Vacation Recap: Nashville, Tennessee
All work and no play is literally no fun. Taking a vacation, hopefully more than once a year, can help reset your mind and effectively break you out of your stale daily routine. It allows you to experience brand new things like cuisines, events, games, and scenery all while making life-lasting memories. Recently, my husband and I took a much needed trip to Nashville, Tennessee and got to rest, relax, and explore the Music City.
We planned our trip to span from Saturday to Thursday to enjoy the weekend games in the area while also taking advantage of people still having to work. Before we made it to Nashville, we planned a detour to Knoxville to attend the UGA vs. University of Tennessee game. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision to go and the tickets were more expensive than we would’ve preferred, but we were determined to make it work.
Despite leaving with more than enough time, we got stuck in some INSANE traffic on the way there. We had never in our lives seen that much random traffic. A car even caused a massive slowdown on the interstate after flipping completely over. Thankfully, we were able to resell the tickets while sitting in traffic and recouped almost all of our investment.
Since we had to change plans quickly, we decided to go straight to our hotel and check in. We stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Knoxville-Turkey Creek/Farragut and were immediately impressed by the room we got. It was super large and was basically a suite. We had never booked a room that large and definitely lucked up accidentally because it wasn’t listed explicitly to be huge.
It had a microwave, which is lowkey a hot commodity nowadays since certain hotels don’t include them, a kitchen sink, mini fridge, huge desk in the middle of the room, and a huge tv that swiveled. My only gripes with the room were that the bathroom sink and closet didn’t have a door to separate them from the rest of the bedroom. Other than that, it was a pretty decent room.
After dropping our stuff off, we headed back out to grab lunch from a local restaurant called Lakeside Tavern. I ordered the citrus grilled shrimp with broccoli and rice as my sides and my husband enjoyed the cajun chicken pasta. I was really impressed by the ambiance of the restaurant, and even though we ate there in the early afternoon, I could see the appeal of it as a real nice date night spot. It was ducked off and had lakeside views with indoor and outdoor seating.
We streamed the game while we finished our food and ran to a nearby Walmart to grab some water to last us overnight. The number one travel tip I live and die by is going to a local grocery store and grabbing some essentials to have in your hotel room. It definitely shouldn’t be anything too difficult or extravagant and should be things that you can finish before you leave like yogurt cups, juice, iced coffee, granola bars, and maybe some portable fruit like apples. We started the trend during our trip to Washington, D.C. last year and it hasn’t steered us wrong.
After the Walmart trip, we made our way back to our hotel to finish watching the Georgia game and were SUPER hype that they actually pulled off that ridiculous come back victory against the Volunteers. I just knew when they let Tennessee kick a field goal as the final play of the game that we were going to lose, but when the kicker missed, I got so happy that we got another chance to pull it out in overtime. After winning 44-41, I’m incredibly proud to be a GA Bulldog and I could NEVER see myself seriously rooting for any other college football team.
To come down from the excitement of the game, we went to eat dinner at a restaurant named Aubrey’s. I ordered salmon tacos while my man got a nice steak. Similar to the lunch restaurant, the ambiance was very nice and would be a great option for a date night.
We tried driving towards downtown Knoxville to see Tennessee’s stadium, but the game traffic hadn’t dissipated in the time it took for us to eat dinner. We accidentally got a little stuck for a minute, but thankfully we were able to make it back to the room in decent time.
The next day, we woke up at 5 AM so my husband could get his workout in and so I had enough time to shower, get dressed, and pack up the room before checking out. We got to indulge in the free continental breakfast, which is again a hot commodity for the hotels we frequent, before hitting the road to Nashville.
My husband took the first leg and we stopped for gas and a break at fan favorite Buc-ee’s. While the mega gas station is a little overhyped and always busy, we do find ourselves stopping whenever it makes sense on our route. It’s hard to go in and NOT buy anything, so I got a super cute Buc-ee’s branded Halloween t-shirt, coffee thermos, and a magnet.
After leaving, I took over driving, but our windshield was trashed from the bugs, so we stopped again relatively quickly to clean it off at a QT. I grabbed some of the best travel snacks known to man - Tropical Skittles and some salt & vinegar chips before driving us the rest of the way to Nashville.
