A Yankee, a Feminist, and Athena Walked Into a Honky Tonk...

Friday, January 18 - Monday, January 21, 2019
Nashville, TN

Once again, the Hawthornes have spun the roulette to decide where we'd go on vacation over president's day. When one travels by standby though, you're never REALLY sure where you're gonna end up. And sometimes this means a first class flight over to London, and sometimes this means the last row seat on a plane to Milwaukee. (Nothing against Milwaukee, it's just not London...) Now, Nashville is great, and it's been on our list. 

The thing is though... We all packed for Mexico. Or the Dominican Republique. Or Belize. And while it's sunny and warm in those places, Nashville was decidedly not. 

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This adventure all started in Minneapolis. MSP International Airport, which according to the Airports Council International, was ranked the Best Aiport in North America among air terminals that serve 25 million to 40 million passengers annually in both 2016 and 2017! Wow, right?!

We arrived at the airport at the sprightly hour of 4:30 am! And the lines were loooooooong. Thank God for Pre-Check. I was half-wishing for Clear. Long lines both work for and against us when we fly standby. Against us, because like everyone else, we have to make it through security. But they work for us if someone gets stuck in line and misses their flight... Because we might get their seat. Which is exactly how we squeezed onto a flight to Atlanta. (Not without feeling pretty bad though, for the family that missed their flight!) 

From Atlanta, we were hoping to get to one of the aforementioned tropical locals, but alas. It was not to be. But the flight to Music City was wide open, so despite our lack of proper winter clothing, we hopped on the plane and headed ummm... whatever direction Nashville is from Atlanta. West? Shoot I really need a map. Okay, whatever moving on. The flight was only 40 min I know that!

Nashville from our hotel window

And now to the good stuff! Nashville itself! Fight me on this in the comments if you want, but I would say that the actual sites in Nashville aren't FANTASTIC. But the food, people and music in Nashville? Amazing. Even airport restaurants had live music. 

Right away, we were introduced to Southern hospitality. We went to pick up our rental car, and the rental car dude (I assume he has a real job title but I have no idea what it is) greeted us warmly, and introduced himself, and handed us each a water with a "Here you are, miss" and "Here you are, sir". He then proceeds to upgrade our vehicle for free, so that we would "remember me next time you're in Nashville!" He then told my dad he had something he needed to show him. He went around and opened every door of the car, and my dad peaked his head in trying to figure out what the matter is. Then our guy says, "No problem sir! I'm just showing you how in the South, we open doors for the ladies". Welcome to the South! 

So we took off, to one of our soon-to-be-favorite spots in town, and the biggest tourist trap of them all. Broadway Street! (Not to be confused with Broadway NYC of course). At night, the street is one of the most beautiful man-made sights you'll ever experience. Music streaming out of every honky tonk*, multi-colored lights surrounding you, and the faint smell of BBQ and alcohol. At 20, I was about two weeks too young to fully appreciate this street, but I loved walking down it anyway!

Broadway Street (also my fav pic from the whole trip)

*hon•ky-tonk (n) a cheap or disreputable bar, club, or dance hall, typically where country music is played (took me a hot sec to figure this one out... It was not a word that was part of my vocabulary before this trip!) 

Check out Vlog #87 to experience Broadway right along with us! (And hear a funny story about me trying to scooter)

For our first meal, we took a very unusual Uber ride over to Hattie B's Chicken. (We decided to Uber since dad had found a rare Nashville street spot by our hotel. But man, our driver was a weirdo... Drove like a mad man and kept asking us the same questions over and over.) Once there, I quickly discovered that even mild chicken was too spicy for me, and Dad found out that he could, in fact, handle "Shut the Cluck Up" sauce if he had a full beer and a slice of bread on hand to numb the pain.

