NASHVILLE

THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2020

Day 2 in Nashville did not disappoint! We only had a day and a half to see as much of Nashville as we possibly could. I know there is so much more of the area to explore, but we chose to focus on downtown.

We started the day at the What Lifts You Wings mural. As we researched things to do in Nashville it was obvious that the murals around town are definitely sights you need to see. We saw several and checked off a few of the photo ops that everyone gets while here, including this one.

The mural was cool but we were ready to go see more Nashville. We had just paid to park close to the mural (parking is expensive downtown!) so we decided to go ahead and walk from there to explore. We walked toward Broadway and along the way saw The Country Music Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, it is still closed due to the virus so the most we got to do there was take some pictures outside.

One place that was not closed was Ryman Auditorium. Johnny and I had toured the Ryman on a trip here 15 years ago and we thought the kids would enjoy it, and they most definitely did. The history of the building is very cool. The tour starts with a video explaining the history and how it became known as the “mother church of country music”. Once the video ends you are sent into the auditorium where there are displays set up all around. You also get to step onto the stage and see some dressing rooms used by the stars. We all enjoyed the tour, masks and all!

Walking a couple miles and some sight-seeing made us work up an appetite so we sat down for some cold water and burgers at Luke Bryan’s 32 Bridge. Once we had our bellies full and had cooled off a bit we went to find the Johnny Cash Museum. Logan is a big Cash fan and after walking through the museum I think Macy may be too. Of course, Johnny and I have always enjoyed Johnny Cash’s music and that he is a fellow Arkansan! The museum was worth every penny. We learned things we never knew and saw some really neat costumes, furniture, handwritten notes and songs, and even artwork Cash made. We spent an hour or so at the museum then started back down Broadway toward the truck. On the way, we found the Ernest Tubb Record Shop where Logan bought his first vinyl record, which was a Johnny Cash album of course!

By the time we made the walk back to the truck we were hot and tired so we decided to do some exploring while soaking up the a/c in the truck. We drove by the Tennessee State Capitol building, the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park, the Farmer’s Market, Nissan Stadium, Vanderbilt University, and Centennial Park. All very cool places that if we had not been hot and tired, we could have explored more. We ended the day at one more Nashville mural, the I Believe in Nashville mural. Bonus was that Reese Witherspoon’s boutique, Draper James just happened to be across the street! Macy and I had to go in to find us some cute southern style.

We wrapped up our Nashville adventures around 6pm and came back to the camper to eat dinner, let Noah get in some pool time and enjoy some live music right here at our campsite. We will all sleep well tonight. Tomorrow we’ll get on the road again and head out to Pigeon Forge to explore Great Smoky Mountain National Park!