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We go to Nashville at least a couple of times a year.  We just love the energy, the vibe, the excitement of the city.

There are always large groups of people having fun visiting the many honky tonks, restaurants and shopping spots on Broadway and Second Avenue.  It’s amazing to see people pedaling the pedal bars and riding in the open top buses even when the temperature is in the thirties and forties.

We’ve been going there for the past fifteen years or so and every time we return, we are amazed with the explosion taking place in that city.  There are buildings going up everywhere and the city is sprawling in every direction.

Along with that progress though, there are some definite drawbacks, mainly the expense.  Not only is it a growing, thriving city, it has also become a very expensive city to visit.  We’ve been able to get a hotel room  in New York City for less than we’ve had to pay in Nashville.  A lot of that is dependent on what is going on in the area.  If the Titans or Vanderbilt have a home game, the costs go up.  If something is going on in the new Convention Center, the costs go up.  You get the idea.  So, unless money is no object, careful planning is a good idea – something we normally always do.  We still love it and we keep returning.

We got lucky on this trip because it was pretty much a spur of the moment decision.

We decided on Wednesday to go there the next day.  We found a room at a very reasonable rate, frantically packed our bags and got up early on Thursday and hit the road.  We did time our arrival into the city to miss the heavy rush hour traffic.  We’ve been caught in that a few times and try to avoid it if possible.  We were checked into our hotel by 3:30 that afternoon.  We took a short nap, got dressed and went to dinner at Stock and Barrel,

known for burgers, bourbon and beer.  We had The Black & Blue burger, Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale and the local brew, Yazoo.  It was very good, and the service was incredible – southern hospitality at its finest.

The next day we found a nice little bar, Tailgate Brewery,

we could walk to on Music Row.  It had a great ‘Happy Hour’ we were able to take advantage of.  We tried the pizza, reuben sandwich and house salad and were pleasantly surprised at how good it was for ‘bar food’.  They offer beer flights and a huge board of choices, such as Tailgate Dunkel, Mountain Shandew, Thanks Paul IPA, Party in the Hops and Peanut Butter Milk Stout.  Out again that night to visit some of the neon lights and masses of people on Broadway.  A lot of famous country singers have established their own bars/restaurants in that area of the city.  We went to Jason Aldean’s and had an incredible dinner.  There’s an actual tractor in the restaurant.  I think his song; “Big Green Tractor” may have been the inspiration for that unique feature.

On Saturday, it was a bit warmer, so we used the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge to cross the Cumberland River.

The views are fantastic.  After that we stopped by several boot stores and a few more bars like Luke Bryan’s, Alan Jackson’s, Dierks Bentley’s, Florida Georgia Line’s and Blake Shelton’s and then settled at Kidd Rock’s

new place for a drink – an amazing multi-level building with bands playing on each level, as is the case in all of the other places we visited..

We wandered up Second Avenue and nearly went in the Wildhorse Saloon, a place we visited on our first trip to Nashville together, but then decided on somewhere different for lunch.

If you like Tennessee Hot Chicken, then try Music City Chicken Company on Second Avenue.

I opted for the “Nashville Hot” chicken and was glad I didn’t go for the next level called “Sign-The-Waiver” that really does require you to sign a waiver.

I can’t imagine how hot that one is.  The one I chose made my eyes water.  Very tasty, but unless you have the stomach for it, go with the medium one called “Not so Mild” instead.  Dixie had the hot shrimp and grits – another excellent choice!

We did the “Music City Walk of Fame“,

…Nashville’s landmark tribute to musicians from all genres such as Hank Williams Sr., Roy Orbison, Elvis and Jimi Hendrix.  The park is free and open to the public.

There’s so much to do in this amazing city.  We were only there for three days on this visit, but we left satisfied that we made good use of our time there.  We know we’ll always find more things to do every time we visit.  We’ll definitely be back and will post blogs on our next and subsequent trips to Music City, USA.

Thanks for reading
Paul