Anniversary Small TN Circle Trip

G and I had a weekend anniversary trip that wasn't on our anniversary. Our anniversary fell on a Monday. So, instead of taking time off from work, we planned a small weekend trip. We took a small circle trip around middle Tennessee and combined some Tennessee PTA work too!

We left for Nashville late in the afternoon on Friday, July 29, and in the darkness of night, we dropped off some items for the Statewide Leadership Training team. By taking stuff to the office, we were able to clean out a large amount of space in a bedroom in advance for Pixel's and her owner's arrival later in August. After dropping off the items at the Tennessee PTA office, we checked in to a hotel that was branded as 3-star Hampton Inn but it was anything but that level. Not a good choice at all. Luckily we got the first room on the first floor from the desk.

Across the street was an Amerigo chain Italian restaurant. I was quite surprised how good it was. Even G liked her food enough to eat it.

On Saturday, we gladly checked out early and drove down West End Avenue to Nashville's Centennial Park to visit the Parthenon again. We did not go inside this time. To read about our 2014 visit inside the Parthenon visit the link at https://orangejayhawk.blogspot.com/2014/07/nashville-parthenon-and-homage-to-athena.html If you never visited the Parthenon in Nashville, put it on your bucket list. Even my parents saw this on one of their many trips to the Upper Room that is located across the street.

We walked around the park and visited the large pond that is near the Parthenon.

After going to the McDonalds off of West End Avenue for breakfast (which was good to know because on our future trips to the state office we knew where the closest McDonalds was), we continued on our small circular tour of middle Tennessee. I wanted to take a different route and like G always says, you just tell me where to go. 

And a different route we took! 

We got on the 440 to 40 to 65 and then the Vietnam Veterans Parkway (highway 386). I was thinking that the state really needs to extend VV Parkway west to hook up with I-24. That would be a good transportation move for Davidson County. 

We stayed on 386 through Hendersonville and to Gallatin. At Gallatin we turned north onto 31E until we got to highway 52. Now 52 is an interesting state highway. It keeps angling northeast and there isn't much left of Tennessee before it angles back down to Celina. Beautiful drive but once the highway reached Clay County - whew, narrow, bumpy, curvy, nothing like it was before Clay County. The drive out of Celina on 52 is just stunning. This is the same stretch of 52 we used in May for our trip to Mammoth Cave. 

This time however, we had the time to turn off of 52 and explore another state park: Standing Stone State Park. What a beautiful park!

We left Standing Stone in awe. We were so glad we took the turn off 52 to visit. We got back on 52 and merged with 111 in Livingston and headed south on 111 to Cookeville. When we got to the Cookeville/Algood exit, we got off because this was one of the ways we used to take to visit David when he was in a dormitory at the University. 

And we stopped by the house he shared with 5 other guys the last two years of university.

We got donuts from Ralph's donuts  (the best butter twists) and a shake at Cream City. I love the décor inside Cream City.

After checking into a hotel in Cookeville, we enjoyed a nice dinner. The next day, Sunday, we headed home on the very familiar 111 route from Cookeville to Chattanooga. It is one spectacular drive that every Tennessean should do at least once in their lifetime. We stopped at the overlook outside of Dunlap. 

We finished up the anniversary trip with a dinner at Longhorn's Steakhouse in Chattanooga. What a great weekend trip combining PTA work, a mini-tour of middle Tennessee, and an early anniversary celebration!