For Christmas this year, my mom decided to change things up and as we seem to value experiences and time spent together over things and stuff, we decided we would book a trip somewhere we haven’t been before - just the three of us: my sister, mom and myself. We landed on Nashville, as my mom has a strong love of country music and all things Kenny Chesney (spoiler alert: Kenny is nowhere to be seen in Nashville - not in advertisements, music played in bars or even in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum). Aside from the country music scene, Nashville just seemed like a cool place and we all have heard nothing but good things about Music City.
On Allegiant, a budget airline that flies out of the St Pete (PIE) airport, airfare was relatively low cost and we jumped on AirBnb and VRBO to find a place to stay in or near the downtown area. When we initially booked dates, we didn’t realize we would be traveling over Easter weekend but it didn’t seem to impact things.
After landing and checking in at the rental and after eating, we decided to walk around a bit and try to figure out where things were. We ended up wondering around Music Row, walking down streets of recording studios and rich history. This was when we saw the scooters. Nashville has a number of electric scooter companies (Lyft, Uber, Lime, Spin to name a few) that have scooters available around the city for easy pick up and drop off - just download the appropriate app, scan the QR code and ride to your destination (at a rate of $0.15/min). Somewhat dorky - 100% convenient.
Friday was our first full day, we woke up and decided to head to the Gulch for breakfast. We knew lines would be long, so we headed out early to beat the crowds. We found some scooters and rode to Milk and Honey - which we all definitely recommend! Even though arriving around 8am saved us from the long lines that accumulated as we were eating, we still had a slight 20 min wait so we wandered around to find the famous #WhatLiftsYou wing mural by Kelsey Montague. There was also another wing mural painted (this one with bright colors, cats, hearts and flowers that has been linked by the internet to Taylor Swift) a week prior, so that was cool that we were some of the first people to get to see it!
We toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum after breakfast and walked through countless exhibits and got the chance to see and read about Elvis’ gold-plated Cadillac, listen to records from the Wall of Gold Records, and even record a song!
We heard from multiple people that we had to go to Hattie B’s for some famous Nashville hot chicken - we were also warned of the long lines, but that didn’t stop us. After getting settled at our rental, we set out to try Hattie B’s as it was time to eat and we figured it was kind of an odd time so maybe the line wouldn’t be too bad. Of course, there was still a line, we probably waited around 30 minutes, but it was worth it! In Nashville, and I’m sure in other southern cities, they offer the Meat and Three - a meat entree and three veggie sides (we learned that mac n’ cheese IS a vegetable and that’s when I decided Nashville was my kind of town).
Elvis’s Gold Plated Cadillac on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Restroom door sign seen at Hattie B’s
Breakfast at Milk and Honey in The Gulch
New Wing Mural at the gulch painted by Kelsey Montague.
View of Broadway in Downtown Nashville from Luke Bryan’s rooftop bar
If you’ve watched the show ‘Nashville’ (first on ABC, then picked up by CMT) you’ve heard of the Bluebird Cafe. It’s a real place and a place where intimate shows are still held and songwriters still perform. Since being on the show, it has gained popularity and reservations are hard to come by. There are, however, a number of first come/first serve seats available for the first 10-15 people. Doors opened at 5:30 and we were told to get there at least an hour before to secure entry. We ended up arriving around 4 and there were only 2 people there, so we were in a good spot. As time went on, more people crowded in and we were glad we didn’t wait to show up and risk it. We ended up making friends in line with the couple in front of us, who happened to be from England and Nashville was the last stop on their vacation and behind us there was a young couple from Philly that let my mom borrow their blanket because it was cold and rainy outside.
We ended up hopping on the Hop On/Hop Off Trolley and visited Nashville’s Bicentennial Park, Ryman Auditorium and did a tour of the Grand Ole Opry. We definitely hit most of the tourist spots in the city, including the Pedestrian bridge, which offers AMAZING views.
