Going with the Garcias

There are two things you should know about me (Jessica): I grew up jamming out to 90s country music and man, do I love to eat food (and cook). (I guess that’s technically three things.)

My childhood radio was filled with the voices of Tim McGraw, Toby Keith, Brooks & Dunn, Garth Brooks, LeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain, The Judds, and the wonderful George Strait. (I feel like that may be the last group of country musicians where you can hear the country twang, before country went pop. Agree or disagree? Leave us a comment below on how you feel about today’s country music.)

So what about the food part? Y’all, I grew up near a small town in the Panhandle of Florida. The beaches were an hour away, the cotton field was out back, the peanut field was down the road, and you could always find a good meal at home with Mama or Grandma. (Looking back, I was a chunky kid, probably because of the good meals I was eating at home.) I still appreciate a good-cooked meal, especially if it’s southern in nature, and it is extra special if it’s good fried chicken. (That’s a cooking art form that I have not mastered yet.)

When we were scheduling a trip to Nashville with our friends, my itinerary list consisted of really just a list of restaurants I had always dreamt of eating at and places that involved country music legends. I was very lucky that Thomas was ok with my selection and our friends were so easy going. This was the first trip I had ever planned that folks, other than Thomas and myself, would be attending, so the pressure was on. To help ensure everyone was represented on our trip, I made our friends rate one to five on the places and restaurants in Nashville, so we could devise a plan to fit us all. (View a full copy of our Nashville travel spreadsheet here.)

When planning this trip, I learned a very valuable lesson: when you plan a trip, check to see if events are happening the same dates you think you want to go. For example, if you’re wanting a not-as-crowded trip to Music City with your best friends, do not go when the CMA Fest is in town. Check the hotels. Are they full and you can’t find a great rate? Odds are, there’s something big happening at that same time and the crowds will be everywhere. (Like I said, lesson learned; we made the best of it.)

Thomas and I decided to go a day early to knock out a few things on our list that only we wanted to really see and eat (Belle Mead Plantation, The Hermitage, and Lovelace Cafe). We had a punny tour guide at Belle Meade (I love puns and Dad jokes), which really brought the family that lived in the main house to life. The foundation that runs and keeps up the full plantation now and also made sure to showcase the darker side of the south. They encouraged all to visit the restored slave quarters to see the full picture of life in the south, which is often overlooked. This was the first time either of us had really seen fully intact slave quarters and it really helped deromanticize the “Gone with the Wind” image we think of when we think of southern plantations. After that we went to Andrew Jackson’s The Hermitage. That tour caught me off-guard, as the foundation and tour guides had the house as it would have been during the president’s death. I remember many candles and the tour guides in mourning clothes. It was a very interesting tour.

The rest of the weekend we mostly spent together as a group enjoying the sights and sounds of Music City, as each place offered a special look at Music City and how it’s become the place for country music.

• Country Music Hall of Fame: the one-stop-shop to see items that belonged to or were worn by country music legends (this place is full of fringe, sparkle, and boots)
• Johnny Cash Musuem: the place if you love the Man in Black
• Honkey Tonk Highway: the four-block stretch of Broadway where you may see a star or up-and-coming star (we ended up eating and enjoying the music at the bar owned by Kid Rock)
• Grand Ole Opry: one of two locations to see a show or take a backstage tour and walk in the footsteps of country’s biggest names
• Gaylord Opry Land Resort: a unique one-of-a-kind resort experience
• Lane Motor Museum: a local museum that features the largest European collection of cars and bikes
• The Parthenon–the full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens

Now back to food. Y’all Nashville has some of the BEST places to get fried chicken. I feel like that’s all I ate that weekend. At Lovelace Cafe, I fell in love with their blackberry jam on their biscuits. (I still order it and have it shipped to our house from time to time.) At Biscuit Love, we had, you guessed it, more biscuits and they were oh-so good. We had some of the best doughnuts ever at 5 Daughter’s Bakery and amazing pancakes at Pancake Pantry. I ate the best friend chicken at Hattie Bs and Princes (and all the southern sides, like collard greens). Looking back, this really was a food vacation. The places we chose to visit each really centered around what was close to which restaurant and what we wanted to eat that day. Sometimes those are the best kinds of vacations.

As a southern lady, Nashville spoke to my soul. I enjoyed listening to the music of my childhood and eating some of the best food in the nation. That was just our first trip to Music City. I feel like this city offers a lot for most folks, not all. (I get it, not everyone loves country music.) But there’s plenty for you, even if you’re not a country fan like me, especially between the food and sports teams. This city is as sweet as iced tea. A bad day in Nashville is better than a good day anywhere else, give it a try.