Remember how I took a road trip alone with my kids last month? Remember how I told you all about our first big stop in Memphis? Well, Nashville is just 3 hours away, and I was SOO excited to see that city!
Before we entered the actual city, I got to visit with a friend from high school.
As I posted that first day in Memphis on Instagram, I got a comment from the sister of a good friend in high school. She mentioned that her sis, Tamera, lived in Nashville! I didn’t realize that, and with just an hour before our arrival into the city, I got in touch with her, and she was free to meet us for dinner! We ate at the Loveless Cafe, which I’d heard was a MUST DO. It was outside of the city, and near my friends home, so it was perfect. I had biscuits with sausage gravy and it was delicious. I heard lots of celebrities stop in there, but not while I was there. Bummer.
It was fun to catch up with Tamera, she is a vocalist for some country music artists, she always has had an amazing voice. I was delighted to stop in at her home and meet her kids and husband before we jetted off to the city to stay for the night.
I paid probably more than I should have for a hotel room right downtown. I wanted to just walk to the main thoroughfare in the morning, and it was perfect for that. We got there in plenty of time for the kids to have a night swim in the pool, and we discovered CHOPPED on the food network. We don’t have cable at home, and it was the only thing kid-worthy at night. I pumped out a post or two on my laptop while we all vegged til midnight when we hit the lights. I had to make sure to set my alarm to 9:30am so we could all get our free breakfast before it closed! Oh the life…on vacation…with kids that sleep in. Awesome-ness.
Since it was just a few days before the 4th of July, parts of downtown were closed off as they prepped for a concert in the park. I was quite sad I didn’t hear back from The Bobby Bones Show to sit in on their broadcast. They are my fave–all the way from Austin. Check out their podcasts on I heart radio for some laughs.
I shared this ice cream picture on Instagram. Stopping off at this ice cream shop is not something we normally do. We don’t “go out” much at home, but I wanted this trip to be special in small ways like this, so a random stop here, brought cheers and lots of extra gushy gratitude from the kids.
I was excited that we were right across the street from The Country Music Hall of Fame, so I took the kids on a little tour to teach them all about Country Music. Since I had been infiltrating their brains to my high school love of Country, they were slightly familiar with the artists. I loved looking around at the costumes, and learning a bit more of the history.
On our way out of town, we stopped off at the Parthenon replica, as my boys are really into the Greek Mythology stuff. It was a great spot for pictures
Sadly, no Deacon or Rayna at The Bluebird Cafe
I then went OUT OF THE WAY to stop by the Mormon Temple in a suburb of Nashville, snapped a shot, then we headed out…just a few hours away from my brothers home.
We actually stopped into Knoxville, just to see what the downtown looked like. We needed a bathroom break, and I looked on my Road Trippers Ap to see what was cool there, and saw this giant gold ball in a park, and thought that was perfect. This is something we would have never done so impulsively on a rushed drive with my husband. I had to fight my inner hurried self to just stop and see the sights a little.
After Knoxville, we were just an hour from my brother’s house, almost to our destination!!