Nashville

I planned a few days in Nashville for Nick's 30th birthday. I don't know if it would have been his first choice for a weekend away, but I think he was pleasantly surprised with the offerings of America's southeast. Nashville has an energetic music scene and is know for all the honky-tonk bars on Broadway. So we planned on spending a few days sleeping in, enjoying live music on Broadway and hanging with each other, sans child. Jenni and Matt joined us, while Mimi watched all three kids!

We stayed at the Hutton Hotel on the West End. The West End is about a mile from the honky-tonks, right on the edge of Vanderbilt University (where my cousin just graduated, congrats Paul!) We were also a mile from Centennial Park, with a beautiful jogging paths, the Parthenon replica and the campus grounds, allowing us for pretty scenic runs everyday. It is a cool city in the respect that is has a university culture within an urban environment, and completely beautiful and put together green spaces.

Broadway was so fun! The street is just littered with bars, and any one you walked into had a country artist or band playing. There was just so much energy, a real vibrance throughout the entire downtown area. We favored Tootsies (thanks for the suggestion Bob!) and tended to head back there every chance we got.

It was a pretty great trip and I am happy we got to spend some adult time, in an exceptionally cool city.
I think, in the end, we were all pretty smitten with Nashville...

And while we were gone...Charlie (who is self proclaimed vegetarian) learns to love bacon!