Our 2026 Nashville Trip

We stopped in Nashville for a couple of nights in between longer trips and we had the most fun!  We squeezed in so much into our short time there, but I’m going to try to recap the whole trip in one very long post! 

Friday, June 19

We were up at 7:30 AM Friday to hit the road!  We got ready, had breakfast at home, stopped at Panera for lunch along the way, grabbed some gas, and then we checked into our hotel at 2:30 PM CDT.  Since this was a quick trip, we opted to stay at a hotel rather than an Airbnb.  The main reason we booked the trip was to attend the Ed Sheeran concert at Nissan Stadium, so Brian booked our room at the Holiday Inn Stadium as it was within walking distance to the venue.  It was also a new-ish hotel, so it was nice!

When we arrived, we unpacked the car, we set up our room, and we freshened up, and then we headed to the 12 South area to meet up with my friend, Emily, and her family!!!!  Emily and I met through blogging in 2015.  We both started our blogs around the same time, and we ended up in the same blog circles.  She and I ended up getting each other’s phone numbers at some point, and we’ve talked almost every single day since then.  She is one of my best friends (might sound weird to some of you since we’d never met in person until 2024, but it’s not weird to us at all!) and I’m so grateful to have her friendship even though we live nearly 600 miles apart!

Nashville is a good central location between our two locations, so when I told Emily we were going to see Ed Sheeran there, she and her family decided to join us, and I couldn’t have been happier.  This was also an extra special visit because we got to meet Emily’s daughter for the first time on this trip.  The last time we got together in person was in Chicago in 2024 and Emily was pregnant with her!  Emily also brought her husband and her parents along for this trip and we all got along like we’ve known each other forever.  It was such a special weekend!

When we arrived at 12 South, it was PACKED.  It’s incredible just how much that area has grown in the last 10 years.  Brian and I went there back in 2017 and there was so little in that area.  It was such a cute, quaint, quiet little area with lots of open green spaces (one of which was a massive pumpkin patch the year we went), but that area has since exploded and there are tons of restaurants, high-end boutiques and shops, loads of murals, and SO. MANY. PEOPLE.  It is always bustling with activity.

Thankfully, The Gilmore (the new hotel that just opened in 12 South last year) added a giant underground parking garage, so we were able to find a place to park easily.  Parking in 12 South has always been bad, but I can’t imagine just how bad it would be now without that parking garage. 

Emily and her family were waiting just outside for us (they had lucked out and found a spot right on the road!) and I gave her a huge hug the second we found each other!  It’s always surreal to see her in person after all our texting, but at the same time it feels completely normal.  She introduced us to her parents (who we’d never met) and we said hello to her husband and her sweet girl. 

We were all hungry at that point, so we walked to The Bottle Cap for dinner.  We’d done some research on the way to find a casual, family-friendly place, and that seemed like the place to be.  Unfortunately, when we arrived, they were showing one of The World Cup games, so the place was absolutely packed and so loud, and we thought we were going to have to pivot.  Fortunately, just as we were discussing what to do, the game ended and the place pretty much cleared out.  Talk about good luck!  Haha.

We all grabbed a round of drinks – Teenessee Ice Teas for Brian and me (Happenstance Bourbon, Peach Schnapps, simple syrup, and fresh squeezed lime) – and then we ordered food.  Most of us got pimento cheeseburgers and they were delicious.  Their sweet potato fries were also top-notch.

After dinner, we walked around a few of the shops.  We wanted to hit up Draper James and Stoney Clover, and the kids wanted to go in Serendipity – a souvenir shop that had a bunch of random things in it that they remembered from our last trip.  I’d hoped to get a picture of Emily and me together in front of the famous Nashville mural right next door to Draper James, but we were all shocked to see that they’d painted over it and the wall was just a plain beige color.  Why they would do that, I don’t know, but it made me so sad!

All the shops closed around 6 or 7 PM, and then Emily and her family headed back to their Airbnb to get the baby to sleep.  While we waited for them, our fam stayed in 12 South for another hour or so.  We got Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream for dessert and then we walked around and looked at all the murals.  

After Olivia and I took a picture in front of the “Make Music, Not War” mural, we realized that the vines growing over the mural looked like they could be poison ivy and my heart sank. 

Brian pulled up his plant identifier app, and it turned out that it was Virgina Creeper.  The thing about Virginia Creeper is that most people aren’t allergic to it.  However, some people are insanely allergic to it, and they break out in blistering rashes all over just like you would if you touched poison ivy.  My mother-in-law is one of those who is terribly allergic to it, so I was worried Olivia could be, too, since they have some of the same genes.

