Vacation: NashVegas

It only took me two trips to Nashville, TN to figure out why they call it NashVegas. Since no where else shines so bright, breeds so many music stars, or provides the heartbeat of the country music industry in the south…. I guess it has to be at least one part Vegas. One of my closest friends Melissa, the kind of friend that you could spend an entire day locked in up a room with and still end up laughing hysterically, lives in Nashville. She moved back there after she met me in NYC, but swears the two incidents are unrelated. Anyhow, it’s given me a great reason to check out Nashville and treat myself like a Southern Belle a couple of times a year.

This last trip, the weekend before Halloween, was my second time to Nashville and third time in TN. Growing up in CA and living in NYC I’ve never considered the south to be an enticing travel destination - until I meet some fine folks from the region. About five years ago my boyfriend and I drove across the US and spent a few weeks exploring the cities and small towns of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and my personal favorite, Louisiana.

Onto my recent trip…Melissa picked me up at the airport Friday afternoon at the easiest domestic airport I’ve ever flown into and out of. We filled the car with stories about our week, her school kids and my recent change in employment until we fell into our normal laughing patterns. After some ‘Mexican food’ (outside of California and Mexico all Mexican food is an imitation of the real thing) we went to the wine shop and grocery store to do what girlfriends do best…. drink wine and make desert. She recently bought a place on a green rolling hill with a back deck and spare bedroom, which she added all the perfect Melissa-esk touches too. It’s beautiful and fits her perfectly.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday Melissa amazed me by driving me around in her car. The freedom of traffic-less street and a roomy, clean car is a new sensation for me – each and every time I leave NYC. Anyhow, we drove out to the country to try the Loveless Café’s famous biscuits, hiked around Radnor Lake, went shopping (multiple times), made our mandatory trip to Cracker Barrel, and visited the country music hall of fame. For Halloween we outfitted ourselves in our favorite bridesmaids dresses, smeared make-up down our faces, filled up our purses with nylons and took on downtown Nashville as two bridesmaids doing the walk of shame. The Halloween parties downtown were a blast and the country music bars (which line each and ever street downtown) were in full spirit. We found some good souls to party with like the Buddhist Monk, the Race Car Driver and all of the Kiss band members.

T’was a Halloween blast.