Wow. What a cool town Nashville is. I obviously like this kind of vibe which is probably why I like Austin so much too. We decided to stay downtown at the Renaissance. Rooms are nice and the hotel is very nice. They have a decent bar on the second floor and the fitness room is quite good. The pool area is typical of downtown hotels with the pool on the second level inside and an outdoor sunbathing area. With all of the construction going on around the Renaissance it was surprisingly quite and relaxing on the sundeck. The downtown area is fun to walk with lots of historical buildings and churches. Go inside the Union Station Hotel as it is beautiful inside. Along the river you can see the exact spot the town was founded and a replica of the old fort.
The most important part of the stay was obviously a drop-in at the local Crossfit box. The closest gym to downtown is Crossfit Music City. I find gyms in high demand locations can afford it for a reason. Music City didn’t disappoint. Rebecca, one of the owners, was very welcoming as were all of the locals. I’m a CF-1 and sometimes other coaches don’t like to critique you if they know. Rebecca had no problem telling me my overhead squat was starting to look like crap toward the end of the WOD and I love that. Definitely drop-in if you get a chance.
Broadway Street downtown in bar row. There is plenty to do nightly and a bunch of the bars have rooftop patios and live music. We liked Tootsies and a bar that just opened called Mellow Mushroom. MM was still working out some kinks but they had a great rooftop bar with live music and I think it’s going to be a great place to hang out. Also visit The Wildhorse Saloon and BB Kings (for Jazz fans). We were lucky enough to have the Wildhorse closed down for us for a private event but it actually got much more fun when they opened the doors up at 10 to the public. This is a big venue and it looks like they almost always have a high quality band. Try out Jack’s Bar-B-Que on Broadway. Most of the locals told me this was the best in town and it was very good. Everyone also kept talking about having a meat and 3 and I finally asked what it was. We were directed to Arnold’s where we picked out a meat and three sides for lunch. Arnold’s was fantastic and very reasonable.
One day we took a taxi to 12th Ave South shopping and strolled through all of the quaint little boutique shops and had a couple microbrews. This area has charm and was fun to walk around. I’ll be honest. If you are budget minded you may not find anything you want to buy down here but it was still great to stroll. We ended the day taking a taxi from 12th Ave Sth to an area called the Gulch. The Gulch had some cool shopping and we had dinner at a place called The Whisky Kitchen. So good. If you get a chance try the Tennessee Whiskey Yam Fries for sure. We also enjoyed the WK edamame and a drink called the Basil-Berry Lemonade.
Arnold’s Meat & 3
Wildhorse
Kresta liked our servers glasses at BB King’s
Mellow Mushroom