Nashville!

We went and stayed for three days.

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Intro, body, and conclusion – Aunt Dianna’s suggestion.

Now, for the meat.

Nashville has been on my bucket list for several years, as well as the desire to add more states to my list of those visited, and when Todd said it was time for HIM to have a vacation and I suggested it, he was kind enough to indulge me. As with any place we travel to, I do my homework and plan ahead because I love adventure and experiences. I also crowdsourced for suggestions and advice.

I chose a hotel in the downtown-Stadium area – short walking distance to Downtown or free* hotel shuttle and far enough away from the music that would otherwise keep us awake at night. The walk was about a 20-minute walk past questionable fenced-in lots, towering weedy vegetation, edges littered with garbage and debris, and then over the bridge. Walking at night “not recommended.”

Sidebar Also not recommended – reading the hotel reviews on the way to said hotel. People are not always kind and, like most review sites (ahem, Yelp), nine times out of ten they only write to complain. Still, they weren’t wrong about décor needing an upgrade. However, I did not find the front desk staff to be rude – perhaps the shakedown from the review changed their perspective – and the free breakfast was perfect for diluting the previous night’s bad decisions.

Met some lovely folks from England as we walked downtown together. One gentleman fell in step with us and he and Todd chatted about work and other things and eventually the wife broke from the rest of the group to apologize to me for her husband “accosting” us. Oh, if only she knew. There is no accosting Todd.

They were on a group tour that also took them to Memphis and Atlanta. It was charming to talk to people who aren’t inherently familiar with our geography – like explaining where we’re from and its proximity to Philly, Baltimore, and New York. We parted ways after crossing the bridge but – this is one of the things I found fascinating about Nashville – I saw them several times on Broadway that evening and the next day. And what I also mean to say is that I often saw the same people over the three days we spent there.

First night: Ole Red – entering the front doors to a large but not impossible crowd in the two-story space with the Scotty Mac Band on stage. Self-seating on the main floor, second floor overlooks the first where we put our name on a list for a table and went to the small bar for our first drink. We were able to move into two vacated seats at the bar in minutes and were later seated at a table next to the railing overlooking the stage.

We shared the Redneck Nachos – taco meat, white queso, jalapenos, pickled red onions, avocado cream and corn salsa – and the Grilled Bacon-wrapped Meatloaf with cheddar smashed potatoes and BBQ sauce. Holy shit – that was so good I made my own last week for Todd and Matt. Nick Hickman took over the stage about 8:00 and put on a great show.

Broadway at night is a buffet of music spilling from windows and doors and neon signs cast a warm, energizing yet casual, Vegas vibe. I packed a suitcase full of what I felt would be “appropriate” clothing for the trip and imagined I would buy a pair of cowboy boots while there. Silly me – so many people buy boots on their Nashville trip that there’s at least one online article about how to shop for them (and how not to be stupid) and an abundance of stores with dizzying floor-to-ceiling shelves of boots to choose from. Spoiler: boots are NOT cheap and what I noticed is many of them looked narrow.*

Anyway, despite all that I packed, we did so much walking so that the only shoes I ended up wearing were sneakers and I was not alone. The majority of folks were casually dressed – shorts, t-shirts, and sneakers. There were of course the cowboy-hatted, boot-kickin revelers and the occasional “Bride-to-Be” sashed ladies in bedazzled white boots with their posse of similarly styled bridesmaids. Overall, there was a healthy mix of old and young and I was surprised to feel home among them all. There were also quite a few goth and urban-style dressers that, had I not been IN Nashville, I’d have thought didn’t exist here. Nashville is NOT just “country” and there were many places to hear rock too.

Next: More Nashville!

Above from top: Broadway at night, facing south. View from the bridge, and the famed “Batman” building. View of the stage from our table at Ole Red. Boot shop on Broadway, nuff said. The walk to the bridge to Downtown.

*free shuttle but $20 a day for parking. But – free breakfast. Nothing is free, ya’ll. It all comes out in the wash.

Also, read the reviews BEFORE booking if it matters to you.

**Tecovas are fucking beautiful boots and I had my eye on a pair online and was hoping to actually try them on. The store itself had slim pickins for women and when I asked the staffer (who offered us a beer/wine/champagne while we shopped) about the narrow width he apologetically explained that their stock is limited right now. The men’s side was full of options and damn the leather on all of them was/is divine.

Lucchese is top-notch but expect to fork out no less than $500 for a pair. I saw one I liked for $850, stroked the fine leather shaft appraisingly, and exited the front door.

***We were in Nashville the week after Labor Day, from Sunday to Wednesday. Have not experienced Downtown on a Friday/ Saturday and don’t need to.