Nashville Day 3

No sleeping in on this trip! (Much to Abbey's chagrin)

We woke up bright and early to get a head start on our day!

First stop was The Bluebird Cafe. This is where lots of country music stars were discovered! Apparently, including Taylor Swift... who had just stopped in for a surprise visit last week!!

We tried SO HARD to get tickets (all of us woke up at 6am on a specific day to log on and hope the lottery picked one of us.. big, fat NOPE) but it's ok! Who needs to see a show when you can peer into a dark window and dream, right?! ;)

It's so funny, it seriously looks like a sketchy dive in the middle of a sketchier mini mall. Go figure.

Every episode of the show, Nashville, has scenes inside this place. Oh, Gunnar! We'll catch you next time!

Then we cruised over to Biscuit Love for breakfast!

It is not hard to fall in love with this place! It's clean and modern and how about the sign in lights?! They tout the infamous "bonuts"... a biscuit donut. We got a plate to share plus an order of their "East Nasty". It's fried chicken on a biscuit, topped with gravy and an egg. BEST DANG CHICKEN of my LIFE!! It was tender and moist, perfectly breaded and seasoned. I have never had fried chicken like that before! What is this voodoo magic they are working with?! We were pretty stuffed chicks ourselves when we finished there. 

Finally, on to our city tour!! We parked in downtown, then walked over to the ticket building by the river. Shelley walked up to the counter and cheerfully said, "Hi! Shelley Goodman..." expecting her to want the name the reservation was under. Apparently, the worker just drawled, "Well, congratulations."

Bahahahaha! I guess someone didn't get her biscuit that morning! First snarky person we encountered among all those sweet southerners! 

We got off the trolley just around the corner at the Ryman Auditorium. (And we didn't step foot on it again. Biggest waste of $35 the whole trip!) 

The Ryman was the location of the Grand Ol' Opry before it moved buildings. The tour was pretty lame. You watch a video then just wander around the auditorium. 

HOWEVER, for an extra $40 you can book the recording studio for 15 minutes to record a song! I don't know why, but it just sounded fun! Like, why not do something out of the ordinary, you know? I suggested it and everyone seemed hesitant but willing, so I left to go to the box office to pay for it. I guess Shelley changed her mind and tried to call me to stop me from buying it, but my phone was still turned off from the video we had watched. This was the first of only (yay..ONLY) two times Shelley looked like she wanted to kill me. I came back all chipper and excited to a disgruntled group. Whatsagirltodo? 

We only had to wait a few minutes for our session to start. The man running the show gave us a list of songs to choose from. We settled on I've Got Friends in Low Places, by Garth Brooks. The man highly suggested it for a group recording. We all knew we couldn't sing, and warned him repeatedly, but guess what? It was FUN! I think we all got a kick out of it. We got to wear the special headsets and sing into the microphone and record our very own single! Haha! Walked away with the CD in my purse. :) I'm glad it worked out!

Next up, we walked over to the Country Music Hall of Fame!!!

OK, now this is a place I wished we had more time at! Definitely a museum worth the admittance fee. It has two levels. The top one is more old time country music stars and the bottom level is more current singers. Marcie and I seemed to sort of stick together through this one, glancing over the plaques and taking it all in.

I thought this was the coolest thing there....

Elvis Presley's actual cadillac. It says that it's painted with 40 coats of a translucent mixture of crushed diamonds and fish scales!!! What in the heck?! It also had a gold plated tv and record player in the back. Elvis lived large.

They had two exhibits going on while we were there... the Shania Twain exhibit and the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill one. I took the time to read all the posters for those two. I was a BIG Shania fan in college! Listened to her Up album repeatedly. 

Unfortunately, this is where I ruffled feathers inadvertently for the second time. Marcie and I were taking much too long looking at everything for Shelley and Abbey's liking. I guess this was bound to happen eventually! I wasn't reading everything... really I hadn't read hardly any of the old timer stuff, but I also knew I wouldn't be back anytime soon and I didn't want to breeze over everything either! This was probably just a good illustration of how different we are. Like we needed anyone to tell us that! ;)

On the bottom level there was a quiz you could take to see where you would fit in on a "tour" based on some personality questions. I was really curious what mine would say.

