March 19, 2024

Music City Memories

After a long and frustrating week of dealing with my unwanted guest, the fleas, I took off with a group of my best friends for a bachelorette party in Nashville, Tenn. I have never been to Nashville and didn’t put a lot of thought into what it might be like in the country music capital of the world.

I woke up bright and early Friday at 2:45 a.m. to catch a ride to Kansas City, where we were flying out. I have to give major congratulations to the maid of honor for planning, scheduling and executing everything for a group of 20 girls. I’m not usually one to give up control and go with the flow, but it was a nice change of pace to feel so taken care of.

As soon as we arrived, a stretch limousine took us to drop off our bags at the hotel and then to lunch. So far nothing had screamed Nashville or country. After lunch, we boarded a pedal pub, which is a group bike with a bar in the middle. It was a planned activity that I knew was going to take place, but I did not anticipate how much work it would involve.

Wearing a bright orange shirt that the bride so graciously bought for us, I pedaled until my shirt was drenched and my rear was sore. I am not the most active person, playing with my kids is my main source of exercise, so this was a bit of a work out. Not to mention Nashville was going through the same heat wave that just hit Iowa.

The ride did provide a great tour of downtown Nashville. The Grand Ole Opry, Bridgestone Arena — home of the Nashville Predators, LP Field — home of the Tennessee Titans, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Broadway Street, where all of the honkey tonks and boots shops are located, are just a sampling of what we saw.

After cleaning up and grabbing some dinner, the group headed back to Broadway to take in the local flavor and celebrate the bachelorette. I do not regularly listen to country music on the radio and mostly know songs that are now close to 20 years old. Like doing research for a story, I should have prepped a little before immersing myself in the local culture.

I would estimate I knew about a quarter of what I heard the first night out. The local bands did a great job involving the crowd and my feet were pretty sore in a new boots from dancing the night away (side note: none of it was line dancing, I must say a was a little disappointed.) As an added bonus, while on our way back to the hotel we spotted a Pita Pit, which is a restaurant chain I thought only existed in Iowa.

Saturday was a free day, open to visiting local attractions or just taking it easy. With a small group, I headed back downtown to do a little shopping and grab some mementos for my girls.

That night we went to eat as a group and played the traditional bachelorette party games before spending our last night in Nashville. We hit up a karaoke bar, in which we heard our fair share of Shania Twain before hopping around until we ended up at the first bar we went to on Friday, Tootsie’s.

With an early flight home Sunday morning, I packed and grabbed a few hours of sleep before saying my good-byes to Music City.

Nashville was a little more of a tourist destination than I had anticipated, and I think that if I went back I would frequent more of the museums than the bars. With all of the history of the south, I might have to pack up my boots for a return trip in the future.

Contact Staff Writer Jamee A. Pierson at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com.