My Nashville Trip

Hey guys! Wow, it's been awhile since my last post - 3 months to be exact! To be honest, I haven't been doing much worth writing about. I'm hoping now that things are (almost) back to normal, I'll be posting a lot more!

We just took a weekend trip to Nashville, and it was AMAZING! I wanted to tell you guys everything I did, what I thought, and any recommendations in case you end up going there too! I'm by no means a Nashville expert - this was our first time visiting, and I got lots of great ideas about what to do and we asked some locals what their favorite spots were, too!

I'm going to start by saying that Nashville was WILD! In the best way. Broadway, the downtown area, was always hoppin', except for before noonish. There are so many amazing bars and honky tonks where you can eat some great food and hear live music.

We landed on Friday around noon, and left on Sunday at 1 PM, so we really only had a day and a half or so, but we were able to squeeze in a lot.

Now let's get to the good stuff!

FOOD

They say that food is better down south - man, they weren't lying. We had some of the best food of our lives down there! Everything was homemade. I also love that they always have the option of macaroni and cheese for a side...haha! If you know me, you know I love my cheese.

Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint - This was our first meal that we had and it really started the trip off on a high note. Dan said that the pulled pork sandwich he got was the best he's ever eaten. I got the fried chicken sandwich and it was UNREAL. The macaroni and cheese was also one of my favorite things I ate the whole vacation. Honestly, I give this place a 10/10. The atmosphere was really cool, the food came out quick, the prices weren't crazy and it was absolutely delicious.

Fat Kat Slim's - Another place with a really cool atmosphere! It had a cute retro diner vibe, and the food was really good and reasonably priced! Dan got a meatloaf sub which he said was amazing, and I got the Easy Cheesy Burger because duh, cheese. We started with fried cheese curds because those seemed to be a thing down there and they were SO good! I was too hungry to remember to take pictures of our food, but you'll have to trust me on this one!

Legendairy Milkshake Bar - HOLY COW. You guys, if you go to Nashville you HAVE to go here. The milkshakes were absolutely incredible! They also have edible cookie dough, hot dessert drinks, and TONS of toppings if you want to just get a sundae! You can check out their full menu here. DISCLAIMER: It will make your mouth water.

I got the Shake It Up Buttercup (Happy Tracks ice cream, peanut butter rim, peanut butter and chocolate drizzle, Reese's Pieces, whipped cream and and two Reese's Peanut Butter Cups) and I was in peanut butter HEAVEN! The only thing is that we had just eaten dinner and the milkshake was sooo filling I couldn't even drink half. So maybe go after you've digested, or just skip dinner and go straight to dessert ;). We were leaving around 8 pm and it started to get super busy in there, just a heads up!

The Pancake Pantry - Wow wow wow. If you go to Nashville, put this on the top of your breakfast list (right after Biscuit Love - which we'll get to soon!) This restaurant is famous for it's 23 varieties of scratch-made pancakes and syrup and they live up to the hype. Dan got the sugar and spice pancakes and I got chocolate chip (I'm a creature of habit, what can I say). But they were both SO GOOD! They have homemade maple syrup AND cinnamon syrup which is LIFE CHANGING (maybe a little dramatic but I need to stress how delicious this is!) We tried bringing some home but unfortunately we stuck it in the carry on and it got confiscated :( Just means we'll have to take another trip soon!

Breakfast is usually cheaper but this place was affordable, super cute inside, and the food came out really quickly! The only thing is, there's always a line (from what I've been told by locals - sometimes 2+ hours!) We got there around 8:30 or 9 and waited probably a half an hour tops. It was definitely worth the wait!

Jason Aldean's Kitchen + Rooftop Bar - This was the COOLEST restaurant! We went for lunchtime on our only full day here and I'm so glad that we did. I've heard really great things about Jason Aldean's so I had to try it. According to Dan, he had the best burger of his life here! We got a Bavarian pretzel with cheese sauce to start and it was SO good. I got a Nashville hot chicken sandwich for lunch (something they're famous for) and it was delicious but definitely pretty hot. Dan had gotten a bacon cheeseburger and he's still raving about!

I think my favorite thing about this restaurant was the atmosphere. We got to listen to absolutely INCREDIBLE live music the whole time we were there. I love going to concerts, and it's amazing to just sit and be able to listen to these amazing artists for free (or in this case, for the price of lunch which was actually super reasonable!) I can't say enough about the musicians that we saw there..they're truly amazing at their craft and were so impressive! If you're a music lover you'll be in Heaven.

