On To Nashville and Vanderbilt University

View From Our Window at 7:50

It's 6:50 and cold, 34º, with some dusting of snow in the areas, as I sit in the lounge of the Hampton Inn, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I might have to get out my stocking cap and gloves for our visit with our granddaughter, Marisa, a freshman at Vanderbilt in Nashville, about a two-hour drive from here. 

Neither of us, I assume, was excited about an eight-hour drive and it did not get off to a great start as it started to snow as we got into our car.  Fortunately, it was just a dusting of that and we had decent weather the entire way although mostly cloudy skies.  We have been on this drive at least two or three times so our only angst was driving through Cincinnati, a nightmare last Spring but easy yesterday, no detours, and the bridge was not being worked on. 

Bridge Over Ohio River

We did have quite a bit of traffic on #71 heading to Columbus because of Ohio State football fans and stopped for a breakfast sandwich at Mc Donalds, packed with people, and later for gas just before driving through Columbus.  As always, I am struck by the flatlands of Ohio, especially those between Columbus and Cincinnati, as fields seem to stretch to the horizon, like Kansas. 

Emergency Vehicles And Helicopter

About 20 miles from Columbus, traffic was backed up for miles because of the horrific accident on eastbound #71, with three or four ambulances and a helicopter blocking traffic.  The drive through Kentucky, in contrast to Ohio's flatlands, was hilly, with the leaves still spectacular rust and orange. 

The Hills Where Bourbons Are Made

We arrived at our Hampton Inn just before 4:00, an eight-hour drive as expected.  We are staying in a food and motel heaven, as we are surrounded by other hotels and various eating places so it's a common stop for travelers going north or south.  It felt good to get out of the car and relax in our hotel room for a couple of hours, watching TV and relaxing. We left for dinner at 6:00 and our first stop was a Texas Roadhouse, with a gaggle of people waiting to sit.  After checking around, we found out they had only three waitresses for the entire restaurant, one person sitting at the bar so we left.  We then went to Ruby Tuesdays, were disgusted by its looks, especially the messy salad bar.  

Hibachi Dinners

So we went back to the sushi restaurant we ate at last Spring called Shogun.  It was a good choice as we found a seat at the bar so we did not have to wait for a table, the entrance packed with people waiting.  We had an efficient and helpful bartender although, at his suggestion, we ordered the hibachi dinner for two.  One would have been enough as we got soup, salad, and a dinner plate of shrimp, chicken, veggies, and rice to go with our appetizer of calamari.  We left stuffed, our plates half-eaten, and waddled back to our Inn. We were obviously tired from our drive, ready for bed, some TV or reading and sleep.