This time, the excuse for a trip was the opening of Opry Mills on the former Opryland theme park site.

The shuttle-van ride was fairly uneventful (I imagine--I slept through it). I get to the airport, take the $11 shuttle to the Opryland Hotel, and set off on the walk to *my* hotel, the Courtyard Opryland. It actually took me longer to get off the Opryland's grounds than to reach the hotel (allowing for the stop for mini-golf). I arrive and discover that the Courtyard has an airport shuttle--that $11 was wasted! Oh well...

Spent most of the day at the mall. First place I went in was Jillian's. Exactly the same concept as Playdium or Dave and Buster's, but not as well executed as either--D&B is way ahead on the food, and Playdium carries the techie theme better. The bowling alley was a nice touch, though--should have brought my shoes. And where else would the music cut straight from "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" to "I Think We're Alone Now"--the latter in Tiffany's version??

Next a walk around the place. Stop for shopping at Bible Factory Outlet for a Mother's Day present, at Tower Records for some CD's (didn't I see their head guy say they'd never open a store in a mall--and if you're going to spell Alecia Elliott's name two different ways, is it too much to ask that one of them be right?), and at Ghirardelli Soda Fountain for ice cream (just as good as in Chicago--can't remember far back enough to compare it to SF).

The shape of the mall's walking path resembles a letter Q with stores on both sides at all times. And there are no places to cut through the inner island--if you need to go somewhere halfway around, you have to walk around the full 180 degrees. Not good design especially considering the rarity of restrooms.

By that time, it was time to eat again. I was conveniently at the far end where the Rainforest Café was, but remembered I can do that next week in LAS. So back down to the other end to a place I'm pretty sure Vegas doesn't have, the Alabama Grill. Owned by the boys from Fort Payne, think the Hard Rock gone country. It would probably be easier to name the country acts not on the walls there than those who were (most notable omission being Trisha Yearwood). The burger was pretty good, at hotel prices (still a buck-75 cheaper than the Rainforest Café).

At that point, the "shoppertainment" out in the mall had kicked in. I concluded that this idea does not work unless you have enough space to go from one to the other, as you do at West Edmonton. Try to pack it into too small a space and you just get sensory overload. I retreated to the movie house.

20 normal screens and an IMAX all in one place. I picked the Flintstones movie, and found it surprisingly good (all the puns are there--Mick Jagged and the Stones performing at the Tardust, down the street from the Molten Nugget...), did a little more shopping, and returned to the hotel. (Unfortunately, the Mother's Day present had disappeared by then--but my dad was able to get a copy back home.) I also discovered that hardly any place in the mall sells pens--I wound up getting a Hello Kitty one...

By that time, I was completely exhausted and hopped a shuttle back to the hotel to sleep. Pretty much a standard CY, minus the Peerless hard candies.

Day 2
My plans for the day were to head back to my old homestead, the Vanderbilt campus, for the round of 32 of the NCAA women's tennis tournament. I head down to the bus stop... apparently, contrary to the posted schedule, that bus does not run on Sunday morning. Back to the hotel, airport shuttle, Gray Line to West End, lunch at Wendy's, and to the match.

Turns out to be over in less than two hours, as Vanderbilt wins the requisite five singles matches in straight sets (and the sixth in three), leaving no need to play the doubles. While the shotmaking was not what you see on the pro tour, the tactics were of a high standard.

I now have time to kill, and wander the campus a bit (everything turns up closed...) before heading to Kinko's where they have a free phone and public (non-free) Internet access. Decide to check on Caesar's, and yep, still closed. I rebook my trip home to an earlier shuttle, call Gray Line to verify the run back to the airport, and go eat. I arrive at the pickup point 5 minutes early, only to see it running by. Call in, am told they can't send it back because of a flight crew and I need to get a cab, head out to call one... and there's the van which they did send back! Airlines have no monopoly in misinformation!

The rest was an uneventful run home.