An Epic Nash Bash
Hi friends, happy Sunday! This may be a bit delayed, but my friends and I visited Nashville a month ago and I OF COURSE had to fill you guys in on the trip and offer all the suggestions for those of you who are also hoping to plan weekend trips there soon. Living in Chicago, Nashville is one of the closest touristy cities other than the one I actually live in, which comes in clutch whenever I want to sightsee in a less cringey way that doing it in a city I’ve lived close to my entire life. We made it a five day trip, and I worked from there and even “watched” the incredible solar eclipse from there too. I put that in quotes because despite totality reaching 100% in TN just like in IL, it did end up being completely overshadowed by the grayest clouds you’ve ever seen. One of those – better in theory – moments for sure.
I’ve been to Nashville once before, but I wasn’t 21 when I went that time, so I spent it panicking about my disastrous fake ID, which said I was 23 (because I really messed up when I ordered it from a super sketchy group in high school) and going to like 1.5 hours. The highlight of that trip was ordering a margarita at Margaritaville, feeling like a con artist for a good half hour, and then still enjoying the Spinach and Artichoke dip more than the drink. I left that trip convinced I would want to be in Nashville for my bachelorette one day because – OMG how unique!?! Now being an old lady able to go to the bars, I realized just how gimmicky Nashville can be. I think if you measured it out, its probably 90% 26 year old women treating Bachelorette weekends away like a post-college reunion. We were probably asked if we were there for a bachelorette trip at least 7 times. And we are really the experts because the AirBnb we booked (a pretty hilarious apartment themed with fake Versace ripped right out of a Tom Haverford from Parks and Rec docuseries) ended up being across the street from a home base for a pub cycle company. So every morning, every work zoom, every night- we were high fived and yelled at by random strangers who I would say were a little too hammered for 10am – but hey, no judgement, its Nashville. The first pub cycle that passed us, they yelled at me “give us a number 1-10!” and I yelled 7. They cheered and went on their way, and I was convinced for a quite a while they had each taken 7 shots until my friend clarified that each one of them definitely had been assigned a number and only that person would have to drink. Poor #7. I’ll send a prayer to him tonight.
Anyway, here are my favorite things I did while visiting Nashville with my besties!
The Bars (no explanation needed, I liked the ones with rooftops, great live music that stretches beyond country, line dancing, and a fun vibe all around)
- The Stage
- Nudie’s Honky Tonk
- Margaritaville
- Friends in Low Places
- Casa Rosa
- Honky Tonk Central
- The Dolly Parton Bar (in the Graduate hotel on Music Row)
The Food Spots:
- Milk & Honey – I know it’s a chain, but the biscuits in this location are to die for. And it never hurts to get their Mimosa flight and start the weekend early!
- The Mellow Mushroom – this is also technically a bar, but I loved this one so much! Great pizza joint right on Broadway with killer live music to enjoy
- Casa Rosa (the food and drinks are amazing and the bar upstairs is pretty epic too)
- Frothy Monkey- another incredible brunch spot endorsed by Miss Taylor herself
- The Local – a delicious lunch option near Centennial park with amazing live music and an outdoor patio
The Touristy Spectaculars:
- Goo Goo Chocolate Shop – a Goo Goo is a cluster of chocolate, caramel, marshmallow, and peanuts that just made those individual ingredients taste way better than they ever could on their own. You have to try the OG shop on Broadway, where you can make your own clusters with your favorite treats !
- The Gulch – outlet/mural area that is to die for! So many boutiques I could never even deem to afford but also some great food spots and that one mural everyone takes pictures in front of for some reason. Try Kittenish, an epic boutique that has some really gorgeous stuff, and put a pin on their map wall with where you’re visiting from.
- Go on a Taylor Swift Tour – from the Hillside shops and delicious brunch spots like Fido and Frothy Monkey that she frequented when she lived in the city years ago to Ryman Auditorium where she actually performed these are spots you really can’t miss.
- Catch a live show at the Bluebird Café – I say this because we were not able to book tickets to one because trust me, they sell out, so book early! We were lucky enough though to go to their Spring open house and grab some merch while also getting a photo in the very chair T Swift and some pretty epic other music sensations once sat in performing as they rose to fame
- Visit Centennial Park + Music Row- Centennial Park is such a gorgeous area to picnic, walk around, and sit on THE Taylor bench that was placed there in her honor when her Eras tour was there last year. The ducks are adorable and you can even pay to walk the inside of the amazing Parthenon replica that Centennial Park encloses.
- Tour the Country Music Hall of Fame – I know it’s a tourist trap, but this is one of the few times you’ll catch me begging you to go! This is super cool because it isn’t just a museum of some pretty legendary country singers going back decades, but it also is super interactive! If you’re a swiftie make sure to visit the Taylor Swift education center and see the guitars that have had a legendary mark on her career, and if you’re not, you can design your own CD or even record your own music hit. And ours…came out interesting, you can assume.
I hope this was a short but helpful list of all the super fun spots that made our weekend away truly SUCH a blast. Reminder that in Nashville, country rules supreme, you better bring the cowboy boots, the chance of encountering weird drunk men goes up at least 60% (I mean we were even hit on by a pair of 55 year olds so…), and the nights are definitely ones to remember. You’ll especially remember if you hear later on that you were one building away while Morgan Wallen was throwing a chair at a bunch of cops down below a bar on Broadway. Pretty iconic of us.
Money will come and go, but being 22 with my best friends SCREAMING the words to Texas Hold Em’ by Beyonce in Music City, USA is once in a lifetime. Yee-hot stuff. And on that note, I’m going to shut this rodeo down. Let’s talk next week!