Side trip - Green Turtle Bay to Clarksville to Nashville...and back

Since we are moving along pretty quickly down the loop, we decided to take what loopers call a "side trip", since it is off the loop route. We left Green Turtle Bay in Kentucky, and went to Nashville via Clarksville in Tennessee. Nashville was too far for one day. We left at 7:15 and arrived at Clarksville Marina at 4:30. This is a scenic route on the Cumberland, very wide at first so it's called a lake, Lake Barkley. There were lots of marinas and homes along here, and some kind of gulls that followed behind our boat. I'm not sure if they are catching anything when they dive in the water, but they appear to be having a great time! We really enjoyed Clarksville. I'm calling it a "hidden gem" as I have never heard anyone talk about it. The marina itself is in a beautiful park area called Liberty Park. The Liberty Park Grill overlooks the marina and has amazing food, wait staff and friendly patrons who took our photo with our boat in the background. They have a cat that roams outside they call their mascot. The marina has a lone goose they feed also. He hangs around real close so it's kind of funny. They call him "Goosestof". Liberty Park has an event center overlooking the Cumberland River and outside they have a statue and tribute of the famous girls basketball coach from there, Pat Summitt. She was an Olympian herself and later a successful coach of the Tenessee Lady Vols. We walked to Big Lots for supplies on Saturday morning and then took a short Uber ride to downtown to an area called Strawberry Alley. Another famous person from Clarksville is Frank Sutton, who played Sgt. Carter, a marine drill sergeant, on the 1960s show "Gomer Pyle, USMC". They have a statue of him downtown. I got a photo of Tim with him. I bought a kitchen towel souvenir at Clarksville Collection, and the owner Jody recommended we eat dinner at The Mailroom. It was a very cool place and was a former post office. It had a large outdoor area with music and great staff and a beatiful sunset view. Also Downton was Beachaven winery , a local winery . They have amazing wines and they had a musician, Ray Landrum, who I say will be famous one day. She sings covers, but also played us many songs she had written.

On Sunday, after worshiping with our home church livestream we headed to Nashville and arrived at 4 pm.  It was also a very scenic route on the Cumberland and got some photos of some large and interesting homes. We had a reservation on the municipal dock which is across from the main downtown area, under the pedestrian bridge and next to the Bridge Building, a large event center, and Nissan Stadium.   We loved the location and scenic views of the city. There was more noise and crowds along Broadway than we had remembered being there before but it was Columbus Day weekend so perhaps it was more crowded. We could just be getting older and less tolerant of the noise.  We did find a quiet spot on the Twelve Thirty Club rooftop and had an appetizer. We had  hoped to watch the Packer game but it wasn't available there. For dinner we found a quieter place a few blocks off Broadway at the Hampton Social, which had a boat-themed decor, appropriate for us, and quieter music. As we walked back across the pedestrian bridge to our boat, we captured a photo of our boat from the bridge. 

On Monday morning, I tried my first InstaCart order and it worked well. I had groceries  delivered to the address of the Bridge Building as we could walk up and meet the driver when they arrived, just like Uber. It is easier and cheaper  than trying to Uber to a grocery store. We spent the afternoon and evening walking around Nashville downtown. We had already been to the Ryman Auditorium tour, so we checked out the new museum near there called The Museum of Christian and Gospel Music since we are fans of Christian music. I don't have photos from inside unfortunately. It had backstories of a lot of our favorite artists, many artifacts like costumes and guitars, audio and video of many artists. It had a sound booth where you could record yourself singing. We had lunch at Mel's Diner and the waiter Dontae had never heard of the Loop and was really excited about it so we gave him our card. We enjoyed music and rooftop views at Luke Bryan, Ole Red, Morgan Wallens, Legends Corner and Lainey Wilson. Also went to the Bobby Hotel rooftop, known for its Bus on its rooftop.  We enjoyed dinner at Sixty Vines. When we returned a cruise ship had arrived across from us called the American Symphony.  

On Tuesday we reversed course to head back to Turtle Bay. We went as far as  Clarksville and ate at Liberty Park Grill again. There were a couple other loopers there that day. Wednesday we headed back to Turtle Bay. Thursday we got caught up on some tasks, and then went to dinner at Lighthouse Landing Marina's Wake Club and captured beautiful sunset photos. I have a few photos from there and a few more of Green Turtle Bay that I hadn't got last time we were there. Tomorrow, Friday, October 17 we will head back down the loop route south to Paris Landing Marina in Tennessee. Will update sometime next week!