Tag: Travel

When people hear that I went to Nashville the week after my wedding, everybody automatically assumes that James and I went to Nashville on our honeymoon. We didn’t – we haven’t planned a honeymoon trip yet. Keeping in line with the super amazing awesome wife that I am, a mere four days after getting married I abandoned my husband and hopped in a car to road trip to Tennessee with two of my best friends.

(Note – James and I did visit Nashville as part of our two-week long road trip we took back in October…obviously I didn’t have this little online journal back then to update everybody on that trip so maybe I’ll just have to write about that! We have tons of great pictures – a lot of them are in the scrapbook we gave James’ mom to bring back to Ireland.)

So how did I wind up going to Nashville without my husband four days after our wedding? Back in the fall, a favorite podcast amongst my friend group announced they were doing a live show tour in the spring. HECK. YES. We eagerly awaited dates to be posted only to find out that the closest they were coming to Connecticut was Philadelphia (about a four hour drive). That date was also in February and it just seemed like too much of a risk to plan a weekend trip when the weather was so unpredictable. Instead, we had the GENIUS idea of making it into a bigger trip and finding somewhere that we actually wanted to visit. This is where I’d like to list all the cities we considered but once we saw that they were playing in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry the day before Good Friday…our plans were pretty much set. Tickets went on sale and Maranda, Julie, and I all logged in to try to get them. We literally had like floor seats in our cart only for us to get kicked out. Within five minutes, all that was left was the back row and we happily took those tickets.

Fast forward a few months – James and I get engaged and we start planning our wedding. I had to work April 6th and I was going to be gone April 20th so we literally HAD to go with April 13th…luckily 13 is my lucky number so I wasn’t too upset. People kept asking if I was still going to go on my trip. Ummm….yes? I asked James about 800 times if he was mad or wanted me to change plans but he is the most laidback human ever and had no problem with me traipsing off to Tennessee.

A quick rundown of my trip to Tennessee with Maranda and Julie:

• We listed to the “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark” audiobook during our drive. It was free thanks to Audible. And yes, we drove, it was about 14 hours. Not too shabby splitting it three ways on the way down (excitement = energy) but Julie flew back to celebrate Easter and splitting it two ways on the less-exciting way home was ROUGH.
• We got into Nashville at around 9 am and went straight to Five Daughters Bakery for the most AMAZING cronuts. Excellent start to the trip.
• Our check in time wasn’t until 3 pm so we went to Centennial Park to walk the cronuts off/stretch our legs/enjoy the great outdoors before the rain started. While we were there, I texted our hosts (we stayed in the most adorable Airbnb) and they said we could come whenever! We promptly sped over the Airbnb so we could shower/change/relax before heading out.
• Our first stop on our Thursday adventure was Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint where we all had smoked wings, mac and cheese, and local beers.
• Next I brought the girls to Beercade – similar idea to Barcade that we have up here (vintage arcade games in a bar) except that the games in Beercade are FREE. We actually went back multiple times during our trip.
• Another second visit for me – Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge. It was super new when I was there in October and not all the floors were open yet. It’s a gorgeous space with different music, drinks, and food on each level. We headed for the rooftop bar and and ordered fun cocktails and sushi. The roll we had was amazing and I actually texted what was in it to a friend that works at a local sushi bar!
• FINALLY it was time to go to the Opry and see My Favorite Murder live. I am not kidding when I say that I was sitting on the edge of my seat I was so excited. Julie made us adorable shirts with our favorite MFM quotes – they received lots of compliments. After looking threateningly dark all day, the skies finally opened up as we were waiting in line for the show. After the show, we called it a night and headed back to our house.
• We started Friday off with a delicious breakfast at Nashville Jam Co. It was another restaurant James and I visited and I knew the girls had to try it. Julie and I both got shrimp and grits with a Bloody Mary. I think Maranda got an omelette. (If you’re noticing a pattern, all three of us do tend to order the same things…)
• After breakfast we drove around. Our end goal was Draper James but we enjoyed seeing all the murals in Nashville as we drove. The GPS directed us to turn into an alley to park behind Draper James. The black SUV in front of us stopped in the alley so we were stuck in the road…and watched a man with white gloves unload the STANLEY CUP for a photo op in front of a mural. We quickly found somewhere else to park so we could also have a photo op with the Stanley Cup (it’s the championship trophy for hockey).
• The rain started up again so we stopped in a brewery. It was super crowded so we had to share a table with two other girls…that were also from Connecticut.
• Our lunch was a crave case from White Castle that we ate in our house while watching The Office on Netflix and it was perfect.
• In the evening, we decided to go to some bars a Nashville native had recommended to us. They turned out to be not-so-great. On our way there we had passed some other bars that weren’t too far away so we decided to walk there and it started POURING. We made it to the other street (that Maranda happily refers to as Demon Brewing Street) and had sushi and sake for dinner, some great gummy bear flavored drinks, and stole some kazoos from a bar.
• We ended our Friday by visiting Santa’s Pub for karaoke. It is my new favorite place on the planet. One – it’s a dive bar and I love me a good dive bar. Two – it’s in an old trailer. Three – it’s Christmas themed and there are Christmas lights EVERYWHERE. Four – it was a bunch of millenials performing karaoke so EVERYBODY was singing along to Backstreet Boys, Britney, and of course (our contribution) Bubba Sparxx. Absolutely amazing! We also made friends with the Canadian version of Jim and Pam from The Office. We tried to go with them to a speakeasy but the place was at capacity so we called it a night.
• Julie had to fly out on Saturday so we found a breakfast place near the airport. Google directed us to a place called Monell’s at the Manor which was a family-style all-you-can eat place in an old mansion. We were seated with another family and enjoyed a super-filling southern breakfast.
• I took Maranda to the Country Music Hall of Fame to visit the Hatch Show Print which is a print shop that makes vintage posters for events around Nashville as well as other gifts. It was pouring when we finished shopping so we went to a restaurant in the complex and had the most delicious milkshakes. Honestly, with all the eating we did, it’s a good thing I don’t own a scale!
• The rain finally let up Saturday evening and Maranda and I went back to Broadway where I introduced to Jameson and now it’s her favorite thing.
• Sunday was the only nice weather day we had. Even though we had to get on the road, we went down to the Gulch to take photos with some famous murals and then rented scooters so we could see as much of Nashville as we could in such a short time. We had lunch at a place in the Gulch right before we got on the road and began our journey back.

Our next girl’s trip won’t be nearly as extravagant (probably just up to the lake) but I’m still looking forward to it! James and I are currently planning our summer vacation…nothing far after last year’s huge road trip but it will definitely be somewhere new for him to explore!

Until our next adventure!