Dad taking a bite of chicken

My favorite meal though was probably at Monell's. Monell's is rated one of Nashville's best soul food spots, and being big fans of authentic soul food, we had to go. What we weren't expecting, was a full on Sunday family dinner, around an actual dining room table, with 9 complete strangers! The food just kept coming out! Catfish, macaroni salad, coleslaw, fried chicken, chicken casserole, barbecued pork, buns, cornbread, corn pudding, green beans, pie... It was PURE HEAVEN. And it ended up being a super cool chance to meet some new folks. Four of the girls were my age and went to one of the local universities. The couple sitting next to me was a few years older, and about to go to grad school and med school respectively. You should have seen the way they looked and talked about each other! They are such goals for who I want to be 5 years after I graduate! The last couple was about my parents' age, and the two dads bonded hardcore over football. God bless America. It was the perfect meal. (Even if it did end up costing $25 a piece!)

Cristiana, Lisa, and Grady in front of Monell's

Lunch

The interesting thing about our timing in Nashville is that we were actually there the day of the Women's March. And who happened to be performing at the Women's March? Only one of our favorite groups of all time, Delta Rae! So on our second day, we hit Target to buy some rain slickers (and a sweater or two each... We'd packed for Mexico after all) and headed to the march. It was so inspiring to see all the people that turned out, and the empowering energy of the strong women and men around us! We stayed for almost 3 hours, listening to speakers, and bands perform. At about 3, Delta Rae came on, and I have their whole song in my vlog because omg it is fantastic. We were front row! It. Was. Incredible.

Watch Vlog #88 to see Delta Rae! 

Sign at the Nashville Women's March 2019

Now I mentioned that the Nashville sites weren't fantastic. But I should do them justice. There were a few cool ones. First, did you know they call Nashville the Athens of the South? It has honest to goodness, been on my bucket list to see Nashville's full-scale replica of the Parthenon in Athens. Dad, one of the staunchest supporters of my random interests, bought the two of us tickets so that I could go inside and see the 1980s reimagining of the Athena Parthenos. The original is long lost, but the reconstruction is to contemporary scholarly standards. The Nashville Parthenon was built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition and now functions as an art museum. And in case you were wondering, yes, parts of the horrible 2010 movie, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, was filmed on location here. (This movie was THE WORST but frankly, this isn't a movie review blog so whatever. Go ahead and watch it at your own risk.)

Cristiana in front of the Nashville Parthenon

The replica of the Athena Parthenos

Being a huge Taylor Swift fan, we also stopped by the Bluebird Cafe! Tickets were sold out, and after being at the Women's March all day, we didn't particularly feel like waiting in line to see if we could maybe get in... But I got a picture in front of the little strip mall cafe where Taylor Swift, among others, was discovered. 

The Bluebird Cafe

Grady is a current AP US History student, so one of the other sites we saw, was none other than our 11th president, James K. Polk's grave. It was extremely anti-climactic, but Grady got a picture in front of it to show her teacher.

James K. Polk's Grave

So there are definitely things to do. And we were hoping to make it to Belle Meade Plantation for a tour. BUT GUESS WHAT?! It snowed. About half an inch. So the Belle Meade closed down for the day. What rotten luck, amirite? We'll have to save Belle Meade for our next visit. We Minnesotans did have quite a laugh though. So it was still good for something!

Vlog #89 has a great rant about the snow. I get a little sassy

Now all this is great. Nashville has a lot to offer. But you know what the absolute BEST part of the trip was? Riding the pick-up electric scooters around town. Both Lime and Bird are companies that allow you to unlock one of their electric scooters with an app, and you ride them where you want, within city limits, and then leave them on any busy street corner for the next person! I truly believe this might be the closest I've come to experiencing socialism and I was loving it. 

Our trip back to Minneapolis was eventful, to say the least.

Vlog #90 is all about our traveling woes

We ended up having to fly from Nashville, back South to Atlanta. From Atlanta to Milwaukee. And from Milwaukee to Minneapolis. Is there a direct, BNA to MSP flight? Yes. Was it way too full? Yes. Sometimes, it be like that. You take what you can get when you travel standby! 

Until next time, 

Cristiana