Nashville - September 2012

I had never been to Nashville before this year, and this year I went twice. The first time was on our big Southern roadtrip in May, and most recently, for Katy and Luke's wedding reception. Usually when I go to a wedding somewhere, I take in whatever tourist sights are available, but this time was unusual because I had just been there in May, and all my friend attending the wedding had also done it within the last year or two.

The hotel was very close to Broadway, the main strip where there are lots of the bars and stores. So Friday night, right after Katy and Luke's Welcome Party, we all hit the bars. It was super fun because all the places had live music and everyone was casual. We went to Tootsie's, Second Fiddle, Honky Tonk Central, and the Hilton bar. We sang, we danced, we did the "holler and swoller" thing. It's a thing, really.

Lexi, Ericka, Brian, and Audra at Tootsie's! 

After breakfast, I took a stroll to the stores with Brian, Donald, Sarah, and baby William, and later we were joined by two of Sarah's friends, Rachael, Emily, and Emily's baby Iris. What a party. We stopped for free praline at Savannah's Candy Kitchen, and helped Brian with some cowboy boot shopping at 3 different boot stores on the same street. They take their cowboy boots seriously here. They even had university logo boots. Um, no thank you.

Taking over Broadway in Nashville

Savannah's Candy Kitchen is amazing.

Me and my weekend roommate Brian outside of Boot Country

Brian and I were trying to maximize the time we spent with our law school friends over the weekend, so after Donald, Sarah, William, Rachael, Emily, and Iris went back to the hotel for a rest, we went back out to lunch on Broadway with Rob, Audra, Lexi, and Carter. We had lunch at Rippy's Bar & Grill. It was okay, but I wouldn't really recommend it. It's dicey.

Audra, Rob, and Carter at Rippy's

We went back out on Saturday night after the wedding, and this time I brought my camera. If you know me, you know that it's been many years since I went out on back-to-back nights. (For one thing, it's hard to go out on back-to-back nights when you get up at 5:30 a.m. with a toddler.) Anyway, I was pretty excited. We spent most of our time enjoying the music at Honky Tonk Central.

Katy, Luke, me, Audra, Rob, and Brian at Honky Tonk Central

Don't worry, we had a proper Southern breakfast before we left. We went for brunch at Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant. Look how much fun Donald and Sarah are having!

Brunch at Puckett's on Church Street

Katy and Luke's Wedding Celebration 2012

Katy and Luke got married! Actually, they got married a month ago in Katy's hometown of Beaufort, South Carolina.  While I have been to Beaufort twice before to visit her parents, I was not in attendance at the wedding ceremony, but I think we can all agree that the bride and the groom looked beautiful.

Beaufort, South Carolina, August 25, 2012

In what seems to be a new wedding trend, the couple had multiple receptions at different locations in the country for the convenience of their family members. There were celebrations in South Carolina (where the bride is from), West Virginia (where the groom is from), Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee (where the couple lives with their awesome dog Wally).

They held the Nashville reception at the Country Music Hall of Fame which is super cool and beautiful. Definitely one of the best venues I have been to for a wedding. All the guests enjoyed walking around and reading the plaques on the walls dedicated to famous country music singers. The powers that be waited too long to give Dolly one. 1999!

"Let the Circle Be Unbroken" at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Dinner was ah-mazing. Wait, let me say it again. Ahhhhhhhhh-mazing. I have never craved wedding food after I returned home. I am so sad I am not eating it right now. It was family-style and I had short ribs, cheddar mac and cheese, crispy buttery brssel sprouts, acorn squash, and Southern-style biscuits. Everything was as delicious as you would hope it would be. As if that wasn't enough to invade my dreams forever, Luke and Katy had 5 flavors of cake. We each got one flavor and passed them around so I tasted and loved: Velvet Elvis (with peanut butter ganache), lemon vanilla, chocolate, banana, and vanilla with raspberry creme filing. The Velvet Elvis and the lemon vanilla blew us away.

Rob helping me dish out the family-style (because I left the table to take this picture)

After dinner there was a lot of dancing and rejoicing. I met Katy in law school and we took numerous trips together to the beach for Spring Break, a cruise that went to the Caribbean and we even went to Costa Rica over Winter Break one year. We went to dinner hundreds of times with our friends to celebrate birthdays or for no reason. We had as many game nights. We went to 6 law school dances, and once I even talked to her into going to the Fox Field horse races. After we graduated, we moved to New York, and for a while we kept up the good times, but then she moved to Nashville.

Suffice to say, I had very high expectations for her future husband. When I met Luke for the first time in May, I was delighted. I couldn't have come up with a better match for Katy if I'd dreamed him up. She's a catch and so is he. I look forward to adding him to our law school vacation team.

