Nashville Wish List

We're Nashville bound soon, but also splitting our time to go to the Pigeon Forge/Sevierville/Gatlinburg area. Why Nashville? Well, I simply looked at places that were still warm in September/October and where we haven't visited and that's how we landed on Music City. We also had been wanting to do Dollywood for a long time.

Photo by Andrew Sterling on Unsplash

As someone who was born in Tennessee, I always think about going back and immersing myself in that atmosphere, the people, the food, and the history. We aren't fans of country music really. I stopped listening in the late 90s and have not really loved most of that genre since. Because of this, we have decided to not visit the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Grand Ole Opry, but there are so many other things to do instead:

Photo by Josh Rocklage on Unsplash

National Museum of African American Music

Black people created country music, despite what you may feel about the industry right now. There have been some inroads made there, but the fact that even Beyoncé didn't even get into the running to win an award in country music shows that it's not enough. Anyway, the NMAAM is a one-of-a-kind museum that showcases all of African American music, which is so varied, and its historical significance. 

Photo by Thomas Le on Unsplash

Nashville Farmer's Market

You know I love a farmers' market and the Nashville Farmer's Market is open 7 days a week and into the evening. I imagine it's a lot like Reading Terminal Market in Philly, but I aim to find out. I feel like this is the place to find the real local foods and authentic meals. I also really love talking to people at a market and learn about their farms, animals, vineyards, and processes. They're always really happy to talk to someone about their work and gives you more perspective on the food you eat and the reasons behind the prices you're paying.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Cheekwood Harvest Festival

I've been listening to City Cast Nashville, like I did before going to Denver, and like I do every day for Portland. Their episode on things to do in Nashville in September gave me a few ideas, but the top one was the Cheekwood Harvest Festival. Cheekwood is an estate that you can tour that has a botanical garden, a Japanese garden, art, and more. The harvest festival brings in tons of pumpkins for photo ops (and probably purchase) and they even have a scarecrow trail, with unique scarecrows made by those in the community.

Photo by Mike Gattorna on Unsplash

Riverfront walk

You can't go to a city that has a river and not walk along it. I mean, there's a park to visit, but look at these views!

Photo by Katy Anne on Unsplash

City murals
We've been doing a lot of art walks on our trips, because most major cities (and even a lot of small ones) have a large artistic community that work to beautify a city through large wall murals on the public buildings. I've talked about the guided graffiti art walk we did in Denver, but this time we're going to be taking two separate self-guided walks based on city maps. I'd say to follow me on IG for a lot of free art shots.

Photo by Brian Morin on Unsplash

Parthenon

Nashville has the only full-scale replica of the Parthenon in the world. Once known as "The Athens of the South", Nashville took this to heart when they celebrated 100 years of statehood. They erected this replica of the Greek Parthenon and turned it into an art museum. It creates an affordable way for people to gain access to fine art, history, and education. 

Photo by Chad Morehead on Unsplash

Broadway St

It's clearly a tourist trap, but you can't go to Nashville and skip visiting the most popular street for honky tonk bars. Think of it of the equivalent of New Orleans' Bourbon Street. 

Photo by Blake Guidry on Unsplash

Nashville Hot Chicken

Gotta eat the local foods and Nashville brings the southern comfort foods and brought hot chicken to the people as their foodie contribution. I've only ever had hot chicken at home, so I'm interested to see what it tastes like where it originated.

Photo by Adam Kring on Unsplash

Dollywood

It's not Disneyland, but Dolly Parton has done so much good for her community that even if I thought the theme park would be bad, I'd still want to contribute to this amazing person. Each year, Dollywood unveils a new ride and right now they have a two-days-for-one ticket deal, so even if we don't spend an entire second day there, it's okay. They're having their own harvest festival right now though, so we'll be indulging in all the jack-o-lantern selfies and the harvest food specials. Plus, there's a train!

Photo by Susan Q Yin on Unsplash

Astra Lumina

Astra Lumina is a "Celestial Pathway of Lustrous Light, Cosmic Vsions & Astral song." It looks similar in a way to the Forbidden Forest Experience that I have yet to get to. I found out that Astra Lumina was going to be in Seattle and put myself on the wait list to learn when tickets went on sale, but then I found out that they were going to be in Gatlinburg. We're already going to be 10 minutes away in Dollywood, and though we have to buy day passes to the adventure park it's being held at, it's still more convenient and cheaper than having to plan a separate trip to Seattle.

Photo by Stephen Ellis on Unsplash

Sunsphere
We'll be passing through Knoxville on our way to and from Pigeon Forge. They have a World's Fair Park that is home to the Sunsphere, a big golden sphere that was build for the 1982 World's Fair that offers 360-degree views of downtown Knoxville and the Smoky Mountains. 

