Vay-kay-shun!

We made it! It's Day 1 of our 8-day vacation, and I'm hoping to give daily (or semi-daily) updates via my blog.

Today was our trip from Alexandria to Nashville for my two-day work conference, which kicks off our vacation. We decided we weren't in that big of a hurry, so we took the Natchez Trace Parkway up to Nashville, instead of going along the interstate the whole trip.

If you are into the outdoors -- hiking and biking -- or just a fan of beautiful scenery, I highly recommend this trip. The parkway runs 444 miles from Natchez to just southwest of Nashville, and it's billed as an "unhurried" trip. That's exactly what it is. If you're impatient, don't worry about it. But if you don't mind taking your time -- the posted speed limit the whole way is 50 mph -- you'll love this trip.

We stopped a few times along the way to use the restroom and stretch our legs, as well as to have a quiet, riverside picnic with sandwiches and drinks that we brought along with us, and it took us about 11 or 12 hours from Alexandria to Nashville. But it was a wonderfully peaceful trip, which included sights of three white-tailed does and several turkeys (as well as two slithering snakes across the road -- booooo!).

Once we got into Nashville, we ate supper at Five Guys Burgers & Fries. Honestly, it was OK, but nothing special. I've heard some people compare Five Guys with In-and-Out Burger as the best fast-food burger joint in the country. The burger was good, juicy and sloppy, even if it wasn't a little on the small side. And they use sweet pickles, rather than dill pickles. That's a picky preference thing, though. The fries were decent, at least the regular fries are. The Cajun fries were just doused with a cayenne pepper that was a little too much for this "Louisiana Yankee." I'd eat at Five Guys again, don't get me wrong, but I still don't think it's nearly as good as Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers.

Monday should be a slow day, at least for me. I'm planning to sleep in after the long drive today, and then I have the first day of my conference from noon to about 7 p.m. Afterward, I'm hoping to catch up with an old friend from my hometown and have supper with him and his wife. Should be fun times. And it puts us one day closer to getting to Omaha and Rosenblatt Stadium for the College World Series!