Day 17 Nashville

We got up and started a load of laundry and got it in the dryer before heading out for the day. Heather had picked up bagels for us for breakfast. We decided our first stop would be a plantation before it got too hot. Kira chose the one with a wine tasting included, good choice. It was a horse farm plantation. Nice tour, tasty wines and we learned what a magnolia tree looks like. Ok, we were a little embarrassed that we didn’t know that. We got to see a few flowers and I was surprised at how tall they were. There’s some other bush in the area that I should have taken a photo of to find out what it is because the smell brought back memories of my childhood trips to Williamsburg, funny how an odor can do that. 

Magnolia Flower

Magnolia

Magnolia-I like how the petals turn a vintage brown.

Magnolia

Magnolia Tree

This made me think of the book Ride to Freedom that our 4th graders read this year.

This was over the door on the "dollhouse"

This is called a doll house

Display of musical instruments in the slaves quarters

Then it was lunch time so headed to Bicentennial Park to check out the farmer’s market and the capital. There weren’t many vendors outside but there were lots of great lunch choices inside. Kira chose barbecue and I went with a grilled double brie cheese and peach sandwich. Then we met at The Picnic Table where we could eat and order a flight of local beers. They didn’t have the number up letting us know the hoppiness of the beers so we told the guy working what we liked/didn’t like and ordered our four beers. It would have been nice if he had mentioned we ordered hoppy beers. He was not helpful at all, it’s not often we don’t tip but this was one of those times. As soon as he was done pouring a beer he was right back to sitting down and looking at his phone. Obviously, it's not his place. Anyway, the food was great and then we went for dessert. :) We have been looking for places that sell crepes but haven't had much luck. Today was our lucky day. We each got a Nutella strawberry crepe and went outside to eat it and then went for a short walk.  

Crepes!

We found a water fountain place that kids were enjoying and we could see the capital from there as well. Fun fact: Heather said Tennessee has the only capital building that doesn’t have a dome. 

Cool bike rack by the market

TN capital building

On our way back to the car we picked up a watermelon for $3 and two heirloom tomatoes for $1. Great deals! Later in the night I cut up the watermelon and it was still warm. Watermelon is not good when it's warm!

Our next stop was the Grand Old Oprey. The first parking lot said it was $25! We did a quick u-turn! But then I suggested we pass that lot and see what else there was. Good thing, we were just in the wrong area. We found free parking but then struggled to find the Oprey. We asked a security guard and he told us the wrong way. So, we got a good walk in today. We finally found it and did the tour. It was an interesting place. 

I'm not a TV watcher so this didn't mean anything to me. 

If you write to someone in the Opry this is where your letter will end up.

There were at least 10 different dressing rooms

They each had a different theme. This was my favorite.

This circle is from the original opry and survived the flood a few years ago too.

Then we went to the outlet mall that was right there so Kira could look for some new sandals since hers are falling apart, but she didn’t have any luck. The walk back to our car was much quicker. 

Then we debated what to do next. We finally decided to walk back over to the fancy hotel and check it out since it was on Heather’s list. Wow, what a place it was. It was like San Antonio with a boat ride, plants and restaurants. We just wandered around a bit, admired the orchids and then left. 

Then we decided to try a brewery and hoped driving into town during rush hour would be better than leaving. It was! We went to the Tennessee Brew Works for a tasting and waited there for Heather. We enjoyed the beers and rated them on Untapped like we normally do. Then the barkeeper told us about the other beers and then gave us samples of those as well. My favorite was a porter made with sweet potatoes and one of the new ones was made with sugar beets and it was good as well. Once we finished our beers and Heather arrived we headed to the Pour House Burgers, Brews and Bourbon. It was supposed to have a prohibition feel to it, not so much, but it did have good food. We started with green fried tomatoes and then I had a chicken salad with a southwest flavor. I also had a local beer.

While getting to the Pour House we discovered another brewery right down the street. So once we finished eating we walked there. Even though Heather is not a beer drinker she was happy to hang out with us. The Jackalope had tasty beers as well and Kira picked up a new shirt. 

Since we were going to be up early the next morning that was our last stop.

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Click here to see all of my pictures from the trip.