We weren’t 100% sure that she had even touched it, but I wanted to be on the safe side, so I pulled out some of my alcohol based hand wipes and made her scrub her hands and face with it.  Then, when we got back to The Gilmore to get in the car, we asked if they had a public restroom, and thankfully, they did, so I helped her scrub her hands and face with soap and water.  The soap was almost out, though, so it wasn’t as thorough as I’d hoped.

When we got in the car, I was able to watch the video that Brian had taken of us in front of the mural and in the video we could see that the leaves did move as her hands went up in the air to pose, so we were able to confirm that she did, indeed, touch it, and then she proceeded to touch her face with the same hand to brush her hair out of her face.  Noooo. 

After watching that, I made her scrub her hand and face again with another wipe, and then when we got to Emily’s Airbnb, we did a more thorough washing of her face and hands in their bathroom.  Can you tell I was paranoid?  Haha.  Thankfully, nothing ever came of it, so we either washed it off well, or she’s not allergic to it.  Better to be safe than sorry, though, right?  The last thing we needed was for her to have a blistering rash all over her hand and face at the Ed Sheeran concert the next night.

By the time we got to Emily’s, they had the baby down for the night, so her parents stayed with her while Emily and Jess piled in our SUV to go to East Nashville Beerworks, a cute little brewery that wasn’t too far from their Airbnb.  We spent the rest of the evening under the twinkle lights chatting and catching up, and it was a wonderful night!  The weather was absolutely perfect, too.  (And somebody stole my phone.  Hahahaha!)

We returned Emily and Jess to their Airbnb and then we got back to our hotel around 9:30 PM CDT.  The kids showered and then we went to bed around 10:30 PM CDT.  We were exhausted.

 

Saturday, June 20

Tuesday, we were up at 7:15 AM CDT and then we headed downtown in search of donuts for breakfast after we’d all gotten ready.  We landed on Shipley Do-Nuts on Church Street since it seemed like they had a good variety, and I was excited about their kolaches as I was wanting some eggs or some other protein before eating my donut.  I’d never had a kolache, and I can confirm that it was delicious!  The donuts were, too.

After we were done there, we were supposed to meet Emily and her family at the Nashville Farmer’s Market.  After a look at the GPS, it didn’t seem like the walk would be too bad, so we headed that way.  After making a turn down what appeared to be a very busy road, we started to feel uneasy about the walk, and then, when the sidewalk ran out and cars were whizzing right by us, we decided to turn around.

By then, the sun was out in full force, and it was HOT and I was also feeling a little woozy with dizziness.  It ended up taking us foreverrrr to get there on foot, but we made it, and we vowed immediately that we’d be taking an Uber back downtown when the time came.  Haha.

By the time we arrived, we were nearly an hour late meeting Emily and her family, so we browsed a few stalls in the farmer’s market (it was HUGE and so neat!) while we were looking for Emily, and then we all walked across the street to the Tennessee State Museum since it had just opened.

We spent the next couple of hours browsing all the exhibits with them and it was a really neat place.  We’d never been there, so it was nice to try something new.  And it was free!

At lunchtime, Emily and her family left to go back to the Airbnb to feed the baby and put her down for her nap, and Brian, the kids, and I checked out the gift shop at the museum and then did a little shopping at the indoor part of the farmer’s market.  One vendor was selling authentic Pokemon card packs, which Jacob was very excited about, so he purchased a pack and I bought a postcard to hang on my bulletin board back at home.

We were all hungry by then, so we Ubered back downtown (we could have taken a Waymo, but HARD PASS haha), and we had our driver drop us off at Luke’s 32 Bridge.  We’d eaten lunch there before on a previous trip, and Olivia wanted it again, so we thought it would be a good, quick place to stop with live music so we could get the whole live music Nashville experience.

Brian and I started with a round of cocktails, and we both opted for the “Strip It Down” which was Jim Beam Vanilla and cherry and it was smoked tableside with oak chips.  The presentation was 10/10, but unfortunately, the drink was a 0/10.  It was soooo bad.  It tasted just like NyQuil and it was hard to choke down.  It also didn’t seem like there was a single drop of alcohol in there, so we were highly disappointed… especially with how pricey they were.  Sheesh.

Other than that, everything else was great!  Brian had the BBQ bison meatloaf skewers, the kids had chicken fingers and mac n cheese, and I had grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans from the kid’s menu.  Haha.  They didn’t have a grilled chicken option for the adults, so I was happy our server made an exception for me.

They band played lots of old 90s country songs (which are my favorite), and I got to hear them sing Neon Moon by Brooks and Dunn on the way out… one of my favorites!

After we left the restaurant, we stopped by a couple of shops (a candy shop and a souvenir shop) while we waited for Emily and Jess to arrive, and then we met the two of them outside The Ryman Auditorium.

