The Dlog: Nashville
We have settled in Nashville with some dear friends Aaron and Sarah. We have been talking about visiting them for almost a year and they given us such a wonderful welcome.
Living in a house again has been very nice. Catching up on TV shows, showering every night, and using an oven has taken up most of our free time. In all seriousness, it's been really rewarding to fold into our friends' family and household. It feels like we are all part of a small tribe. Although, this may not be the most exciting and entertaining portion of our trip from an outside perspective, we are building relationships and memories in a very real way right now. That is something that we hope will enrich us as much (if not more!) than the sight-seeing and adventure of being on the road. We're super grateful for this opportunity while also looking forward to the adventures of our next leg and beyond.
December 18th:
Today we departed our friends. We are beyond grateful for this opportunity to spend time with the McNanys and to be able to spend a good chunk of time in this part of the country. These relationships and the time we got to spend together is why we chose to do this trip. So long, for now.
December 17th:
Sarah and Aaron took us out on Broadway in Nashville. This is the classic Nashville street with about 4 blocks of bars, all of which have live music pretty much 24/7. It was a slow Tuesday night, but we still saw some impressive musicians and got to experience the fascinating music culture of Nashville.
December 16th:
The older McNany girls did a spa night with Sarah and Jesse! They wore facemasks while watching Christmas movies!
December 13th:
Sham's first DJ show was today. This differs from a DJ set in that the production value is significantly higher and the people are going to this event specifically for the music. Comparatively, in a casual DJ set at a bar, the music is meant to be somewhat of a background for a setting meant for socialization, eating/drinking, etc. We got to see all the preparation that went into creating this production and finally seeing all of it put together on stage was brilliant! Super proud of Kenny and Shams for putting on such a good show. We can't wait for the next!
December 10th:
Sarah made her classic holiday Welsh cookies today.
Sarah also made sugar cookies and we helped decorate some for Santa Claus.
Bonus: Max cleaned the roof and gutters! Lovely view from up there.
December 9th:
This is a classic example of our time spent with the McNanys: Max and Ellia are making dinner; Lola is chilling in her bed; Aaron (Shams) and his collaborative partner (Kenny) are preparing their next musical show, and Sarah and Austen are spending some quality time together. This unique grouping of people really felt comfortable and productive. I love taking videos like this (Max calls them "Jesse Videos") which capture the environmental feel of a moment and this video captures a really wonderful feel for me.
December 8th:
Max and I went to our friend Shams' (our friend Aaron's DJ name is Shams) first DJ set at this sweet little bar just outside of Nashville. We left for the venue about an half hour before his set was supposed to start (it's normally about a 10 minute drive) only to discover that they had closed the major highway bridge into the city and were re-directing all the traffic to another bridge which was about 25 minutes away. Then, while we were desperately googling alternate routes, calling the event promoter, and attempting to navigate the manufactured traffic jam, the car dinged with the low-fuel warning. We only had 15 miles left and the route we we forced to take was 25 miles. The next 25 minutes were tense. Against all odds, we made it to the venue with 5 minutes to spare before Shams' set. He handled the pressure very well and ended up pulling out a super fun set for everyone. We are so grateful we could be there for such an important first in this project!
December 6th:
I bought max a set of juggling balls which he put to immediate use.
We took a nice little drive along the Natchez Trace Parkway and stopped for some tiny donuts sold out of an airstream camper.
December 2nd:
It snowed in Nasheville! We were not expecting to be in this kind of weather in the van. Definitely glad to have a heated house to stay in during this cold spell!
November 28th:
Thanksgiving! Sarah, Max, and I spent the better part of three days actually preparing everything. This meant that Thanksgiving day was sort of a breeze, but we definitely made enough food to feed an army. It was a friendsgiving this year, however we were unsure exactly how many friends would be showing up. There ended up only being a couple of people who made it for dinner, so we had lots and lots of leftovers.
November 24th:
We visited Percy Warner Park for a hike and a run. The weather was a beautiful 65 degrees and golden hour was just setting in.
