10-24 to 10-26-2014 Gathering of Eric's Family in Nashville, TN

It's kind of amazing how this whole trip happened so organically, and we were happy to just go and enjoy the company.  Eric's brother, Dan, and his wife, Stephanie, flew in from L.A.  His other brother, Greg, flew in from Mississippi, where he had been working.  Greg's wife, Katy, and Eric's mother, Nancy, drove over from southern Indiana with our niece and nephew, Jenna and Jake.  There were also several other friends of the family that joined in for part or all of the adventure in Nashville, Tennessee.  It was a whirlwind, but a total blast!

Greg arrived at the exact same time we did, so we went to dinner at Demos', then headed over to Broadway.  This is the side
patio at Swingin' Doors (just off the main drag).  We were here when Dan and Stephanie arrived and joined us.

Greg, Eric, Stephanie, Dan and Cara at Swingin' Doors

Nashville Crossroads

Saturday morning we met up Nancy, Katy and the kids and walked downtown.  This was our
first view of Union Station.

We met up with Dan, Stephanie, and friend, Lynn, at Flying Saucer, which is inside a part of Union Station.

Beautiful bar and main dining area of Flying Saucer

Awesome indoor/outdoor seating area of Flying Saucer - the left wall is all garage doors that
can be raised in nice weather.

Sometime when we're in Nashville Cara does want to check out this museum...

Approaching downtown

This is the south end of the main drag on South Broadway ("SoBro").

As we were finishing our drinks in the first bar we heard a ruckus outside.  We stepped outside to see a solid stream of bikers.
We learned it was a "Toy Run" for children.  Several bikers were dressed as Santa Claus.  The police had closed down
Broadway, and it was probably a solid 5-10 minutes of bikers going by.

Jenna with one of the many horse statues at Wildhorse Saloon

Wildhorse Saloon is huge!

Three floors of fun at Wildhorse Saloon

Horses at the bar on the second floor of Wildhorse Saloon

Nice game area on the third floor of Wildhorse Saloon

What a venue to watch a band!

More horses...

Dan (looking western) with friend Conrad and his daughter

There are loads of people doing their schtick out on the street.

Legends Corner - one of many bars we checked out

Most people left early on Sunday morning, but Dan and Stephanie had an evening flight so we met up with them for lunch and to watch the football games before heading home.

After a great weekend the drive home was a bit of a bummer - due to construction on I-65 what should have been a 4.5 hour drive took 6 hours.