68 hours in Nashville

They say what happens in Nashvegas stays in Nashvegas. 

Well, I’m not sure that’s exactly how it goes, but either way, I’m about to spill most of the beans about a recent trip Carla and I took to the home of country music and rival to Atlanta for the title of capital of the South.

With our youngest away on a school field trip to NYC, we seized the opportunity to get away for a long weekend and took in as much of what Nashville has to offer as we could.

First, many thanks for all of the recommendations we received from Amy, Megan, Pam, Renee, Heather and all of our friends and coworkers who helped us… er… helped Carla plan our trip. Your suggestions were useful as we made difficult decisions about what to try to squeeze in during our visit to Music City.

Second, some general observations I’d relay up front: There are a lot of drunk people on Broadway at night. It lives up to its reputation as Honky Tonk Highway. There are a lot of drunk people in/on pedal pubs downtown during the day. There are a lot of drunk bachelorette partiers at all hours on various converted forms of conveyance including but not limited to motorcoaches, schoolbuses, shuttle vans and even a tractor trailer. Live music is ubiquitous. The entire city is under construction and you cannot trust Google Maps or Waze or any form of GPS. And people wear cowboy hats unironically. Especially women. In fact, all women in Nashville wear cowboy hats. It must be a city ordinance.

So with the preliminaries out of the way, here are some highlights from our trip:

We began our trip in sleep deficit mode because Carlton’s travel plans required being dropped off at school at 3 a.m. We tried to go back to sleep, but anyone of middle age knows the challenge that presents. After delivering Winston to Mrs. Terie Hansen at Good Dog, his favorite person and place when he’s not with us, we were off on our adventure.

No road trip is complete these days without a visit to Buc-ees, and the Calhoun location off I-75 north of Atlanta was well located for our need to decompress after navigating the construction on the top end of the Atlanta Perimeter. We ended up with what I like to think of  asa Bucees #1 combo: brisket sandwich, glazed pecans, beaver nuggets and ranch-flavored Buc-ees mini crackers.

Don’t judge. It was a road trip. Road trip snacks are not meant to be nutritious. If you are crunching a carrot stick on a road trip, you are doing it wrong.

We found the I-24 interchange in Chattanooga as harrowing as I-285 in Atlanta, maybe even more so. I cannot recall ever navigating Chattanooga in a quick and efficient way. It’s always a bottleneck from any direction. Plan accordingly.

Thanks to the gift of time travel, our Central Time Zoned vacation afforded us extra time before checking in at relatively new and irrelatively fancy The Joseph hotel in downtown, just up the street from the Music City Center, Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena and the aforementioned Honky Tonk Highway. Check-in time wasn’t until 4 p.m., so we left our car with the valet and set off on foot in search of some bona fide Nashville stuff.

It was the middle of the afternoon on a Thursday, but Broadway was still crowded. We poked our heads into a couple of places, including the gift shop at Garth Brooks’s new place, Friends in Low Places, where I was thrilled to find the coolest Chris LeDoux T-shirt and then immediately dejected they didn’t have my size. But we did get to see Trisha Yearwood – or at least a cardboard cutout of Trisha still decked out in St. Patrick’s Day festive wear.

We decided to mosey up Rep. John Lewis Way from Broadway and stumbled onto the Ryman Auditorium. Our itinerary was too packed to accommodate a show at this historic venue, but it’s definitely on the list for next time. Across the street we found Assembly Food Hall where we selected Prince’s Hot Chicken as the place to sample Nashville’s signature delicacy. The verdict: delicious. And hot, both temperature and spiciness. We ordered the medium and found it plenty flavorful.

We wandered around some more before heading back to check in and freshen up before our pilgrimage to my comedy mecca, Zanies Comedy Club. It’s home to my favorite clean, Southern comics Nate Bargetze, Dusty Slay, Brian Bates and Aaron Weber, and I could not visit Nashville without getting my picture made with the Dusty mural. It’s an amazing likeness, obscured in our photo with an ill-placed garbage can that I was too excited to notice.

We were thrilled when Aaron Weber made an appearance with a feature set before the headliner, Josh Wolf. For the record, Wolf’s act was not in our wheelhouse, and we liked Aaron the best. He had a completely different set from when we saw him open for Dusty in Atlanta in February of 2023.

Nashville travel trip: If you’re planning to see a show at Zanies, plan to eat an early or late dinner. The food at Zanies is exactly what you’d expect and not anything to write home about… or write a blog about.

