A while back, Pamela and I were talking about how fun it would be for me to go to visit her once school was out and I finally had freedom. So we planned for her to come and get me and take me back to Nashville after my chemo treatment in June, and she did. I had chemo on Friday, and on Saturday, before my symptoms hit me too hard, the two of us flew to Nashville.

It was so much fun to see her beautiful home and spend time there with her. Her kids were with their dad for the week, and so it was just the two of us there. On Sunday, we went to church and even got to ride in the Astin Martin, which was very fun. I only made it through Sacrament meeting, and so she took me home early so I could rest, and she went back to church to do her calling in the Primary Presidency. We spent the rest of the day talking and chilling, and she made the most wonderful homemade bread which we snacked on all week.

On Monday morning, we started things off with a wonderful walk in the neighborhood next door. We actually went for a walk every morning, which was so fantastic. After our walk, we cleaned up and headed to Loveless Cafe for breakfast – but really for the amazing biscuits. It is quintessential Nashville.

After brunch, we went downtown to the Country Music Hall of Fame. I had never been there before and was always curious about it. It was pretty interesting, and there was definitely a lot of history of how current country music came to be. (Other than Patsy Cline, John Denver and Kenny Rogers, I really didn’t like country until the early 90’s.) I did have to take a picture of the Lynn Anderson exhibit, since that is my mom’s name.

After wandering around for a little over an hour, my limited energy gave out. Luckily we had really seen everything except for the movies that they had to watch. We did have to get a picture with the giant guitar though.

When we got back to the car, I relaxed, Pamela put the top down on the car, and she gave me a guided tour of downtown Nashville, which was perfect.

I was able to rest some more as we drove to her part of town, and got a bit of a second wind when we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a super yummy Irish pub in Franklin. Downtown Franklin is so cute and fun, with cool little shops along the main street. We wandered through a bunch of them before my energy gave out, and so we stopped for Ice Cream at Kilwins. We also bought some fudge for later – yum! It was such a great day, and the weather was in the 70’s and amazing!! I was so grateful that I had enough energy to do some things, and then we watched movies and talked until my body told me to go to bed at 8:45 pm.

On Tuesday, we took our walk, which was wonderful. On our walk, we kept seeing cute bunnies everywhere, which reminded me of Pennsylvania. When we got back I chilled and worked on a few things on my computer, and I made a blackberry cobbler for later, while Pamela had some appointments for most of the morning.

It was a good thing the day was pretty low-key, because I was very tired and took at least 3 naps 😂. It also gave me energy for later on when we went out to a yummy Italian restaurant and then to the Nashville Temple. I love going to the temple, and going with a good friend or family makes it extra special. I loved sitting in the Celestial room with Pamela.

After the temple, we went to visit Pamela’s parents, who live nearby out in the country/forest. It was so fun to see them again, as it had probably been since Pamela’s wedding. We brought blackberry cobbler to share, and Pamela’s dad gave me the most beautiful cheese cutter and wooden spoon that he made. He is a very talented woodworker. By the time we came back to Pamela’s house, I was ready to crash for the night, but it was such a wonderful day.

On Wednesday, we decided to do a touristy thing and went to tour the Hermitage, President Andrew Jackson’s home. Even though I don’t love a lot of things he did as president, it was actually really cool to tour his house. And he actually did some good things as president as well, like give the common man the vote and expand the country quite a bit, which was a reminder that people are not all good or all bad. The house was beautiful and well preserved, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside.

After we finished, we drove out of town a little further, and went to the coolest place for lunch called Durci Chocolate, where they make their own chocolate, and they have a cafe. Every single thing we ate was amazing. Like you take a bite and you pause and sigh because it is so good. The salad and chicken salad sandwich were some of the best I have ever had, as well as the frozen hot chocolate.

And for dessert, we had the dessert flight, which we took home to enjoy, and everything was spectacular. We did eat the Pot de Creme there though, even though we were super full.

By the time we got back to Pamela’s, I was ready to get in my pj’s for the rest of the night. We spent the afternoon resting, hanging out while Pamela was able to hang some things up in her kids’ bedrooms (a two person job, even if did most of my part from a pillow on the floor), and then eating our leftovers and dessert while watching movies. It was the perfect way to spend our last night together in Nashville.

In the morning, we had enough time for one more adventure before we had to go to the airport. We went to the beautiful Cheekwood Gardens. It was very hot and humid, but the gardens were worth it. We loved the traveling exhibit with the train and mini-buildings from all over the country in honor of the 250th anniversary of our Independence.

Unfortunately, not much later, it started to rain, and then it started to pour. We took refuge under the biggest tree we could find, and it kept most of the rain off of us.

When there was a break in the rain, we hustled over to the Cheekwood Mansion and decided to tour that so we could stay dry. It was such a great choice, because it was such a cool place, as some of it was set up like it would have been the family originally lived there, and another part of it was set up as an art gallery. It was so beautiful! But the best part were the amazing views of Nashville from the mansion – we just forgot to take any pictures of it.

After we finished there, a very nice man who worked at the mansion gave us a ride back to Pamela’s car on his golf cart, since I was not feeling great, and the walk was about a mile. What a blessing!

Before we headed to the airport, we headed to a place called The Pharmacy, where I had one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. So good!! They also had fantastic fries and yummy milkshakes. It was the best way to finish off the most fabulous trip.

It was such an amazing week, but one of the very best parts was getting to spend so much time with Pamela – more time that we have had together since we were roommates. I am so blessed to have such a true and amazing friend ❤️.