A Week in Nashville

taken through a bullet hole in a civil war home

I'm not a country music fan, so maybe that's why we've been so long in getting to Nashville. But my son told me there's more than country there...so off we went!

We opted for a condo not far from downtown, and it ended up being a great location for our week exploring the Nashville area.

The first day we arrived, we settled in and had reservations at night for the showboat - General Jackson's - and it was a show for sure! We ate at a large round table with other guests and saw a show and had a buffet dinner. The food was good, the show was entertaining, and it was a good kickoff to a fun week.

The next day we had tickets to tour the Ryman and visit the Johnny Cash Museum. We also tried the famous Pucketts Restaurant - in fact, we ate their twice - different locations. The Ryman, of course, is steeped with history and the seats are original! Get tickets to a concert if you can - and book early before you go. Johnny Cash is everywhere in Nashville, and his museum was interesting and very well done.

That night we had tix to a Soul Music City Trolley - where our tour guide was a young singer/songwriter and played his trumpet and guitar as we toured - an added bonus! The tour was fantastic.

We did walk down Broadway and enjoyed live music at Acme Feed Restaurant - one of our favorite experiences. And we enjoyed a night at The Listening Room - where three singer songwriters (seasoned ones and ones who had written for the stars...) took turns sharing their music - another fave!

One day we visited Cheekwood Estates and Belmont Mansion and toured both - thoroughly enjoyed the history, the buildings, the grounds, and the knowledge of the people that worked there. While out that way, we ate at Loveless Cafe - a famous stop - and their food was amazing.

We also toured the Musicians Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as the Afro American Music Museum (don't go there on Wednesday when it's free because it's packed!) Our favorite of these three was the Country Music Hall of Fame. This was a full day!

One day we decided to drive to Franklin, just 30 minutes south of Nashville, and it's full of history. We chose to tour a civil war home that still showed the bullet holes from the shots fired while a family hid inside. Franklin is a gorgeous historic town, not to miss. And we toured the Andrew Jackson Hermitage - an awesome place to see - and read about one particular slave!

We did shop in different districts of Nashville - The Gulch and 12 South. 12 South was the best - with cute shops and even Draper James (Reese Witherspoon's shop) and...Edley's BBQ - as good as Texas! Jon found a great coffee stop - Frothy Monkey!

One night we had tickets to the Grand Ole Opry - which was a classic night and perhaps more "ole" than grand! Nevertheless, we can say we went. And another night we got tix to a musical in downtown Nashville, where we saw Hadestown at the TPAC. A fun night to get dressed up and go out!

Another night we got to meet one of the writers of the magazine, Angela, and her husband for a great burger at Pharmacy Burger - so fun to meet this forever friend! And we had breakfast at another round table, at the famous Monells - not to miss!

It wasn't hard getting around Nashville in our rental car, the food was delicious, people were friendly, and music was everywhere all times of the day - the best being the live music in restaurants.

Oh, and we visited the OG Goo Goo Cluster shop and I got to design my own cluster - which was fantastically delicious!

Our last morning was spent touring and walking around the Parthenon - wow - just wow - it's huge and so is Athena - the statue inside!

It was cold when we were there, early March, so we did take coats - but boy the wind was nippy! And there is SO MUCH music there - that's the most fantastic thing of all - a good time for sure!