Dietz Summer Road Trip

After 8.5 hours and, unbenounced to us, crossing into Central time zone, we arrived in Nashville, TN!!
We stayed at the Homewood Suites near the airport. Again, it was 100% free since I booked with my Hilton Honors points. Nice thing about Homewood Suites is they have a nightly reception Mon-Thurs. which included free beer. 

 
Our hotel (along with what appeared to be every other hotel near the airport) had an agreement with a local shuttle company. So for $10 round trip we got picked up right outside our hotel, driven 15 minutes to downtown, and next thing you know we are on Broadway! 

 
We had reservations at Merchant’s. A really cool, historic restaurant right in the midst of the honky tonks. They have a downstairs and upstairs. The upstairs being just as noisy, but dimmer lite, fancier, and a finer menu. After all we were celebrating Danielle’s 30th birthday. We sat upstairs, overlooking Broadway and enjoyed a great dinner! It started with homemade chips with 3 dips (French Onion, Pimetto Cheese, and Truffle). Accompanied by bread and butter that tastes more like honey. John did in fact use the butter as a 4th dip for the chips! 
Our entree was Pan Roasted Chicken! Thy split the portion for us perfectly. It should also be mentioned that we enjoyed some local brews from Yazoo, Jackalope, and Hap and Harry’s. 

Dessert came with a candle in it for Danielle! John had told the waitress about the road trip and birthday  we got a free Lemon Tart and a hand written note from the staff wishing us safe travels on our adventure. 

The night would not have been  complete if we didn’t spend the rest of the night going to the Honky Tonk bars  . After a few we went to wait for the shuttle thinking it came every 30 minutes, later finding out it was every hour on the half hour. After 40 minutes and a few laughs from a drunken hen party from Iowa, we boarded our shuttle and headed back to the hotel. 
  
It was a great birthday and a great start to the trip!