North Dakotans in Tennessee

After Suzanna's two-week visit to North Dakota with her dog, Zoey, they returned to Tennessee last weekend with Susan joining them in the vehicle for the drive back. Suzanna and her fiancé, Jacob, will marry in October of 2026, and Susan has spent this past week with Suzanna, helping her with preliminary wedding planning. I worked most of the week but left early on Thursday to fly to Nashville so that I could join them for a long weekend.

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Susan, Suzanna, and Hillary

Suzanna had been living in Murfreesboro, a suburb south of Nashville, where she teaches high school. When Hillary moved to Tennessee, she lived with Suzanna because Hillary also works in Murfreesboro. However, Suzanna recently moved to Antioch, a neighborhood of Nashville, where Jacob owns a townhome; and Hillary moved into a townhome of her own in Murfreesboro ... her first time living without parents or roommates! Susan and Suzanna drove down from Antioch one evening for a mani/pedi date with Hillary.

Suzanna and Jacob took Susan to tour the wedding venue: Owen Farm, located about 30 miles west of Nashville in a scenic location with lots of trees and rolling hills overlooking the Cumberland River. They were impressed with the views, the amenities, and the hospitality of the owners, who have made Suzanna and Jacob feel confident that they chose well.

When I flew in on Thursday, Hillary picked me up at the airport and took me to two of our favorite spots to eat: Hattie B's for some famous Nashville "hot chicken" followed by Bobbie's Dairy Dip for some milkshakes.

Zoey and I were reunited after a week of being apart! She's so danged sweet.

On Friday, I, too, got a tour of the wedding venue. (Tears were shed. By me.) And then we drove back to Nashville and headed downtown so that we could tour Jacob's office building. He works for Amazon in one of two office towers they have built in the Nashville Yards development. Jacob showed us some of the highlights throughout the building, including this observation deck on the 20th floor, where employees can have meetings or just get some fresh air and enjoy the views.

Jacob, Susan, Kevin, and Suzanna

Pardon the squinty eyes ... the sun was doing the most, but we wanted a pic from the observation deck with downtown Nashville in the background.

Suzanna and Jacob

Hillary, Kevin, and Susan

For supper, we had a delicious meal--and fantastic margaritas--at Rosepepper, a restaurant in East Nashville that specializes in Sonoran-style Mexican cuisine, which uses flour tortillas more than corn, beef more than other meats, and spices in the sauces more than in the main dishes. We followed that with a nightcap at Mickey's Tavern, one of Suzanna and Jacob's favorites.

Zoey on Hillary's guest bed

On Saturday we invaded Hillary's new townhome in Murfreesboro with coffee and donuts to start a day of helping with I-just-moved-into-a-new-place tasks. Those ranged from moving boxes to mounting a TV on the wall to hanging shelves to shopping for, and putting together, furniture.

In the middle of the day, we paused to meet Susan's sister, Cassie, and her kids, Davis and Marly, for dinner at Bad Daddy's Burger Bar. They and Nick (Cassie's husband/Davis and Marly's dad) live in Murfreesboro, too.

Hillary has a spacious two-story home with two bedrooms and two-and-a-half bathrooms. She already had the guest bedroom set up and ready for Susan and me to spend the night (see photo of Zoey above). Her furniture acquisitions included a couch for the living room and a dining room table. (Actually, Suzanna and Jacob were inspired during the day's furniture shopping, so they bought a new dining set for themselves, and Hillary will buy their old one from them!)

This morning we ate brunch at Noshville, a New York-style delicatessen in Nashville. The food was delicious; highlights were the "everything" bagels with flavored cream cheese (e.g., chive, caper), the deli omelet (with corned beef and pastrami), and the potato pancakes topped with sour cream and apple sauce.

Then we stopped by the GreenHouse bar, which is literally a bar inside a greenhouse. See the photo above: that's Susan and I standing near a table placed in the midst of hanging plants, potted plants on the pebbled ground, and shelves of plants around the perimeter. The cocktails were great, but the unusual setting was the main attraction.

Then we went to Puttshack, a high-tech mini golf establishment at which each golf ball has a computer chip in it to identify it as your own. When you set it down on a tee, the computer screen above that hole displays your name and score, and it tracks your strokes and points at that hole, too.

I must humbly admit that I did indeed win the game. (However, when prompted to key in my name at the start of the game, I entered "Manolo, King of the Cheese-Filled Pastry" ... so the final screen displayed Manolo, not Kevin, as the winner. Lesson learned.)

Then it was time for Susan and me to fly back to North Dakota. There were the customary airport hugs, kisses, tears, and waves through the glass windows until we had gotten through security and could no longer be seen by the girls and Jacob. What a lovely week for Susan and weekend for me!