RoamingRushka

Nashville: Music, Food, and Nature

March – July

We had a lot of fun in Nashville. The city has a way of blending vibrant energy with moments of calm, offering something for just about every mood. The live music, food scene, and nightlife were especially enjoyable – and often felt perfectly juxtaposed by how quiet and relaxing our favorite nature walks and our cozy home base were.

Some of our favorite spots quickly became East Nashville’s gems. We loved evenings at Jane’s Hideaway, Skinny Dennis, and The Basement East, each venue offering a different slice of the local music culture.

When it came to food and drinks, we couldn’t get enough of Pearl Diver, Tiger Bar, Butcher & Bee, Rice Vice, Hawkers, Monell’s, Martin’s BBQ Joint, and the unique atmosphere at Urban Cowboy.

Venturing over to the Broadway Strip felt like stepping into a mini Las Vegas. The neon glow, crowded bars, and thumping bass lines were magnetic – at least for a couple of nights. It was a parade of wide-eyed, tipsy tourists, bachelor and bachelorette parties in matching Joutfits (jean outfits), and die-hard country music aficionados soaking up the scene.

Two of our favorite stops in the Broadway area were Bourbon Street Blues Bar and Robert’s Western World, both of which managed to feel a little more authentic and a little less chaotic than some of their neighbors. The vibe was perfect for a night or two of letting loose, but overall, this isn’t really our preferred way to have fun – frankly, the drunker you are, the better it all seems.

In the end, some of the highlights of Nashville were the unspoken and under appreciated parts: the simple pleasure of a quiet trail, or discovering how surprisingly good the food could be in unexpected corners of the city. We often found ourselves at the Trails at Fontanel, Peeler Park, and Shelby Park for long, serene walks among the trees and grass – far from the hustle and bustle of Broadway.

Overall, we really did enjoy Nashville. If there were any drawbacks, it was that the weather could go from pleasant to treacherous at the drop of a dime. The touristy draw of Broadway got old pretty quickly, and although there are truly talented artists performing every night, let’s just say I’ve successfully wrapped up my country music phase. The aforementioned blend of vibrant energy with calm serenity can seem a bit discombobulated at times. We stayed from April through June – ultimately a bit too long in hindsight. We wanted to take it easy and not move around too much, but that came at the cost of feeling more than ready to leave by the time our stay ended.

Asheville: A Charming Interlude

Finally, on June 22nd, it was time to pack up and move on. We booked a week in Asheville, North Carolina, as a stopover on our way back to Atlanta to park the car at Paloma’s folk’s before heading off on European travels. The week we spent in Asheville was magical. This is a city I could see myself settling down in someday.

Asheville punches far above its weight class in so many ways. The downtown area is filled with beautiful Art Deco buildings, is extremely walkable, and was thoughtfully laid out by city planners in the 1920s – a vision you can still feel while wandering around. Our Airbnb was about a 15-minute walk to the heart of downtown, and we made that trek every single day of our stay.

Downtown Asheville doesn’t have a single chain restaurant, and the farm-to-table ethos is so universally embraced it doesn’t even get mentioned – it’s simply the norm. The city is brimming with craft beer, craft cocktails, incredible cuisine spanning every imaginable genre, and plenty of events to keep things buzzing.

Some of our favorite things about Asheville were the gorgeous Montford neighborhood we’d walk through on our way downtown, amazing craft cocktails from The Times Bar and Little Jumbo, and live traditional bluegrass music at Jack of the Wood Pub. We also loved catching shows or comedy at Crow & Quill and the Asheville Music Hall. The Blue Ridge Mountains provided a stunning backdrop to it all, and the French Broad River made for beautiful walks.

A couple of things we loved that were outside of the city limits were the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co (CA based brewery with an Asheville location that opened in 2015), which offered a great tour of the facilities and a phenomenal restaurant, and a foraging tour with No Taste Like Home in the forest surrounding Cloud 9 Farm about 20 minutes outside of Asheville that included harvesting mushrooms and other edible native flora. 

After Hurricane Helene, the resilient spirit of Asheville was immediately apparent. The community was full of pride and determination, eager to bounce back and welcome visitors again. It’s clear how much the people here care about their city and how well-deserved the steady flow of tourism is for such a charming place.

We really loved Asheville, and that week went by so quickly.

We will be traveling around various parts of Europe this month and I am excited to announce that Chicago will be our next stop on this road trip adventure.

Until next time.

– RoamingRushka