There Flew A Bobolink

There's no place like home... to ignite the travel bug, that is. A friend's existential crisis turned into a spontaneous 6 hour drive weekend road trip at midnight to a city I hadn't planned on returning to for several months. At promptly 6:30 AM, my parents awoke to find the best surprise they could have wanted arrived at their doorstep... literally.
I have called Nashville, TN home for the last 6 years and have explored from top to bottom in that span so there was no surprises to discover. At least, that's what I thought. Being the only one in my company of my four closest friends who was familiar with the city, it was time to be the tour guide.
Music City is home to many must-see tourist places as well as several hole in the wall secrets. I had two days to show them what my city held and way too many options. So we hit a range of tourist must-sees and some of my favorite places. The Gaylord Opryland Hotel is truly a one of a kind. How many hotels do you know that have a river and a rain forest with countless waterfalls in it? This is the only one I know and you can get lost in it for hours. So that's what we did. After getting lost and working up an appetite from all the wandering around, we found our way to my favorite hole in the wall restaurant: Baja Burrito. With its trademark vintage Volkswagen Bug painted half with the American flag and half with the Mexican flag, this little restaurant has the best burritos in town, if not ever. We then made our way to see the Parthenon, Nashville's little piece of Greece and home to a just under 42 feet tall replica of the goddess Athena gilded in gold. The day was ended watching the sunset on the Parthenon before making our way back to my house to finally get the sleep we were craving.
Day two began with the Nashville Zoo, which just opened up their Kangaroo Kick-About, an opportunity to get up and personal with an actual kangaroo (and possibly touch if you could get close enough). With the sun shining and a nice breeze in the air, it was the perfect day to go to the zoo since all the animals were active and enjoying the weather. Our final few hours in Nashville were spent downtown. Up and down miscellaneous alleyways, Nashville hides its murals and random shops for those who chance upon them. All too soon it was time to hit the road and return to the reality we had escaped.
This trip was just the beginning. It is the origin of our new craving for adventure. There are no more excuses, just new opportunities.