- A freezing 18 degree Friday morning run with Mel and Dani.
- We ate so many biscuits from different cafes and restaurants.
- The angel wings mural made famous by Taylor Swift.
- Sister shopping time.
- Downtown Franklin, TN at Christmas time.
- Hot tub time on the rooftop deck of our Airbnb.
- Talking and laughing until after midnight all three nights.
- A solo run through downtown Nashville for me on Saturday morning.
- The Nashville Parthenon.
- Brunch at the White Limozeen on Saturday (Dolly Parton's restaurant).
- A Saturday afternoon walk down South Broadway to experience the vibrant music city in all its quirky glory, from honky tonks to bars to cowboy boot stores, with live music and crowds everywhere.
- Dinner with a show: Saturday night dinner at The Listening Room, where we got to watch four songwriters perform songs they wrote--several of which were made famous by artists like Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney. This was my favorite place we visited.
- A relaxing Sunday morning at our Airbnb before checking out and driving past beautiful mansions in Belle Meade.
- A visit to Percy Warner Park, where I ran in the state cross country meet every year of high school.
There's the bullet point list! We mostly played it by ear, wandering and exploring around. It helped that Alivia lives near Nashville and Em has visited many times, so we weren't completely lost, and since Em drove there from St. Louis, we had her car. It was a LOT to cram into a mere 3 days and 17 hour trip! When I paid for parking at the Tri Cities airport, the machine informed me that I had parked for 3 days and 17 hours (that's 89 hours). Only about 15 hours of that 3 days was spent sleeping, and 23 hours of it was travel time in airplanes and airports. 89 total trip hours minus 28 travel and sleep hours equals 51 hours of awake time in Nashville with my sisters in one weekend! I was exhausted when I got back to my house at 1am on Monday morning. So worth it!
The first biscuit of the trip! I had a layover in Seattle, where I met up with Mel for the flight to Nashville.
BBQ dinner at a Nashville staple restaurant that I forgot the name of, haha. I grew up in Tennessee but only went to Nashville for the state cross country meet, which was outside of the city. Basically Nashville outside of Percy Warner Park was all new to me!
Freezing Friday sister run with Mel and Dani! No tender Tennessee winter for the first day of our visit. The high for the day was in the mid 20s, and when we ran in the morning it was a biting 18 degrees. At least it was sunny!
Breakfast at Biscuit Love. I brought a huge stack of lactase pills, and YUM.
A waitress at Biscuit Love took this picture in the middle of the crowded restaurant. We were totally holding up traffic, but we were on a sister trip high and felt like total fangirls of...Nashville? Fun time together? Buttery biscuits that melt in your mouth? All of the above.
The angel wings were just around the corner from Biscuit Love. I'm not a huge Swiftie, but Mel educated me on Taylor Swift's Nashville sights. We took a lot of group pictures on this trip, and several more-competent-than-average friendly strangers willingly took pictures for us.
My professional photographer sister told me to "pop a leg" and put a hand in my pocket. I don't think modeling is my thing, hahaha.
We wandered into Lululemon (shopping is way more fun with my sisters, and even more inspiring on a frigid 20 degree day). I made my first ever Lululemon purchase: a three pack of scrunchies on clearance for $14. I am not afraid of expensive clothes (hellooo, merino wool obsession!) but Lululemon was a bit over the top for me, haha.
Alivia was our resident restaurant guru. She took us to The Greenhouse for lunch, which was a cafe that was in an actual greenhouse. It was so warm in there--perfect for the cold cold day.
A view of The Greenhouse.
After lunch on Friday, we drove 30 minutes south to Franklin, TN, where my brother Kyle and his wife Alivia live with their three kids. We stopped by their house briefly and picked up the baby Tal, and then went on a long cold walk through festive idyllic downtown Franklin.
It was a very cute town.
Franklin in the golden hour! It looks so much warmer than it was.
We kept ducking into kitschy little shops to warm up.
I liked Franklin's "Merry Christmas, Y'all!" banners.
The road was blocked off so we could wander freely.
The trees had these gorgeous big star lights in them.
Our goal was to attend the Franklin, TN Christmas tree lighting, but we did not last that long in the cold and ended up going back to our Airbnb after eating dinner and donuts at The Factory.
A snow machine created a tiny winter wonderland outside a shop.
Sisters in the "snow!"
We got donuts before dinner, because SISTER TRIP.
We sent this picture to Mom. (The donuts here were divine.)
The Factory was kind of like a mall but with more restaurants and galleries than stores. It had this giant REAL Christmas tree in the center, with live music nearby.
We tested the hot tub without Alivia on Friday night and about FROZE because it was barely 98 degrees and the air outside was below 20 degrees. Getting out was painful. We cranked the heat in the hot tub and revisited it on Saturday night with Alivia, and it was much warmer.
Pictures from my Saturday morning solo run to downtown Nashville, which ended up being almost 8 miles long -- our Airbnb was 2.7 miles from the city center and I did some exploring while I was there, thus extending my run. I ran across two different bridges spanning the Cumberland River: one on the way to downtown, and one on the way back.
I shadow-pointed to my hometown of Jackson, TN on the giant sidewalk map of Tennessee at the capitol Bicentennial Park.
I ran up those stairs to the state capitol building--it was satisfying.
View from the top.
The pedestrian bridge, heading back to the Airbnb to see if my sisters had missed me yet. I checked Google maps as I turned homeward and texted our sister group message "I went on a run; I'll be back in about 20 minutes."
GAS in the $2 range?? The lowest price I saw was $2.55 per gallon. Insanity. It's currently $3.79 in Sunnyside, but usually it's higher.
Em chauffeured us all over the city.
Tennessee cast the deciding 36th vote to approve universal suffrage for women, and we admired this monument of Amazon sized suffragettes near the Nashville Parthenon.
We walked around the pond at the Parthenon park. Rainbow in the fountain!
The Nashville Parthenon...I'm not sure what the point of it was, but we saw it!
Saturday Brunch at Dolly Parton's White Limozeen cafe. This place was almost too much. So pink and frilly with oddly loud dance party music (not country twang!?). So many contrasting vibes in one restaurant.
There was a round bed randomly in the corner of the White Limozeen cafe, and my Mary Tyler Moore Show fangirl came out.
I am no Sue Anne Nivens.
Because why not create a giant Dolly Parton head out of pink fish nets on the roof of a hotel?
Dolly!
South Broadway was so busy and loud and exhausting.
Pedestrian bridge with the Nashville skyline behind us.
Dinner and a show at The Listening Room. These songwriters all took turns singing a song with their guitars. Sometimes they harmonized with each other, but usually they just sang a solo. They talked in between songs and told stories, and it was fascinating and entertaining.
Hot tub round two--not sure how I did that again! It was much warmer this time--104 degrees.
Em gave us all coordinating Christmas pajamas!
Checking out of our Airbnb townhome on Sunday morning. Dani was looking all stylish for her flight home.
Percy Warner Park, site of the TSSAA state cross country meet in the years 2000-2004. I found the course on the map. The coach in me was so surprised at how little I remembered from the logistics of going to the state meet when I was in high school. Where did we park? What gear did we bring, and who carried it? I have no memory of those details.
We walked up the Percy Warner Park Allée against Em's wishes, muahaha.
View down the Allée
On our way out of the Belle Meade area towards tge airport, we paused at the horse steeplechase part of Percy Warner Park, so I could reminisce about running my state XC meet there. I wished I had packed a non dress clothing item for this unexpected pilgrimage.
Thanks for the fun weekend, sisters!
1 comment:
What a PERFECT post! I loved every word and every photo! You are THE BEST!!!
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