So I had a really great time in Nashville last week. I suppose I should have been blogging about it all along, but I was so busy having fun! Now that I’m giving you almost a whole week in a single post, I’ll just summarize and leave out a lot…

Anyway, I got into town on Sunday and hit the Bluebird Cafe. While I was waiting in line to get in, I met Dean Marold and we ended up grabbing a table and enjoying some good food and music together. One of Dean’s friends, Carrie Cunningham, had been selected as one of the songwriters playing that evening, and it was fun to know somebody who knew somebody who was playing… :o)

After the show, Dean and Carrie introduced me to Doak Turner who invited the three of us over to his place for some food. Doak cooks a mean breakfast, and it’s especially good after midnight!
 
Next day was Cinco de Mayo, and I slept in. Sometime after noon when I was grabbing breakfast, I made a new friend, Blossom, in the kitchen at the Country Hostel Nashville. She was just heading out the door for Illinois, but we chatted for a little while and then she decided to join me for the evening hanging out downtown. We went first thing to NSAI (Doak’s suggestion) and both signed up for memberships. Next, we hung out for a while downtown on Broadway… takin’ pics, meeting people, and listening to lots of good music.

Band playin in a bar on Broadway

After that, we ran down to the Station Inn and enjoyed listening to The Time Jumpers for the rest of the evening.

Time Jumpers playin at the Station Inn

Then we headed back downtown to hang out for a little longer with our new friend Douglas Roberts, a great guy who plays guitar on Broadway pretty often and also teaches guitar around Nashville.

Douglas Roberts plays guitar

Hangin with Douglas and Blossom on Broadway

Next day was LifeWork 2.0, and that was just amazing. Lots of incredible people, all kinds of good information, and just a really good time.

On Wednesday morning, I grabbed breakfast at Merridee’s with some friends from LifeWork 2.0 and got a chance to talk with Randy Elrod for a little bit afterward. What a great guy! For lunch, I got to hang with John Voelz (another great guy) downtown and then headed for BNA. My flight was delayed enough so I would have missed the last connection out of Denver, so I got a flight reservation for the next day and headed back into Nashville. Wednesday night, I stayed at a new place (Music City Hostel) and had a good time downtown with some new hostel friends who’d come there from all over the world.

On Thursday morning, I met some cool people on the way to the airport. Both flights went well, and I met some great people in the air as well, so I didn’t end up reading at all… just talking. :o) Now I’m back at my home away from home in Seattle.

How ’bout you? Been anyplace fun recently? Plans to go someplace soon?