Nashville with Kathy and Bob!

Photo credit to Kathy and John

Toward the end of September we drove to Tennessee for another go-round at the Big Dog race, and we were very excited that Kathy and Bob came down to spend a few days in Nashville with us.  We always have a great time with them!

The theme this time was "public art", highlighted by a Boy Scout catfish - for some reason?  Bob even wore a similar colored shirt for the occasion:

Very nice autumn-inspired floral arrangement:

On brand for this city:

It was great fun demonstrating all the things our truck can do, including the logo accent lights (random but cool):

Bob got a look at the controls for a couple drives before taking over as our driver - thank you Bob!  :)

We love spending time with Bob and Kathy!

The Rivian fit right in at the Lane Motor Museum parking garage, with plenty of interesting old and new ways to get around:

Ready to take the racecar around the track:

Look out, no one's driving this thing!

We really enjoyed roaming around the museum - I had no idea there have been this many types of cars in the world throughout the years:

All colors and methods of entry:

And lengths and styles:

Interactive street art, as we were on our way to an awesome live music show:

We took an entertaining and informative tour of the Hatch Print Shop, including the chance to print our own little posters, super cool:

A favorite poster:

Getting a glimpse inside the shop, including little yogurt cups that have been repurposed as ink holders:

Dolly's star, with the "Batman" building in the background:

Apparently these treats are local favorites, and you can have them custom-made, so of course we stopped to try them (and yes, they are yummy):

Willie will tell you your fortune in exchange for a small tip:

Posing with Loretta Lynn not long before she died - rather crazy timing:

It's a tall mural, after all:

Creative public art is such fun:

We popped into the library to look for the seed catalog and found a really nice (and air conditioned) space:

You can borrow seeds, plant them in your garden, and then harvest more seeds to return at the end of the season.  Such an interesting idea!

We're not quite certain what Third Man Records is all about, but it sure is a curious place to see:

We went to The Graduate Hotel to see the Dolly Parton statue on the roof (we caught a glimpse from the top of the elevator) and were also impressed with the Minnie Pearl wall hanging in the lobby:

A short rest break from all the wanderings:

Kathy took a really nice picture of the wall art at the hotel:

Yay for big and little wall wings!

When the biscuit restaurant was unexpectedly closed, we pivoted to a "make your own pancakes" breakfast spot - something new and fun!

Indeed:

We braved an escape room, something new for Kathy and Bob, hoping we could at least have some fun and get partway through with just 4 of us.  The Nashville-themed room was great, and we surprised ourselves by figuring it all out:

That led to "more please!" and a really interesting jungle plane crash experience, one of the most creative escape rooms we have done.  Yay for puzzle solving with friends!

Every once in a while we pull Tug-E into a gas station... to wash the windshield.  Thank you for cleaning it off, Bob!

A wonderful balloon mural with an actual basket you can climb into:

There happened to be a Banksy exhibition for a couple days, and even if we hadn't been on an art kick at the time we most certainly would be here.  Someone had gathered a bunch of Banksy pieces and put them on display in a warehouse.  Street art on the walls, a phone booth sinking into the floor, and bananas hanging from the ceiling:

Iconic Banksy:

Throw flowers, not grenades:

And the other end of the extension cord running to the hanging bananas, too funny:

And finally, a picture that makes me smile, in our AirBnB where I was working on race gear in the loft - hello Kath, come on up!

Nashville with friends, another great highlight of the year!