Travelin' Bug or Nashville, Part II

Nashville. What a city. I've been before but that eons ago and I was in college. Nashville has changed or maybe it's my memory. Could even be both. The main thing this time is Deanie and her DrummerBoy live there and his band played the Ryman. There was no way I was going to miss this! If you missed that part, read Rockin' the Ryman.

My dad and stepmom went and I had three of the four lovelies to dote upon. Birdie stayed home as Baby M is due soon and, when you're two weeks from your due date, eight hours in a car times 2 isn't the most fun.

I want to add here a little about the people we encountered everywhere we went in Nashville. I've never been around nicer folks. Not that people aren't nice here in Charleston, but it's just to be polite. In Nashville, people aren't just being polite. They really want to hear what you have to say. There's nothing put-on about them. They are genuine. I liked that very much. Anyway---

Deanie and DrummerBoy live in a neighborhood called, Hillsboro Village, and it's just the cutest little area. It's full of 20 and 30 somethings but we weren't the oldest ones we saw walking around. :)  They took us to Double Dogs for dinner on Friday night. Double Dogs is a sports bar of sorts and is where these cuties go to watch the Panthers' games sometimes. The menu offered something for everyone and everything was tasty-lishous. Here's their menu. I had the fried chicken salad. I took pix of the food but all of them were rather blurry. Oh well...

After dinner, we walked a couple of shops down and had some fabulous icecream at Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream. Good to know: we had one open up on King Street downtown Charleston just a few weeks back! I love the names of their flavors and completely enjoyed a cup of roasted strawberry buttermilk. Everyone tried something different and shared. Did y'all know you can sample as many flavors as you want at this shop? I didn't. But I do now. Watch out, Jeni's!

Dinner Saturday evening was at Cafe Lula at the Ryman. Thankfully we didn't have to go anywhere because some of us were just too excited about the performance and wanted to stay close to the Ryman. The food? I don't really know. I was too excited to eat. But here's the link!

Sunday morning our families met for brunch at The Family Wash. LOVED it! I don't what it is about the food in Nashville, but it's better than most of the food I've eaten in Charleston! The link to their menu is here. Most everyone had something different and all of it was de-lish! Deanie and I had the Shepherd's Pie- vegetarian version. If you ever go and try this, asked for extra crispy and they will broil the cheese on top. YUM! DrummerBoy and his mom had the Jalapeno Biscuit Pancake. Yikes! But they said it was fabulous!   Others had the Chicken Pot Pie, the Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup, the Montre-y'all, the Usual...Let me just say I highly recommend this place! The atmosphere and food were just right and the company was PERFECT!

Of course, the main thing was getting to spend time with DrummerBoy's family. Not a stinker in the bunch, let me tell y'all. They are the real deal and we just love them to pieces! DrummerBoy's brother and SIL came with their sweet little baby who is a mere 2 months old so I got some baby time! I mean, we all got some baby time...yeah, that's right. Ha!

New mama, Larissia, is a musician/vocalist. You can get a taste of her music on her website. She's a love and quite talented. I love her voice. I find it smoothing and, on some songs, haunting, which is quite lovely. 

The only things I didn't love about Nashville were the heat and the traffic. But we have the same thing in Charleston so... I will say, though, that the drivers in Nashville are way better than the ones here. Way. Better.

The hospitality, the families, the food, the fun, the performance at the Ryman...all time well spent even though it was a short, whirlwind of a weekend. Not to worry, we'll be back! Another trip is already in the works and I cannot wait to see where the food trail leads us! I mean, I shall enjoy spending time with the family all together once again!