For 16 years, my family has taken the same trip to New York twice a year . My mom also tries to plan at least one trip a year for the family to discover a new area. We’ve been to Canada, England, Scotland and all around the eastern United States. Although we have been many places, there are also areas that remain undiscovered to us. At 20 years old, it is time for me to discover those areas.
We were at the doctor’s office when I joked to Samantha, my sister, “we could just run away to Nashville” in response to an angsty comment about how much she wants to leave home. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her sit up straight and become slightly more attentive to my presence. Her gaze then shifted to mom, who sat in the fabric covered seat in a corner of the small room. Mom’s eyes poked out from behind the magazine she was reading, and then she closed it knowing we were about to have a long conversation.
It wasn’t until later that night when we went to dinner with my father that the decision was made. He agreed to let us go by saying “that’s the only Father’s Day present I need,” then proceeded to eat his meal.
At 7 a.m. Sunday, the car was packed and we were ready to go. Mom and our father went to breakfast with us where we sat down at a sticky table and ate blackened pancakes. When mom finished the last sip of her watered-down coffee, everyone got up and into their cars. Mom and our father went back home, and Samantha and I headed North. Samantha cuddled up in the passenger seat under her light brown blanket that is big enough to cover the top of my Subaru.
Around two hours into the drive, my tank was half empty, so we decided to stop for gas. We were already in Tennessee, just outside of Chattanooga, and the first gas station off the exit was also a firework/souvenir shop. Within the 10 minutes of being there, a giant wasp chased me at the pump, a little girl nearly knocked down the door to the one-person bathroom I was in and two men dressed in all camo yelled “Go Vols” to me as a greeting.
Once we arrived in Nashville, it was noon and check-in to our hotel was at 4 p.m. To kill time, Samantha suggested we walk around the Opry Mills Mall, which was only 20 minutes from where we were staying. So, for four hours, the two of us walked around this incredibly nice shopping center, ate lunch and lingered in some stores just to pass the time. This was difficult for us, considering we are polar opposites. Samantha loves the mall, while I’m pretty much over the idea after walking through the doors. The first argument happened when we only had an hour left until check-in. So, instead of sitting and not talking at a table in the middle of the food court, we decided to just head over and hope that our room was ready.
The room was not ready. It was around 3:30 p.m. which meant we were early. Michael, our front desk assistant, said he would call when our room was ready. He recommended we walk around the city for a while, and that sounded nice at first, until we turned to the window and saw it was pouring rain outside. For the next hour and a half, our time was spent on the furniture of the Hilton lobby. While we waited, thunder and lightning entertained me, a woman filled her tiny plastic cup with complimentary lemon water by picking up the water dispenser and pouring from the top of the container instead of the spout, and a man yelled at a woman about wanting a room that was allergen-free. If you were wondering, yes, the man got his room.
Once Michael called us about our room, the rain had stopped. We had a room on the 10th floor, the top floor. Our view was nice, we could see the amphitheater, the baseball stadium and a nice bridge right next to Cumberland River. The rest of the night was meant to be dedicated to exploring. Instead, we ate dinner, worked out and swam on the rooftop pool until the stars came out.
