiful and sunny!

An unattractive selfie at a Tennessee rest stop.  Did I mention it was sunny and the sun was in our eyes?  That coupled with the wind and my jacked up selfie stick and this is what you get!

I had seen pics of Marcy Jo's before and thought it would be a neat road trip to go eat it, and the pics of the food looked delicious.  It wasn't until I started following the blog of Joey and Rory that I realized that Marcy Jo was the sister of Joey.  Joey and Rory lived just down the road from the restaurant so we wanted to drive by their house too.  Earlier this year, Joey passed away from her two-year battle with breast cancer.  You can read all about them in their blog. If you are a reader of their blog, the restaurant and their home will be all too familiar.

The following was taken off of the back of the postcard I bought while there:  Marcy Jo's Mealhouse - On the corner on Highways 99 and 431, in the small community of Pottsville, TN sits a refurbished old mercantile store built in the 1890's.  Once a major gathering place for the farmers and families of the area, it's now a charming country restaurant, thriving with new life, great fellowship and food.  Opened in January 2007 by sisters-in-law Joey Martin and Marcy Gary, the eatery has quickly become one of the most popular restaurants and music venues in middle Tennessee.  Whether it's the breads and bakery items that are homemade every morning or the gourmet country cooking that came from family recipes, you're sure to love your visit.  You never know, Joey and Rory might even pull out their guitar and sing you a song while you're there.  If you're in the area stop in and visit.

Our breakfast was really good.  The three of us shared this huge cinnamon with delicious cream cheese icing.

Heather and I both had the french toast breakfast - mine was stuffed with strawberries and cream cheese, hers was plain.

And then Zoe had the biscuit and gravy breakfast.  While my breakfast was good, that biscuit and gravy was really good!  This place is definitely going to be added to our stop anytime we travel south for vacations.

And this is Joey and Rory's Tennessee farm.  Once again if you are a blog reader of theirs, then you will be familiar with their farm.

Traveling back down the road I noticed alot of turkey's in the field.  Upon closer look, they were vultures...

...mealing on a buffet of cow!  BLECH!

We finally made it back into Nashville to walk the pedestrian bridge.  It was definitely chilly on the bridge that day and really windy.  Our hair can attest to that!  Not the most flattering pictures to follow, but we had a great time making memories!

And as cold as it was, I couldn't believe all the people out and about hanging out in Nashville listening to tunes and enjoying their drinks of choice.  

Tuckered out.  It's hard work sitting in the back seat and doing nothing.  

We stopped in Bowling Green for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants - Chuy's.  Thanks Heather ;)

Gatlinburg Vacay 2015: Day 8, Saturday, October 24

I'm sad to say this is our last day of vacation and it's time to pack up and head home :(  I'm definitely going to miss being here, but I'm looking forward to being back at home with all of my furbabies.  We didn't get to do everything I had planned for us to do, so we'll have to come back and do them, and lots more that I'll find for us to do, along with some of our old favorite places to visit!

We got up pretty early this morning and got ready, finished packing, and then loaded up the car.  When the Glenn's travel, we look like the Clampett's with all of the stuff we take!  This picture is minus the set of golf clubs, camera bag, cooler, snack bag, and 85 jackets and coats that were already in the car!

Time always got away from us and we never had a chance to stop at any of the pull-offs for pictures in front of the signs, so here is a quick one taken with the selfie stick on our last morning.  My camera and lens won't stay on the tri-pod I have, or the one I borrowed for vacation, so this was it.  I'm so glad I bought that selfie stick!  HAHA!!

The whole week, we never got a chance to stop for breakfast at any of the pancake houses either, so we made a stop at the Log Cabin Pancake House.  We ate here one time while on our last vacation and it was yummy so this is where I wanted to go this morning.

As usual, the line was out the door and once inside the place was PACKED with people!

Shawn ordered a sausage and cheese omelet and strawberry crepes, and then I ordered the spicy apple french toast breakfast that comes with sausage links, and I added two hard fried eggs  The food was just as yummy as I remembered it.

After dealing with the traffic trying to get to the restaurant, the traffic trying to get out of the restaurant, and then the traffic at the gas station, I was ready to get the heck out of dodge!  We both wanted to make a stop at the outlet malls, but after all that, I turned that car on the Dolly Parton Parkway and took the back roads all the way into Seiverville to avoid all that mess.  I definitely don't have the patience to sit in all that traffic.  I'm so thankful that we never really encountered any of the traffic that most people talk about while we were here.  

I found this Snickers candy bar's wrapper appropriate for my mood at one of our stops on the way home and bought it!  I had a headache the whole way home!

We were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather the whole week, except the day we left and it rained and was cloudy the whole way home.  

We got home around 6:00 p.m. and came in to discover this ham bone in this house with Nan and all of our furbabies!

Yes, you can say they missed their mommy! And their mommy missed them. Hershey and Reese are laying on me, Molly is close by, and Sassy is laying there thinking "I'm glad you are home Stace, now get your dogs away from my mom!"  

I would say that Molly has missed me the most!  She hasn't stopped talking to me and telling me about it since the moment we came in the house.  

I always like to get right on top of the laundry once we come back from vacation, otherwise it'll take me forever to get it going.  Thankful that the ham bone was at my house.  He was a big helper to me!

After unpacking, loving on my animals, and doing laundry, me and little man hit the hay and he was snug as a bug in a rug sleeping in Uncle Shawn's spot!

Vacation is over, and reality has set in.  We had a GREAT time on vacation and can't wait to go back.  Gatlinburg and the Smoky Mountains are one of my favorite places to be.  We were so blessed with awesome weather and sights.  Seeing all those bears definitely thrilled me!  I also loved exploring all of the new places we went, restaurants we tried, and making new memories.  But most of all I loved spending some quality time with my husband.  We both work hard, and work different hours, so we don't get to spend alot of time together.  I'm thankful for God putting him in my life at just the right time.  God's timing is always perfect!