We all moseyed around downtown for a bit after that.  Olivia wanted to go in their Sephora store (it’s huge) and then we went in the Nash store and the Carhartt store.

We stopped to grab macarons at Le Macaron French Pastries and then we went to check out Printer’s Alley.  I’d never heard of it, but one of Jess’s friends had told him about it.  It was a cute little area, but it wasn’t very vibrant during the day because it was mostly bars and many of them looked closed.  I bet it’s fun at night, though!

We decided to stop by the library to check it out, and it was the cutest place!  We’d hoped to get water from their snack bar, but we were informed that the snack bar had closed.  So, we walked down the block to grab waters from a street vendor and then we went back to the library to cool off for a bit. 

They had a giant kids’ area, and they had a temporary exhibit of old political cartoons about the 19th amendment, so we ended up staying there and looking around until it was time to head back to the hotel.  Emily and Jess weren’t going to the concert with us, so that also meant that it was time to part ways for the trip.  It’s always so sad to say goodbye.

When we got back to our hotel, we all lay in bed in the blasting air conditioning and relaxed for 30 minutes, and then it was time to freshen up and walk to Nissan Stadium where the concert was held.

We in the 16th row in front of the stage, so we had to go through a special entrance, and I’d hoped that it would be cooler in the tunnels under the stadium, but it was still SO HOT.  We grabbed hot dogs and waters for dinner and then made our way to our seats, and we were so grateful to see that our seats were already in the shade.  It was such a relief.  We would have roasted if they hadn’t been.  It was so hot I didn’t even want to drink beer.  I just wanted water to stay hydrated.

Ed had three openers and we’d completely missed the first one on purpose since we knew it was going to be hot, but we got to see Amble and then Myles Smith.  I have loved Myles Smith for a couple of years now, so I was thrilled to see that he was opening, and I didn’t want to miss him!  He was so great, and we all enjoyed singing along to the two massive hits that he’s had and hearing all the new songs from the new album he’d just dropped the day before that.

As he was finishing up, we booked it back up to the stadium for bathroom breaks and the kids wanted Dippin’ Dots.  We got back to our seats just in time for Ed to come out at 8 PM, and the next three hours were spent listening to him, singing at the top of our lungs, and dancing.

He played most of his set from the main stage in front of us, but he had a second stage in the middle of the field where he played his acoustic, slower songs and he went back-and-forth from stage to stage on this massive telescoping bridge that came out and connected the stages together.  It was wild.

Midway through the show, he brought out a surprise guest – Dan + Shay – who the kids and I love so much.  We were soooo excited and Olivia and I sang Tequila at the top of our lungs.

There were fireworks, there was fire, there was lots of storytelling, there were magical moments of perfectly timed camera flashes at Ed’s instructions, and there was lots of jumping up and down at Ed’s prompts… it was JUST SO MUCH FUN.  Oh, and I finally got to hear him sing Supermarket Flowers live for the first time.  It’s one of his oldest and greatest songs, but he never sings it live.  Brian and I have seen him live four times now, and I think this was my favorite one yet!

The show was over around 11 PM CDT, which was midnight back home, so we were all positively exhausted.  We walked back to the hotel room, both kids showered, and then we were all out like lights an hour later.

And can I just give a shoutout to our amazing kids who are the best little travelers?  They were going nonstop all day long in the heat and then were still able to completely hang for the whole five hours of the concert.  When the concert was over, Jacob wasn’t even ready for it to be over, and he said he wanted to go see it again.  Haha.  They are seriously down for pretty much anything, and they rarely complain, and I’m so grateful that they love an adventure just as much as their Mommy and Daddy do!

 

Sunday, June 21

Sunday, we were up at 8 AM CDT which is 9 AM our time.  We decided to sleep in late since we were all so tired.  As long as we were back by dinnertime, that was all that mattered.

We showered and got ready and then we stopped by East Park Donuts & Coffee for a quick breakfast.  We’d eaten there the last time we were in Nashville, and we all love their donuts, so we had to go back for more.  The place is tiny and it was packed, but we were able to get one of the few tables by the time we were done ordering.  I decided to try something new, so I got the lemon poppyseed lavender donut and an old-fashioned maple bourbon donut, and both were so delicious.  Brian got a blueberry and a salted brown butter glazed.  Jacob got a blueberry and the EP strawberry (basically a strawberry frosted), and Olivia got a blueberry and a Dutch chocolate.  Everybody was pleased with their choices! 

We hit the road at 9:30 AM CDT, we made one bathroom stop and one stop for lunch at Panera (again), and we were home in time to unload the car, unpack a few things, and head to my parents’ house to celebrate Father’s Day with my Daddy!

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but it was truly wonderful!

Happy Monday, y’all!