Katy and Luke rocking out at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Welcoming Luke to the team: Rob, Audra, Brian, Katy, Luke, Sarah, Donald, and me

Oh, and one more thing. Best. wedding. guest book. ever. And this is the 37th wedding I have attended so I am not messing around here. They had us sign a guitar. Awesome in the first place, and doubly awesome because of the venue. Thank you for inviting us to a super cool wedding!

Guitar Wedding Guestbook

SE Roadtrip Day 12 + 14: Nashville, TN, and Katy and Luke 2012

After the Smoky Mountains, we headed to Nashville, TN to spend some time with my friend from law school, Katy, and her fiance Luke. It was wonderful to spend Monday evening with them, especially after James went to bed.  Unfortunately, since we had suddenly crossed over to Central Time, James went to bed at what seemed like an hour later than usual. Luke made a really nice dinner for us. (A man who cooks well! Way to go, Katy!) And I got to hear the cute story of how Katy and Luke met. We kept chatting after dinner, and I was having such a good time that if it weren't a work night for them, I wouldn't have let them go to bed at all.

Fake group photo: Like, Wally, Katy, me, James staring at Katy(!), and Kevin

However, after a long day at work, Katy understandably declined a photo, so I asked for one of the Clous. Luke and Wally jumped in at the last minute.  Now I really wanted a group photo! Here's the thing, I have mad photoshop skills.  I try not to use them to create a different reality... but it's so tempting sometimes! I sat on the couch in Katy's camo-Snuggie, and then I photoshopped 3 photos: the group shot minus Katy, me in the camo-Snuggie, and then Katy's head off Facebook. I know I'm scary. In my defense, Katy thought it was funny and approved the photo before I posted it.

Wally and I go way back to 2005 or 2006. One of the sweetest dogs ever.

James trying to "feed" Wally but all he has are leaves.

Tuesday morning, after playing with Wally for a while, we were ready to see Nashville! We started with the somewhat touristy, but still fun downtown.  It seemed that it would be even more fun drinking and eating here at night or on the weekend, but that sort of thing is not possible with a 1-year-old in tow.

Downtown Nashville

Downtown with my boyfriend Elvis

Shopping at Ernest Tubb Record Shop- which is awesome (Kevin bought a coozie)

James checking out old concert posters at Hatch Show Print

After exploring the downtown a little more than James would have preferred, we headed to Centennial Park so that James could run around, but more to see the full-scale Parthenon re-creation that the people of Nashville decided to build in 1897.  Wow.  It certainly made for some fun photos.

The Clous in front of "the other" Parthenon

Rocking his Huntsville, AL shirt in Nashville, TN

On the run!

Playing with dad (I am seriously considering blowing this up.)

Katy and Luke recommended we try Loveless Cafe, so we went there for lunch.  Since part of the roadtrip is about eating a lot of Southern BBQ, we ordered our 6th BBQ of the trip.  Are we grossing you out?  Or are you fiery with jealousy? I am going to assume the latter.  The pulled pork sandwich was very good and stood up well in our taste-venture. It was huge, and the meat was tasty because they have they're own huge smokehouse on the premises.  The sauce was mostly on top of the meat instead of mixed in it.  I also order the grits (I think my 3rd grits of the trip) and they were my favorite of the trip so far. James was pretty good during the meal, but he definitely puked a little when we arrived because he's still not great at chewing his food before swallowing. Sigh.

Yum! at Loveless Cafe in Nashville, TN

Our next stop on the trip was Memphis, mainly to see Graceland, but also to eat more BBQ!  The problem is that we only travel a few hours at a time, and mainly while James is sleeping, because James hates the car, and Memphis is not close to anything.  So when we left Memphis on Thursday morning, we came back to Nashville. We thought we would check out the Grand Ole Opry, hich moved from the Ryman Auditorium to its new spot in 1974.  We were trying to avoid paying for a backstage tour (or for entry charges at other locations) so we decided we would go check out the free Grand Ole Opry Museum.  Unfortunately, it flooded in 2010, (ah, I remember Katy emailing us pictures of the flood waters near her job) and they never reopened it or updated the website.  I think 2 years is enough time to at least update the website! So this stop was a bust, but James didn't really care.  He played outside in the Grand Ole Opry grass.

In front of the Grand Ole Opry, where the Country Music Awards are held

James about to destroy the Grand Ole Opry garden

This photo came out a little blurry but I like it's weird Anime-like quality

Kevin tried to cheer me up after the mix-up by stopping at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky on the way to the Bourbon Trail.  I am a bit of an amateur spelunker after visiting Ruby Fall in Tennessee in 2009, and Luray Caverns in Virginia in 2010.  Double bust!  The cave only had hour-long and two-hours-long tours available on a schedule which would have had us waiting an hour for the shorter tour.  Not James-friendly at all. Oh well! Maybe another day. 

 In between Nashville stops we were in Memphis, TN, so I'll write about that next. After we left Nashville, we did the Kentucky bourbon trail. Yes, with a baby... don't worry, it was totally safe driving.  James was the designated driver since he can't drink for another 20 years.