things i've seen and learned in nashville

1.  a 20 ounce diet coke is difficult to come by, but 24 ouncer's are plentiful.  i didn't check, but i suspect the same holds true for sweet tea.

2.  passing a mile and a half's worth of bikes (everything from crotch rockets to harley's) is pretty cool, but what makes it special is the guy on the side of the road doing wheelies in his wheelchair while giving the passing bikers a big thumbs up.

3.  in 2010 heavy flooding ravaged the nashville area (most of middle tennessee, actually) including a seven foot wall of water that surged through the gaylord opryland hotel, opry mills mall, and the grand ole opry. the storm and flooding cost 23 tennesseans their lives (total death toll was 32 including neighboring states).

i've been here a small handful of times since then and during my visit early last year, everything seemed to be mostly back to normal. -- except that opry mills mall had yet to open. one anchor store (outdoor world) seemed on the verge, but otherwise, it was a shell of a building surrounded by empty parking lots.  it had that abandoned 'ghost town' feel, and it was a little depressing.

i'll admit that i hadn't followed the progress, so i was pleased as punch to discover that the mall (next door to the opryland hotel where my event is) is fully operational again.  parking lots are crowded and there seem to be a lot of smiling, shopping bag toting, people going in and out.  seems like things are finally getting back to the way they were before!