Travel Diary: 36 Hours in Nashville, Tennessee

Saturday marked a special milestone for us—nine years since Michael nervously asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend. My response? “I guess that sounds alright.” (Okay, maybe he wasn’t that awkward about it.)

In the weeks leading up to our anniversary weekend, we began looking for flights. As I’ve mentioned before, we typically look for trips based on time and cost rather than choosing a specific destination. We found a good flight to Nashville, a place we’d previously discussed wanting to visit, leaving early Saturday morning and returning in the early evening hours on Sunday.

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Today I thought I’d recount our 36-hour adventure in Nashville, travel diary-style:

THIRTY-SIX HOURS IN NASHVILLE

We touched down in Nashville around 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and quickly navigated to the rideshare pickup area. Renting a car didn’t make sense for our short stay—it would have eaten into our limited time, plus hotel self-parking was a steep $30 per night, and downtown parking wasn’t much better at $10 or more.

Nashville’s public transit is budget-friendly at just $3.25 for an all-day pass, and while a free shuttle loops around downtown, we found it wasn’t always heading in our direction. So, we opted for Uber and Lyft, switching between the two based on whichever offered the best fare (by the way, those links will get you a discount on your first ride!).

After dropping off our bags at the Loews Vanderbilt hotel, we set out to explore Nashville. Our first stop? A cozy coffee shop called Steadfast Coffee in Germantown, where we fueled up with delicious coffee and a pastry before diving into the day.

Coffee and pastries from Steadfast Coffee — Top: Fruit Tart; Bottom: Espresso and milk (L), the Atlas (R)

After caffeinating, we walked around the Germantown area, popping into shops here and there, such as Wilder. We eventually made our way over to Nisolo, whose shoes and ethics I’ve long admired.

I brought my Camilla slides on this trip, but I was dying to try their Emmas in a discontinued color (2022 update: they re-released this color, and I bought them! And Wayward readers can now save 20% with code WAYWARD20). I encourage anyone to give them a visit, though, either in-person or online, as their shoes are beautiful and reasonably priced.

A block of retail shops — This space houses multiple shops, including Nisolo, Emil Erwin, and the Kidd Epps Art Shop (2023 edit: of these, only Nisolo remains in this plaza)

Next on the list was ABLE, another ethical retailer. I’ve been wearing their Joselyne Double Strap sandals frequently since I ordered them (and I was actually wearing them that day!), and wanted to check out some of their other goods in person.

For the sake of transparency, what I was really hoping for was a chance that they might drop their denim line in person before Tuesday’s launch, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Michael purchased the dainty Double Bar Cuff for me as a small gift. I highly recommend giving them a visit when in Nashville, as the space is beautiful and the customer service is exceptional—plus, you can save 20% in store (just mention it at checkout) and online with code WAYWARD20!

I should back up for just a moment here and say that when planning our itinerary for this trip, any time I asked Michael what he wanted to do in Nashville, his response was the same: “Eat hot chicken!”

So after lots of research on the subject we settled on Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, as it was highly rated and near our hotel. The line was, of course, out the door. We didn’t mind, and settled on in; after all, isn’t this what we came for?

the line at Hattie B's Hot Chicken — At this point, we probably had about a forty-minute wait ahead of us.

The line gave us plenty of time to take photos and contemplate the menu, debating back and forth about which level of spice to order. Finally, I put my foot down and uttered, “I didn’t come here to eat Nashville medium chicken, I came here to eat Nashville hot chicken.”

And that was that.

We shared the half chicken plate and added on a third side (pimento mac & cheese, potato salad, and greens). Michael ate the dark meat, and I ate my fill of the white meat. The outside was perfectly crispy, the inside was juicy, and the “hot” spice level was perfect for me—a good amount of burn, but not so much that it killed the flavor.

On the other hand, poor Michael, hit the breaking point a few times, and I gave him all of my bread and most of the potato salad to kill the burn (sorry, sorry, sorry). Next time, we might have to split and order two separate plates to have two different heat levels!

As a reward for surviving the heat, we make the mile walk over to Edgehill Village for gelato at Legato Gelato (now closed). I ordered pistachio (which definitely rivaled my own) and cream cheese, and Michael ordered cream cheese and mango. We wandered into a couple of the shops in the area before heading back across the Vanderbilt campus toward our hotel.

Our hotel room was ready by this time, and we were informed we’d been upgraded to a premium room on the Club Level (tip: always join the rewards program and let them know if your stay is for a special reason!).

We checked in, took quick showers, and changed into fresh clothing as we were a bit sweaty after walking miles already. It was tempting to just relax and laze around in the air conditioning, but there was more city to see!

There was a United Apparel Liquidators near our hotel, so we walked on over. Lucky Michael scored two pairs of selvedge denim jeans for under $50, and I left empty-handed but happy for him. On the way back we walked through Centennial Park to see the Parthenon, and our timing happened to coincide with Musician’s Corner, and the park was filled with live music and food trucks.

We didn’t have long to stay, so we snapped a few pictures and headed back to the hotel for Happy Hour in the Concierge Lounge and to the room to get ready for dinner at Husk. We’d dined at the Charleston location once before and were very excited to give the Nashville outpost a shot.