Because of our sleep deficit and aversion to intoxicated bachelorettes, we called it a night early. That decision set us up for success the rest of our visit.

Friday morning I resisted the temptation to stick with my routine and rise early. We shared a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant which served fantastic coffee. Caffeinated for a day of on-foot sightseeing, we explored downtown further, stopping in at the Hatch Show Print Shop, historic Hermitage Hotel, and Legends Corner for some live music.

We ate lunch at Pinewood Social which featured the coolest retro bowling alley and a great menu. With its exposed brick and rafters, there was a definite hipster vibe. Carla took advantage of an opening at The Joseph’s spa, Rose, for a massage, and I got in some reading and the inevitable nap.

With a light rain falling we opted for a Lyft to take us just around the corner to the Listening Room Cafe where we had dinner and a show featuring three singer songwriters – Eric Van Houten, Heath Warren and Josh Phillips. They all played acoustic guitars and sang songs they had written, some of which had been “cut” by other performers. They weren’t familiar names to us, but it did give us a sense of just how many artists are trying to make it in the music business and how difficult it is to break through.

They put on a thoroughly entertaining show, but three dudes with acoustic guitars each singing their own songs started to sound pretty similar by the end.

Nashville travel tip no. 2: It’s worth noting that the city seemed to fill up on Friday. Traffic was heavier and there were noticeably more people on the streets of downtown. If you’re looking for a scene rather than a quiet escape, the weekend definitely has more action.

Carla had the good sense and forethought to get us brunch reservations Saturday morning at the Germantown Cafe, which appeared to be the most popular restaurant on Earth given the crowds of people who kept showing up even as the wait list grew. Our food, while delicious, took more than 45 minutes to arrive. As a very scheduled eater, my hangry side began to emerge when my first meal of the day didn’t get to my stomach until nearly noon. Still, I would recommend it but definitely have a reservation.

From there we went in search of boutique shopping, my favorite form of cardiovascular exercise. OK, not really, but the 12 South district was interesting both in its variety of shops and the people watching. If Zanies was on my bucket list, Carla’s equivalent was Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James flagship store. I got into a little trouble by mocking the “It’s Reese’s Birthday 30% off sale” signs, so I was sent outside.

My banishment proved serendipitous because right next store was Christie Cookie Co. I recommend the Doubletree.

While we criss-crossed the city, we had to make a stop at Parnassus Books, which is owned by one of Carla’s favorite authors, Ann Patchett. It’s nice to see a thriving locally-owned bookstore. A few more shopping stops at decor and gift shops later, and we were ready for a rest. Our Saturday night plans would have us out late, so pacing was important.

We had tickets for the 7 p.m. show at the Grand Ole Opry which featured a star-studded lineup, probably because it was Saturday night. The lineup included the Opry Square Dancers, Jeannie Seely, Wood Box Heroes, Ashley Cooke, The Isaacs, Ricky Skaggs, Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich. I’m sure it was designed to build to the most popular act, but I could have left after Ricky Skaggs and been just fine.

It’s an incredible venue, and even with a sold-out house that seats 4,000, we were comfortable and happy with our seats. We would have the perfect view, but as we discovered, cowboy hats can interfere with your ability to see fiddle players and cloggers and the like. I will say the nice lady from Arkansas sitting next to me had a lovely hat with a cool rattlesnake hat pin.

We didn’t rely on Grand Ole Opry concessions to be our dinner for our final night in town and had 9:45 p.m. reservations back downtown at Skull’s Rainbow Room. Carla said it was the best lobster bisque and filet mignon she’s ever eaten, and I can add that it paired nicely with the scallops. We didn’t need it, but we polished off the meal with a great slice of peanut butter pie.

Sunday check-out at The Joseph was at noon, and with the exception of the typical Chattanooga traffic delays, our drive home was without incident. We elected to drive back roads from Chattanooga. It added about an hour, but it was much more scenic. By the time Carlton was back at the school for pick up at 10:30 p.m. we already had the laundry finished.

Nashville travel tip no. 3: If you are looking for a weekend getaway, we recommend Nashville. As the manager of the Rainbow Room told us while serving our dinner, Atlanta and Nashville are practically neighbors. 

It’s not as populous as Atlanta, but Nashville is trending as a Southern tourist destination. We had a great time but didn’t come close to doing everything on our list. I’m definitely up for a return visit, but in the meantime, maybe a binge re-watch of the TV show “Nashville” will suffice.

Have you been to Nashville? What were your favorite music venues and dining spots? Leave a comment below and share your Music City finds.