November 23rd:
The artist Alleycvt was in town tonight so we went to see her show in addition to Sarah Benyo. It was an awesome show and we got to meet a bunch of people from Nashville!
November 22nd:
Today, we celebrate Austen's birthday. She requested a pink rainbow unicorn cake and Sarah did an awesome job bringing that inspiration to life!
November 17th:
We were invited to attend a backyard edm show. We were super unsure what to expect, but it ended up being a really relaxed and fun time! There was free pizza and drinks, local craft artists were selling their wares, and some very cool local DJs played on a surprisingly good sound system in the seeminly random backyard. The sunset was beautiful and added to the ambiance.
November 16th:
Dinner at the McNany's house :)
November 15th:
We celebrate Ellia's birthday on this day with a trip to her favorite taco restaurant and a cheesecake for desert!
November 13th:
We woke up feeling exceedingly well rested. We ran some errands in the van. Lola needed some booster shots, more dog food (maybe Ellia was eating it the whole time we were gone🤨), and she deserved some new toys for being such a good girl while we were away.
November 12th:
Flight from Orlando to Nashville after EDCO! After 3 days of dancing all day and night, we were exhausted and hungry. Once we got back from the airport, we ate a huge meal and Jesse fell asleep almost immediately. She then proceeded to sleep for the rest of the day, only waking for dinner, and falling asleep immediately again.
November 11th:
Our friend Ali stayed an extra day after the festival with us. We spent the whole day relaxing and chatting by the pool, got some dinner out and just had a lovely time. Our bodies were pretty sore from all the walking and dancing we had done, so this felt really nice.
November 10th:
We were finally settled into the festival at this point and could find our way around. The crowds were large which hampered our experience a little bit, but we ended on a high note and had a good time. We have so much love and appreciation for our friends who joined us. Y'all made the weekend!
An art installation/demonstration at the festival. These girls looked like they were having so much fun!
A special moment for me (Jesse) was getting to flow right up front at an INZO show with my friend Rachel. Rachel gave me a flowstar back in June and encouraged me to try it and its been a really cool community to join and a super fun hobby to pursue. And INZO is our favorite artist and has played a few very special sets for us. A truly wonderful moment!November 9th:
Day two was more relaxed. We had time to get ready without rushing and made it to the venue while it was light so we could explore some of the art installations. The weather was pretty hot, so we were resting a bit more and seeking shade!
November 8th:
Flight to from Nashville to Orlando. We had a very long day. We got up around 7AM in order to get a ride from our host Sarah to the airport. We landed in Orlando and got a ride from our friend Brett and picked up our other friend Ali. We all got ready at the hotel and hurried over to the venue. We had a nice time that night and got a lot of dancing in and got acquainted with the venue. Here are some photos from the evening!
November 7th:
Getting hyped for EDC!
November 6th:
More packing and cleaning today. Our biggest excitement came when Ellia was dared to eat 10 pieces of dog-food in exchange for a trip in the van to Crumbl Cookie. The ease with which she devoured that dog food is a testament to the power of sugar as a motivating factor. It was a silly late-night adventure. We ate the cookies with the pop-top popped in the parking lot and the girls hung out in the loft bed. :D
November 5th:
We spent most of the day cleaning and resetting the van: clearing out garbage, neatening the food and kitchen storage areas, running multiple loads of laundry, cleaning the cooler, vacuuming the van etc. It feels so nice to do this type of reset. There is just no good way to get to the persistent road-dirt when you are on the road.
We also began packing for the Electric Daisy Carnival festival in Orlando (EDCO).
Lola got acquainted with the three young girls we are staying with and they gave her a makeover!
November 4th:
We woke up in Edgar Evins State Park in TN. The whole camping area of the park are these elevated wooden platforms placed in a hill facing the reservoir of the center hill dam.
That morning we took Lola to the beach and sat admiring the sunrise. The drive out of Edgar Evins was a beautiful winding road along the shoreline of the reservoir.
