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Nashville – June of 2017 – Eating, drinking, dancing and of course Crossfit.

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

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Nassau Bahamas 2017- Fun things we did! Including Crossfit

There are literally too many things to do on Nassau for someone going over for a week or ten days.  The trip had to include a drop-in at the local Crossfit box as I plan where we stay some vacations around how close it is to a gym.  Happy Hour Crossfit did not disappoint.  The local people I meet were super friendly and the coach was awesome.  Bit of a tough workout for vacation but who’s complaining.  If you’re a Crossfitter and visiting Nassau you need to get into this box for a workout.  Some of the best experiences I’ve had on vacation were getting to meet new friends at the box from around the world.  If you don’t search out a box on vacation and inject yourself into the community you are missing the boat.  It is a fantastic way to meet local people and find out what the truly fun things to do are and where to eat, etc..

We also did a day excursion over to Blue Lagoon Island and did the Segway tour.  It’s a fairly short boat ride and the island is beautiful.  If you want to go and stay for the day and sit at the beach that is included in the cost but food and drink are not and it is EXPENSIVE.  The Segway tour was alright but frankly was a little boring for me.  We opted to take to first boat back to Nassau and spend time in town.

We did the Snuba tour one day and that was quite fun.  I’m not a huge fan of saltwater in my mouth and hence I don’t really like to snorkel.  I did not drink any saltwater with the Snuba equipment.  You can dive down to a depth of 20 feet and while the reefs aren’t the best in the world there was plenty to see.  A couple we talked to the day before had seen a shark in the reefs on their excursion.  Lucky,  apparently that does not happen often.  The biggest drawback to the trip was that time under water is very short.  For a 4 hour excursion we were underwater about 30 minutes.

Most of the excursions send a bus to pick up at all of the hotels and that is included in the cost.  There is a Jeep tour around the island that we heard was good and a walking tour of local restaurants downtown that some people liked.  If you’re interested in an all day excursion everyone talked about the speed ferry ride to Harbour Island to see the pink sand beaches.

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Downtown Nassau and Fish Fry – July 2017

If you’re staying in Nassau at one of the non all inclusive resorts and are looking to save money going downtown or to the Fish Fry are great options.  We left Baha Mar to go downtown twice and to the Fish Fry three times.  Downtown has some typical tourist shops as this is where the cruises dock.  There are several local restaurants and a Senior Frogs.  Typically we are not Senior Frog type people but this one sits right on the water and my wife wanted a meal were she knew what to expect after a week of trying local favorites.  The shops generally close about 5:00 and the restaurants close from 7:00-10:00 depending on the cruises.  If you are coming from a ways check to make sure there are ships because if not downtown completely shuts down.  We went at 4:00 on a Thursday and everything was closed including Senior Frogs.  There are several cool historical buildings and churches downtown and prices are reasonable.  The Fish Fry is a couple block long stretch of restaurants and food trucks.  A ton of locals eat down here as well so the vibe is pretty fun.  Way to many restaurants to try but we did three.  Oh Andros, Twin Brothers and Big Yard.  Everyone says you have to have a conch salad and it was pretty good.  Twin Brothers has the best Miami Vice I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a few).  Prices are very reasonable and servings are huge.  I would recommend splitting almost any meal unless you are a BIG eater.  Some of the restaurants have live music some nights but it is hit and miss.  A taxi from Baha Mar was $20 each way and a lot of times you could find people to split with.  There is also a great bus system that is $2.00 per person and pretty quick.  If you are staying at a non all inclusive on a budget you can get by pretty cheap either of these two places.  If you rode the bus and split a meal I don’t think you would spend over $50 with drinks.

 

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Nassau Bahamas June 29th-July 9th, 2017

The Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is a gorgeous resort. The largest casino and largest convention center in the Caribbean. We are fully enjoying our stay here although they are only in their soft opening. The full resort will not open until October but it is fabulous. Not an All-inclusive so the rooms are less right now but be prepared for expensive drinks and food if traveling on a budget. We got two daiquiris at the Dac Shack and with tip it was $42.00. The rooms have a mini bar fridge with no storage so getting stuff and bringing it back might be a stretch. We bought a bottle of alcohol and had drinks in the room but we were splurging this trip and paid for a lot of drinks and food. The price during the soft opening on Travelocity or Expedia can’t be beat. This is a world class resort going through opening training and price reflects it. Eventually this will be on par with Atlantis price wise. If you can get here before October it might be one of the most reasonable trips you take of this caliber. I’ll post more blogs about things we did and ways to cut back on costs for food and drink. @bahamarresorts #bahamar #bahamas

Pool #1

At the pool at 12:30

Looking back from pools

Baha Mar beach area