Two Canadians walk into a Nashville bar...

With fall here and our friend, Sharon, and her niece, Lauren, in for a visit from Canada, we found a few fun autumn-themed things to do in the Nashville area for the long weekend while they were here:

Saturday, October 21 -  We checked out a quite large Nashville Predators-themed Corn Maze over at Lucky Ladd Farms in Eagleville, TN today.

Here's an overview of the corn maze (photo stolen from The Nashville Predators email).

We made pretty quick work of the corn maze and its six check-points.  We think the goat did it with the corn cannon in the outhouse (don't ask...you had to be there).  This was our first visit to this area and the Lucky Ladd Farm is a huge complex with a lot of activities besides just the corn maze which made it a good experience for us since the crowds were huge when we arrived but evidently spread out and not just packed onto the narrow trails in the tall corn.

We moved on from the farm to the vineyard with a late afternoon/evening stop at the beautiful, and also quite busy, Arrington Winery, for a picnic with some sketchy cheese (thanks, Eagleville Market and Deli) and several bottles of their pretty darn good wine.  

The evening continued pretty late when we got home with a backyard fire and s'mores along with, you guessed it, "s'more wine." ( Thanks for the photo, Sharon).

Sunday, October 22 - It was another day of sightseeing and revelry in and around Nashville today...we headed to the 12 South area first for a little shopping and a little sipping at The Filling Station which has an amazing selection of craft beer.

Per Lauren's request, we located several large murals around Nashville, some of which Ashlee and I hadn't even seen before.  Evidently, our little big city is known for them now and they have become quite a collection to seek out by visitors.  

We had an early delicious dinner (and more drinks, of course) at Saint Anejo Cantina in The Gulch where we met up with our long, long-time friend, James (Doug) Garza who I went to college with back at Tennessee Tech many moons ago.  We both said that neither of us had changed much over the many years and  we quickly caught up over a lot of laughs and memories. Thanks for the photo, Ashlee

Our next stop after seeking out another mural before dark was the L27 Rooftop Bar on top of the new Westin Hotel downtown.  The night was perfect and the views were jaw-dropping.  What a great city this little town is becoming!

Our final stop of the evening was north of downtown in White's Creek, TN, at the Fontanel property where a national event called The Glow: A Jack O'Lantern Experience was being presented.  We had grabbed some discount tickets through Groupon for their latest entry time, 9:30 PM.  The weather wasn't predicted to work out for us, but somehow it did and we enjoyed the exhibit with no rain, decent night-time temps and very few other people.  

With over 5,000 hand-carved  and hand-molded pumpkins displayed in a dozen or more different scenarios within a 3/10 of a mile walking loop, The Glow was quite an interesting and unique experience.

Monday, October 23 - Ashlee and I had to work today so Sharon and Lauren explored more of Nashville on their own, and we met them for dinner in East Nashville at The Pharmacy for some tasty burgers and tots.  Afterwards we walked off our meals at the always pleasant Opryland Hotel with its magnificent displays and indoor gardens.  We seem to forget what a nice place this is and how it's always changing.  We need to stop by here more often!