Nashville, Tennessee

I have to admit Nashville, Tennessee was not on my radar when we left home last month. I knew it was a beautiful area known for its’ country and western music legacy and good Tennessee Whiskey to name a few things.  Truthfully, I had not thought much about it as a destination place but we have had a blast while we have been here and I am glad  that we made this a part of our travels this year.

Nashville is the Capital of Tennessee and is strategically located on the Cumberland River which is a tributary of the Ohio River. While it is notable for its’ influence in the country music world and its’ place in the civil rights movement, for us it was a fun place to be these last few nights!

We met some Space-A friends on our travels this year who are from the East Coast and when they heard we were in the area they informed us of their favorite honky-tonk and told the band we would be stopping by. I have to be honest here, I wasn’t even sure what the difference was between a bar and a honky-tonk at that point but we took their advice and have had no regrets!

We started up Broadway and for a moment thought we might actually be in New Orleans instead of Nashville. We sat up on a rooftop bar while the ‘security guard/bouncer’ enlightened us to the terms and protocol of the night life. A honky-tonk has live music and bar does not and he continued to ‘school us’ on what to do and what not to do while we were here. We took his advice and tried some of the local beers and bar snacks and a few Tennessee whiskeys and moved on to the next place on his list.

We stayed at a place on Music Row and we were able to walk into town each day. We did a walking tour, an open air bus tour, a distillery tour, and tried all kinds of southern foods we had not tasted before or hadn’t had since our youth. Fried pickles, hot fried chicken, grits, okra, fried bologna and cheese sandwiches, muffeleta, and a variety of other local specialities. Thank goodness we’ve walking at least ten miles each day!

We stayed up late and just enjoyed the culture and vibes of this city. It was just pure and crazy fun and it felt good to be so carefree. It was good for us in a very different way than Germany was and we are glad that we stopped by.

There is a chance that there will be a flight out this weekend from Fort Campbell to Travis AFB. It would be perfect for us but we know we will be fine however this works out. For now, looking forward to heading over to the Opryland Hotel today to have lunch with some dear friends of ours from Clovis. Imagine that,  it really is a small world. Looking forward to seeing y’all soon. Luv ya…