Nashville: Travel Recap

{shorts from here-only a few left! love these too}

{jean jacket-here}

I'm still trying to figure out how I can travel weekly, be a mom, have a job, and keep my sanity year round. Let me know if anyone can help in this area because I would be all over it. Just like the rest of America, right?

In the mean time until that's figured out...I will "extend" our weekend get away by recapping our recent trip to Nashville here with all of you! 

STAY

We had one of the best hotel experiences we've ever had this past weekend in Nashville. The only other hotel that could top it was this one, but that should tell you just how great our experience was since I'm comparing it to that hotel. When we booked this trip we kind of had to book at Springwood Suites/Residence Inn by Marriott (it's two hotels in one building-in the Vanderbilt area) because we were late, it was pet friendly (Rocky tagged along and got a lil' vacation too!), and well...all the other hotels downtown were either sold out or really expensive. We are so happy they were! The hotel and the customer service was so great (both sides), and it was only a mile away from downtown and they had a shuttle offering to take us to/from anything within a 2 mile radius (which included downtown and many other areas-you could also take a cab and that was only $5 to downtown!).

We originally had both our rooms (me and Billy in one room, my friends in another) on the Springwood Suites side, but we found out when we checked in that it wasn't actually pet friendly (thanks Expedia) but the Residence Inn side WAS, so they immediately upgraded our room to a king suite and put us on the same floor as our friends (we were literally a few rooms down from each other still.) Both Springwood/Residence Inn had modern decor and such beautiful rooms! Our room (our friends too) were amazing...and HUGE! 

Our room was like the size of an apartment, as it had a full kitchen (in the pic below the kitchen was to the left), desk, eating area, sectional (with a pull out bed), king bed, and a great view on top of it all. I could've stayed here for two weeks! Could not recommend both of these hotels enough if you are traveling to Nashville! I actually preferred that it wasn't smack in the middle of downtown because they were so many cute areas around it to explore and you didn't have to deal with any traffic. PS: Nothing was sponsored on this trip, I just genuinely loved this hotel. 

EAT

Nom nom nom! Nashville's food scene is just okay. JUST KIDDING... 
It is AMAZING. 

Fried chicken, BBQ beef brisket, deviled eggs, fried green tomatoes, chicken and waffles, bisquits and gravy, "white trash hash"....just to name a few of my favorites (lol). I actually did have each of those this trip and am suddenly realizing why my pants are tight right now (#worthitmmmkay?) 

Instead of going through each place we visited in depth, I'm just going to share my recommendations because each place we visited I would say the same thing, something along the lines of delicious, for each one. 

 

+Merchants (dinner, on Broadway in the heart of it all)

my picks: chicken fried chicken, deviled eggs, fried green tomatoes
+Tavern (THE BEST BRUNCH EVER, in Midtown (SO close to our hotel)) 
my picks: cheddar bisquits and gravy, white trash hash, heuvos rancheros, sangria (2-4-1!)

 

+Hattie B's (also right by our hotel, they serve the best fried chicken here-the line wrapped around the building seconds that)
+Tin Roof (this was just for a quick, casual lunch and some beers. Perfect place for that! They have a location by our hotel with other cute shops and restaurants around, and also one on Broadway)
my picks: the cheese dip & quesadillas!
+Frothy Monkey Coffee Shop (coffee and food as well)

+Acme Feed & Seed (dinner, on Broadway, they serve food on the first two floors and have an awesome rooftop next to the river for drinks. I hear they have a good brunch too)

my picks: the ike & mike nachos (HUGE and drool worthy with their pulled pork, beans, and bbq sauce!), rule the roost (hot chicken)

 {view from Acme rooftop}

+Jacks Bar-B-Que (quick lunch, on Broadway)
+Las Paletas (I am soooo sad we never had the time to go here, but I'm still adding it so I remember for next time and so you guys can-was featured on food network for their frozen ice pops made with fresh fruits and vegetables)
+Juice Nashville (to make you feel better after all those drinks!)
my picks: berry nice or the green detox one (can't remember the name but it has spinach, kale, apple, lemon)

 

DO

Honestly, most of our weekend was spent on Broadway listening to the live music but me and Billy did venture to Hillsboro Village on Saturday afternoon. They have some really cute clothing shops, restaurants (Pancake Pantry is here-I ate here on my previous trip otherwise would have gone!), and dessert places. Rumor on the street is Taylor Swift can be found here often!

 

Another area we got to explore a bit was The Gulch. Read more about it here.

 

As for places on Broadway-I really like Tootsies, Rippy's (upstairs), and The Stage.
 
If we had more time, we would've made the drive to Franklin because I hear it's really charming and pretty, and drank some wine at Arrington Vineyards. Next time! 

OH...and guess what?! I got to meet my blogger friend, Sarah, right when we got into town! We parked our car for lunch and she just so happened to be eating lunch with some girlfriends and we recognized each other right away! It was so awesome! I had been wanting to meet her for years! And she was just as sweet and pretty in person :)

Even though we didn't stay long, we still fit in a good amount of things. Mainly revolving around food, which I'm totally cool with. :) On our last trip, I toured the Country Music Hall of Fame, visited Bluebird, etc. Read that recap here.

Thank you music city for another great visit and as always thank you to those who always send me the best rec's!