Since we weren’t able to travel as much as wanted in 2021, we spent the year exploring Nashville instead. More specifically, we explored Nashville’s bars and restaurants, partly because the food scene here is exploding and partly because there’s no better way to self-medicate during a pandemic than with good food and craft cocktails. AMIRITE? […]

Four times a year at an undisclosed (to me) location in Nashville, a dozen men and women holding candles and dressed in black, hooded robes solemnly file into a room furnished only with a massive table and chairs. Silently, they place their candles at the table’s center, sit, and lower their hoods. As they cover […]

“This tastes just like eating the best grilled cheese sandwich and the best cup of French onion soup at the exact same time,” I told my husband recently as I finished the last bite of yet another glorious sandwich from Bill’s Sandwich Palace. This time, I’d ordered their French Onion Shroom, an intoxicating mix of […]

Like many other longtime Nashville residents, my husband and I talk often now about leaving the city for good. The Nashville we knew and loved is dead and gone, God rest its soul, and I’ve cycled through all the stages of grief over this truth, only recently landing on acceptance. Right about now, I feel […]

Think you know all there is to know about Franklin, Tennessee? Think again. A new downtown hotel has changed the tourism game here, whether you live nearby and are looking for an easy, fun staycation or you want to add a Southern charm-filled few days to your Nashville vacation. Dennis and I spent a weekend […]

After months of anticipation, Justin Timberlake’s Twelve Thirty Club is finally open for business in downtown Nashville. But does it live up to the hype?  I really struggle when out-of-towners ask me for restaurant recommendations in Nashville. Most of them are staying downtown and don’t want to have to drive or Uber somewhere — but […]

My husband and I have been hiking Middle Tennessee’s many trails for the last two decades and we’re finally coming to the end of the line. There are very few trails within a two-hour drive from Nashville that we haven’t tried at least once, which is kind of a downer, but I suppose it had […]

Old Nashville meets New Nashville at Mother’s Ruin, an NYC-based Germantown hotspot that combines speedy free pour cocktails with next-level bar food.   “I keep hearing about Mother’s Ruin,” I told my husband a few weeks ago. “I think we should go there.” “What makes it so great?” he asked. “Well, here’s what I know,” […]

Hidden deep in the forests surrounding Chattanooga are blue holes — crystal clear blue pools of water fed by underground rivers. Want to see and even swim in one yourself? Read on! We hiked a mile and a half through a forest just outside Chattanooga before arriving at one of Tennessee’s elusive blue holes, a […]

Fruity, rum-filled drinks, a retro Polynesian vibe… and robots. This East Nashville tiki bar has more than a few fun surprises. A few years ago, a man had a dream. “The dream I had last night was so weird,” he told a friend the next day over coffee. “The only thing I really remember now […]