After I got to the Gaylord Opryland Resort, I was in awe of the size of this complex!
I had a direct flight from Sacramento to Nashville, but I got into the hotel around 2:00 so I got a late lunch at Jack Daniel's restaurant on site.
I got the Single Barrel Collection flight with my lunch. The rye was amazing!
I got a baked potato with brikset and a spicy corn chowder for lunch. This was a $75 lunch with the booze! LOL. Of course, I expensed it!
After registering for the meeting, I explored the large atrium areas again. We had no meetings on that first day.
I did not know Pat Sajak got his start as a radio announcer for the station that airs the Grand Ole Opry show!
This is another part of the atrium near the main lobby and registration area. I passed it again as I went to the gym to work out.
The indoor pool deck was pretty cool to just relax.
The weather was really nice on that first day. I was surprised at how the humidity was not that bad!
We went to Paula Deen's Country Kitchen for dinner that night which was just behind the Opryland Resort. I love her Southern inspired dishes like the chicken and dumplin's!
I am all ready for the first day of meetings as I leave my junior suite at the Gaylord Opryland Resort.
This indoor mini "Bellagio" style water fountain show at the Gaylord Opryland was cool!
After our meetings were over, we had a cocktail reception at the hotel before we left for dinner. I got a Maker's and diet.
I loved the Tennessee Hot Chicken and Waffle Satay appetizers at the reception!
Our luxury SUV is here to take us to Jimmy Kelly's Steakhouse for the district dinner! We always ride in style at Regeneron!
Joy and I had dinner here when we were in Nashville a few years back so I booked it for our district dinner!
My filet did not disappoint. This place has gotten lots of awards including being named a Top 10 steakhouse in the country.
I went down to Lower Broadway to party with a few of my colleagues after dinner. The crowds were still out despite only being Tuesday!
Our first stop was Luke's 32 Bridge. Luke's is named for Luke Bryan.
This is the roof top bar at Luke's.
Most Nashville clubs and bars have live music on every level of the multistory buildings. This was the band at the top of the club.
Luke's rooftop was packed! We got drinks there to start of the night! It was charged to the company of course per our policy!
The view of the AT&T building from Luke's rooftop was really cool! It was really hot that night in Nashville however!
The band downstairs at Luke's was great!
The next place we went was Nudie's Honky Tonk. Joy and I have been here before. It is like the original honky tonk on Lower Broadway!
After Nudie's, we went to Jelly Roll's new club and bar, Jelly Roll's Goodnight Nashville.
Jelly Roll's had a little line to get in since it was so new. The place was packed!
Jelly Roll's did not have the top shelf whiskey so I think I got Bulleit or Woodford. LOL.
They had a band playing downstairs at Jelly Roll's club too.
The rooftop at Jelly Roll's club had the same revolving skull that was downstairs too.
The girls wanted to do a shot at the rooftop bar at Jelly Roll's club. I got the Bulleit since I did not want to do the palomas that the girls wanted. Of course, this was expensed too!
The Opryland Resort has a boat ride too that goes around the atrium. My meetings concluded at noon the next day so all that drinking the night before was fine! LOL.
I had to get a Hot Nashville chicken sandwich and a whiskey from a Tennessee distillery at the Green Room at the BNA Airport before leaving town.
As I was flying home, my Mavericks took Cooper Flagg with the #1 draft pick. I watched it live on the plane.
I had an alliance
meeting to go to in June out in hot Nashville, Tennessee before I left
Regeneron in July. What! Yes, I got an offer to join a top
10 pharma company a few weeks prior to this meeting so I decided to
leave Regeneron in July to become a Senior Specialty Account
Specialist! It was a great move for me, but there will be more to
come on that on other parts of my website. However, I was excited
to head back to Nashville for this meeting since I love country music,
Tennessee whiskey, and southern cooking! Since Nashville is a
popular destination, we even had a direct flight from Sacramento!
I left around 8:30 AM after my car service took me to the
airport. I grabbed a quick drink at the Escape Lounge at SMF
before boarding my four hour flight to BNA.
Once I got into Nashville, I had a luxury SUV take me to the Gaylord Opryland Resort which is pretty close to BNA Airport. I was amazed at how large the resort was. The Gaylord Opryland Resort is the largest non casino hotel in the United States and very popular for conventions and meeting. I think it shold be a bucket list item for any corporate professional to go to once in his or her career. When I was walking around the large gardens in the indoor atrium, I remembered that my dad was there too for a conference during his storied career as well. I grabbed lunch at Jack Daniel's restaurant at the resort after checking in. The front desk clerk upgraded me to a junior suite since I had status with Marriot BonVoy. I liked the rye single barrel taster in my Jack Daniels flight at the restaurant. The rye had hints of cherry in my opinion.
That first day was just a chill day. We had no meetings. After I got my conference badge, I just worked out and checked out the resort. We did not get our usual nice meeting gift at the registration desk so I figured I would receive an email to order one that afternoon. Sure enough! When I got back to my room from the gym, an email was waiting for me to order my meeting gift. They probably did that since this was a joint alliance meeting between my company and Sanofi. I do not think Sanofi had gifts for their employees, but Regeneron is always very generous with having a nice meeting gift at each of our meetings like this. That night, I made reservations for anyone that wanted to attend to go to Paula Deen's Country Kitchen. Joy and I went to her restaurant in Pigeon Forge during Covid in 2020. I love Paula Deen's southern inspired dishes including her ooey gooey butter cake! Her chicken and dumplin's are so delicious!
