Friday, April 14, 2023
This was our first trip to Nashville for skating. I have been to Nashville several times for work, but never for anything personal, like this. Emily was excited to get back out and compete again. We ended last season on a kind of rocky note, but she has been working really hard so we were very excited to see her debut her new programs! Her new short is to Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) from Stranger Things. She previously used the song at summer fun camp but ended up liking it so much that she kept it for competition season. She also got a brand new, custom dress for this program and it was amazing! We only saw a sketch initially, but we could not have been more thrilled with the result!
Anyway, back to skating. For the Intermediate Ladies Short there were 3 groups of seven. Emily skated first in her group. Heidi made her attempt the double axel, which she under rotated, but she stayed on her feet. Between the beautiful skater, the beautiful dress and the beautiful program it was hard to narrow down to just these pictures.
Thanks to IJS scoring, it does not take long to get results. Emily finished third in her group! She was so excited. Medals were illusive last year so I am sure this one felt soooo good and a clean skate made it all that much better!
Then it was time for a night on the town in downtown Nashville - complete with a short drive down Broadway to people watch. We had a reservation for our entire group for dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe! We had been planning for this and everyone came prepared with their best country/western gear...and with a little help from Amazon the cowboy hats were everything! Emily and Heidi even had boots that almost matched!
When we got back to the hotel, Mischa and Heidi wanted to check out the plant-based ice cream shop across the street. And it's not like we ever say no to ice cream, so we went too. Emily was completely smitten with alllll the plants.
Then it was finally time to get to bed and get some rest. The long program was on deck next!
