Every year, my husband and I each get a weekend away with our friends. Last year, I spent my girls’ trip in Pleasanton, CA, hosting a baby shower for my BFF, Jenna. This year, my cousin Mary and I decided to try out Nashville. I had been once before with my husband and oldest daughter when she was two, so that trip focused more on family friendly activities (like touring Andrew Jackson’s plantation, “The Hermitage”, and hitting up the Country Music Hall of Fame.) Nashville is now trailing right behind Vegas as the most popular destination to have a bachelorette party and I can see why! With tons of bars and restaurants on Broadway, and cute boutique shopping on 12th Ave South, and delicious food and drinks everywhere in between, it has mass appeal. Mary and I flew in LATE Thursday night so we just hung out at the hotel so we could get a good night of sleep enjoy a full day ahead of us on Friday.
Friday, Day 1: Shopping on 12th Ave. South and a Pedal Bar: We started out hitting up the shops along 12 Ave South. Reese Witherspoon’s store, Draper James, is on it, as well as a bunch of cute higher-end boutiques. Our first stop was Draper James. Their styles are nautical meets southern. Think lots of linen, nautical prints, florals, and the cutest touch is that you’re greeted at the door with a glass of fresh sweet iced tea to sip on while you browse. After checking out Draper James, we hit up Imogen+Willie, and White’s Mercantile (it’s owned by Hank Williams Jr’s daughter, Holly.) We then stumbled into Burger Up to grab a bloody Mary at the bar. While there we tried some of their fried pickles. The bartender Troy tried to entice us to try a burger on the menu he created called The Troyathlon but after our pickles and booze we were set and didn’t have room for burgers. We then took an uber to Kristin Cavillari’s shop, Uncommon James to check out her jewelry. I’m a sucker for dainty jewelry! Then we walked a short distance to Kittenish to check out Jessie James Decker’s store. (She’s a girl-crush for both my cousin and I!) On our walk back we stumbled upon The Peg Leg Porker. While we weren’t intending to stop in, the place was hopping and the food smelled good so we figured we’d give it a shot. We split a plate and Mar had the pork while I enjoyed the sides of smoked green beans and mac & cheese. After all the food and shopping we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our pedal bar.
The Pedal Tavern: This was the highlight of the trip. Our driver reminded me of T.J. Miller (I love him in HBO’s Silicon Valley.) For the pedal bar, you check in 30 minutes early to get a wrist band and you bring your own booze. Mar and I are high class mother fuckers so we settled for some Modelo’s. The pedal bar fits about 14 people on it plus the bartender/driver. While the bar is motorized, it’s not powerful enough to carry everyone, so you do have to actually pedal some of the time while you’re drinking. (Girls, don’t be dumb asses and wear a short skirt or anything. Unless you enjoy having your hoo-haw on display or want to look ridiculous.) The tour lasts an hour and a half and you can choose to go down Broadway or Midtown. It is $44.95 a person (plus tip) and you can do either a private tour with a large group if you have one (like a large bachelorette party), or do a public one where you get added to a group of strangers. Being that it was just Mary and I, we did the public one but our group was a blast! As you pedal your way through town, your bartender will give you some facts about the sights and let you stop at one bar and one historical place for a photo op. If you hit traffic and run out of time, they’ll combine both and have you stop at a historic bar. Your wrist band allows you to get certain drinks for dirt cheap. Broadway was nuts due to the fact that it was the Kentucky Derby AND Cinco de Mayo in the same weekend so we only got one stop on our tour which was at Doc Holidays.
Mary and I did hit up Rippy’s Bar once our tour was over but we were so tired from day-drinking and walking around town that we didn’t bar hop. Plus, Broadway was insane! There were lines to get in everywhere and people clamoring to get a drink at the bar and we are both too old for that shit, so we called it a night early.
Saturday, Day 2:
Broadway Bar Hopping and Shopping: Mary and I decided to spend day two shopping up and down Broadway. We checked out Jason Aldean’s Kitchen and Rooftop Bar since it had been one of the ones we didn’t want to wait in line to get into the night before. While I can’t vouch for the food since we didn’t eat, I can say that they had delicious drinks and nice bartenders! It also happens to share walls with Luke Bryan’s Bar, Luke’s 32 Bridge Food + Drink. His bar has 6 levels, 8 bars, and 4 stages all playing different types of live music! They have southern food, burgers and pizza, and serve sushi on their rooftop. Other bars I’d recommend checking out are: Rippy’s Bar and Grill, AJ’s Good Time Bar (owned by Alan Jackson,) and Tootsies. We souvenir shopped and attempted to find cute cowboy boots, then headed back to our hotel.
Massages: After shopping I wanted to treat Mary and I to massages as an early birthday gift to her. So after some searching on Google for the best spas, I found Spa Haus. It’s in a random location in the middle of a quaint little neighborhood. But the salon was great! They greet you with a drink, then you get your massage (or facial or what have you) and then when it’s over you get a glass of champagne and some cream puffs to enjoy while sitting in fluffy bath robes.
We had every intention of going out and getting dressed up for our last night, but after we got back to our hotel around 5, we decided to just relax and shoot the breeze. We ordered Italian food from Door Dash and watched reruns of The Office before going to bed. It was so fun just to catch up and have a little down time!
My recommendations on other things to check out if you have the time:
Arrington Vineyards: You’d want to have a rental car for this or just be prepared that it’s a 40 minute drive if you’re taking an Uber from downtown Nashville. It’s a beautiful winery and most people pack their own picnic lunch and take it with them to enjoy it while sipping on local wines.
Take in a concert at The Grand Ole Opry. If there isn’t anyone playing that you want to see while you’re in town, you can still tour it!
Country Music Hall of Fame. You just have to check it out if you like country music. Vince and I got through it all in less than two hours when we took our daughter there.
Corsair Distillery: Yes you can tour the Jack Daniel’s one. But fuck that, go against the grain man! I love Corsair even more. It was started by two guys from Nashville and specializes in small batch whiskey but they also make rum, moonshine, gin, etc. There are two locations in Nashville and if you don’t want to take a standard tour, you can partake a craft cocktail class! My husband recommends the Triple Smoke Whiskey served straight up in a high ball glass with a giant sphere ice cube.
Check out the Gaylord Opryland. Even if you don’t stay here, this resort is worth checking out. When I went with my husband and daughter, we spent the entire day milling around a few of the MANY atriums, we had lunch, and we souvenir shopped. The resort is massive and also has an onsite water park.
Whether you’re young and spry and can hang like the cool kids and bar hop up and down Broadway, or you want time to just unwind, hit up the spa, and take in the sights, Nashville is such a fun town to explore!! I’ll go back again and again!
