Nashville!

Living in a land-locked state has its benefits, such as being within driving distance of several fun places to visit. Our most recent destination was Nashville, TN. It was a blast! Here's a summary of the high points.

Food/Drink
Southern food is alive and well in Nashville, and we thoroughly enjoyed the culinary stops on our tour. We hit up Peg Leg Porker, 55 South, and Loveless Cafe, and Merchants, just to name a few. Plus we stopped by the Yazoo brewery. Word to the wise: reserve your brewery tickets in advance. It was already sold out when we got there, so we consoled ourselves with a beer sampler :)

 Oops, I ate half my sandwich before I remembered to stop and take a picture!

 This pecan french toast from 55 South was sooooo delicious!

This was from a dinner made up of lots of snacks. First snack: fried sampler platter. It has okra, pickles, catfish, and shrimp. My favorite was pickles, of course :)

On the next stop, DF got a salad and I got a Jack and coke. Hey, I already ate lots of fried veggies!

History
(from oldest to youngest) President Andrew Jackson's home (the Hermitage), the Tennessee State Capitol building, and various sites related to the Battle of Franklin (Civil War).

The kitchen at the Carter House, one of the main places where fighting occurred during the Battle of Franklin

The Hermitage is undergoing some repairs and renovations. Hey, it's like 200 years old, what are you going to do?

Final resting place of Andrew and Rachel Jackson, along with some other family members

The view looking down the hill from the Capitol. Isn't it depressing how all the grass turns brown here in the winter? I've heard it will just magically green up some day...I suppose this must be true, as it was quite green when we arrived in late May.

During a heated dispute way back in the day, a shot was fired in the Capitol. Look, here's the evidence on the banister!

Music
What visit to Nashville would be complete without live music? We did the Grand Ole Opry one night and boogied at the honky tonks another. It was awesome to hear so many talented musicians, especially the fiddle players!

Friends
Thanks to Facebook, I knew that two of my West Coast friends now live in Music City. We got to meet one friend and her family and saw another's husband play a live show!

Sightseeing
I recognize we were doing sightseeing in general, but it's the best title for the category of visits to the Parthenon and Opryland Hotel. The hotel is amazing! It reminded me of a giant Vegas hotel, except without a casino. There are huge plants/trees inside, waterfalls, a river...so cool! The Parthenon is a full-scale replica of the Greek one. It was originally built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition, but that first version was made out of plaster and quickly began to crumble. The permanent one was built in the 1920s after the citizens of Nashville clamored for it, since their city was known as the Athens of the South. Now, it's an art museum.

Yes, that is inside a hotel!

 A ceiling mosaic in the hotel lobby

The Parthenon...and more dead grass

Photos are only allowed on the second floor where there is this giant Athena statue.

Other Stuff
Being good southerners, we went to church on Sunday (First Presbyterian) where we found out that people dress up A LOT, like everyone was wearing a suit, except us. Aaaaawk-ward! But the building is cool and old, so that was a plus. The town of Franklin is quite charming and has done a great job of modernizing while still preserving history. We ate at the Aquarium restaurant and I took an outrageous amount of fish pictures.

And last but not least, Nashville has a Trader Joe's. Hip hip, hooray! I stocked up on all my favorite non-perishable snacks and am trying not to devour them all at once now that we're home.

It was a great trip! There's still so much more to do there...hmm, maybe we'll have to make a return visit someday :)