Days 24, 25, and 26 - Nashville!

"You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey
You're as sweet as strawberry wine
You're as warm as a glass of brandy
And honey, I stay stoned on your love all the time."
-Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton

Nashville was amazing!  It's hard to believe neither of us had been there before - it seems so close to home now in comparison to many of our other stops.  It's hard to go wrong in a city full of good food and good music. 

Having never been to Nashville before, we decided to stay at the Omni Nashville, because we had stayed at an Omni for the first time in Denver and really liked it.  The Omni Nashville was probably even nicer than the Denver one.  The lobby area was expansive and had a really nice restaurant for convenience.  The gym was well-equipped and had a beautiful view of the city.  The location was fantastic - just a block or so away from the heart of Broadway, where all the bars and music are at.  The only downside was that it seems Nashville hotels play the same game as Baltimore hotels and over-book their rooms.  We didn't get the room we had reserved through Hotels.com.  This was the only time on our trip that we had any issue with the reservation.  Luckily, it was a minor issue - two Queen beds instead of a King - and when we called Hotels.com to report the issue after having no luck with the Omni's front desk, they refunded us the price of our stay.  Wow!  That was a great deal for a minor issue!  

We didn't waste any time indulging in food, drink, and great music.  We hit up the well-known Martin's BBQ Joint for supper, which was just a short walk from our hotel.  So, so, so delicious!  Then, we decided to explore the Broadway scene.  The music drifting from every single place was just phenomenal.  Some of the big-name bars like Toby Keith's "I Love This Bar & Grill" were absolutely jam-packed and wild.  The music was so loud in those places it was almost hard to appreciate.  We chose our bar by the quality of the music, and we actually ended up making the George Jones Bar our first stop.  There weren't too many people inside, which was surprising, because the music was outstanding.  This bar featured mostly traditional, classic country music, and it was very well done.  After a couple drinks, we decided to explore some more, and we heard some great music coming from a small bar called Benchmark.  The band we listened to is playing in the video above.  Wow!  This bar played less country and more rock.  The music was outstanding both nights that we visited there.  

On our second day, we decided to get out and about.  We skipped breakfast and saved up for a BIG lunch at Dandgure's Cafeteria.  Meatloaf and catfish and peach cobbler...mmmmmm... Southern cooking at its best!  Yum!  Then, we headed to the other side of town for a tour and tasting at Nelson's Green Brier Distillery - home of Belle Mead Bourbon.  It was a really neat, small facility, and we got to walk through right amongst the workers.  The tasting was excellent, and we had to find room in the Miata for a little bottle to take home (as well as some more souvenir stickers!).  

There were quite a few other shops in the same facility, including the Nashville home of American Pickers!  Antique Archaeology had some antiques for sale as well as shirts and other souvenirs.  We were hoping to catch one of the Pickers themselves, but they weren't in on this day.  The sales people said they probably see Mike at least once a month.  

Finally, we continued on our way to Opry Mills and the Grand Ole' Opry.  Opry Mills is a pretty large shopping mall on the same grounds as the Opry theater.  We had to stop at the Chocolate Moonshine Co., where they were doing tastings of all their flavors right there in the shop inside the mall.  Yum!  They had so many flavors, but we tucked away one bottle of their namesake - Chocolate Moonshine! - to take home.  We also found our second edible cookie dough shop of the trip, and this one was even better than the one in Utah.  After strolling the mall for a while, it was time to head to our show at the Grand Ole' Opry.    The show was amazing.  We saw 7 acts one right after the other.  No need for extended set changes like you sit through at most concerts. The concert industry could learn some things from the Opry!  Every act was outstanding, from the classic singers like Connie Smith and Jackie Lee to the unique acts like Striking Matches and Home Free (CANNOT say enough about how great Striking Matches is live.  Their recorded music is good but comes nowhere near to showcasing their talent the way we experienced it at this show).  The big finale was current country star Dustin Lynch, who blew off the closing to one of his songs in order to take a selfie with a little girl who had been dancing in the front row the whole show.  Can't argue with that!  When the show was over, we thought we were going to go out for some ice cream, but we ended up back at the Benchmark bar for more great music.  We would have loved to spend another day, but we were only two days away from the four week mark, and we needed to make tracks.  We'll definitely be back to Nashville soon!