Nashville, TN, Mammoth Cave National Park

Sun, May 14

Weather 80deg and humid with chance of thunderstorms

The Drive

Left around 9:30a and drove straight thru (~8 hrs and 500 miles) with a quick lunch stop outside of Louisville, KY. Easy drive, no weather or traffic issues.

Dinner on Broadway

Took a short walk to dinner at Row Kitchen and Pub. We shared a Cobb Salad and a plate of Nashville's Famous "Hot" Chicken. We both thought the chicken was so-so just fried chicken tenders with some hot sauce. Will have to try a better place. Hattie B's and Red's 615 Hot Chicken (read on!) are famous for the Nashville dish.

Airbnb

We stayed in the Music Row section of Nashville in walking distance to Broadway, the Gulch and other great areas of Nashville. A one bedroom and a little small but, clean, modern and in a great area (The Vinyl - 1016 16th Ave S .. a good find). Staying here for four nights.

Mon, May 15

Weather mid 80s, humid with chance of thunderstorms

Germantown Food Tour and Bicentennial Captial Mall State Park

We met our food tour guide in Bicentennial Capital Mall State Park in the heart of Nashville. We walked through the park on our way to our first food stop. The park had lots of interesting features including a 200' granite map of the state, fountains, time capsules for each county in the state (to be opened 2096), a WWII display, a PathWay of history and a 2000 seat amphitheater.

Our first food stop was inside a large food court to sample hot dogs from The Picnic Tap (good but were from Chicago.. tough to impress us with a hot dog). Next was the Cupcake Collection for a Sweet Potato Cupcake. Kathryn said it was the best cupcake she ever had! Next was another sweet tooth destination Christie's Cookies for a tasty cookie of your choice. Next stop was Waldo's Chicken and Beer for Chicken and sides (lots of food). Our final stop was Far Better Distillery where the manager explained the distillery process for the various kinds of liquor from moon shine to refined and flavored bourbon. We sampled five different kinds (thankfully in super tiny amounts - it wasn't noon yet) so that was an interesting stop.

Bicentennial Captial Mall State Park

Germantown Food Tour

Ryman Auditorium and Broadway Street

After the food tour we had a short walk from BiCentennial Park to the Ryman Auditorium and did the tour. Originally built 130 years ago as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, it was renovated to become the Ryman Auditorium (kept the original pews), and housed the Grand Ole Opry in the 50s and 60s. Still one of the most celebrated music venues in the world.

After the Ryman we walked down Broadway street, home to tons of Honky Tonk Bars. To be a Honky Tonk Bar there are three rules: You can't charge a cover; You have to have live music from open to close and ; You have to serve alcohol. Traditionally, they are associated with Country Music but have evolved into all kinds of different venues. We stopped for a couple of beers at the Lucky Bastard Saloon for some really good rock and roll from the band Tyson Hayes and then did more exploring of downtown Nashville. We toured the Johnny Cash Museum (more interesting than I expected) and then a final stop for more music and beer at the infamous Tootsies Honky Tonk Bar.

Finally, we had a late dinner of Mediterranean at the Food Mall. A pretty filled day getting acquainted with Nashville.

Tue, May 16

Weather 80, low humidity - perfect

Cedars of Lebanon State Park

We drove about 40 minutes South of Nashville to Cedars of Lebanon State Park A very pretty and quiet park. We did several short easy hikes (The Cedar Forest Trail; The Cedar Glade Trail; The Limestone Sink Trail; and the Cave Creek Trail) covering most of the park. We saw lot's of cedars, limestone caves and formations and cedar glades along the way. No one else on the trails, nice and peaceful. .

Five Points - East Nashville

In the evening we Ubered to another area of Nashville - Five Points, East Nashville. We had expected another music scene but, we didn't find any honky tonks in this neighborhood. However we did find BBQ! Stopped in at Elder's BBQ and had some really good local beers (Elder's IPA and Hometown IPA) and had appetizers of Hot Links, Palmetto cheese and crackers. The spice was Hot! With not much else to see we Ubered back to our bnb for an early night. Another nice day in and around Nashville.

Wed, May 17

Weather 80, low humidity, partly cloudy - Perfect

Parthenon, Centennial Park and Nashville Hot Chicken

Today we visited Centennial Park in the Midtown / Vanderbilt neighborhood and did a short Walking Tour learning about the history of the Parthenon and the 1897 World's exhibition. The Parthenon is an impressive structure and looks rather out of place in Nashville. Inside the Parthenon is the equally impressive Statue of Athena Parthenos.

Walking the park we stumbled on Red's 615 Hot Chicken a local restaurant with award winning Nashville Hot Chicken. This was it! We took our lunch back to the park and enjoyed our Nashville Hot and Sides, tasty!

Rudy's Jazz Club and Dana Robbins

Our best and last night in Nashville we walked through the Gulch neighborhood and stopped for a beer at the Peg Leg Porker before going to Rudy's to see Dana Robbins. Rudy's Jazz Club is the only jazz club in Nashville and a great, intimate music venue. Dana Robbins is well known in Nashville and Rudy's. She is a jazz saxophonist "known for her unique, bright, yet smoky saxophone sound." This is a picture of her and the band we saw on her facebook page Dana Robbins at Rudy's. The venue was great and the music even better. We both really enjoyed the music.

After the show we headed back to the Peg Leg Porker for BBQ sandwiches and a beer before heading back to our bnb.

Thur, May 18

Weathersame. Perfect.

Mammoth Cave National Park

After our brief stay in Nashville we drove to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky (about 85 miles). Mammoth Cave is the world's longest known cave. It is a limestone labyrinth with more than 400 miles of it explored, and the park estimates a potential for another 600 miles in its system. In addition, over 200 caves in the park exist as disconnected fragments of the larger Mammoth Cave system. Impressive! Before our cave tour we did a short hike in the park and then had a picnic lunch outside the visitor center.

Mammoth Cave National Park - Hike

Mammoth Cave - Historic Tour

After lunch we did the ranger led Historic Tour We walked through huge rooms you could drive a train through but also had a few tight squeezes ("fat man's misery" being one) on our journey through the cave. I had been wanting to visit the park for a few years and I was not disappointed.

That evening we had MORE BBQ at Bucky Bee's in Cave City, KY and stayed at another airbnb.

Fri, May 19

Weather Same!

Mammoth Cave - Cleveland Avenue Tour

Our final day we went back to Mammoth Cave and did the Cleveland Avenue Tour. This wasn't a tour I had picked out originally but they only had a handful of tours available. Turned out to be pretty spectacular. Another day wandering deep underground through another section of the cave.

After the tour we had another picnic lunch (we do that alot at the parks) outside the visitor center and headed for home. 422 miles later....Home Sweet Home.

Summary

Nashville: Both Kathryn really liked Nashville. Lots of things to do, lots of history, lots of music. Broadway street was a lot of fun and i am glad we were there during the day on a week day. Jake tells us it gets very crowded in the evening. The city has a lot of diversity and looks to be growing fast. A great place to visit.

Bicentennial Park: Really cool park.

Food Tour: OK. Not great. Although the tour through Bicentennial park was nice.

Parthenon: Impressive. Feels, obviously, out of place.

Nashville Hot Chicken: Red's 615 Kitchen was really good hot chicken and the pimento mac and cheese was too.

Mammoth Cave National Park: Awesome! Highly recommended if you have not been there.

Cedars of Lebanon State Park: Very nice, quite, lightly trafficked hikes.

All in all a good trip!