Nashville

Back in May, I went to Nashville for Jenn’s bachelorette party.

I wanted to write about it, but was in the middle of a series on my semester abroad and I didn’t want to cut into that. That’s when I got the idea for my next series on all of the places I’ve visited in the Southern United States, starting of course with Nashville because that is what sparked the idea for this series.

I’ve been to Nashville twice in the last few years – once this past May as I said, and once a couple years ago with my family during spring break. Both very different trips, but with the same outcome – Nashville is an awesome city.

I’ll start with the Jenn’s bachelorette. This trip was definitely a party trip to celebrate the bride. I arrived early Saturday morning and spent 2 nights there. The weekend, like any Nashville weekend should, began with a trip downtown for some drinks and music. Broadway in Nashville is filled with huge multi level bars with different bands playing on each floor. If you get bored, you could go next door for a different band, or to make it even easier you can just walk up or down one flight of stairs. It’s really great. We started at the Acme Feed and Seed and then headed over the Kid Rock’s Honkey Tonk. Fun fact: apparently many of the bars are owned by and named for famous singers and these singers will sometimes randomly show up to perform. We spent the morning dancing, and it was great. We did not see Kid Rock.

After grabbing some lunch at one of the bars, we headed back to the house to get ready for goat yoga. Yes, I did yoga with goats. I do not like animals and I did not want these goats to touch me, but I did it for the pictures, and for the bride. You’re welcome. I will never participate in this activity again.

Don’t be fooled by this smile. I am not looking forward to the goat’s next step…
Just happy he’s not walking on me.
Hated this moment.

That night we went back downtown for some tacos and then headed over to the Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar.

The next day was the real party day! We started out with brunch and then got ready for the Honky Tonk Party Express. If you’ve been to Nashville, you’ve most likely seen the pedal tours riding around downtown. It’s sort of like a giant group bike ride with music and a tray in front of you to hold your drinks. Well, with our small group of 21, we were too big for a pedal tour so we did an open top party bus instead. Let me tell you, this is a MUCH better option. We did not have to pedal in the 100 degree heat, but instead rode around in style with a steady breeze. We could hold and walk around with our drinks, and we didn’t have to pedal on a small uncomfortable backless bike seat for two hours. I highly recommend this option if you’re looking for a group day drinking activity or celebration.

That night we brought in some hot chicken and grilled. Some people went out – I did not.

All in all it was an awesome weekend celebrating and amazing bride.

And then there was that other time I went to Nashville as a tourist with my family and hit up all of the tourist traps.

We were supposed to start our trip with a Segway tour around the city with likely stops at Schermherhorn Symphony Center, Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena, Fort Nashborogh, Bicentennial Mall, Farmers’ Market, and Tennessee State Capitol. Here we are playing around in the souvenir shop before the tour.

Then our tour got rained out and canceled. I’d recommend it anyway.

We decided to just explore the city on our own and take a stroll down Music Row. This is the heart of Nashville’s Country Music industry and home to RCA Studio B, a famous recording studio in Nashville. Like, where Elvis recorded.

We also hit up Vanderbilt University and Dragon Park, which I do not have pictures of but it’s pretty cool. It’s a park with huge dragon sculptures.

We then got lunch at Jack’s BBQ before our Ryman Auditorium Backstage Tour.

The Ryman was the home of the original Grand Ole Opry, and we got to see all of the behind the scenes stuff. Touring the dressing rooms and walking across the stage stand out most in my memory. Eric also went to see Dave Chapelle at the Ryman one night while we were there. Apparently the old bench seats are very uncomfortable and they squeeze too many people into them. Now you know.

That afternoon, we headed over to the Lane Motor Car Museum. I’m not a big car person, but there were some really cool, interesting old cars to see here. The museum is huge and filled with cars from different decades with descriptions and history.

Continuing on our rainy day adventure, we hit up the Nashville Parthenon, which is an exact replica of the Parthenon in Athens.

We then began our Broadway music tour with some drinks at the Acme Feed and Seed (yes, the same one we went to at Jenn’s Bachelorette – I’m telling you these bars are so versatile and fun for all ages and intentions), and some other places along the way.

Love this…

We went for dinner that night and then went to bed as early as possible because that’s how we roll in the Finn Family. #finnfamilyfun = #sleep>everything

The next day we headed to Western Nashville for the Belle Meade Mansion and Plantation. It’s a beautiful old mansion and plantation turned museum with lots of history, but I’m not really a history or museum person so I don’t remember any of it. Google it. They also had some games and stuff, and it was just a nice place to walk around and spend some time.

We finished the tour with a little wine tasting at their winery and learned more history stuff.

If you read my blog on food way back when I first started this thing, you may remember that we were trying to decide between Mas Tacos and Prince’s Hot Chicken for lunch. You may also remember that we couldn’t decide so we opted for both. Because this is how we roll in the Finn Family. #finnfamilyfun = #food>everytingbutsleep

Breaking news…
It’s HOT

Then we went to the Frist Art Museum. Again, not a museum person so I don’t know what I was seeing or what the exhibits were, and we spent most of the time in the kids room as you can see from these photos (note: there were no kids on this trip).

We ended our few days in Nashville with our tour of the Grand Ole Opry. We got to go backstage and on stage to learn about the true heart of country music. It was cool to see some of the pictures of the performers, and I wish we had gotten to see a show there, but it didn’t work out for this trip. I guess I’ll have to go back.