TIP: We went around noon for lunch and didn't have a wait for the restaurant - the rooftop bar had maybe 6 or 8 people waiting in line. We were back in the area around 4 PM and the line was probably 25-30 people deep for the restaurant, and even longer for the rooftop bar. Just keep that in mind if you don't want to wait too long!

The Stillery - We went here for dinner the same night we went to Jason Aldean's, and after our delicious lunch we were sort of disappointed! We had asked a local where they recommended and they told us to come here, so maybe they were just having an off night.

We waited about an hour to get a table which is totally fine because everywhere was packed, but they told us 20 minutes so we were pretty hungry by the time we got inside. We ordered pickle chips to start and they were really good and a huge portion! I ordered macaroni and cheese (per the local girl's recommendation) and Dan got a pretzel burger. My macaroni and cheese was super underwhelming, a little burnt and not very cheesy which was disappointing to me. Dan also wasn't very impressed with his burger, unfortunately.

If you want to give it a try, go for it! The food wasn't very expensive, everything cost us probably $40 total including Dan's soda (I stuck with water here). It was a really great atmosphere and was cute inside, the food just didn't live up to everything else we had.

The Baked Bear - This was another amazing dessert place! You have your choice of homemade cookie or cookie, ice cream, and toppings to make your own customized ice cream sandwich, or you can get a sundae. I know I keep saying this but it was SO good! I feel like everything we ate was just delicious. I got a brownie sundae with vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and mini M&Ms. YUMMM! Dan got a warm snickerdoodle with vanilla ice cream and he loved it. It was so cute here too!

Biscuit Love - I think this was my favorite place that we ate it. It was seriously SO CUTE! And the second you walked in, you got a whiff of their delicious cinnamon sugar biscuits, or Bonuts as they're listed on the menu. OH. MY. GOSH. They were SO good (shout out to my bestie Julia for the recommendation!)

Dan and I actually ended up ordering the same thing, the Egg Plate - it came with 2 eggs however you want them, bacon or sausage, cheese grits, and a biscuit with homemade jam. This was seriously one of the best breakfasts that I've ever had in my whole entire life. The biscuit was SO GOOD. I can't even tell you how delicious it was. Biscuit Love totally lived up to the hype. I even bought a t-shirt! I also brought a few biscuits home for my dad and he was also thoroughly impressed.

ACTIVITIES

I think one of the coolest parts about Nashville is that there was something for everyone. Dan and I aren't huge drinkers and there was still plenty to do! Here's just a few of the things we did:

Country Music Hall of Fame - Guys, I was in my GLORY here. I've loved country music since I was really young, so it was really amazing to see all of the artifacts and history here. It started at the beginning of country music in America in the 1800's all the way through modern country music now. It was SO COOL!

Music City Walk of Fame - Think Hollywood Walk of Fame, but for country artists! It was in the park that was across from the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Bridgestone Arena where the Nashville Predators play. Super cool!

Broadway - This is where all of the bars and honky tonks are! There are tons of bars owned by famous country singers - Alan Jackson, Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Dierks Bentley, Kid Rock, Blake Shelton, and more! It was such a cool atmosphere. It was like a constant party!

Trolley Tours - This was a great way to see the biggest landmarks in the city! We got to see Bicentennial Park, Centennial Park, Belmont University, Belle Meade Mansion, Music Row, Broadway, 12 South, the capitol building, and more! It was really fun and the tour guide was super knowledgable.

Boutiques - There are sooo many cute boutiques in Nashville! Some of my favorite ones off the top of my head are Dress Up, Kittenish, Uncommon James, and Altar'd State. I also loved The Nash Collection, which is on Broadway on the second floor. They have the cutest stuff there! It is a little pricier but it didn't look cheesy like a lot of the other tees I saw in the souvenir shops.

Murals - Nashville has the cutest murals all over the place! There are some really famous ones like the I Believe in Nashville and the What Lifts You murals, but there are other ones ALL over the place! They were so cool to see.

If you're thinking about visiting Nashville, I would HIGHLY recommend it! We seriously had such an awesome time and are already talking about going back.

If you have any question, shoot me a DM or leave a comment here, I would be happy to answer as much as I can - I hope this was helpful! :)

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