As many of you already know, this month I went to Nashville for a week. I have wanted to go there since I was 6 years old and to finally get the opportunity to visit a place with such a strong emphasis on music was amazing.
On the first day we drove from Florida to Roswell, Georgia, a town about an hour north of Atlanta. My dad dropped me off at the amazing mall that was right near our hotel and I spent a few hours shopping. I had an amazing time and got lots of fun clothes that will be in a video coming out soon! Then we went out to dinner and went back to the hotel early to get some rest before heading out early the next morning.
Friday morning we left bright and early to head out on the 4 hour journey from Roswell to Nashville. After my dad navigated the rush hour traffic through the Atlanta area, I took over the driving. I drove to Chattanooga and the roads were absolutely beautiful. There were huge mountains covered in snow and frozen waterfalls that looked like crystals. As we got close to Nashville we drove past a town called Franklin, TN. One thing that you may or may not know is that is where my favorite band, Paramore, is from. I took about 100 pictures of the signs and was so excited. The next big excitement came as we drove to our hotel. We were staying about a mile from the Grand Ole Opry. As a singer, the Opry is an iconic and very important place to me. Being able to see it and really feel that we were in Nashville was a very surreal moment for me.
After relaxing in the room for a while we headed down to Broadway. In case you aren't familiar, Broadway is the strip of downtown Nashville where all of the music is. We knew a lot of the places by name but being able to go into them was amazing. We were complete tourists and didn't know where to park so we ended up paying $10 for 1 hour so we didn't have long. There was this band that I really enjoyed in Legend's Corner. We spent an hour popping in and out of places and getting a good taste for what was in store for the rest of the week.
Now, I am one of those singers that has certain superstitions. Every time I have traveled for an audition I have had Cracker Barrel for dinner the night before so, on Friday night, my dad and I had dinner there. We stopped at the mall quickly on our way back to the hotel so I could get a pair of leggings and then went back to the room. I tried to get to sleep early but it was to no avail. I had to be up at 7 to get ready for my audition for the Voice.
The next morning I ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and then started to get ready. The outfit I had planned on wear was not the outfit I ended up wearing and after changing like three times I felt ready to go. I am going to do a whole separate post on the audition process because it would make this way too long.
After my audition I was meeting up with my best friend that moved to TN a few years ago. We went to a very cool music store called Grimeys and then ate at this amazing place called the Pharmacy, it is not a drug store. After this me and Amanda went to the mall for about 45 minutes before it closed and then went back to our hotels. Then my dad bought me chocolate because I was sad.
Sunday I slept in and then dad and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (it was walking distance from the hotel). After a quick breakfast we headed down to Broadway. We found good parking this time and had 7 hours on out meter. We went into a bunch of shops first because it was 10:45 am on a Sunday. After a few hours we went into one of the biggest places on Broadway called The Stage. I was still a little sad from my audition but I was enjoying the day. Long story short, the band playing asked me to come up and sing and I ended up singing Walking After Midnight in a place in Nashville!! It was amazing.
After hitting a few more places we headed to the mall to return some clothes I had bought the day before and to have some dinner. After that we met up with Amanda again for about an hour before she had to head back home.
Monday the weather was awful. It was about 35 degrees and raining nonstop. This didn't stop us! We went back down to Broadway where we shopped and I ended up singing onstage with another band at a different place! It was very cool. I also got to go into the Hard Rock and see Hayley Williams microphone from the crushcrushcrush music video. After many hours of braving the weather we headed to get some dinner. Since the time I was about 4 years old I have loved the Olive Garden. When my nana was sick and my mom was having to fly up to New Jersey a lot, my dad would bring me there when she left and it would be our special night out. We found an Olive Garden near where we were staying and went and had an amazing dinner.
Tuesday we were planning on heading back downtown but the weather was just awful. I did a little research and found this very cool restaurant called Monells. It was in this old mansion and had the best fried chicken I have ever tasted. Everything is served family style and you can have as much as you want. It is a good thing that we don't have a place like that near where I live because I would be there all the time.
I hadn't slept much the night before and the weather was still too bad to go out so we went back to the hotel and I took a nap. We were supposed to leave at about 8am Wednesday to drive home but when I woke up at 5pm my dad told me that there was another winter storm headed into Nashville and that if we didn't head out soon, the roads would be awful. Considering we couldn't go out and do anything because of the weather there was nothing to lose so we packed up the car and headed home. 13 hours later, about the time we were supposed to be leaving, we got back home.
It was an amazing trip and I look forward to going back to Nashville with both of my parents some time soon!
PS I have a post filled with pictures of the trip coming up in the next few days.
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