We've got a few more things planned for our visit, but these are the must-do things we have on our list and many we've already bought tickets for. If you have suggestions for things we should do, see, or eat, I'd love to see them in the comments. 

Have you been to Nashville or are you hoping to visit?

Fun Facts About Nashville

Soon, I'll be headed to Nashville to take in the sights, eat some southern foods, and drive out to Dollywood. You'll be getting my wish list for that soon, but let's check out some fun facts about the city. I just learned about the Batman building earlier today when Eric asked me about it. You can't tour it, but it's pretty cool looking. 

photo credit: Puppet City Tours

Do you have Nashville recommendations for my trip? What should I see, do, or eat?

Denver Graffiti Art Tour

If you love art, but you're on a budget, you don't have miss out on some of the best art in a city. Even if you don't step foot into a museum, most cities have a thriving street art scene. Much of it encouraged by the city itself, even going so far as to have street art festivals like Las Vegas's Life Is Beautiful Festival and Denver is no different. They have started something called Denver Walls.

Kimchi Juice

While we were in Denver, we took a guided graffiti tour, because I wanted to learn more about the artists in the city. You can do it on your own, if you want, and can certainly see a ton of art all around the city, not just in the RiNo (River North) District. This is just where a huge portion of artwork is and where the tour focuses.

Collaboration by @weilworks + Eva Zimmerman

Decades ago RiNo had fallen into disrepair and become a place that was not a favorable place to live. Because of this, it was really affordable, and many artists moved into the area. They started creating art on buildings and beautifying the neighborhood. 

this was all done freehand with no base by Keya Tama (and team). Their mother also does
freehand on brick a few blocks away with a completely different style.

Shockingly, when the neighborhood started to blossom, developers came in and bought property and raised the rents, since it became more and more appealing to live and work there.  

Collaboration by @milestoland + @ChromaJ

The murals around the district showcase a wide variety of art styles and cultures. They range from whimsical to political to honoring people in both the community and around the world.

Collaboration by @ajdavisart + @jd.pruitt

We learned about what might be good and bad tagging of murals. Do they ruin the original art? Do they add something to it? The work you see above has a squiggly yellow line running through it and that's not part of the original art, but it also seems to complement it with a chaotic line that goes along with the work itself that's about life during Covid.

I really enjoy art that has a mix of style, like this that was done by a husband and wife, where they added the graffiti style over the more traditional art form. 

@c.bolsinger

This lion is on the side of a church, and the artist brought in so much of the Colorado landscape into it. You can see the Rockies, the forest, fields, the Platte River, the night sky, and even a huge tribute to the indigenous peoples.   

Collaboration between Casey Kawaguchi and @easeone_tx

You will find a ton of artists from other parts of the world and many that live in Colorado, too. Some you'll see here and then also be able to identify around town. I also identified some international artists that I had seen similar artwork from in other places, including Las Vegas and Portland.

@chrishaven

Some artists are extremely prolific, like Chris Haven, who creates these little triangle guys all over town. They're quick to paint, are fun, and easily recognizable. Art doesn't have to be big or elaborate to make a huge impact.

@_gusrey

There are even sports murals. We have some of those around town in Portland, but this one showcased Nikola Jokic, the center for the Denver Nuggets.

@obeygiant - Shepard Fairey

I was especially drawn to this Justice mural that focuses on two groundbreaking Supreme Court justices. All art is political in some way and this one just comes right out and shows it to you. Here's hoping Kentanji Brown Jackson continues the great legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and makes her proud.

@soulfulartnj

Any surface can be a palette, including brick, wood, and even cement like this. The average age of a piece of street art is between 2-5 years, depending on where it's placed and how it survives the elements and other artists/taggers.

You may even get lucky and see artists at work while you're walking around. These guys were doing fresh art over their older work. It's very impressive to see how clean their lines are with spray paint.

@caseykawaguchi that was commissioned by a private resident - You'll see his same artwork
around town with his signature Samurai Girl in muted colors

Even residents have murals and art on their property. You'll see it on garage doors, gates, and more, like this piece this person had commissioned for them from, what I assume is, one of their favorite artists. We saw several more Casey Kawaguchi pieces around town, too.

If you need a bit of a nudge on where to start looking at street art in a destination, many cities have websites dedicated to them, but you can also just walk around and then look up artists while you wander or use an app like Street Art Cities or GPS My City. If you do go on a guided walking tour, remember to carry cash for a tip at the end and try to engage with your guide. We were on a tour with two locals, so they had entirely different questions than we did and that was fun and interesting. 

Do you have a favorite art city? It doesn't have to be street art. We also love museums!