Dave and Mere do Nashville

The counter covered in fancy toiletries, an enormous box of chocolates, a sneaky pair of ceramic mice, and luggage stacked in the living room. This can mean only one thing. Dave and Mere have made it to Nashville.  One of them brought their belt buckle and boots while the other learning from his past mistakes left his cardigan at home and showed up in his plaid shirt.  Below are the highlights from the trip.

 

Food

• Peg Leg Porker BBQ - Dave of course met the owner after realizing he recognized him from various cooking shows.
• Bolton's Tennessee Hot Chicken - The hottest our group went was medium.  It was good but it just about killed me.

Music

• Station Inn - Caught some bluegrass while visiting which was on the top of the list of priorities for our guests.  American Drive was definitely a solid band and I'm sure they'll remember the simple but loud request from our group to "slappa da bass".
• Tootsies Orchid Lounge - Famous Broadway bar where Jolene made her point that the fiddle is more important than the banjo.  
• Honky Tonk Central - I never get to go here anymore because I always show up late.  Apparently this doesn't stop the rest of the group from heading down there for some live music without me.  
• Rippy's - We could only prevent the ordering of apple moonshine shots for so long.  We also spent our time dodging eye contact with the scariest band groupie we've ever seen.

Broaden Your Horizon

• Johnny Cash Museum - This is a relatively new addition to Nashville but they've done a great job with letting you feel you understand "The Man in Black" by the time you leave.

"Sometimes I am two people.  Johnny is the nice one.  Cash causes all the trouble.  They fight." - Johnny Cash

• Radnor Lake / Garnier Ridge Hike - I'm sure at least part of the group is still cursing me for putting this on the agenda.  The fresh air was a good idea for everybody and this is an easy location to get to so close to the city.

Brewery Visits

• Untapped App (all we need is an app that congratulates you as you test and rate beers you are having for the first time).  We should probably make sure Dave deletes this off his phone sometime soon. 
• Jackalope Brewing - We snuck in for some samples and got to watch others attempt to win a set of Brewery Highland Games.  One guy in particular was covered in dirt even though no challenge required rolling around on the ground.
• Fat Bottom Brewing - We got a tour from the owner Ben and were blown away by his passion for the business.  I can honestly say our group of four dominated the tour with the most questions I have ever heard asked to a brew master.

A great time ... as usual.  Book a repeat trip for next year... Cheers.