Five fun honkey-tonk filled days in Nashville. I seriously think all us Maddys have a little country in us. I personally felt like I had a constant smile on my face from the second we arrived in Nashville.
January, the American Nystagmus Network announced the bi-annual conference was going to be in Nashville, TN, we knew not only were we going to attend, but also that we were going to turn it into a mini-family vacation.
The girls were psyched! I pulled out my pre-kids cowboy boots and we were off!
Music:
The Station Inn – I researched and researched and researched the best places to hear live music. Many of the suggested places were 21 and over or tickets sold out within minutes. The Station Inn, in the Gulch area, was a 10-minute walk from where we were staying. There was a show the Tuesday night that we arrived that I wanted to go to; tickets were only sold at the door and started selling at 7:00, an hour before doors opened for the 9:00 show. Part of me wanted to line up at 6:00 to make sure we got into the show, but everyone was hungry so we opted to go get dinner first. We were going to chance it when dinner was over. Thankfully, we ate fairly quickly and arrived at The Station Inn before it was sold out. Seats were limited, but there was a section of folding chairs to the left of the stage that were open, right next to a picture of Dierks Bentley of all people! The Inn was pretty much The Vienna Inn with live music and only subpar pizza. Thankfully, we have read the reviews about the frozen pizza and opted to dine before the show. We enjoyed live music from The French Family Band; leaving at intermission though as the girls were exhausted.
The Listening Room – The Listening Room was such a different experience than The Station Inn. It was three artists whom I had never heard of; as it turns out, we had actually heard some of their songs as they were songwriters, who wrote for many famous artists including Luke Bryan and Keith Urban. Josh Kerr, Marynn Taylor, and Erin Kinsey put on a fantastic show, and it was heartwarming to hear the stories behind the songs. There was a $75 food and beverage minimum so we indulged in drinks and pretzels with beer cheese.
Restaurants:
Adeles – We were lucky to get a table being that we didn’t have a reservation. No kids menu, but we were able to order enough to share that the kids enjoyed. A delicious and expensive dinner. We ate here before heading to The Station Inn.
Luke Bryans – It was a fun experience to be able to check out our Lukey boy’s restaurant. All the current country music artists have their own restaurant right in the same area downtown on Broadway. The food and beer is okay; the first floor music is the draw. We ate here the before heading over to The Listening Room.
Moto Cucina – Also in the Gulch area. Nice ambience and good food; though service was very slow so by the time we got our food it was close to 9:00. Our waiter brought us some meatballs on the house, which was appreciated, but again by the time we got our dinner, we had lost some of our desire to eat a nice meal.
Tailgate Brewery – We stopped in due to nothing more than proximity. At just after 11:00, it was an early lunch for us. It was just us and one other table. Beer selection was fantastic; I enjoyed a flight of IPA’s. Lucky for us, Wednesday was half price pizza day, and the pizza was surprisingly pretty darn good.
Assembly Hall – Generally I am not much of a Food Market type person; everything looks amazing at food markets, but I can never decide what I want. SO many options at this one, and we made the decision that this was going to be lunch so we all found something to eat….tacos for Emerson, Avery, and me, and Tennessee fried chicken for Harper and Daddy. We even tried some cute donuts for fun.
Activities:
Gulch Photo Shoot – The reviews of the Iconic Gulch Photoshop were great; I knew I wanted Instagram worthy pictures of the Nashville hotspots with all of us. I rationalized the photo shoot by deciding those pictures would take the place of our bi-annual Fall photo session. I’m glad we did it; the pictures were good, not great. And the session gave me reason to wear my cowboy boots, the ones that were so old the insides started disintegrating on my legs.
Broadway – We explored downtown Nashville and Broadway Street. We were there a few times earlier in the day and the area was packed. I can’t even imagine the rowdiness and the crowds on a weekend night! I wore my boots and a Nashville worthy outfit and felt right at home. Avery and I had a fun time taking mirror selfies. We stopped in a few of the restaurants/bars each day we were downtown and enjoyed the vibes and the music.
Country Music Hall of Fame – We purchased tickets to the Country Music Hall of Fame and explored for a few hours one afternoon; it was a great escape from the 90-degree plus heat of the day. As with any museum, it’s hard to read and look at each exhibit; everyone enjoyed something.
Stays:
920 South Street – Our first three nights we stayed in a 2 bedroom/2bath Airbnb, which was a 10-minute walk to the popular Gulch area. It was spacious and a good spot for our family of five.
Gaylord Opryland Inn – We stayed here for 2 nights the last part of our trip as this was where the conference was held. It was five of us in one room with two full beds! We made it work. We arranged for a cot; the springs were so uncomfortable, so Avery moved the mattress to the floor. Emerson and Harper shared a bed and Justin and me; Justin got to snuggle a little closer to me than normal, which I am sure he loved!
ANN Conference:
This was by far my favorite Conference for a few reasons. Our primary reason for going these days is the networking of other kids and people who have nystagmus. Avery made a few friends at the last conferences, and she was really looking forward to seeing them and I was really looking forward to furthering those relationships and others.
Apparently, the girls think I am an extrovert. This came up at our dinner out at Moto and I thought they were nuts….well fast forward to the ANN Conference and I was able to see exactly why they thought that. Justin joked I was running for mayor!
Nashville was fantastic and we will definitely will be back!