Well, I just got screwed in Nashville!!!

I have so much to report about the weekend, etc., but Sara and I just returned from dinner at the "Stockyard." Let me say, this year without our usual entourage, Mary, Michael and Solomon, Sara and I decided to step outside the box and eat at restaurants that we usually couldn't try. So...for breakfast we went to the Loveless Cafe ... a charming little restaurant with what Sara refers to as "cheesy goodness hashbrown casserole," and fried home potatoes. I was amazed to get refills on my O.J., but all and all it was a wonderful experience and certainly different from our usual Cracker Barrel breakfast (which I have to say I love as well.) Because we didn't get it together early enough, we skipped lunch so when it came time for dinner we chose The Stockyard, named one of the "Top Ten Steak Houses in America." It's a really nice looking restaurant in what can only be considered not the best end of town, however, that didn't deter us. Sara made reservations, but I can tell you now it wasn't necessary. We arrived and were impressed with the lobby, obviously upper scale.....and what appeared to be plenty of staff...and I do mean plenty. We were seated immediately, unfortunately in a room with a table of rather loud men who obviously were having a good time. This restaurant has a menu where everything is sold individually...no dinner, you order your entre, side dish..well you get the idea. Anyway, we start off with a couple of drinks, and Sara ordered the oysters for an appetizer...but I decided against that as I had decided I would have lobster tonight....it's been a while (and after tonight I may be swearing off lobster forever). Anyway, the waiter takes our order and as you may be aware, lobster is never priced on the menu which usually says, "at market price". I was deciding what size I wanted as they had lobsters from 3 lbs. to 9 lbs. I was going for a 5 lb., but they didn't have one of those so we decided on a 7 lb. lobster. Sara order the 7 oz. petit filet served Oscar style. The waiter forgot to order the steak oscar style so it had to be sent back, but my lobster came and I swear it was gigantic. I could see that it was a little too large for me, so I asked Sara to help me eat it, especially since she was waiting for her dinner. She got her dinner and after a some time I decided I could only eat half the lobster so we decided to take the rest of the lobster home and eat it for a snack. After receiving the bill I looked at it and said, "I can't find my glasses but I think this is saying $442.00. Sara looked over, burst out laughing and said, it does! So, thinking there was certainly a mistake, it was just Sara and myself, we each had 2 drinks, 2 salads, Sara had the oysters and a 7oz steak and then I see it....$272 for the lobster...yes, that's what I said, tonight I ate 1/2 of a $272 lobster. You know someone should mention to the diner what the market price on lobster is before letting them order a lobster and getting a bill for $272. Then to add the tip, well our bill for the 2 of us to eat was over $500. I can't tell you how much Sara has enjoyed laughing over this. I was thinking how much I was saving by not having the rest of the group with us this year, well, that just went to hell in a handbasket. Anything I thought I was saving was just used up in lobster. But it certainly has provided Sara with something to laugh about. She says she wouldn't have minded if the bill was $442 and it was all liquor (of course then we wouldn't have remembered the bill in all likelyhood.) Moving on....Sara and I drove through periods of snow all day Tuesday, but nothing massive, and decided to stop when the snow got heavier when we were about 6 hours away from nashville. I was a bit concerned about the snow, but because it hadn't amounted to much all day I tried not to worry about it. But when I looked out the window of the hotel around 3:30 and couldn't see the tire tracks I got concerned, and then when I watched the weather and they said "don't go out unless you have to", I felt we were up the creek without a paddle. By 7:00 a.m., the snow was around 4" deep and no one seemed to be plowing the street so Sara said we'll go as far as we can and then stop. However, when we hit the interstate, it was clear sailing. The temps were around 9-12 degrees, so for us that was a bit of a shock. For some reason I thought there was no reason to bring clothes for those temperatures as we were going to be inside for the show, I guess I didn't consider the 2 days we shop in Nashville prior to the show so to say I didn't bring the appropriate clothes was an understatement. However, today it was 42 and tomorrow it's suppose to be near 60...go figure. Anyway, we arrived around 2:00 pm., rested and then hit the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. (I have to tell you I enjoyed my $42 dinner there more than my $442 dinner tonight, but that's neither here nor there.)