Girls Trip to Nashville
I've been to Nashville many times with my parents. We started visiting Music City when I was 16-years-old for the CMA Music Festival and I instantly fell in love. From then on, it has been my dream to live there. However, a bit of reality and practicality always gets in the way. But, I digress.
Either way, I never have to look that hard to find a reason or an excuse to end up in my favorite city. But, for as long as I can remember, it has been on my bucket list to see a Taylor Swift concert at her stop in Nashville. My friend, Marisel, has had the same dream. Long story short...That's exactly what we did last weekend. We were only there for four days and three nights, but if you're willing and run on adrenaline, you can accomplish a lot in that time.
Logistics:
As soon as we got into town, we grabbed an Uber to our Air Bnb, which was located in Mount Juliet, a bit further out than we were initially anticipating, but still close enough to the airport and downtown. We had a lovely host, Patty, who had just moved to the area about five years prior and absolutely loved it. She looked after us while we were there and was even so kind as to drive us back out to the airport to pick up our rental car. We had originally planned to Uber everywhere, but after thinking about it once we arrived, we figured it would be easiest to have our own car to get around to all of the various places on our list. It definitely was!
Taylor Swift Concert
Our first stop on Saturday was the Taylor Swift concert, the main event of our trip. Shyntel dropped Marisel and I off around 7:30 or so, and she explored downtown/Broadway. We missed the first act, Charlie XCX, which wasn't a huge deal and made it just in time for Camila Cabello. We hadn't slept all night and hadn't eaten since 7 a.m. our time. We stopped at the concession stand for food, grabbed our wristbands for our seats and made our way to the floor.
I knew we would be close to the B (and c?) stages, but I had no idea just how close. We tried to figure out which seats we were in, since none of the seats were clearly labeled, and as luck would have it, we were on the very end. This worked to our advantage when it came to the barricade later on in the evening. I was overwhelmed with lack of sleep, hunger and excitement all at once in that moment. I couldn't believe I was with one of my best friends in Nashville, Tennessee, getting to see our favorite person in concert again! I looked around at this gigantic stadium that I'd seen Taylor in just a few years ago at CMA Fest and now here she was headlining her own show...I love a good full circle moment, and that was certainly one for the books.
Marisel and I saw Taylor at the Rose Bowl at one of her first "Reputation World Tour" stops in May. It was so good, we just had to see it one more time in my favorite city in the world. It was even better than the first time! The energy was at a much higher level, especially being on the floor of the stadium and of course, there was a nice surprise with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who joined Taylor to sing her very first single "Tim McGraw." I ugly cried a lot about that one. We even got to shake Taylor's hand when she passed through the barricade in front of our section!!!!!! We never really imagined we'd be that close, but WOW.
Maybe it's crazy to say that I found myself in Nashville, but I truly believe God put that city in my path for a reason. Sure, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift were the things that got me there as a 16-year-old who was enamored by their music and talent, but it was so many other things that kept me going back year after year. I discovered what I was passionate about. Taylor talked about how Nashville has always helped her in a sense with realizing how time passes, and I guess the same is true for me.
Standing under the humid Nashville sky and singing at the top of my lungs with one of my best friends was everything I could have hoped for and more. I'll never forget that night as long as I live.
We collected some confetti after the show and made our way to the top, so I could meet up with one of my friends who lives in the area. We caught up for a bit and practically shut the stadium down. Mine and Marisel's phones were dying, so it was quite the challenge trying to meet up with Shyntel. But, we were all eventually reunited and made our way back to Mount Juliet to sleep off our amazing night!
Broadway /Downtown Nashville
The locals do not hang out on Broadway, and I probably wouldn't have much either. But, my friends had never experienced it and I hadn't been in quite some time. After resting up from one of our busy days, we got gussied up and went downtown to check out some of the new establishments, including Jason Aldean's Kitchen, Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge Restaurant and Bar, WannaBe's karaoke Bar and Dierks Bentley's Whiskey Row. Each one had live music playing covers of country artists and a dance floor, if that was your style. Since most of the kitchens had closed at the establishments, we ate at the Sun Diner, based on Sun Records in Memphis. It was actually very good! We walked around, listened to music, enjoyed the rooftop scenery of a few of the bars and even signed up for karaoke at WannaBe's, but decided to leave when we realized that there was a large stack of people signed up in front of us. We roamed Broadway for a bit and then close to 1:30 or 2 a.m., we headed back to our place.
We also explored downtown/Broadway during the day, too, which was just as fun, if not more. We roamed through the souvenir shops, stopped by the historic Ryman Auditorium and other landmarks. There's just something about seeing that Nashville skyline that makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. Maybe it's the nostalgic part of me that remembers being a teenager and wondering what life was going to hold. Either way, it's a beauty.
12 South
This is probably my favorite area in Nashville (along with everyone else's), just because it's more laid back and hipstery with its coffee shops, wall murals and boutiques. We had breakfast/coffee at Frothy Monkey on our Monday morning in the city and stopped by Reese Witherspoon's new store, Draper James, which I'd been dying to see and had been on my "Things to Do Next Time I'm in Nashville" list since it opened. It's southern charm and elegance at its finest with cute displays, wallpaper and even a sitting area with coffee bar. I wanted all of the things, but settled for a t-shirt that had an outline of Nashville on it.
I made the mistake of asking if Reese ever stops by the store and the cashier told me that she had actually stopped by the day before for about an hour - talked with folks and took pictures. I thought it was closed and didn't bother to make it over there. I regretted that more than anything else in my life, but I moved on...kind of.
