In honor of #ThrowbackThursday, I thought I’d reminisce about one of my favorite vacations: our babymoon.

Our son is just over a year and a half, and a time when it was just me & MBH already seems like a very distant memory.

MBH surprised me with (paper) plane tickets for our first anniversary – we do the traditional gifts – and said I could pick anywhere I wanted to go… With a few caveats. He wanted somewhere ‘close’ and I, as ever, wanted somewhere I’d never been before.

We chose Nashville – and couldn’t have had a better time.

We chose to stay in the heart of Nashville and explore from there. I was shocked at how tiny the city really is. We were easily able to walk from one end to the other of it in no time at all. Our first morning there, we woke up bright & early and hiked our way down to Germantown, a tidy suburb where we found The Red Bicycle, a unique creperie with some of the city’s best coffee.

MBH isn’t a huuuuge fan of hipsters but was quickly won over by his crepe: an amazing invention of eggs, siracha, and southwestern style that he could barely finish.

I went for more of a dessert route with a smoothie and didn’t regret it.

With full bellies, we were off to explore.

Nashville has a pretty neat bike-sharing program but we hoofed it the whole way. I was at the point in my pregnancy where I was feeling great and hoping to be as healthy as possible so the walking was great.
We glimpsed the Johnny Cash trail and the Bicentennial Mall and the statehouse. With no agenda, we wandered and wandered some more. When we were hungry, we stopped!

At last, we finally made our way to Broadway, which lived up to every expectation I’d had. Live music in every bar, each performer better than the one before.
We soaked it all in. The one drawback to being pregnant in Nashville is the same drawback to being pregnant anywhere: no cocktails.

But our dinner at Husk cured that. The only restaurant I’ve found with a full ‘mocktail’ menu (complete with Prohibition-esque names), Husk won me over right away.
We followed that up with one of the best live music venues in the U.S. – The Bluebird Cafe.

Made even more famous by the TV show Nashville, The Bluebird Cafe has hosted legendary singers & songwriters in its tiny venue. Folks from Garth Brooks to Taylor Swuft have strummed their guitars on its cozy stage.

Without reservations, we showed up early to wait in line. Two hours early. MBH wasn’t well-pleased but we made it in, barely, for the first show. It was spectacular. Raw talent, and we were glimpsing it before it got real big. Pretty amazing.

Our final night in town, we did dinner and live music at Puckett’s Grocery – and had another incredible experience. When every musician gives you chills from their talent, you start to realize just how tough it must be to make it in Nashville.

There’s so much more to the city than we had the chance to try and it’s easy to see why it still feels up-and-coming. Why wouldn’t you want to make such a special, inviting place your home?

Hi! If this is your first time visiting The Southerner, we’ve done so much with our family since this first visit to Nashville. Check out our trip to Vietnam, or Thailand, or Cambodia, some of our favorite trips from our time in Japan, or some of my writing for The Washington Post, TODAY, or POPSugar. Welcome & enjoy!