♫ Music City Get Together ♫ – First Stanza

Last year, we met our daughter and her family in St. Louis for a 3-generation get together.  And with her in-laws living close by, we even got to see them for a couple of days when they drove over.  It was a too short visit, but it turned out to be a great one.  This year, our daughter asked us to meet them in Nashville for a week where her husband’s brother and his family live.

That morning, before boarding their flight from Seattle, our daughter had texted us the address and the check-in instructions for our rental house.  It was quite a lengthy text from the host.  My wife and I had rented a number of vacation homes over the years, so I was very familiar with the typical policies such as no pets and no parties.  But the one that surprised me was “No confetti” which came with a $50 fine for violators.

Our drive over from Memphis was an easy three hours with no issues.  As we neared Nashville, my wife mentioned the host text, and I asked her about the odd confetti rule.  Well, she asked me, didn’t you know that Nashville had become a hot bachelorette party town?  No, I did not but I guess that explained the rule.

We got to the house first and let ourselves in.  I saw no evidence of prior confetti use, but I could see that this might be a popular bachelorette rental.  Between the framed musician photos…

 … and the fluorescent Johnny Cash song lyric …

…I could see how the décor could get young party-hungry ladies into a celebratory frenzy.

No sooner had we settled in that I learned that my daughter’s in-laws had also driven down from Illinois for the visit.  I was delighted to find out we would get to see them as well as we have grown quite close to them over the years of our daughter’s marriage.  And every time we have been together, I have learned so many scientific and practical things about their farming lives.  Not to mention enjoying some of the delicious corn and tomatoes they have grown on the farm that they often share with us.  And over the next five days, we got a wonderful chance to spend time with some or all of our son-in-law’s family.

On our first morning, we got a chance for all of us to get together at a nearby park where the grandkids played.  The weather in Memphis the week before had been miserable with highs in the upper 90s.  In contrast this week, the weather in Nashville was delightful with temperatures in the 70s, so it was a wonderful break from the extreme summer heat we had suffered through.  In fact, after leaving the park and visiting a well-known bookstore, we were even able to eat lunch outdoors at a nearby restaurant.

Later that afternoon, we went over to our son-in-law’s brother’s house for a visit and dinner.  It was the first time for my wife and me to meet his brother’s wife and daughter.  It was a fun filled evening and also a great chance for the cousins to play together.

The next day, we decided to all go to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.  Before going, there was some discussion about how it might be expensive for all of us to get in and sure enough, once we arrived, we learned the admission would be $60 per couple.  But interestingly, just as we reached the head of the line to purchase our tickets, the power went out.  After some brief discussion with the ticket sellers, our credit cards were returned to us with handwritten notes to let us in for free.  As we walked in, I commented that that was the first time ever that a power outage had been a good experience.

Before we had walked very far into the zoo, the grandkids spotted a fabulous play area, and they raced over to it.  There was a very nice, shaded area where all six of us adults had a great conversation catching up while the boys played.  Then it was off to see some animals.

 But before we had encountered any typical zoo animals, the boys saw a sign for farm animals.  They excitedly said we should go there first.  On our way to get there, we passed this old historic home.

As we walked by, we noticed a sign that a guided tour would start in just a few minutes.  We all thought it would be interesting to take in the tour to learn why there was an old home in the middle of the zoo.  It was a most interesting and informative half hour tour and through it, we learned that when the last living relatives of Grassmere (the home’s name) passed away, the house and property were donated to a nonprofit organization with the stipulation that it would always be retained as a learning farm.   A few years later, it was further decided to relocate the zoo to the property.

Between the playground time and the guided tour time, everyone was ready to eat some lunch and since we had certainly gotten our money’s worth, we left without seeing any more of the zoo, other than the gift shop of course.

That night, everyone came over to our rental house for another nice visit.

The next morning, we headed over to the Marathon Motor Works.

This was a car company I had never heard of which had only been in operation for less than a decade in the early 1900s.  Over the years since, the building had been used for many other commercial operations and currently had been repurposed to house a number of small shops and businesses.  All the old well-worn floors and walls are still in place and throughout the hallways outside the current businesses, there are displays of photos and pieces of the original equipment used to manufacture the cars.

The Marathon cars looked much like any other cars of the era, but a most interesting fact was that it was a Marathon car…

… that laid out the first state highway from Memphis to Bristol, TN.

They also had some vintage Marathon cars on display.

     To be continued…