A Visitor's Perspective

I, Casey Brown, am the first official guest blogger for this site. You may notice that this is the only grammatically correct blog posting on this page. I cannot help it that I was the only sibling to get the "brains..."

Top Ten Things to Do in Nashville/Franklin, TN:

10. Stare at big houses
Picture the biggest house you have ever seen. Now multiply that by three. Add a five-car garage and a Porsche SUV in front of it. This would be the smallest house in your neighborhood. Seriously...Kelly and I were in disbelief of all of the HUGE houses that were in neighborhoods like Village Green.

9. Feel sorry for the people in the big houses
We did not envy these people. We must only assume that these big houses are to make up for all of their inner emptiness. We imagine that of the 25 rooms in the house, at least 5 are dedicated solely to crying. And that just makes me sad for them.

8. Take Charlie for a walk
Or rather, have Charlie take you for a walk. And actually, it is more like a run. I used to think that Steph was the runner in the family. Now I see that Charlie is the inspiration behind the running madness. I almost wiped out twice--once for a bird and another time for a squirrel. I had to let go of the leash and save myself!

7. Eat
Kelly and I realized quickly that Steph and Jason eat out quite often. Their refridgerator has mixed vegetables and Healthy Choice fudge bars. That's about it...maybe there were some eggs? But no need to worry! They have every possible eatery nearby! We feasted on favorites like Jimmy Johns and mongolian barbeque. We had local flavors like the Pancake Pantry--with yummy sweet potato pancakes. And Jack's BBQ was wonderful! We also ate at Puckett's--at least I think that is the name of it. We walked to Maggie Moo's, and we journeyed to Ben and Jerry's! Delicious! I cannot wait to go back and try more.

6. Eat Mexican popcicles
These get their own number because they ROCK! I want one right now. And so does Owen. I highly recommend the chocolate-strawberry flavor. I will be back for more of these as well.

5. Hang out with Owen
Owen makes every city more exciting. His Uncle Jason gave him a bath. Then he proceeded to run around naked holding onto his "pickle" (Owen is the "he" in this sentence--not Uncle Jason.) He was a trooper: riding around from place to place, eating all the fun foods, snuggling with Charlie, banging pots and pans, and cracking us up.

4. Drive around
Jason loves to take the "back way" to everything. It is a great way to see the greater Nashville area. I think he gets lost a lot more than he lets on, but we played along as if it were all part of the plan. It is a pretty place to just ride around.


3. Hang out with Jason and Stephanie
What can I say! These two are great hosts! Stephanie works hard all day but still comes home with a smile on her face and energy to head out to dinner with her guests. Jason does something all day (I think he spends most days at Costco trying out all of the samples), and he takes the time to plan out great days that are fun and balanced. Also, Stephanie makes us laugh a lot! She talks about crazy birds named Cherokeets and shows us an imaginary map of Nashville that she can see on her hand. Good times!

2. Visit the sights
Opryland, music row, the Parthenon, downtown Nashville, the river, Centennial Park, the print shop, boot stores, ...there is so much to see. Next time, I plan to visit the country music hall of fame and an art museum.

1. Relax!
This is a great place to get away to hang out with Jason and Steph and to see the city. There is a great mix of action, but lots of time to unwind and kick back. I highly recommend a visit! It's a blast!