Yumming and Strumming in Tennessee (cont.)

Cronuts. Mmmmmm . . .

The next morning, we awoke, caffeinated, and hunted up Five Daughters Bakery for breakfast. Soooo good!! They have all kinds of amazing flavors of cronuts - which take 3 days to make and are filled with 100 layers of dough! I got the purist (classic) and the maple glaze versions to taste. Heavenly, and heavy. You can likely only get one down. If you get two, plan to halve them and share with a friend! (Also note - there's no dining in here. There's some limited outdoor seating, but it was completely full during our visit. Plan to take away.)

Our next stop was Centennial Park. The park was the site of the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition, and it remains lovely today. Flowers, trees, and shrubbery cluster around Lake Watauga, ducks paddle by, and between the ample benches and the public art, there's always a place to take a load off and admire something beautiful. The lovely Parthenon provides both a landmark and a place to learn about the park's history.

There's a small fee to access the interior of the Parthenon, where you can cool off, shop for souvenirs, admire beautiful art, and dig into the details of the exposition. There's also a huge, gold plated statue of Athena inside - a sight to behold.

After enjoying the Parthenon, we strolled the park a bit more. We loved the women's suffrage bronze, and we couldn't resist having our pictures made in front of it! Afterward, we noted that our stomachs were rumbling and decided to scare up some lunch. We parked the car near Vanderbilt University. Some of our party peeled off to a park across the street, where a food truck festival with live music was ongoing. Another contingent preferred air-conditioned eating, so we grabbed a table at Redlands Grill for ice water and Shrimp Louie salads. (I was part of the latter group!)

The Parthenon

After lunch, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up a few necessities for the house. Then, we headed out for some shopping. Some in our group wanted to check out the flagship location of  Draper James, which is in a cool little shopping area. We joined the throngs and took a look. Such a sweet little store! Retail therapy accomplished, we headed back to the house to take a load off for a while.

That night, several members of our party wanted to check out Broadway. We dressed up and caught an Uber. If you've never walked Broadway, think of it like Beale Street in Memphis, or Bourbon Street in New Orleans. We happened to be in Nashville on a very busy weekend (Vandy was holding move-in weekend, and the solar eclipse was imminent - Nashville was experiencing totality), and so Broadway was PACKED! You will see all of humanity passing by. (Including a dude dressed up like Jesus. I am so not kidding. I almost had my photo made with him.)

We walked it up and down, then settled into seats on the roof top bar of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. It was so crowded. So. Crowded. It was at this moment when I began to think I was too old for all of this. Myself and another member of our party decided to peel off and search for a bit of personal space. A block or two off Broadway, it was easy to find. We poked around the Ryman and breathed for a bit, then headed back to Tootsies the back way.

Music at Tootsie's!

And that's when we found the back staircase at Tootsie's. If you enter the building that way, you are
literally *behind* all the music acts, not having to fight your way through a huge crowd to get to them. We went all the way to the top floor, enjoyed that act for a while, scooped up our friends, and ended the night rocking out at VIP seats literally an arm's reach from the band on the ground floor. So. Much. FUN!!

After some seriously awesome music, we decided to grab some dinner. It was late, but we got to Jack's Bar-B-Q just in time to shut it down. We were the last customers served, hunkering down over our pork plates and inhaling the mac and cheese. Tuckered out, it was back to the house for dreamless sleep, then the long drive back to Mississippi the next day.

We loved Nashville! Next time, I'll plan to stay longer! (We missed the Grand Ole Opry, and I don't intend to do so again!)