Within two blocks we found Centennial Park. Liam and I are huge Percy Jackson fans, and Centennial Park is where a pretty big scene in the first book takes place, so we pretty excited to see it in person. We parked near the Parthenon and walked around the giant replica before heading inside. We had no idea that the downstairs area was a museum with artifacts and photos of Centennial Park history and an art exhibit. But, what we were really there to see was the statue of the goddess Athena. She did not disappoint! After our tour of the Parthenon, we wandered the park a bit, seeing a playground, a pond, and many paths lined with trees and fields of grass.
By this time, we were ready to check into our AirBnb. This time, we opted for a condo. The kiddos love to swim and it has a pool, free parking, came with some discounts to local businesses and seemed to be in a great location. When we got here I was disappointed. While the condo looks like the photos in most places, the master bedroom was yucky and it is much smaller than it looked. It was listed as being able to sleep 6, which I guess it could, but the pull out bed in the couch is so uncomfortable, we couldn't use it. I am not picky and I hate confrontation, but I would definitely not recommend this particular AirBnb listing.
Anyway, back to the fun! Before heading to dinner, the kiddos had been begging to swim, so we took them done to the pool to burn off a bit of energy. In hindsight, that might not have been the best idea, since we decided to walk to dinner from our restaurant. It was only about a 15 minute walk, but boy were they all
ttiiiiiirrrrrreeeeeedddddd!For dinner, we HAD to try Hattie B's. Everyone raves about their hot chicken and we love spicy food. The line was around the front of the building (which is an awesome sign), but it only took about a half an hour to order and find a table. Joe and I decided to share a meal with medium spice, but he was brave and wanted to try their hottest option, Shut the Cluck Up. Lets just say, our night ended pretty abruptly after dinner.
Thursday morning, we got up and made a game plan for the day. Again, we didn't really know what we wanted to see, but we knew we wanted to leave with a good sense of the city. One of the discounts offered through our Airbnb was a hop-on-hop-off tour, which also come with free admission to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, so we settled on that. One of the stops for the bus was two blocks away, so we grabbed breakfast and walked to the stop. The bus comes every 20 minutes or so, so we didn't wait long. We did find out their are several similar tour companies and they all tend to stop in the same places, so we had to be careful to get on the right bus.
The tour was absolutely amazing! We saw so much of the city and learned a lot of history. The round-trip tour was roughly an hour and a half, so we decided to take the full tour once and keep track of where we wanted to get off for the second trip. By the time we made it back to the Broadway stop, everyone was hungry for lunch, so we got off and walked around to find some food. We found the Ol' Red restaurant and decided to give it a try. It is Blake Shelton's restaurant and one of his past The Voice contestants, Kameron Marlowe, was playing on the stage. He was so good! He did his rendition of Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirrior and I liked it more than the original. The talent wasn't the only thing that was good at Ol' Red's though, the food was delicious. I had to try this whole, pimento cheese thing, so I ordered a double-decker sandwich and tater tots. I get it! It's yummy.
After lunch, we wandered around Broadway and visited the GooGoo Cluster shop for ice cream. It didn't take long for everyone to be tired again, so we got back on the bus to head back for a rest. Little did we know that the bus ride was going to be an experience all it's own. Almost instantly, Maylee fell asleep on my lap and Liam was headed that direction. But then, the thunder and lightning started and Liam popped right up. Our tour bus was open air, with plastic windows that fold down in the case of rain.
If you have never been in a Thunderstorm on the Eastern side of the U.S., you've never been in a thunderstorm. The rain begins in an instant, and boy does it pour hard and fast! Everyone scrambled to get the plastic sheets down, while the rain drenched everyone. Several of the sheets were stuck and many of the passengers were elderly and couldn't stand and pull them down (all while the bus was driving). Joe got up to help the people across the way and Liam stood up to help the people in front of us. I was so proud of my boys! The women in the seats were so thankful to Liam. He got tons of praise and a fist bump. He beamed the whole way back.
Unfortunately for us, our stop was only two away when the rain began. We had a really tough choice- do we get off and walk to the AirBnb with sleeping kids in a thunderstorm without jackets, or do we stay on the bus for another hour and a half. Neither sounded like fun, but we opted to get off and risk the long, wet, whinny walk. We made the right choice. In true East thunderstorm fashion, it stopped just as quickly as it began. While it sprinkled a bit, we Oregonians could handle the aftermath and made it back safely and only minimally wet. We rested for a bit, but we wanted to make it to Madame Tussaud's before they closed, so we jumped in our car and headed to the Northern end of the city.
The museum was fun and the kids really got a kick out of "seeing" all the famous people up close. I'm glad it came free with our tour bus admission though. Normally it would have been about $100 for all of us to go in and it took our family about 30 minutes to breeze though. While it is a fun attraction, that would not have been worth it for us. After the museum, we headed to Cock of the Walk, a restaurant nearby. Yet another meal that did not disappoint! They served our meal family style, so we all shared shrimp, catfish, chicken, cornbread, coleslaw and fries. The cornbread and catfish were the winners of the meal. Soooo good! The restaurant itself was fun too. The waiting area is filled with rocking chairs and building feels like an old mill with wooden walls and high ceilings. It was such a fun place to wind down and rest after such a packed day.
Knowing that we would be moving on today, we weren't ready to end our day quite yet. We found a special treat near the condo so we parked our car, then walked through Centennial Park to find our dessert-destination. On the way, Joe abruptly stopped us and said, "Wait! I saw something!" We stopped and waited and say our very first fireflies! The kiddos were so excited and interested that they stooped down watched the little bugs fly and flicker. After a while, we decided to head on to the little shop called No Baked Cookie Dough. It was a horrible idea. A delicious, horrible idea. We ended our day in Nashville walking through Centennial Park, surrounded by fireflies, with cookie dough in-hand and the Parthenon with a sunset backdrop. What a day!
We will definitely be coming back to Nashville soon. You couldn't keep us from this city. Even the kids are already saying, "Next time, I want to do this!" or "Next time, I want to go there!". Our time in the Nashville area is not quite over though. Today, we are going to make a stop in the town of Franklin on our way to Chattanooga. Smith family, here we come!
Details and Links:
Midtown Nashville Apartment AirBnb
The Slider House
Centennial Park
Hattie B's
Nashville Trolley Tour
Ole Red Restaurant
Goo Goo Cluster Shop
Madame Tussauds Nashville
Cock of the Walk Restaurant
No Bake Cookie Dough
What happened with Joe and the spicy wings?
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