On the road again.........

Howdy from Marion, North Carolina! Andy had a business trip and I tagged along. We are making a little vacation out of it, and so far having a great time! We left Sunday afternoon and made it Nashville (4 hours away) around dinner time. Andy used Priceline to get us a great deal on a hotel near downtown Nashville, the Mariott near Vanderbilt University. I don't know if we've every used Priceline.com before (you put in the area you would like to stay and the price you want to pay, but you don't know in the end what hotel or what price you will get), but this was a NICE hotel!! And for less than half the price of normal fees!!

We decided to eat at Maggianos Little Italy and Oh My Goodness - is that place AMAZING!!!!


First, the actual restaurant was so quaint, very beautiful, high ceiling, gorgeous molding. I ordered the

Gnocchi, Tomato Vodka Sauce
Ricotta pasta simmered in a delicately balanced sauce prepared with our classic pomodoro cream and finished with vodka and roasted garlic.

It was to die for!! Andy cannot stand the taste of Gnocchi - thinks it tastes like raw pasta. lol More for me! Lucky me, I found a picture online of the Maggiano dish I enjoyed -


Now, I know your mouth has to be watering........OOoohhh, I want to go back and get some more!!! Our hotel didn't have a mini-fridge, so I wasn't able to take the leftovers.

Andy ordered one of the specialities, the Lobster Fettucine. He had visited a Maggianos in Chicago on a previous business trip and was so excited we found another one. He loved this dish! Also found a photo online -


Lobster Fettuccine
Lobster, Italian Sausage, peas and artichokes tossed in a white wine cream sauce, topped with house cheese and lightly baked to a golden brown.

One of these days, we will either 1.) remember to take our camera in with us or 2.) get a new smaller camera that will accompany us for our new blog photos!! lol.

Seriously, if you have never eaten at a Maggianos Little Italy, go to their website right now (click HERE) and see if there is one near you. They are a chain, but you would never know it. They are famous for the Southern Italian cuisine and their huge portions. We both ordered the 1/2 portions and were STUFFED. For our Dallas family, guess what???? There is one very near you!!! Here is the address:

Northpark
205 NorthPark Center, Dallas, TX, 75225
Hours:
Mon-Thurs 11AM-10PM
Fri-Sat, 11AM-11PM
Sun 11:30AM- 9PM CST
Phone: 214-360-0707

Papa, time to treat Granny to a special dinner - you won't be disappointed! Or, wait until we come visit and we will be HAPPY to take you there! Yumm!!! Oh, or better yet, they offer carryout and delivery! What holiday is coming up..........Mother's Day!!

OK, so after dinner I was still feeling really good and we decided to go downtown to see some honky tonks and saloons. Of course you have to do that in Nashville!! We walked Broadway Street for a while, and then we used my iPhone (lovely invention!!) to find the WildHorse Saloon. Off we went and had so much fun. We even danced!!! Yes, I danced!!! Granted, it was a slow dance, but I was thrilled. (Have I mentioned before how much I love my spinal cord stimulator???????) The band they had that night didn't play very much "true" country, so no opportunity to two-step. We were gonna try, had they offered a suitable song. Here is a photo I took while we were there:


We finally made it back to the fabulous hotel and had a great night's sleep. Got up and off this morning around 11am. Took our time looking around Nashville, and we had one primary goal for the trip - find more photo albums to help finish my out-of-control photo project we started last week. We quickly realized we had NOT purchased enough new albums and I kid you not, we looked at no less than 5 Costco's looking for more. We were thrilled to find more at the Costco in Franklin, TN, south of Nashville.

My iPhone is so neat - I can type in Costco and it will pull up any around me. Then give directions if I want. It has been invaluable to us and well worth the investment! Next time we go to Nashville, we will plan ahead more and take a tour of the stars homes - that would be fun to see where stars like Carrie Underwood live, for example.

Our day in Nashville was packed with fun!!

Have a great day!

Cheri