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Day One -Thursday
Arnold’s Country Kitchen - 605 8th Ave. S., Nashville
Served cafeteria-style, Arnold’s allows you to pick “meat
and three,” so you pick a meat from their daily selections and three sides for
one price. Bestest Friend picked me up
from the airport and we drove directly here.
I got fried shrimp with mac ‘n’ cheese, collard greens, and mashed
potatoes and I ordered a sweet iced tea. It was absolutely amazing.
The line was never not out the door, but it moved
quickly. The folks working the line were
amazing. They were laughing and joking with those of us in line, even as they
efficiently served and kept the food bins replenished. Every day we were in
Nashville, we “joked” about going back to Arnold’s for lunch. When I come back to Nashville, this will be a
definite destination lunch for me. It's only open four hours a day for lunch, so make sure you get there early!
Centennial Park - 2500 West End Ave., Nashville
There’s a fairly accurate replica of the Parthenon in
Centennial Park. We paid $6 to go inside to an underwhelming museum. Whatever. There was a giant statue of Athena
in the museum. If I could do it again,
I’d probably go and take pictures of the outside of the building and not go
inside, but if you’re interested in Tennessee history or any of the art, it
might be worth it to you.
The Bluebird Café - 4104 Hillboro Pike, Nashville
I attempted to get reservations to the Bluebird online
before we left, but there are only like 45 seats and they were sold out, so we
arrived just after 5 and stood in the standby line for tickets. We were
incredibly lucky and ended up being the last two people they let in for the show. We sat
directly behind the performers who were playing in the round. The performers on the night we were there
included Eddie Heinzelman (the guitar player for Radney Foster and a great
songwriter in his own right), Jimmy Payne (songs he’s written include “My Eyes
Can Only See As Far As You” and “Woman, Woman”), Bernie Nelson (songs he’s
written include “Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind”), and Dave Gibson (songs
he’s written include “Ships That Don’t Come In” and “Queen of Memphis”).
I can’t even explain to you just how jaw-dropping and wonderful this experience
was. These are men who write these songs.
These are the men behind the music. I have been to concerts before, but
this was so much more immersive and delightful. The love they felt for Nashville, for the music
business, for their craft, and for the music itself was palpable. If you can’t get reserved tickets, try to
get in the standby line early. I can't recommend it enough.
Day Two - Friday
Pancake Pantry - 1796 21st Ave. S., Nashville
This breakfast place, near the gorgeous Vanderbilt campus,
specializes in sweet potato pancakes, which were delicious. They were served with this cinnamon cream
syrup that I considered attempting to smuggle out in my backpack. We arrived just before eight in the morning
and were seated right away, but by the time we finished eating and left, the
line was wrapped around the corner outside.
Get there early. The pancakes are
to die for!
Marathon Village - 1300 Clinton St., Nashville
We went here because Bestest Friend’s mom wanted us to go to
Antique Archeology (the shop owned by the guys from American Pickers, a show on
Discovery), so we did that. Housed in a renovated car factory, the shop was
super crowded and the merchandise completely underwhelming. There were a couple
of cute shops and boutiques in the general neighborhood, but this was not one
of our favorite stops.
Nashville Farmers’Market - 900 Rosa Parks Blvd., Nashville
The Nashville Farmers’ Market is open every day. Vendors sell everything from produce to
prepared foods to helpful gardening implements and there’s a flea market
outside. It was beautiful and we spent
more time than I care to talk about just walking around and wishing we could
buy bushels of cucumbers and peaches. Two thumbs up from both of us!
The Escape Game - 510 East Iris Drive Unit D, Nashville
You’re locked in a room for an hour in groups of six to
eight and you need to solve puzzles to get out.
(Our group did not get out, but if we’d have had just two or three more
minutes, I’m pretty sure we would have.)
I thought it was pretty cool, but we were put with people we didn’t know
and that made communication a lot harder.
For $28 a person, it’s kind of pricey. I would definitely do it again
(obviously, in a different puzzle room), but only with other people I
know.
Grand Ole Opry
backstage tour - Opryland Dr., Nashville
If you could hear my high-pitched squeal right now, you
would laugh. I got to go BACKSTAGE at
the Grand Ole Opry. You need to do this.
You need to do it right now. George
Jones, Johnny Cash, and Conway Twitty
(Conway FUCKING Twitty) walked these halls.
I…I’m verklempt. It was indescribably wonderful and spine-tingly. You get to stand on THE STAGE. If I had done only one thing on this entire
trip, this backstage tour would have been it.
Grand Ole Opry
Backstage Grill - 2401 Music Valley Dr. Nashville
Eh. I bought tickets from the Grand Ole Opry for a package
deal that included a meal here. The waitstaff here sing on a stage while they
also take orders and deliver you refills of sweet tea. The service was good. The food was passable.
If I could do it differently, I would buy tickets for the backstage tour and
the show separately and go to the nearby Opry Mills mall for something to eat
before the show. It probably was the
worst food we had during the entire trip.
