"Western Tennessee: Nashville Now" East Nashville by askgriff

In a word... "Wow!"

As we flew into Tennessee, we crossed the Mississippi River on our way into Nashville. As far as you can see is nothing but trees with the occasional clearing for golf courses and housing communities.

As we neared the Nashville airport, we realized that it was just as beautiful.

Getting out of the plane, we were pleasantly surprised at the lack of humidity, the cool air, and the friendly people. However... we're told that it was exceptionally dry today. :)

Our first duty was to check in with Hertze rentals. When the man saw that we were registered in the smallest economy car that was ever built upon the face of this earth, he said... "What... are y'all cheap or somethin'?" :) He upgraded us to an Expedition for $5 a day. He then spent 10 minutes telling us the best communities, where the best schools were, what he liked about the area. Then he said, "Okay, the car's across the street in the parking garage... the keys are in it." I was taken aback. :) As we approached the parkin garage, an airport attendant asked if he could help us with anything. We said, "Just going to pick up a car." He looked at the paper and said, "Oh, that's way on the other side... let me get it for you." He took off running and within 5 minutes he was back with the car. Absolutely pleasant experience.

We then spent three hours driving through the most beautiful, tree-filled roads you can possibly imagine. Greener trees, I've never seen. Even phone poles and tree trunks are covered in ivy and other plants making everything even greener.

I looked over and there was a river with (what I am assuming) was a bear... (or maybe a big black cow -- give me a break, we were doing 75 miles an hour) drinking from the bank. About 5 second later... another river. 10 seconds after that... another river. Amazing.

Seriously, at times I felt like we were driving on a road through the jungles of South America or something. It was surreal.

Alas... these experiences were to be short lived. Check out my "West Knoxville" report for that.

• Pros:Clean air, beautiful scenery, green everywhere, friendly people
• Cons:aggressive trucks on the interstate
• In a nutshell:Wow -- Even expecting "pretty" I was amazed.