Music City isn’t just for bachelorette parties and upcoming country music stars. Nashville offers vibrant city streets, local digs, American history, and all the whiskey your heart desires.

Start your morning at the Nashville Farmers Market

Farmers markets are a staple for us when traveling, and at home to be quite honest; for us, it is the most authentic way of supporting local, and typically it is where we find some of the best eats and unique souvenirs.

The Nashville Farmers Market is split into two portions, an inside cafeteria-like budling with endless dining options and a few shops, while the outside is a bit more home-grown, typical market vendors. You can find plenty of local goods, from fresh veggies, homemade candles to true Nashville BBQ Sauce, making for the perfect start to your Tennessee adventure.

Get Baptized on Broadway

Walking down south Broadway in Nashville is a unique experience that anyone with an appreciation for music will enjoy. There are honky-tonks, (bars with rich history and live music of nearly all hours of the day) that quickly put the name “Music City” into perspective.

While collecting stamps ensuring we are were over 21 at each stop, we didn’t pay a single cover fee, and found some incredible places to sit back, question how these talented artists aren’t already on the top 20 charts, and drink a beer until we were on to the next.

If you aren’t vibing with one place, you can either walk upstairs – my mind was blown with how one old building could host three different concerts and a rooftop bar – or next door and find something new. We went to a number of places, but my personal favorite was Layla’s. $5 locally brewed beer and a stellar band made it hard to leave.

(For the record, getting baptized on Broadway is raising your glass with everyone in the room and throwing one back, one of the stranger, yet very good, bonding with strangers moments we’ve experienced.)

Tour a Distillery

A Jack and Coke is a staple in my night out routine, so going to the home of whiskey made my eyes light up.

There are many distilleries open for tours and tastings around the Nashville area, the famous Jack Daniels included. We opted for Nelson’s Green Brier Distillery. I had never heard of this brand, but after reading about their incredible history, including being a female led, industry empire before females could vote, I had to go.

From meeting our well-educated-quirky tour guide to finishing our last sample, our small group tour lasted around 45 minutes. We walked through the history, the distilling process and ended with a guided tasting of four Nelson family staples, and enjoyed every minute.

The tour was $25 per person, we made a reservation ahead of time by visiting their booking website: www.exploretock.com/greenbrierdistillery

Nelson’s Green Brier, along with a few other distilleries and local shops are located in Marathon Village. This industrial space acts as a modern day shopping strip but uniquely preserves artifacts and information from when it was the Marathon Motor Works factory.

Take a (Long) Day Trip to the Smoky Mountains

If you are looking to get your outdoor fix, take the 3.5 hour drive southeast to experience the incredible, Great Smoky Mountains National Park. While the sight of mountain peaks aren’t always a guarantee due to the “smoke” of the Smokies, driving through this park is an incredible breath of fresh air.

Besides the beauty and the excitement of searching for black bear, a perk of visiting this park is that there is no entry fee. You do need to make sure and stop at the visitors center for a $5 daily parking pass – but I promise, even if you’ve only got a day to drive through this natural wonder, it’s worth every penny.

We spent 2 days in the park. We drove the famous Cades Cove, crossed into South Carolina at the Newfound Gap, hiked until we couldn’t hike anymore, and enjoyed all the scenic stops along the way.

To keep up with all current park conditions and fees, visit http://www.nps.gov/grsm.

Eat Hot Chicken – It’s worth the hype.

Michael was not going to let me leave Nashville without stopping for hot chicken and I wasn’t going to put up a fight. We opted for one of the most well-known establishments, Hattie B’s. We didn’t have enough time to do official comparisons to tell you who has the best of the best, but we can tell you, Hattie B’s was fast service, delicious hot fresh food, and a patio with a view.

Grab Some Goo Goo Clusters

I cannot tell a lie, I had no idea what these were before doing research on what to do in Nashville. We put it on the list of places to go, but kind of forgot about it UNTIL, luckily, we stumbled across their storefront as it is just a short walk off of the main Broadway corridor. There, you can create your own custom cluster, or trust the experts and purchase all the original flavors you prefer. Our personal favorites were The Original and the Peanut Butter.

Indulge in Music City History

I’m personally not much of a country music fanatic, but standing in places that the greats have stood and sang and became the greats, is an experience that gave me chills. We considered the Country Music Hall of Fame for our trip, but on a time crunch, and a tighter budget, we opted to walk the grounds and giftshop of one of the most prominent buildings in all of the music industry, The Grand Ole Opry.

We explored the modern day venue: the original can be found, and toured, behind the honky-tonks of Broadway. There is a back door in the alley between the original Opry and Tootsies, where famous musicians used to sneak out after the show for a drink and a good time. Although we didn’t take an official tour, we enjoyed wandering around and admiring from afar.

A Nashville Recap

We highly recommend Nashville for anyone looking for a unique US destination. We would even more so recommend venturing to Great Smoky Mountains NP. Overbudget for parking. We had no idea we’d be paying $20 minimum everywhere we parked. Great Smoky Mountains National Park offered the most affordable parking on our trip at just $5 a day. Don’t leave without walking Broadway or eating hot chicken, and soak in all the rich history this beautiful city has to offer.

Leave your favorite Nashville stops in the comments below. As always, thanks for adventuring with us!

M + M