Editorial Post: Vacation's Over

Even though Sarah and I have only been in Nashville for a few weeks, we've managed to get quite a lot done. We found some favorite places around town, and then quickly realized that those preferences will likely change as we discover more of what the city has to offer. We even did some of the touristy things that visitors "just have to do," like visiting the Grand Ole Opry, walking through downtown, and relaxing on the grass in Centennial Park. We even visited the Opry Mills Mall for an afternoon and ate at tourist central, Dave and Busters. More recently, we did something that I still consider to be a an experience that bridges local excursion and tourist attraction: touring the Yazoo Brewing Company. (Speaking of which, we also got to relish Craft Beer Week, proving that we certainly did move here at just the right time.)

Not all of our galavanting came from the pages of tour guides: we also hung out with the locals, taking our spots in the crowd at outdoor movies, free concerts, and locally appreciated venues -- not to mention all of the great musicians and bands we got to see. Over the weeks, we chased down a few food trucks, but then realized that we had only scratched the surface. And we even let ourselves splurge every once in a while on restaurants and food that wasn't from an aisle and that didn't require some user assembly.

With all of the running around and soaking in of what little vacation we had, we even gave ourselves some time to get to know our new neighborhood and the area around it. We found some great parks that are just a few minutes away, and I think we both realized that living twenty minutes from some of our favorite spots won't be that bad -- at least for a year or so.

Unfortunately, as with all vacations, our month-long tour of our new home has come to an end. Sarah has started her job, and I managed to get a temp position while I wait for something more permanent to come along. While the work means more money coming in and the ability to do things in town that require said money, it also means that we can't take entire weekdays to hop from one Farmers Market to another. We don't get to skip traffic by traveling in mid-afternoon anymore; instead, we have to join the rush hour crowds because we all got off work at the same time.

And, to our pup's dismay, we don't get to spend most of our time at home or out at a park with her. She, unfortunately, has to succumb to the same stifling treatment as we do, all of us regulated to our individual, far removed boxes. (Although, she has graduated from the kennel and now commands most of the upstairs for her portion of the day. So far, she's 3-for-3 on days without an incident of destruction, and we're hoping she keeps up the good behavior so we can eventually just let her have the whole house while we're away.)

Image courtesy of my wonderfully talented wife, Sarah Scott. For more, check out her blog at frothandaperture.blogspot.com

Despite the unavoidable fact that responsibilities have reemerged and bills require some (unfortunate) action on our part, we are thankful for the summer we had to get acquainted with this wonderful, new town. Going from asking "What are we going to do today?" to "When will you get home tonight?" each morning bring with it the realization that our time is back to being a precious commodity. However, these last few weeks have revealed an exciting fact: When we do have that free time, Nashville will always provide us with a good way to spend it. So, now it's really just up to us to keep asking "What do we want to do?" and always being willing to come at that question with an answer -- and one that doesn't involve Netflix.

And, of course, that means that you can expect a lot more to come from The Visiting Resident. Maybe a little less frequently now, but I'm happy to say that I'll always have something to write about.