The night before, we asked Chat GPT and Google Gemini what time we should leave Knoxville to ensure we made it to Nashville with plenty of time to not miss our first attraction, and the AI bots had us arrive with an absurd amount of extra time. We had so much extra time, we got to check into our hotel early.
We stayed at the Hilton Nashville Green Hills and overall, I liked the hotel a lot. It had a beautiful gym that my husband used everyday and it even had a rooftop pool. Since I’ve been wanting to go swimming for the past two summers, I stuck my big toe into the water just to say I got in a pool in 2025.
Our room, although smaller in size, was a little nicer than the room we had the first night. I absolutely loved the standalone shower and how it had a heavy glass door instead of a shower/tub combo. I also really liked how the bathroom was traditionally separated from the rest of the room. Call me old fashioned, but I just do NOT like when the bathroom sink is standing in the middle of the bedroom.
After unloading our stuff, we officially headed out to attend our very first NFL game ever. We got tickets to see the Titans play the Rams for a 12 PM CST kickoff. Thankfully the game wasn’t sold out, so there weren’t a lot of people sitting around us and we had a great view of the field. The sun was a beast though and quickly gave me a tan.
Since it was our first time attending a pro football game in person, it was interesting to see how it was different from a college game. For starters, the atmosphere of the NFL game was a little more enjoyable for us personally since there weren’t as many drunk people constantly walking around and the fans themselves weren’t as hype. Even when Cam Ward threw that INSANE cross-body touchdown pass, the fans didn’t get turnt up to the max, which was actually quite nice.
College games, especially huge match-ups or rivalries, tend to get hectic really quickly. To be honest, pro games have more of an appeal to us now than college games since there’s such a big difference in price and pro games are, objectively, a much better product. The production team seemed more intentional about keeping the in-game entertainment lively and engaging. We got a nice Titans glass and magnet from the gift shop, but they ultimately lost 33-19.
After the short walk back to the car, we needed to make a Walmart stop to pick up additional supplies for the remainder of our stay. The mission took longer than necessary because we had to go to two different Walmarts to get everything we needed since the first location was super small and insufficiently stocked. No matter where we are, we’re pretty particular about our groceries and we don’t usually substitute just based on what’s available in store. Scan & Go was a huge lifesaver though.
Since it was still relatively early in the day, perks of going to a 12 PM game, we went back to the hotel and chilled before going to eat dinner at a restaurant called Crow’s Nest. It was set up mostly like a sports bar, but they had the windows open to let in some of the cooler evening breeze. I ordered a bacon, lettuce, fried green tomato sandwich and my husband got spaghetti. This was one of my favorite meals of the entire trip because I absolutely LOVE BLT’s and I love fried green tomatoes and they put both of them together in one unique dish.
When we got back to our hotel, that 1 hour time difference from Eastern to Central really caught up to me with a vengeance. I barely made it to see 9 PM before I fell asleep. Granted, we did wake up at 5 AM, so I justified calling it an early night.
The next morning, my husband knocked out some work before getting dressed to go workout. I joined him and walked on the treadmill while he hit the weights. It was cool using a bigger, faster treadmill than the one we have at home, but the speed seemed WAY faster than I was used to.
Once we were done, we ate some breakfast, got dressed, and paid our bills before heading out for the day. We ate lunch at Emmy Squared Pizza, a cute, little quaint spot super close to our hotel. We split a cheese and pickled jalapeno pizza on gluten-free crust, and all I got to say is, it was DELICIOUS.
With full stomachs, we headed to the Nashville Zoo. Surprisingly enough, both my husband and I are zoo people. We love walking around and seeing the different animals and exhibits unique to each city we visit. Nashville had rhinos, meerkats, a leopard, and so many other cool animals. It wasn’t super huge, which was a blessing to my feet, but it was very, very fun.
One of my favorite exhibits was the interactive kangaroo one where you walked through their enclosure while they were loose. Of course, there were a few zoo handlers to protect the animals, but the fact that the kangaroos could actually come up to you and touch you if they wanted to was soooo incredibly cool. Thankfully, most of them were asleep across the exhibit so we didn’t have to worry about any of them making a move. The pictures don’t do it justice for exactly how close we were to these wild animals.
After we left the zoo, we toured the Parthenon, drove around to see Vanderbilt’s campus, which I was not impressed by since it was in a busy downtown area and didn’t seem to have an actual dedicated campus, and walked around the luxury mall that was close to our hotel. It was quite insane seeing crazy expensive storefronts like Gucci, Christian Louboutin, Tiffany & Co., and others in person since we don’t usually frequent Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. I can’t personally bring myself to spend big time money like that, but I know people love to indulge in the finer things in life.