We had a full day of meetings on Tuesday, but it was overall not a crazy day especially since I knew I was to resign in a few weeks. So, I was very relaxed and just wanted to enjoy sometime with my colleagues throughout my region who I had gotten to know the past four years. After the meetings were over, we had a cocktail reception before we all headed out to our district dinners. The company had a full open bar as usual with Maker's Mark as their best bourbon option so I got that. I loved the Tennessee Hot chicken and waffle satay too that was one of the appetizers at the reception. We also had staff walk around with appetizers too. Once we were done with the reception, we headed out to a nice luxury SUV to take us to dinner at Jimmy Kelly's Steakhouse in Nashville. This place was voted a top 10 steakhouse in the country in airline magazines before. Joy and I had gone there before too for dinner so I recommended it to my district. The food and service was great at this iconic steakhouse. I loved my filet mignon!
After dinner, a few of the colleagues wanted to go party on Lower Broadway so we took an Uber down there at the company expense since that is allowed per our travel policy. I was surprised at how busy Lower Broadway was for a Tuesday night! We went to Luke's 32 Bridge first to get our first drink. This multistory bar and club is named for Luke Bryan. It was not there when Joy and I went. One of my colleagues expensed our drinks on the rooftop. They had a band on the rooftop level as well as one downstairs. Our next stop was Nudie's Honkytonk. Their rooftop was unbearable since there was no breeze, and it was so hot! Afterwards, we went to Jelly Roll's Good Night Nashville. That was a newer club so there was a line to get in. Nashville bars and clubs generally have no cover which is cool! We got more drinks at Jelly Roll's club on the main level where a band was playing. Then, we went up to the rooftop. The girls in the group wanted to do a shot so I got a shot of Bulleit. One of the girls expensed those.
The next day, we only had a half day of meetings. Afterwards, we headed to the airport where a bunch of us got lunch at the Green Room before our flights home. This was a fun and short meeting! Regeneron was a great place to work the last few years. I will miss the company and the people, but I am really excited about my opportunity at the new company!
Once I got into Nashville, I had a luxury SUV take me to the Gaylord Opryland Resort which is pretty close to BNA Airport. I was amazed at how large the resort was. The Gaylord Opryland Resort is the largest non casino hotel in the United States and very popular for conventions and meeting. I think it shold be a bucket list item for any corporate professional to go to once in his or her career. When I was walking around the large gardens in the indoor atrium, I remembered that my dad was there too for a conference during his storied career as well. I grabbed lunch at Jack Daniel's restaurant at the resort after checking in. The front desk clerk upgraded me to a junior suite since I had status with Marriot BonVoy. I liked the rye single barrel taster in my Jack Daniels flight at the restaurant. The rye had hints of cherry in my opinion.
That first day was just a chill day. We had no meetings. After I got my conference badge, I just worked out and checked out the resort. We did not get our usual nice meeting gift at the registration desk so I figured I would receive an email to order one that afternoon. Sure enough! When I got back to my room from the gym, an email was waiting for me to order my meeting gift. They probably did that since this was a joint alliance meeting between my company and Sanofi. I do not think Sanofi had gifts for their employees, but Regeneron is always very generous with having a nice meeting gift at each of our meetings like this. That night, I made reservations for anyone that wanted to attend to go to Paula Deen's Country Kitchen. Joy and I went to her restaurant in Pigeon Forge during Covid in 2020. I love Paula Deen's southern inspired dishes including her ooey gooey butter cake! Her chicken and dumplin's are so delicious!
We had a full day of meetings on Tuesday, but it was overall not a crazy day especially since I knew I was to resign in a few weeks. So, I was very relaxed and just wanted to enjoy sometime with my colleagues throughout my region who I had gotten to know the past four years. After the meetings were over, we had a cocktail reception before we all headed out to our district dinners. The company had a full open bar as usual with Maker's Mark as their best bourbon option so I got that. I loved the Tennessee Hot chicken and waffle satay too that was one of the appetizers at the reception. We also had staff walk around with appetizers too. Once we were done with the reception, we headed out to a nice luxury SUV to take us to dinner at Jimmy Kelly's Steakhouse in Nashville. This place was voted a top 10 steakhouse in the country in airline magazines before. Joy and I had gone there before too for dinner so I recommended it to my district. The food and service was great at this iconic steakhouse. I loved my filet mignon!
After dinner, a few of the colleagues wanted to go party on Lower Broadway so we took an Uber down there at the company expense since that is allowed per our travel policy. I was surprised at how busy Lower Broadway was for a Tuesday night! We went to Luke's 32 Bridge first to get our first drink. This multistory bar and club is named for Luke Bryan. It was not there when Joy and I went. One of my colleagues expensed our drinks on the rooftop. They had a band on the rooftop level as well as one downstairs. Our next stop was Nudie's Honkytonk. Their rooftop was unbearable since there was no breeze, and it was so hot! Afterwards, we went to Jelly Roll's Good Night Nashville. That was a newer club so there was a line to get in. Nashville bars and clubs generally have no cover which is cool! We got more drinks at Jelly Roll's club on the main level where a band was playing. Then, we went up to the rooftop. The girls in the group wanted to do a shot so I got a shot of Bulleit. One of the girls expensed those.
The next day, we only had a half day of meetings. Afterwards, we headed to the airport where a bunch of us got lunch at the Green Room before our flights home. This was a fun and short meeting! Regeneron was a great place to work the last few years. I will miss the company and the people, but I am really excited about my opportunity at the new company!