Nashville!!!

Nashville. How do I even start? Love it *understatement*!! I have been to Nashville 4 times now and Brad has been twice. We. Love. Nashville, Tennessee. We have even discussed retiring there...well, there or on the beach in Charleston! If there was a Deere facility in Tennessee, we would move there in a heart beat! It's just a good, country place to be. Being a southern girl, I would be very content to live in the south again ~ especially in the city that made country music famous!

After going to the Alan Jackson concert in February, a couple of us started scheming about making a visit to Nashville over Memorial Day weekend. It would be a long weekend after all. We got all of our plans finalized, so Brad and I along with Kate and Ryan headed out Thursday night to drive to St. Louis and then on to Nashville Friday morning. We arrived in the country music city Friday around 2 pm.

Our first stop was the restaurant, Rock Bottom. Love it. Brad and I went on our Mini-Moon when the restaurant was called Big River. Loved it then too. They have their own brewery! and an awesome roof-top bar. After eating dinner, we headed out for some live music, a few drinks, and some good ole country fun!

 
Saturday morning we bought tickets and went to tour the backstage of the Grand Ole Opry!! I had been wanting to go to the Grand Ole Opry for a while. One, this is where country music was born, two, it's a live radio show!, and three, the show Nashville is filmed there! Kate and I loooove Nashville so we were pretty excited to see it! We saw and learned about the history of the Grand Ole Opry, toured behind the scenes, saw the "stars walk" and Minnie's fountain, walked through the studio where they film Nashville, saw the Members list and the post office, the dressing rooms - even the dressing room that the show Nashville uses, and got to stand on the Stage...on the circle from the Ryman center. A-maz-ing.

After our tour, we walked out the door, across the street, and into the mall. This was actually partially the boys idea!! Well, we shopped, and we shopped, and we shopped. And then we shopped some more. We found lots of fabulous things and Kate even bought some new boots! After that, we got ready and then headed out for Night #2!! We ate at Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville, walked around Broadway street, then hunkered down in a bar and listened to fantastic live music the rest of the night.

Sunday morning, we packed up and headed out to walk around Broadway street...in the daylight! It's just so much fun! I need to live there for sure. After walking around, we went to the Bluebird (famous), and then found some other places to shop at - a mall and one of my favorite stores, Apricot Lane!

That afternoon we drove back to St. Louis, got some dinner and froyo (Ryan's new favorite thanks to us!), and spent the rest of the night in our hotels hot tub. Monday morning we drove the rest of the way home. Overall, awesome long weekend trip!! No worries Nashville, we will be back!!