So here's the short of it,
In Nashville ---

And here's the long

I'm on the bed with my foot propped up on a pillow! We had a great day and a nice evening. We had two great school visits to Hume-Fogg in Metro Nashville, and Merrol Hyde in Hendersonville. Both of them are academic magnet schools. Hamilton County doesn't have such a creature - and I kind of doubt seeing that in the long term picture, but it sure was interesting to think of what kind of components from these schools could be implemented. I was amazed that Hume-Fogg has 26 AP course offerings! Including AP Chinese!

We were able to get in a quick lunch at Cafe Rakka, just down the street from Merrol Hyde. It's a restaurant that's been featured on the Food Network. And even though we were quite rushed and only got a sampler, it's good enough that I'd make a special trip to eat there again. We had Hummus, Baba Ghanoush, Falafel and Tabbouleh as well as Turkish Coffee. Our Chef is from Syria, and learned to cook from his grandmother. He's also got a law degree and credits his father with teaching him most of his life lessons - he refers to his father as his "professor of life".

I credit Chef Rakka with serving us magnificent food and making a little piece of today really special. I'll have to figure out how to get back there.

We landed here at Opryland by about 5 o'clock and got checked in just fine. It's good to see that it's back up and running since the flood. I'll have to say, however, that my dinner was a disappointment. But right now I'm thinking of how early morning will come and thinking that I'm glad Central Time will give us another hour to get ourselves down to the conference.