Dear Nashville, I Love You

There is nothing more refreshing than your best friend coming to visit. You get to be with someone that fills you up and show them things that you love about your town. I have been in Nashville 11 years and sometimes I forget why I fell in love with this place. Nothing like playing tour guide to fall in love with my home again.  I love planning things to do but when showing someone Nashville I want to show them tourist and non tourist things that make this city so great. Here is what we did.

Here are the stops we did 

1. Loveless Cafe
2. Nachez Trace
3. McKay’s 
4. The Well
5. Radnor State Park
6. Parathenon
7. Downtown- Stage

Loveless Cafe

If you want to try some good ole southern food this is the place to go! They make all their food from scratch and it is an iconic place to eat. It opened in 1951 to serve the people traveling on hwy 100. The owners eventually built a hotel for overnight guests.  The hotel portion is now closed but in its place are a few shops that you can look at while you wait for the table.  They are known for their biscuits and preserves!  I have bought these for gifts to send to people and they have been a hit. When you walk into the lobby you will see faces of the famous folks that have eaten at this restaurant. You can’t go wrong with any menu item!  My go to is  country fried steak but the fried chicken is to die for! They have an overflow lot so if you don’t see any parking keep moving to the back.  The pricing is pretty standard for lunch and dinner. Keep in mind the wait times can get very high and you can not do a reservation. We went at 1pm, told us it was a 45 minute wait for two and was seated in 25 minutes. Also, Don’t forget to get your photo at the iconic sign. 

The Natchez Trace Drive

This parkway is 444 miles long and would take 10 hours to complete. It runs through three states: Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. This is such a beautiful drive. We drove around for about 30 mins. We caught this right by the loveless cafe and drove all the way out to the bridge. If you are in Nashville in the fall this is the best time to drive. It is gorgeous this time of year.  Drive as long as you want there are a ton of places to turn around and it is a nice break from the hustle and bustle.

McKay’s

If you are a book, movie or music lover, I have the place for you!  Mckay’s is a used book store that sells all the things. Living in Nashville this is my go to place. I love that I can buy a ton of books and sell them back.  There is so much to see here and is worth peeking around. I could spend hours here.  They usually have a food or beverage stand in the parking lot.

The Well

This is a chain here in the Nashville area. The shop itself is very simple and the drink menu is pretty standard.  If you are into flavor lattes, their variety is limited. The coffee tastes great regardless of what you get. What is cool about this spot is that they are turning coffee into water. They use their profits to provide clean drinking water across the globe. A fact from their website states that since 2012 they have completed 75 water projects in 24 countries! I think that is an amazing and great reason to go get your coffee from here.

Radnor State Park

This gem is right in Nashville and such a nice break from the city.  It is 1,368 acre park and 7.75 miles worth of trails. Don’t worry the main loop around the lake is really flat and so beautiful to take in.  You will see a ton of wildlife while you are out. My favorite are the turtles sunbathing on logs. Go check this gem out and enjoy nature in the beautiful and diverse city of Nashville.

Parathanon

In Centennial Park, there are a ton of things to do and see. There is always something going on here in this park. A site to see is the Parathenon. This is an actual replica of the one in Athens and inside contains an exact replica of the Athena statue. 42 feet in all its glory. Inside of the building is an art museum.  Just walking around the building itself is really cool and a great photo op.  This park has walking paths that twist throughout this massive park and is minutes from downtown.

Downtown on Broadway

Living in Nashville Broadway begins to lose appeal after the first year. The craziness has increased throughout the years. Sometimes you need a nice reminder how much fun you had and see the changes both good and bad.  If you are standing in the middle of the street and looking on at the river the bars on the left are going to be your originals. A must do for me is always the Stage. It always has such talented performers, well most of the bars have talented performers but this bar feels like home! If I had to pick one bar to go to this would be my bar! Vibes are on point!  I don’t frequent downtown enough to know if there was a cover but I will tell you that I would not pay a cover on Broadway, I would just move to the next bar.  Side note parking sucks and is expensive. I always park in the music city center and their event parking is usually $20 which is super cheap for that area.

It was nice reconnecting with the city I fell in love with so many years ago. Nashville is such a diverse place as you can see. This was just one day of things we jammed packed in. It was a great spending time with a friend that fills my cup and warms my soul!