We were welcomed with personalized menus, and since the lighting in the restaurant was more conducive to a romantic dinner than blog-worthy photos of the food, I’ll share what we ordered using my words:

For starters, we landed on the Crookneck Squash Johnny Cakes, which are essentially large cornmeal and squash pancakes. A pat of nasturtium compound butter was placed on the side of the plate to gild the lily. The country ham also found its way to our table, accompanied by cheddar biscuits, pickled green beans, and okra. We probably should have stuck to one appetizer, but I’m glad we took the opportunity to try both.

For his main dish, Michael selected the Bear Creek Farm Beef, which was topped with charred onion jus, and came with roasted potatoes and corn pudding. I opted for the Bear Creek Farm Pork Loin, which had a mixture of farro, chanterelle mushrooms, and pickled blueberries as the side. Both dishes were incredible, though I ended up leaving a fair amount on my plate.

We were shown the dessert menu but ultimately passed due to the large portions. But to our delight, we were each surprised with a coupe of sparkling wine—a welcome way to end our celebration meal.

After Husk, we planned to wander until we found a good bar with cold beer and live music, but we only needed to descend the restaurant steps to hear very loud music. We followed the sound until we reached the Ascend Amphitheater where The All-American Rejects and Dashboard Confessional were playing.

You weren’t really supposed to stand outside the gate and watch, but there would be no missing any live act on that stage from the outside. We listened to a song and continued our night.

We then popped into HQ, an arcade bar (now closed). The drink prices were pretty high, however, there was no cover charge and all of the arcade games were free. I think I surprised Michael with my video game skills, despite rarely playing them.

A video game at HQ Nashville — (I’m Player 2)

After spending an hour or so at HQ, we walked down Broadway, the main drag with lots of bars and music, and as I suspected, drunk and rowdy tourists.

We kept walking, hoping we would find the perfect place up ahead. We kept walking until we realized we’d almost walked two miles and were back over by our hotel. One place nearby looked promising after an internet search, but the band was packing up as we arrived, and we decided it was time to turn in. I guess that means we just have to go back, right?

The next morning we were up early-ish and grabbed some fruit and pastries from the Lounge before taking the hotel’s free car service out to get coffee and visit the other UAL over in Hillsboro Village. We thought we’d head into Fido for a cup, but the line was way, way long.

Instead, we grabbed a delicious pour-over and espresso with milk at Revelator Coffee (now closed). With full energy restored, we shopped but left this UAL empty-handed, and walked back to the hotel to pack, check out, and check our bags again. We took the car service back toward downtown to have brunch at Saint Añejo. We put our name on the list and took the opportunity to wander around The Gulch for an impromptu mural photo session.

We hadn’t received a text yet saying that our table was ready, but we headed back over anyway. I supposed we had perfect timing, as though our table wasn’t ready, two seats became available at the bar which then became ours.

We ordered a jalapeño cornbread with queso to share (such a weird combo but SO good), and Michael ordered the chimichanga while I went with the breakfast burrito with chorizo. We both were very happy with our selections.

After brunch, we took an Uber over to the 12 South neighborhood, which was jam-packed on this Sunday morning. We took the time to head into some shops, such as Ceri Hoover, White’s Mercantile, and imogene and willie (Josette jeans, you will be mine one day).

Though we really weren’t hungry yet, we couldn’t pass up the Honeybear donut at Five Daughters Bakery.

The only thing left to eat before heading home was Tennessee barbecue, and for that, we hit up Martin’s downtown location. We shared the whole hog barbecue tray, which came with two sides (we got mac & cheese and broccoli salad), but the meat was really the star of the show.

I’d heard great things about their beer garden, so after eating, we headed upstairs to check it out before picking up our bags at the hotel and heading back to the airport.

An eclectic assortment of chairs at Martin's — The beer garden had lots of games, televisions, and cool seating areas like this one.

All that remained, of course, was writing postcards while waiting for our flight to head home.

36 Hours in Nashville Directory

Loews Vanderbilt | 2100 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37203
Steadfast Coffee | 603 Taylor St, Nashville, TN 37208
Wilder | 701 Taylor St, Nashville, TN 37208
Nisolo | 1803 9th Ave N, Nashville, TN 37208
ABLE | 5022 Centennial Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209
Hattie B's Hot Chicken | Multiple Locations
Legato Gelato | now closed
United Apparel Liquidators | Multiple Locations
Centennial Park | 2500 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37203
Husk | 37 Rutledge St, Nashville, TN 37210
Ascend Amphitheater | 310 1st Ave S, Nashville, TN 37201
HQ | now closed
Revelator Coffee | now closed
Saint Añejo | 1120 McGavock St, Nashville, TN 37203
Ceri Hoover | online only
White's Mercantile | 2908 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37204
imogene and willie | 2601 12th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37204
Five Daughters Bakery | Multiple Locations
Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint | Multiple Locations

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SPENDING A WEEKEND IN NASHVILLE

While this weekend may not have included any of Nashville’s main attractions like the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum or the Grand Ole Opry, it did contain my favorite attraction: the food and beverage scene. Nashville has a thriving culinary landscape and a relaxed atmosphere, and it’s one that’s best enjoyed by “bopping around.” A weekend is the perfect amount of time to unwind and indulge in all the city has to offer.

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Questions for you

Have you ever been to Nashville? What things did we miss (so we can go back!)?

Do you own a pair of cowboy boots?

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One Comment on “Travel Diary: 36 Hours in Nashville, Tennessee”

Joy says:

August 17, 2017 at 2:23 pm

Congratulations to both of you! I like the idea of look for trips based on time and cost rather than choosing a specific destination, that is smart, never thought of that.
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