1st
a honkatonk weekend in nashville
I have to crank this one out before the cobwebs set in… so it may be a bit brief:
I had the opportunity to take a weekend getaway to Nashville early this November with a friend so I jumped on it. We drove down after work on Friday and made it there in about 4.5 hours. Upon checking into our hotel we were surprisingly graced with an extra hour of night! We didn’t realize that Nashville was on CT instead of ET.
A four block walk down the hill to the music strip lead us to the rooftop of the first bar we saw. The night was gorgeous and the honkatonk was roaring:
I’m definitely becoming more of a fan of live music, especially the low-key kind to be had in Nashville sitting on a rooftop drinking a Johnnie Black on the rocks. The evening couldn’t have been better. Surprisingly for the first weekend in November, it was quite temperate, jacket optional, weather. Off the side of the building you could see the Nashville strip:
Although not obvious from this image, there were “scrapas” and “whips” all over the place, even some lifted 3 to 4 feet off of the ground. Why someone would want their 80’s Cutlass to be taller than an Escalade I am not sure, but I did see one. Other dalight highlights included this AT&T building downtown built by Earl Swensson Associates:
We happened to be in Nashville for the 2009 Beer, Bourbon, and Barbecue festival which featured all you can drink for $30, which seemed like a pretty good idea. The event was held in the basement of the convention center (probably for quick sanitization after the event?) but filled quickly with droves of eager bourbon goers.
This sign was just one of the many on booths around the venue. My favorites of the afternoon were: Four Roses, Eagle Rare, Buffalo Trace, Booker’s, Basil Hayden’s, Kentucky Spirit, Noah’s Mill, Black Maple Hill, 1792 and last but not least Ancient Ancient Age. The latter most being what Buffalo Trace does with all of their 10 year crop that doesn’t make the Eagle Rare, W. L. Weller, George T. Stagg cut — it’s amazing for the price if you can get over the plastic.
All in all it was an eventful weekend getaway. I would love to return sometime in the future for another experience. This time I will try and book reservations for a cave tour at Mammoth Caves on the way back.
