We're Not in California Anymore...

Today was departure day, where we got up bright and early to go to El Cerrito High School and head for Nashville. It was a long morning, but I think we got through alright. My bags were extremely underweight, which was good news for Cammie as hers just barely made it through the weight test. Now I may be coming back with both my own stuff and Cammie's stuff in my bags. Awesome.

The Mission kids posing for me.

The first thing I noticed about the airport was how tiny I felt in it. It was probably one of the biggest buildings I've ever been in throughout the course of my life. But it was jam packed and people were everywhere going this way and that to try and get past TSA. Luckily for Cammie, Joceline, and I were pre-approved, so we didn't have to take off our shoes or pull out our laptops or anything. 

As for the actual plane ride, the only really hard part about it was takeoff and landing. Once those things were done, it was really a lot smoother sailing than I thought it would have been. I talked with a couple of teenagers from Nashville named Tyler and Taylor who were coming back from a mission in California, and I got a picture of their whole group in the airport. It was really cool that you just meet random people when you're out and about.

My dinner from Hog Heaven

Once we had landed in Nashville I was again amazed by the size of the airport and how fancy it was. For some reason I imagined it being very small and simple, but oh how wrong I was.

As soon as we got out of the cab we piled into and checked into the hotel, we went to a place called Hog Heaven for dinner, and Heaven it was, let me tell you what. It was a bit spicier than I expected at first, but it was so much better than I could have believed. We all shared a peach cobbler after, and everyone literally melted after they took their first bite.

After we ate, we walked around Centennial Park for a while and checked out the outside of the Parthenon and we saw a lot of statues, particularly from various wars and the Suffragettes. They were quite fascinating and I want to go back and read all the plaques.

A statue of John W. Thomas outside the Parthenon.

After it began to rain we hit the streets, got smoothies, and began looking at all the establishments in the immediate area of our hotel. There were a lot of pizza places, sushi bars, and places where you had to be 18 or older to enter. Nice to know we're welcome.

All and all, I'm really excited to be here, and I can't wait for what's in store tomorrow!