Grand Ole Opry Friday
night show
I died with glee. John Conlee sung “Common Man” and Ohio
native Kim Richey almost made me cry and Jean Shepard sang “The Wabash
Cannonball” and ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod I WAS AT THE GRAND OLE OPRY.
Squealing. I squealed a lot that night.
Sorry, strange guy next to me who was EATING POPCORN during the show. (Eating popcorn while John Conlee was
singing? No. That’s not okay.) You have to go to the Opry when you're in Nashville or I will JUDGE YOU HARSHLY.
Sonic
We went to Sonic for cherry slushees after the show. Don’t judge me. It was GREAT.
There are Sonics in Wisconsin, but don’t you feel like when you’re in
the south you are duty-bound to go to Sonic? Just me?
Day Three - Saturday
Monell’s in
Germantown - 1235 6th Ave. N., Nashville
You sit at a giant table that seats 10 – 12 and eat family
style. We went for breakfast that included cinnamon buns, biscuits and sausage
gravy (that gravy will make a northern girl weep in frustration that her
cooking will always be genetically inferior), scrambled eggs, fried chicken,
ham, bacon, sausage patties, cheese grits (So. Good.), potatoes, cinnamon
apples, corn pudding (droooooool), and coffee and sweet tea to drink. We just kept eating and eating and passing
and passing and at the end of the breakfast, I decided that moving to Nashville
sounded like the best idea I have ever had.
We got there early (they opened at 8:30 and we were there at
8:15 and we were freaking out that there would be a line and then there was
absolutely no one else there). The
hostess sat us right away and there were sweet buns and biscuits and gravy on
the table before Bestest Friend returned from a trip to the bathroom.
Rumor has it that this place has quite a wait at times, so get there early if
you are the impatient sort.
Factory at Franklin - 230 Franklin Rd., Franklin
Eh. This was 25-30 minutes outside of Nashville proper. It’s
a shopping center in a renovated factory and it’s not as interesting as it sounds
in theory.
Downtown
We spent some time downtown just wandering about. It wasn’t
all that mind-blowing. We saw the outside of the Ryman (and I wish we’d done a
tour, but now’s not the time for regrets), walked along Broadway with its bars,
music venues, and stores, and stared in disbelief at the incredibly
underwhelming Country Walk of Fame. It
turns out that the most awesome part of downtown Nashville for two nerds like
us was the public library. The facility was beautiful and the children’s area
was everything a library should be to foster a love of the written word into the littlest ones. We sat at a table, wrote
some postcards, and talked about how we wished everyone had access to a library
that was as gorgeous as this one.
 |
| This is NOT what my local library looks like. |
Nap at Air BNB
We actually stayed at an Air BNB in East Nashville. For way less than half
the price of what we would have spent to get one room at a hotel at a major
chain, we were able to get two separate rooms with an adjoining bathroom in the
upstairs loft of someone’s house. We
didn’t spent a lot of time here, obviously, but it was great to have our own
rooms for things like our Saturday afternoon siesta.
I was a bit nervous about using an Air BNB, but it was a great experience.
The Pharmacy - 731 McFerrin Ave., Nashville
We waited for over an hour to eat here. The food was great.
The service, décor, and overall atmosphere was mediocre. I’m not sure I’d go here again and I might
recommend somewhere else if you come to Nashville. On the bright side, we had plenty of time for me to practice my graffiti while we were waiting.
Gigi’s Cupcakes - 1816 Broadway, Nashville
We got there 10 minutes before closing, so there were only a
few flavors of cupcakes left. I got a turtle cupcake and Bestest Friend got a
wedding cake cupcake. Mine was super
awesome and she said hers was “meh.”
I think I would try to get to Gigi’s a bit earlier in the day to see all
the flavors if I could get a redo.
Day Four - Sunday
OH MY GOD. We ate
here before Bestest Friend dropped me off at the airport and if you ever get
the chance to eat at Biscuit Love, YOU MUST DO SO. Made with local, organic ingredients (and
LOVE), this food was utterly mouthwatering. It’s not your average state fair food truck.
I got a biscuit with peaches and peach compote and Bestest
Friend got a biscuit with fried chicken and sausage gravy and I want to go back
right now. While we were drooling over
our biscuits, the owner (KARL!!) brought us out some corn grits with sausage
gravy and made fun of me for calling corn grits polenta (“Oh, you northerners. You don’t know how to make grits”). We bought tshirts and I told him we’d say
good things about his food.
It sounds like they are going to have a brick and mortar
location soon, so if you end up in Nashville, you absolutely must eat this
food. Support local agriculture AND deliciousness all at once.
BNA - Nashville International Airport
I’m not going to lie. I’m typing this from the airport
because Bestest Friend dropped me off early so she could get home in time to
put her kid to bed. I am sitting in
Terminal C outside of an eatery called Tootsies and there’s live music of a guy
singing covers of country songs from the 1990s. I am pretty content with my lot
in life right now. The airport is clean, roomy, and there’s a guy singing “Papa
Loved Mama.” This is possibly the best
airport experience I’ve ever had.
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Overall, Nashville was amazing. It’s a great town and
everyone should come here at least once in their life!
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