We walked the main strip, stopping at Amelia's flower truck, where I bought a small bouquet of flowers and took photos at just about all of the wall murals, because it's a thing around there. We did that until it started getting hotter and we'd seen just about everything we wanted to.
Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame really puts the history of country music into perspective. You get to walk back in time to the greats like Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells, Elvis Presley and others, and then make your way into history being made today with Tim and Faith, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Little Big Town and others, who have been changing the game.
Newer to the Country Music Hall of Fame is the Taylor Swift Education Center, which hosts classes for younger kids in the Nashville area and holds other activities and artifacts that are Taylor related. This time, it was a couple costumes from her video, "Look What You Made Me Do."
The latest exhibit was Little Big Town's, which held artifacts from their childhood to now, including costumes from popular performances and photo shoots. In addition to some of the newer country artist glass cases is the ACM Experience area, which includes interactive quizzes to find out which role you'd have in the industry, a recording studio and more. Naturally, we had to record a Taylor Swift song (or two) in the booth and had a lot of fun doing it, even if we did sound a tad flat in spots.
I think I've been to the Country Music Hall of Fame just about every visit to Nashville, but it never gets old.
Grand Ole Opry
I don't think any visit to Nashville is complete without a stop at the stage that made country music famous...The Grand Ole Opry. Although we didn't see a show there, we walked around the garden area, which is probably my favorite spot to be in all of Nashville. There's something about being in that area, that just makes you feel how special Nashville truly is. So many greats from Hank Williams and Reba McEntire to Blake Shelton and Taylor Swift have played the stage. It's a powerful place, and really the most iconic thing to me in terms of falling in love with the genre and the city. We took lots of photos, of course, and wandered the gift shop. I'd love to get back there soon, just to see another show there (especially Carrie Underwood)...It's one of the best venues in the world.
Two Rivers Mansion
Marisel had always wanted to see the Two Rivers Mansion, which is where Taylor Swift did a photo shoot for her song "Enchanted" in the Speak Now CD booklet awhile back. Luckily, it wasn't too far from the Opry, so we were there in a matter of minutes. And like every other stop, we turned it into a mini photo shoot, posing in front of the wooden fence and taking advantage of the gorgeous scenery around us. It's such a beautiful structure, how could you not? I was just bummed it isn't open to the public to just roam around anymore, like my parents and I used to. However, they do offer tours of the inside of the establishment, so that would be fun to do sometime.
Bluebird Cafe
It was in this sacred space that a young Taylor Swift was discovered by Scott Borchetta...And the rest is history. While I've seen the outside of the Bluebird before, I'd never been inside. This time around, my friends and I actually went to a show. We didn't get reservations, but there were still a few openings in the church pews in the back, where you could sit and watch the show, as well as order food. It was a soulful night at the cafe and was very entertaining. It's a town full of talented musicians and that was showcased. Looking at the walls, they're covered with many artists who have been discovered and visited over the years, including Taylor Swift and Faith Hill. It's places like that that remind you of the spirit of Nashville and what it's all about.
We ordered some appetizers and enjoyed the show, then stuck around for quite awhile after to see some of the photographs on the wall and get our picture in front of the stage, and naturally, we all had to sit in the Taylor Swift chair. Those who have donated money to the establishment have
One of the musicians even offered for us to sit behind his drums...It made us look more official, ha! When we told people around town we wanted to see the Bluebird Cafe, we got some funny looks. No, it's not the prettiest on the outside and it's mixed in the center of an outdoor shopping center, but inside is something special. It has its own quirk and charm to it, and for us, it's the place that introduced us to one of the greatest musicians/artists of our time. I'm thankful for that!
Music Row
Before visiting Nashville, I had a very different idea of what Music Row would look like in my mind. And while it is just a few blocks of old houses used for recording studios and publishing houses, it's where all of the magic happens. It's where people knock on doors, hoping that opportunity and hard work will pay off someday. Although it was Sunday and not much was happening, Shyntel, Marisel and myself walked the streets of Music Row, admiring the buildings and thinking about the artists that have walked in and out of them over the years.
Food
Nashville has always had great food, but in the past few years, restaurants have really shot up around town - high end, BBQ and more. We had several good meals throughout our stay, including Peg Leg Porker's BBQ in The Gulch and Hattie B's Fried Chicken. Both were so delicious and I'd never tried them before. But, now I can't wait to go back. We also had lunch at Luke Bryan's 32 Bridge, where I had a chicken burger - the flavor and seasoning were incredible, and I was pleasantly surprised with that one. There's honestly like nothing southern food, and Nashville just keeps stepping up their game.
Shelby Street Bridge
Not only do we share the same name, obviously, but it is also one of the best spots for photos, either on the bridge or looking out at downtown and the Cumberland River. In that moment, nothing could have been better - being with such good friends, in my favorite city. We'd been exploring downtown and had hit several spots already, so we were getting tired out. It was nice to just stop moment and take it all in.
Love Circle
Love Circle was our last official stop/landmark of the trip. We took in the view for a few minutes and grabbed our pictures with the entire city in the background. It's a different view on the outskirts and is also right next to John Rich's house (from country duo, Big & Rich). Fun times!
Every time I leave Nashville, it's so hard to say goodbye. But, I know it isn't forever. I had such an incredible time spending several days straight with one of my best friends and a new friend that I'd met through work.
That's all for this trip, but you haven't seen the last of me in Nashville.
~Shelby