Nashville

We took a long weekend trip to Nashville with a few friends and had a blast! It was late March and we lucked out with overall very nice weather. We saw tons of music and spent most of our time off Broadway Street. We stayed at Omni hotel which was perfect location and a bit of a fancy place to stay, our friends were able to get us a deal here.

It was a fun trip, I had been once 10 years ago so it was interesting to see how it had changed a bit and was a little less country music and more combination of different types of music. Next time I would like to have more time in Tennessee to be able to do some exploring outside of the city.

Day One

We arrived in Nashville in the late afternoon. After checking into our hotel we walked down the main party area of Broadway Street to see all the neon signs, hear music at every bar we passed, and see all the people wandering about in their cowboy boots. It was quite the sensory overload. We enjoyed just walking past it all but didn't plan to spend too much time there.

For our first stop we opted for a chill bar off Broadway street called Teddy's Tavern. There are three levels to this bar as many are near the main Broadway party section. The bottom floor was live music, then 2nd floor was a cocktail lounge, and the top floor was a rooftop deck that was partically covered. We opted for the rooftop deck and had our first taste of the local beer.

After Teddy's we went to get some BBQ at Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint.

There was a bit of a line, but we lucked out and got seats pretty quickly upstairs at the bar. This was the best! The food was really good, we all got the standard meat and 2 sides plate with side of white bread. Right behind where we were sitting was a band playing blues. This was a great atmosphere to kick off our trip.

Next we walked over the Printers Alley to check out a few spots. Up first was Burbon Street Boogies and Blues.

We had to pay cover to get in and unfortunately it wasn't really worth it, the bar was so crowded that there was very little standing room left. We ended up just staying for a drink before heading down the block for somewhere with a bit more space.

Just down the block we stopped at Ally Taps which was perfect! They didn't have a cover, we got a table and they were playing more classic country music with a fiddle and guitars. This was a fun little place to end the night.

Day Two

We started the day with a heathyish morning before a day of fried food and drinks by stopping by E + Rose Wellness Cafe to get smoothies and an Acai bowl for breakfast. This was so so so tasty. It was too good to get a photo before I ate it all up.

Next we started out first day of many steps in Nashville, we walked over to Gibson Guitar Garage.

This was really cool, there were so many different type of guitars and there was a conveyor belt of guitars going around the ceiling of the store.

After soaking in all the guitars, we walked to the Gulch which was just a few blocks away and stopped for a coffee and to enjoy some sunshine outside while we planned the rest of the day.

Next we walked over to Music Row to see about seeing some live music and getting lunch. We found out overall Music Row doesn't have a ton of places with patios and is more for actual recording of music. So we debated waiting for Hatty B's bbq, but ended up opting to get an uber to Tennessee brew works. This place was an amazing choice! Perfect patio out front in the sunshine, the food and beer was really tasty and the music was really good!

After a few hours of sunshine and music we walked back to the hotel and saw a fun mural on the way.

The last fun item was to have a night at the The Grand Old Opry. The Opry was really fun experience, our friends had gotten us free tickets and tickets to the lounge so we got some snacks in the lounge and then free drinks all the way until intermission.

The Opry it's self was really cool, you sit in what are similar to church pews. There is an assortment of different bands that play and each play about 4 songs total, so it was fun to see all the different groups and types of country music. The center of the floor has wood floor from the original Rynmam Auditorium which is fun piece of history.

We saw bluegrass, classic country, gospel, and modern new country. I am not a huge country fan but it still was a really cool experience and would recommend that to anyone going to Nashville. Only down side is that it was a little bit of a trek to get out here from the main downtown area it was about a 20 minute uber ride.

We then headed back to the hotel and stopped at the hotel bar to get some food and they even had live music.

Day Three

Stopped by E + Rose for another acai bowl to kick off the day. We then wandered to the Gulch to go to a few shops before waiting in line for Biscuit love. The line moved really quick and was well worth the wait, the biscuits were so flaky and buttery.

Next we stopped by a popup Hatch Print Shop that was in the hotel. There were an assortment of prints for sale and even a room with all the printing equipment.

After looking at prints for a bit we wandered over to Goo Goo Chocolate Store and this was also amazing! I wish I bought more these are tasty little chocolate treats that are fulled with goodness of nuts, caramel, and nougat.

Then we walked over to John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge. Here we got really pretty views of the city and even saw a proposal on the bridge, it was so cute!

After a bit of walking we had worked up an appetite and were ready for a beer so we headed to Old Moonshine Distillery and Yeehaw Brewery. This was a perfect space on a nice day. There is a large patio outside, two different food options Tacos or Hotdogs, Moonshine and Beer. I had a very tasty blueberry lavender moonshine lemonade.

Next we walked over to Station Inn to see some live Bluegrass.

On Sunday nights there is jam session of folks playing all sorts of stringed instruments and a few harmonicas just playing music and taking turns with who would sing next. We stayed for a bit before continuing on with our night.

We tried to go to Music Row but again where a bit disappointed with this area, all the bars were really empty and had no live music. So we made the walk back to Teddy's to finish off the night and stopped by Jenni's ice cream for some amazing expensive, but tasty ice cream.

Day Four

This was our last day in Nashville. We started by saying goodbye to our friends and then headed to Pucketts for brunch. Had another great tasting biscuit here!

We then wanted to get some walking in before our flight that afternoon so we walked over to the Tennessee State Capital building and walked the grounds before heading in for a self guided tour.

It was really interesting to see all the renovations that had been done to make it more closely match how the original Capital would have looked.

Then we walked over to a Food Market where I was able to get a few treats from TN I'm in love to bring home.

We stopped by the Gibson Guitar Garage one more time before our final stop at E + Rose for a smoothie before our flight out.