DRIVER.

Yep, I would be really good at driving the tour bus. HA!! Dumbest quiz I ever took. I hate driving. And driving a bus? Yeah, kill me.

Ohhh Jorge!! I will see you in concert ONE DAY!

From there, we got back in our car to drive to Hattie B's Hot Chicken restaurant. It was another "must eat" that we read about. This was the first place we went that had a line down the street. Ugh. We only had one hour before we needed to be on the road to catch our Grand Ol' Opry tour. So we called in our order instead and waited next door at a cupcake shop in the air conditioning. It still took about an hour to get our food, but at least we got to sit and have a sweet appetizer. 

Shelley said her chicken sandwich was good, but my side of chicken definitely was NOT. I felt like I got 3 bites of chicken and the rest was gristle and breading. Two thumbs down for Hattie B's. The macaroni and cheese, on the other hand, was bomb. Thick, golden, artery clogging goodness!

So the Grand Ol' Opry, we were surprised to learn, was not in downtown Nashville at all! It was about a 20 minute drive north. It's right next to a huge mall and an even huger hotel.

We weren't going to do a tour here at first because we were seeing a show, but the lady at the Ryman box office recommended it so we added it on. So glad we did! The Opry was WAY cooler than the Ryman. For sure, a must see! 

You start with a short video then wait to be taken backstage. While we waited, Diamond Rio happened to be filming a documentary thing on stage. 

They show you the side entrance that the celebrities come through and check in at the desk. There is a mailbox wall where each member has fan mail waiting for them.

Then, this is the hallway with all the unique dressing rooms! Each one has a theme, like there's a special one for anyone who is coming to perform for the first time. 

Getting our picture taken on stage!

A little tribute to Nashville backstage!! I want to BE Rayna James!

We had about an hour and half to kill before the concert started, so what do you suppose we did? 

Yep, danced in front of the guitars. We took turns being silly and dancing, taking video and pictures and when we finished, the workers in a food truck nearby started clapping. Haha. I gave a little bow.

Never would have thought to check out the hotel next door, but my Aunt Mary Ann said it was worthy of its own tour. 

That. it. is.

This place puts Las Vegas resorts to shame. To say it was ginormous doesn't do it justice. There were so many wings, you could get lost in a hot second. There were two separate ENORMOUS indoor atriums that reminded me of jurassic park. There were rivers with gondola rides. Waterfalls, gardens balconies, restaurants and shops. I could not wrap my mind around how this place could even be built, let alone maintained.

We got back to the Opry in time to grab some concession food for a pseudo-dinner. Ice cold Dr. Pepper and pretzel with cheese made me real happy. 

I wasn't totally sure what to expect at the concert, but were basically were watching a live radio show. They've been doing them EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT since 1925 and haven't missed a show. So the announcer would stand at the podium and announce a performer... they would sing a couple of songs, the announcer would do a commercial for Dollar General or something and then announce the next performer. I lost count of how many groups sang, but it was at least 10! All varieties too. The main headliners were Diamond Rio and Mark Wills. We also liked Love and Theft. Even though there were some older ladies with kind of boring songs and group of really old guys, it was honestly entertaining! There was a lot of energy and happiness there and we had a great time! Before it started, a lady asked for two volunteers and Abbey got picked as one! She brought her and this other high school boy in front of the stage during one of the commercial breaks and they had to imitate Minnie Pearl saying "How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E!" Best one, by round of applause, won. Abbey did awesome! She borrowed the boy's hat and sang it really loud and funny. We were screaming our heads off! The boy then made his voice crack when he did it and ended up winning. Boo! I thought Abbey deserved it for sure!

Jeni's ice cream was another "must try" so after the concert, we drove about 30 min. to one of their locations. This place had a line too! But this one deserved a line! I got brown butter almond brittle, brambleberry crisp and dark chocolate truffle. But the winner was definitely the rainbow buttermilk frozen yogurt. It had passion fruit, raspberry and lime and was AMAZING. Shelley and Marcie both got it and I about fell off my chair when I tried it. Perfectly tart and mind blowingly yummy. I don't think I've ever liked an ice cream so much.

