2nd Anniversary Trip to Nashville

Got things started off right...

 

We got into Nashville around 2:30 in the afternoon, got checked in at the hotel and took a nap, knowing that we had been up since 6am and were going to have a late night! 

 

Got up, ran to good ol' Target to get rain jackets because we forgot ours at home, ate a quick dinner at Backyard Burger, then headed over to LP Field!

 

[If you are planning to go to CMA Fest in the future, one piece of advice I can offer you is do not purchase their parking pass online.  It's $60+service fees making it around $80 for a 4-day parking pass.  They make it seem like there is no other parking.  Not true!  All of the businesses beside the stadium let you pay to park in their lots, and it's a quick and very well patroled walk across the street to the stadium.  We only spent a total of $40 for parking all weekend.]

 

Night 1:

National Anthem sung by Gloriana

Randy Travis

Kip Moore

Little Big Town

Hunter Hayes

Lady Antebellum

Blake Shelton

 

Randy Travis

Kip Moore...I tear up every time I hear him sing "Hey Pretty Girl".  Such a sweet and vulnerable song.

Little Big Town

They brought out Sheryl Crow as a surprise guest and sang a song with her.  Then she sang her single "Easy" by herself.  She was awesome and I was so excited to get the chance to see her.  I'm sure my dad is jealous!!

 

Hunter Hayes

Hunter brought out Jason Mraz as a surprise to sing a song with him that is on Hunter's new album.  It was pretty cool, although Jake didn't even know who he was! [Only country radio for my husband!]



Lady Antebellum...one of my favorites!

How cool does the sky look in this picture of Storme Warren and his son?

Cool shot of the stadium

Blake Shelton, anothe favorite!

 

Things got a little bit delayed because of the rain, so Blake Shelton didn't even get on stage until around midnight.  We watched most of his set and then headed back to the hotel to rest up for our early morning.

 

Day 2

9am Celebrity Softball Game

3pm The Opry at Ryman Auditorium

Evening Concert Line-Up:

National Anthem sung by Brett Eldridge

The Oak Ridge Boys

Florida Georgia Line

Dierks Bentley

Kelly Clarkson

Keith Urban

 

 

City of Hope charity Celebrity softball game at the Nashville Sounds minor league stadium.  Lots of cool players, such as the boys from Florida Georgia Line, Chase Rice, Aaron Lewis [former lead singer of Staind], and many more.  They also had two child cancer survivors [since the charity raises money for cancer research] and two amputee Wounded Warriors.  So inspirational!

 

Lunch....can we PLEASE get a Famous Dave's somewhere near Charlotte?!  This place was mind-blowingly good!  I had pulled pork with grilled pineapple, and Jake had their pulled chicken BBQ plate.

 

Beautiful stained glass at the Ryman Auditorium

Us at the Ryman...sadly one of the only pictures of us all weekend!

Mark Wills...Jake and I both got chills when he sang "Don't Laugh at Me"...an oldie but a goodie...He is so talented!

Joey & Rory...I have loved them ever since they competed on Can You Duet.  Sweet, down to earth couple.

There were about 8 different acts in the show at Ryman.  Some were older country and bluegrass acts that I wasn't familiar with, and one was celebrating their 50th anniversary as an Opry member, pretty impressive!  Others that I did know of were Kristen Kelly, Mark Wills, Chris Janson, and Joey & Rory.

 

After this show we walked down Broadway street to check out some of the other festival-related stuff going on downtown.  We met up with some friends from college who now live in Nashville after we ate dinner at the Riverfront Grill. 

 

After dinner we headed over to LP field for Night 2!

 

Brett Eldridge.  He was so nervous but he is so good!  He's definitely on his way to the top!
[He sings "Don't Ya"]

Florida Georgia Line

Lenny Kravitz was a surprise performer, and he rocked it for the first 20 minutes of his set, with Jason Aldean who he brought out on stage also as a surprise to sing a couple of Lenny's more well known songs.  Unfortunately, he had to ruin that towards the end.  I think he forgot he was at CMA Fest and not Bonneroo....
 

We ended up leaving the concert shortly after Lenny Kravitz' set because we weren't interested in hearing Dierks Bentley or Kelly Clarkson.  It would have been cool to see Keith Urban, but not worth waiting around.  We walked back over to Broadway and went into Big Bang, their dueling piano bar.  It was really fun.  We sat there listening to the songs, and we wrote down some little promises/wishes/love notes for our 3rd  year of marriage on one of the song request cards, haha!  I kept it and it will end up in a memory box for the trip.  Then we walked to the car, got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales since they were in stalls set up for the day/night, and went back to the hotel. 

 

We slept in a little bit on Sunday [until like 9am..not very late but much later than the previous two days] and then got ready to go to Fan Fair X and our meet & greet with Duck Dynasty

 

Stayed there for a few hours going around to all the booths.  We got some EP's and CD's for new emerging artists, our favorite of which is Gary Ray who already sounds radio-ready.  I'm sad his EP only has 5 songs on it, we were listening to it on repeat!

 

After FFX we went to lunch at a cute rooftop place called Bailey's, met up with our friends again at the Wildhorse Saloon.  One of my friends/sorority sisters from college is married to Doug McCormick, so we went to watch his show...

Doug performing at Wildhorse

 

Wildhorse Saloon is so cool.  I feel like it's very similar to Coyote Joe's here in Charlotte, except way better and more professional. 

 

After the show we went back to the hotel and got dinner at J. Alexander's, a nice formal dining/steak place.  I got crab cakes, and they were to.die.for.  LOVED it there.  Kind of like an upscale Olive Garden/Red Lobster meshed together.

 

Then, LP field Night 3:

National Anthem sung by Lorrie Morgan and Pam Tillis

Lee Greenwood

Gary Allan

Brad Paisley

The Band Perry

Jake Owen

Carrie Underwood

 

Gary Allan

 

Brad Paisley

During Brad Paisley singing "Beat This Summer", everyone was supposed to take out their phones and use his new Light Show app, which picks up on his music and does a color changing light show.  Such a cool experience. It's crazy what people can do with technology these days.

Maisy and Lennon Stella, the sisters who play Rayna's daughters on the ABC show Nashville.  Loved them!!  They were surprise performers and sang a cover of "Ho Hey" just like they did on the show.

Carrie Underwood

Fireworks after the end of the show

Nashville, TN Skyline



We had the best time.  We both agree that we would love to go back to that festival in the future.  It was a pretty affordable trip to, I recommend it for anyone looking for something out-of-the-box but semi-local.

On our way home Monday, we Jake decided he wanted to relax and enjoy the ride home, stopping off at different locations wherever we felt like it. At first I was not into the idea at all, I wanted to get home to our house and our dogs and get settled in, but it was fun and a nice way to break up the 7hr drive.   We were going to go to the Knoxville Zoo but because of the time change didn't make it there in time.  Instead, we ate lunch at Calhoun's on the Tennessee River, which had a pretty nice view...

 

 Then we decided to stop at the outlets in Gaffney on the way home.  We treated each other to some new clothes/accessories...Jake got a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses and some new crocs to wear at the lake [he loves them, haha...camo of course!]  and I got a dress, skirt, and summery top from Loft.  Hey, your 2nd anniversary is supposed to be "Cloth" right?!

Hope you enjoyed this book.  Love yall!