Nashville: Part I.

Mom, Leah and I planned a trip to Nashville last summer. The trip was to celebrate my mom's retirement and ability to travel during the school year. We took the trip in mid-March and had a blast. I had moved to Minnesota since booking my original airline tickets, so upon changing the ticket to leave from Minneapolis instead of Anchorage, I met up with mom and Leah in Nashville at the airport after only two hours of flying. Anchorage would have been a 13 hour trip one-way. Yuck! I purchased "Stillwater" to read on the plane. It's written by a Minnesota author and has been a great book. 

We arrived in Nashville on an afternoon flight, so once we got to our vacation rental, which was just delightful...

...we unpacked suitcases and headed to a nearby neighborhood for dinner. The Eastland Cafe was highly rated on Yelp, so we decided to check it out. 

We had booked a reservation but arrived about 30 minutes early. The staff hated seeing us wait for our table, so the head chef brought us out a complimentary flatbread appetizer to hold us over until we sat down. 

Upon being seated at our table, we opened the bottle of wine we brought with us and toasted to being together in Nashville. 

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Marche, which has a highly rated Sunday brunch. 

We ordered a few things on the menu and felt everything tasted wonderful. I would definitely recommend Marche to anyone who visits Nashville.

After brunch, we headed back to the house, changed and then headed for downtown Nashville. Our first stop was the Johnny Cash museum...



and if you didn't know, I am a HUGE Johnny Cash fan. When I met Matt and learned he also liked Johnny Cash and owned the moved Walk the Line, I knew it was a match made in Heaven. :)

...anyway...Johnny. 

The museum was extremely well done. It was interactive, displayed memorabilia from his life and allowed visitors to listen to original recordings via headphones.

All of Johnny's record covers...

After we left the House of Cash...

we headed for Broadway Street, the main drag downtown. The boot shops and honky tonk bars were plentiful...

Nashville praline and candy store...

The SEC Men's Basketball championship game was being held inside Bridgestone Arena, hence tons of Kentucky fans dispersed around the area... 

We were able to find a spot on top of Tootsie's, a bar right across from the arena, and sat there until the crowd emerged from the arena... 

As the game ended and Kentucky continued their undefeated season, Broadway turned Kentucky blue...

After walking around downtown, we stopped at Mike's Ice Cream for a couple scoops of ice cream. The flavor list was incredible...and the line to get inside started outside of the building. While we were waiting, a musician came by trying to sell Leah his record...

Leah didn't end up purchasing the cd, but the ice cream was tasty and well worth the wait.

We continued to walk around downtown...

...and then stopped at Swingin' Doors Saloon, a self proclaimed honky tonk bar that claims it is the only bar in town where Country is King. I may have to disagree a little bit, but it was a great stop to watch the NCAA Men's Basketball selection show. Plus, the Bloody Mary was on par.

Sunday night we headed back to the house and enjoyed dinner and wine on the deck. Spring had sprung in Nashville and we wanted to take full advantage of the evening...

Monday morning we headed to the Loveless Cafe, which is about 25 miles Southwest of Nashville. Another hot spot breakfast stop, we all enjoyed the biscuits, coffee and southern hospitality..

Next on our agenda was a stop at Centennial Park. At this park sits the only full-size exact replica of the ancient Greek Parthenon.

The architecture of this replica includes not a single straight line - no two columns are the same size, nor are they placed the same distance apart. No two steps are the same size and the floor is not square or level. It houses the tallest indoor sculpture in the western world, a statue of Athena, ancient goddess of wisdom and learning, a deity for whom the original Parthenon was erected.

Monday evening we had tickets to see Vince Gill with his band, The Time Jumpers, at 3rd and Lindsley. Somewhat of an unknown opportunity, we were told by some locals that attending his Monday night show was a must. The Time Jumpers perform every Monday night at 3rd and Lindsley to a sold out crowd each week.

We made sure to arrive very early (two and a half hours early) to the show due to first come, first serve seating. While waiting for the show to start, we had fun talking, napping (just kidding...sort of) and passing the time...

Vince and his band were amazing playing western swing music while strumming on their guitars, fiddles, steel guitars and a number of other instruments. 

More to come in Part II of our Nashville adventure...