Nashville Day 1 & 2

After a cousin girl trip fell through, Shelley and I decided to make our own trip happen! This sister trip was a first for us but certainly not the last! We considered Chicago, Nashville and New Orleans, but Nashville was the winner! I typically have a touch of anxiety leading up to trips, but for whatever reason, I was ALL IN for this one and couldn't wait!

David generously dropped us off at the airport and picked us up. Thanks, Uber David!

Why not take the airport taxi to your gate?! I think we reached the same speeds on some rides at Dollywood later that week!

It's happening!!!! I watched "Walk the Line", a movie about Johnny Cash, during the flight. Gotta get all ready for his museum! 

Abbey shared one of her Circus Peanuts. Seriously, this might be the strangest thing about Abbey, haha! I always wondered who on earth would buy those things!!

Shelley didn't approve. 

Our flight left on Wednesday at 5:40pm and we arrived around 11pm if I remember correctly. But with the time change it was only a 3 hour flight. Easy peasy!

Shelley rented the car (a minivan- woot woot) and became the sole driver because we didn't want to pay the $50 extra it cost to add additional drivers. Poor Shelley! In hindsight, we should have paid it to add one more person. It just ended up being quite a lot of driving responsibility for Shell Bell.

We started out by laughing A LOT over the fact that 4 grown adults couldn't figure out how to turn off the overhead lights while the car was on!! Seriously, all the buttons got pushed, doors got reclosed and still the lights wouldn't turn off! The teenaged worker was no help, but random lady passing by figured it out! Thanks, random lady!! This was the first of MANY hospitable southern people we were impressed by!

It was about a 20 minute drive south to our quaint AirBnb! Hotels in the city be pricy! 

I love that we did this because it just FELT more... I don't know... southern staying here! Can you say AUTHENTIC shiplap?!

Butterscotch and fresh flowers on the kitchen table. Yesss.

This place took me back to our house in Buffalo and I was all sorts of reminiscing! The creaky floors, the old fashioned door knobs, the air vents in the floor instead of ceiling. Even the musty smells. 

Shelley and I figured since we were womb-mates, we could share the queen and Abbey and Marcie could have their own beds. :) Or maybe it would have made more sense to let the twins have the twin beds... I don't know! ;) At any rate, the first night became memorable because just after I had fallen asleep, Shelley heard a serial killer outside our bedroom window. (Surely, the dirty fingernail kind, full of sperm) She alerted the other two and suddenly the neighborhood watch had formed, nervously  speculating what should be done. One kitchen knife later and me barely able to rouse any concern I just remember drifting back off thinking, "If there IS someone out there, he can just kill me."

Wouldn't you know it... we woke the next morning with all our limbs. :)

HOWEVER, bright and early the next day we now we had a piercing, fire alarm going off, alerting us of a carbon monoxide problem. *face palm*. The home owner couldn't be reached so we opened all the windows and doors and surmised that if we hadn't died in our sleep, and no one had a headache, we'd probably be OK.

Friendly neighbors fixing a fence came over to snap our pic. 

We all spent hours researching the best things to do and see in Nashville and here was my list! We had 3 1/2 days and our work cut out for us!

First stop, just 2 miles up the street, was the famous Loveless Cafe! We had read from multiple sources that the wait time is often 2 hours, so I drove down at 7am to put our name on the list while everyone else got ready. The hostess just looked at me strange and said they could seat us right away. 

Huh. Well, sweet! I drove back with the good news and we were eating breakfast within the hour!

Complimentary biscuits to start. Mmm hmmm!

Abbey got waffles but the rest of us shared a BBQ pork benedict, biscuits and gravy and cheesy grits. I wasn't that impressed by the pork, but those grits... take me now!! 

They have several little souvenir shops that we sent my mom a postcard at. It's also where I got Tanner's souvenir onsie and a Nashville t-shirt for me!

