A Weekend in Nashville

At the beginning of June I planned a belated 30th birthday trip for Jerek and I to go on. His birthday was the day before we left for Mexico and since we were busy getting ready I felt like we didn't properly celebrate. Having a destination wedding and already having kids we didn't have a 'normal honeymoon' like a lot of people do. We had an amazing wedding and trip as a family but I knew we would want some alone time for a couple days so I planned a little get away!

I looked into a ton of different cities but kept coming back to Nashville. I had been watching Alex's vlogs while she lived in Nashville and had been chatting with Helene about places to go and decided Nashville was it! I wanted a place we could drive to in a weekend but really was hoping to score some cheap flights. For some reason flights out of Michigan were hella expensive so we drove. Jerek didn't know where we were going until the day before we left. It was SUPER hard keeping it a secret too!

We dropped the kids off at his parents Thursday night and we drove half way and stayed in Columbus for the night. We got up bright and early and finished the drive and arrived in Nashville just in time for lunch. First stop was The Flipside. Helene had raved about the Bloody Mary's here but we were starving so we ordered lunch and a beer and enjoyed the open windows and sunshine.

I had most things for the weekend planned out like a pure nutcase. I legit had all the places I wanted to eat and drink at for every meal, snack and cocktail! I knew that I didn't want to play our standard 'where do you want to go? I don't know, where do you want to go?' game because we ALWAYS play it and no one wants to do that on a vacation with a limited timeframe!

We went down the road to have a cocktail at Urban Grub which was cute, trendy and hipster all at once, that's a thing right? After a delicious grapefruit craft beer we headed to our cute little Airbnb to check in and drop our stuff off.

We swam and relaxed by the pool for a bit and then got ready to go back out to the bars to listen to some live music and grab a bite to eat. I didn't have any specific plans for dinner (shocking!) so we wondered in and out of restaurants listing to music having a drink and then moving on to the next bar. Basically we bar hopped and I don't really do that anymore but it felt great! It was nice not to have to shovel food down your throat because someone is about to loose their shit!

There was a downpour for a bit so we posted up in a bar and waited the rain out; chatting, cheers-ing beers and indulging in apps. I got a little drunk and thought it was absolutely insane that you could walk diagnal (IE: Jay walk) and had to vlog us doing so but kept calling it "digitalling." You can watch the vlog here to laugh at me further! We called for an uber (get a free ride when you click the link and sign up) and were back in the Airbnb by midnight; party animals I tell ya!

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to head out, I had the entire day planned. First stop was a coffee shop that people always rave about called The Frothy Monkey. We got there just in time because the line was out the door once we got our coffee! After we were caffeinated we headed downtown to a place called Another Broken Egg where I got THE best black bean bendict!

Downtown Nashville was amazing in the morning. The streets were insanely clean and live music was being played everywhere, even at 10am, it was awesome! We walked around and popped in an out of shops. We jumped back in our car and headed to Cumberland Pedestrian Bridge where we long boarded under tunnels and over bridges. This was also where I jumped off my longboard going way too fast, slipped on the dewy grass and gashed my knee up really bad. I taped a women's pad around my knee and we kept going #bosslady.

We headed to John Seigenthaler bridge for a standard Nashville tourist picture and within seconds of taking the photo it started to down pour so we ran back to our car and headed to Centennial Park to see the Parthenon replica. We walked around for a bit and stumbled upon a cute college bar called Jeds, where there were games of bags being played and cute dogs lounging on the patio. We had a couple cocktails and again, soaked in the sun and the fact that we weren't rushed to be anywhere at any time.

We headed back to the 12 South area for a late lunch at Bar Taco. A place I kept hearing about and the tacos were as good as I expected. They reminded me of Imperial in Ferndale (if you live in Southeast Michigan and frequent that fine fine establishment you'll understand!) We attempted to ride off all the food we ate by renting city bikes and headed to Las Paleta’s for a home made Popsicle, those also didn't disappoint!

Back to the Airbnb we went to take a nap, shower and get ready for dinner. If you're wondering if we did anything besides eat the answer is yes, we also drank. As I've gotten older my absolute favorite thing to do is to enjoy good food and good company and I'm pretty partial to Jerek so the two went hand in hand. We weren't really feeling the downtown Nashville bar scene (IE: grandma status) again so we went to a beer garden and burger joint called The Pharmacy. The outdoor seating area was what everyone dreams about. Bistro lights hung in all directions, large picnic tables and greenery everywhere, it was glorious. We hailed an uber back and face planted in bed since we had to be up early for the long drive back home.

Sunday morning wasn't glamorous, we packed up and started the 8 hour drive back home to the boys. Thankfully we didn't hit any construction or traffic, which I'm still not sure HOW we pulled that one off but we did!

Over all the trip was exactly what I hoped it would be! It was fun and relaxing, romantic and semi spontaneous and exactly what we needed, a weekend just devoted to Jerek and I. If you haven't seen the travel vlog of the weekend you can check it out here or below to see everything I talk about but with your own two eyes!

I hope you enjoyed our weekend recap, although its been almost two months, sorry about that! If you are contemplating spending a weekend in Nashville I highly suggest finding an Airbnb, they are MUCH cheaper than any hotel you will find downtown. Take Uber's, so you don't have to pay for parking or fight the masses to find spots downtown. It costs us about $5 to and from our rental; much cheaper than a DUI or parking tickets! Go with plans but also be open to wandering around the beautiful city and taking in the charm Nashville has!

We'll be back Nashville and with a whole new list of places to eat at!