Nashville, Tennessee - June 21st, 2023
Nashville is a large, vibrant city. If you’re looking for peace and quiet, this is not the place. But if you are looking for a lively music scene or a party atmosphere, then Nashville is right up your alley.
We spent all of Wednesday in Nashville. On the drive into Nashville, we stopped in Mt. Juliet to pick up our e-bikes. Biker’s Choice Bicycle Shop had finished them in a couple of hours after dropping them off the day before. They saved Ann’s leaky inner tube to use as a spare. They couldn’t see where the puncture was on the tube and neither could we. It was still just a slow leak, so it might come in handy someday to limp the bike back.
We already bought tickets for the Grand Old Opry in the evening, so we spent the day strolling around downtown. The Grand Ole Opry is about a 15 minute drive from downtown, next to a shopping mall called Opry Mills Mall. In order to avoid trying to find a place to park Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) downtown, we opted to park at the mall and take an Uber ride downtown and back. Another option would have been to take a public bus. There is one that runs every hour, Route 34 Opry Mills which would have been much cheaper, only $1 to $2 per person each way. The Uber rides cost us about $20 to $25 each way, including tips. But we were celebrating a birthday that day, so we splurged.
We started out by having lunch at Hattie B’s Hot Chicken on Broadway. Now we know what all the fuss is about. There was a line to order the food at the counter; however, it moved pretty fast. Keith got the Small Dark (leg and thigh quarter) with Hot! heat along with grits and coleslaw for sides. Ann ordered the Small White (breast and wing quarter) with Medium heat along with Southern greens and black eyed pea salad for her sides. There are six levels of heat, but we stayed away from the Damn Hot!! and Shut the Cluck Up!!! levels. All the food was fantastic. The chicken quarters were just that, one piece with the bones in. Both the dark meat and the white meat were very moist, the meat falling off the bones. The coating was very flakey and crispy, with just the right amount of heat. All of the side dishes were nicely prepared. Ann normally does not eat fried chicken, but she would go back to Hattie B’s the next time she had the opportunity to.
The afternoon was spent wandering the downtown streets. Up and down Broadway are all of the bars with live music. Coming from the peaceful woods, the noise and stimulus seemed to overwhelm our senses. After wandering out onto the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge (formerly the Shelby Street Bridge) over the Cumberland River, we admired the buildings from the outside, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Music City Center, the Custom’s House, and the Ryman Auditorium. We have been to Nashville a couple of times before, so we didn’t do the Trolly Tour nor go inside the Country Music Museum this time since we’ve done them before. Both of those are well worth doing.
As we circled around, we stopped at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, not far from Hattie B’s. And splendid it was. Wildberry lavender, dark chocolate, salted peanut butter with chocolate flecks, and honey vanilla bean satisfied our ice cream cravings.
Through our wanderings, we came across Printers Alley, a place we had not visited before. It was a cute little alley, tucked away from the crowded Broadway, with its own set of bars.
We strolled along 2nd Avenue, hoping to find B. B. King’s Blues Club that we had visited in years past. It was no longer there. It was damaged during the Christmas Day 2020 Bombing and never reopened.
Instead, we went into Cerveza Jack’s for a drink. There was a solo performer singing and playing guitar with a volume level that seemed more tolerable to us than many of the places along Broadway. OK, we’re sounding like old people now. Well, I guess we are old people. We stayed long enough for the one artist to finish his set and another performer to start. The next performer not only sang and played guitar, but also used electronic percussion along with loop-back electronics so he could set up the percussion and bass at the beginning of each song. We had heard of people doing that before, but had not witnessed it in person before. It is kind of cool. However, waiting for him to set up each song every time started to wear on us. Yup, we’re sounding like old people again.
After a couple of drinks, we called for another Uber and went back to Opry Mills. We had made dinner reservations at the Saltgrass Steakhouse at the mall, just across the street from the Grand Ole Opry. We probably didn’t need reservations, but we wanted to make sure we were not late for the show. We also don’t normally like to eat at chain restaurants when traveling, opting more for local flavors and businesses. But we had local food for lunch, and we felt like eating steak for a birthday celebration.
We had plenty of time to enjoy our meal and make the show in time. This was the first time we’ve seen the Grand Ole Opry in person. The Grand Ole Opry is the longest running radio broadcast in U. S. History. It is a weekly, live broadcast of country music. The Grand Ole Opry did not disappoint. There were about half a dozen different performers, with a nice variety of styles. We liked some and didn’t like some others, but overall, it was a very enjoyable experience.
Our day in Nashville was filled with good food and good music. It was a nice change from all the time we spend in nature at state and national parks. Nashville was a great place to celebrate a birthday.
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(Ann)