Our plan was to drive into Nashville and start with the Trolley city tour but when we were on the highway we saw signs for the Belle Meade plantation. We figured why not hit that up first! It was 7 miles off the highway and turned out that they didn't have any tours starting for 1 1/2 hours. Bug. But we were there, so we walked around looking at the slave house, dairy house, and stables to pass the time. Inside the mansion you couldn't take any pictures... lame... but it was restored to look as it did in the early 1900's. Bell Meade was known as being the premier horse breeding farm of its day. I guess all winners of the Kentucky Derby can trace their lines back to this farm from some cool horse named Iroquis. It was mildy interesting. I liked looking around and learning a few things, but would have been fine if it wasn't quite so long. 

Our horse lover got to pose in the stables. :)

It ended with a wine tasting, so we went next door for homemade fudge tasting instead and ice cream cones. 

Driving around Nashville took all our breath away! The houses!!! The land! It was so green and beautiful. Unique architecture, white pillars, red doors, black shutters, manicured bushes and exposed brick. I was drooling and coveting while cursing Gilbert's ugly, brown stucco garbage houses. (Not a real good activity for someone who's in the Gilbert housing market right now.)

Also, a church building on every corner! Every street. Heck, 4 to a street!

Ahhhh- yeah! 

Seeing the cityscape for the first time! We had all been watching the TV show, Nashville, as silly prep for this trip and it did the trick! I was loving by all the scenes I kept seeing from the show.

Every article. Every list. Every website said that Mas Tacos was a MUST. 

Who am I to argue with taco recommendations?!

I got the fried avocado and pulled pork tacos. The avocado was my fav. 

So here's the thing. The tacos were yummy.

Buuuut. We're from Arizona where yummy tacos are a dime a dozen. Not saying we don't appreciate good Mexican food, but getting it in Nashville didn't exactly feel like a treat.

From there, we finally got to downtown Nashville and parked. The city tour was sold out, so we booked it for tomorrow. 

We were ready for some museums! Got out our handy dandy google maps that we didn't know how to read and started walking.

But they were all closing at 5pm and we were just too late. Boo! 

Hatch Show Print was a no go.

Struck out at Country Music Hall of Fame.

Ryman Auditorium was closed for a show that night.

What the heck, Nashsville?!

Finally, we discovered that the Johnny Cash museum was open til 6pm. 

Since I had just watched Walk the Line, I found the museum to be pretty interesting. Probably wouldn't have cared much otherwise though.

As we wandered around, we started to get a feel for where everything was located.

I guess this is dubbed the Batman tower.

We were hoping to find some of those bikes you can rent, but nothing was available. So we just walked across the John Seigenthaler pedestrian bridge that spans the Cumberland river. Some big game was starting so there were lots of jerseys everywhere!

Don't worry, this was just us gawking because Abbey swore there was a naked girl in the window of a skyscraper, haha. It's fine. We're not pervs. There was definitely a girl who seemed to be in the middle of a photo shoot. It APPEARED she could POSSIBLY be naked??? I mean, it was really far away. No details. But we laughed pretty hard anyway.

We spent our evening on Broadway! The Nashville version of the Vegas strip!

There was an authentic boot store we looked around in but ain't none of us dropping $500+ on boots that day!

It was only a Thursday night, but this place got hoppin'! Maybe whatever big game was going on, contributed. We weren't really sure which bar to choose, but figured we couldn't go wrong with Tootsies. It had three levels with a band playing on each one. Actually, two bands on the ground level! We squished our way in, turning down offers for drinks and hunkered down in a corner. I honestly felt so weird without something in my hands that I took out my water bottle to hold. I hoped that would deter any more bartenders from trying to get me a beer, too. We had fun listening, singing along and dancing! Lots of bachelorette parties going on! After a while we went into the Tin Roof bar to get some dinner. We peeked in a few others but they were so packed we gave up. There were a few souvenir shops we browsed in. The most scantily clad person we saw happened to be the most normal looking, older woman until you looked at her chest and realized her see-through shirt was covering metallic, flower pasties. What.the.heck? Her husband seemed as normal as could be too. People are strange.

A chocolate store caught our eye, where Abbey bought a caramel apple, then the rest of us got yummy ice cream at another little shop. Our tired feet and mom eyes needed rest so we called it in by 11pm. Hashtag: wildandcrazymormons