Travel Tuesday

This is going to be an unusual Tuesday travel post. Ordinarily, it's about trips we've taken either by car or plane. This one is completely different.

About a month ago, my friend, Karolyn invited me on a mystery trip. All I was told was that I needed to wear comfortable clothes and comfortable shoes. I love a mystery trip, so I was "all in" excited that she came up with something. 

I got to her house at 8:30 a.m. It was only 42 degrees, so I had on a sweater, jacket and carried a pashmina--just in case. As soon as I arrived, we set off on foot! Good thing I brought those warm clothes! I still had no idea what we were doing. I actually thought we might be going to Cheekwood (our botanical gardens), but we headed in the wrong direction for that.

The next thing I knew, we were waiting at a bus stop! 

Now, I haven't ridden a public bus in I don't know how long. We masked up and hopped on. Karolyn treated me to an all day bus pass.

Off we went. I still did not know where we were going. I was impressed with the cleanliness of the bus---not exactly how I remembered them.

We rode all the way downtown to the Central Bus Station and transferred to another bus. We had a short ride to the Bicentennial Mall.

We strolled around the mall. Years ago, my sisters and I toured this area on Segways. These are remnants of the original pillars of the state capitol. 

The Farmer's Market was full of fall color. These gourds were pretty and unique! They were too heavy to buy this day. 

The day was gorgeous and heating up. Somewhere along the line, I shed my jacket. 

When we finished there, Karolyn said that we'd need to hop back on the bus and go back to the Central Station to transfer to another bus. I suggested we just walk since it wasn't that far. A little ways in to that, I shed the sweater. Now, I'm lugging the sweater, jacket and pashmina! I carry a small purse. I ended up tying the jacket and sweater on to my purse. K put the pashmina in her purse. (BTW, Karolyn, I forgot my pashmina so don't fall in love with it!)

We rode the next bus down Charlotte to the L & L Market. Not only had I never been there, I had never even heard of it. We browsed the shops (can't believe I forgot to get a picture of that) and then strolled down the street to our lunch destination. 

Of course we had to stop for a photo op with Elvis!

I hope Butch isn't jealous that Elvis was rubbing my neck! Can you see my sweater and jacket hanging on my purse? What a pain! I ended up sort of wadding them up and carrying them under my arm.

I sent this picture to Butch with the caption: "Guess where I am?" Of course he remembered the geo-cache at this exact location. Stephanie was with us that day. She is the only person we've taken on a B&B day!

We had lunch at the 51st Tap Room. I had never been there before. We asked for an outside table since it was so nice out. We ordered bloody Mary's and shared some delicious shrimp tacos. I had never been to this restaurant in The Nations. Actually, I have only been to The Nations once on that B&B day. 

After lunch, it was time to make our way back. Karolyn said that she wasn't quite sure of the bus we needed to catch and that most likely we would need to go back downtown to transfer. I said, "Let's just walk!" Yep, I said that---so we did! 

We walked from The Nations, across Charlotte, through Sylvan Park, along the golf course to a walking path that went behind Overbrook School, along side Mary Queen of Angels to the old White Bridge Road, cut through a parking garage and walked to the end of Belle Meade Plaza to the Kroger store. By that time, we had walked 6 miles!!! At that point, Karolyn called Bruce to pick us up. I think we probably only had about 2 more miles to go, but we were hot and I was thirsty! 

OMGosh! It was so much fun! Now I guess it's my turn to plan an adventure! I already know what I'm going to do!!! 

There you have it. A travel Tuesday post about traveling by bus and on foot! 

PS Considering I did my treadmill routine first thing in the morning, I logged over 8 miles for the day!