We ate dinner that night at a restaurant called Slice of Italy, and I got fettuccine alfredo while my husband got the baked ziti. It was a nice, lowkey restaurant and the food was pretty good too. After getting back to the hotel, we watched the last of the Texans vs. Buccaneers game before calling it a night.
The next morning, we hit the gym again and went about our morning routine before leaving to go grab lunch. We got hit with a slight monkey wrench when The Butter Milk Ranch had a line waiting outside the door and no available parking. We quickly scrapped that idea and decided to find something to eat closer to downtown.
We ate at the Assembly Food Hall, which gave me major college campus dining hall vibes since there were so many different options to choose from and you got to sit anywhere you liked. My husband and I were able to get something that we both liked before checking out the African American Music Museum. It was a cool nod to our history but I will say if you plan on visiting, get your tickets on Groupon to save some money.
We walked down Broadway Street to check out the scenery and thankfully made it back to the car right before a rain shower started. Since we had some time to burn, we made another Walmart run and grabbed a quick bite to eat from Whole Foods. It was my first time in a Whole Foods, but we’d always heard about their prepared meals being pretty decent. I got sushi while my husband got a hot plate of chicken, rice, and mac & cheese.
We went back to the hotel to let another rain shower pass before we made our way to our very first MLS game. Nashville FC beat Philly 3-1 and I can honestly understand why people like professional soccer games now. The level of competition is higher so the goals are kinda insane. Plus, they were running a $1 hot dog promotion so we got enough to call it dinner. It was a very cool experience and since the stadium wasn’t packed, we got to spread out.
After getting ourselves together the next morning, we tried eating at The Butter Milk Ranch again, but there was a 30 minute wait just to be seated. If it’s nothing about us, we don’t care to wait just for a table, especially on vacation. We’re flexible enough to just find somewhere else that’s not as packed. We settled on The Farmstead before making our way to the Opry Mall where we picked up some souvenirs and ransacked the Nike Outlet.
All that walking and part shopping, part window shopping had us ready for a mid-afternoon meal, so we went to eat at TrapHouse Wingz. No matter what city, day, week, season, weather, month, or year, I’m always going to want some wings. My husband is cool off of them, but I just can’t get enough. If you’re ever wondering what I want to eat, wings is ALWAYS a great suggestion. We split an 8 piece hot lemon pepper wing combo and it was literally sooooo good! I might be a little biased just cause I like wings so much, but I did appreciate the little cheddar biscuits as a unique spin on the dish.
Once we were done, we went to a super fun arcade called Game Terminal to burn off our meal. They had a lot of pinball, racing, and arcade games and surprisingly it wasn’t super expensive. The only thing we had to pay for was food, drinks, and some of the pinball machines required tokens. I thought it was neat that after 8 PM, the arcade was strictly 21 and over to provide adults-only fun.
For dinner, we indulged in a fancy steakhouse called Hand Cut Chophouse. It was a nice traditional dinner date type of restaurant and I ordered the marinated flat iron steak with the citrus grilled asparagus while my husband ordered the creamy chicken pasta. It was good, but as with every high end restaurant, it was nothing that you couldn’t make at home. Definitely a nice experience to have every once in a while though.
Thursday morning, we woke up as normal, packed up, and checked out to head home. We grabbed breakfast at a local coffee shop called The Peach's before hitting the road. Since we were going to lose an hour just from the time change, we didn’t want to dilly dally too much on our way. We were nervous to take the interstate back because of our projected time of arrival in Atlanta, so we took backroads, which were draining in their own special way, but were incredibly better than sitting in gridlock 5 o’clock interstate traffic without a Peach Pass. We only stopped three times and got home right at 6:15 PM.
Overall, I really enjoyed my vacation to Nashville. I loved that almost everywhere we went was within a 20 to 30 minute radius, which was nice compared to the insufferable Atlanta traffic we battle daily. If you’ve never visited Tennessee, it’s worth going to see the city and scenery, but I don’t know if I could actually live there with all of the rural mountains and wildlife. I’m lowkey a suburban girl and it’s just a little too secluded for me.
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Signed,
Jessica Marie
