One of the main reasons that I’ve decided to curate a blog in relation to Nine Zero Three Photography is because I intended to create a mix of our professional work with engagements, weddings, families and mix that with our personal work and lives. Well, lately, I’ve been majorly slacking in the personal posts department, so here is my effort to correct that. Last week Jim and I took a long weekend and made a trip down to visit good friends of ours in Nashville, Tennessee. Ironically, we made this trip 364 days since the last time we were down there, so we are nothing if not consistent! I feel very fortunate that we made plans long in advance to travel there, because it was the perfect timing to take a break and recharge our creative batteries as we near the end of the year!
We have a lot of friends who went to Ohio State, and for as long as I can remember, everyone has been raving about this food joint called Raising Cane’s. All I knew is that it was a very straightforward menu, and that it consisted of chicken fingers and fries, so needless to say it was somewhere on my list of “places I probably need to go to.” Guys, they were all right – it was so good. I don’t know how I’ve never been there before, I’ve made plenty of Columbus trips in my life between weddings, friends who live there, and random shopping trips to Easton (one of my favorite places ever) so it was about time that I checked it off the bucket list. Side note, Jim was pretty excited when I agreed to be in front of the camera for these few shots. There are a LOT of him being my faux-model coming up, so prepare yourself.
After our Cane’s adventure and a pit stop at the largest party/alcohol store I’ve ever seen to pick up some rare beers that Jim was looking for, we were officially on our way. Well, maybe we also had to make a pit stop when someone’s bladder just couldn’t hold out for another minute, but I won’t name names of who that was to spare embarrassment. Okay, it was me.
We arrived in Nashville in time for dinner, so we gladly went to a local place near our friends’ apartment and ate some good food before heading home to get some rest. Once we woke up on Friday, we had breakfast because Mike and Shannon are AMAZING and asked us in advance if there was anything in particular we liked to eat, so there was a large container of vanilla yogurt, granola, and strawberries all ready for our breakfast. Best. Hosts. Ever. Then there was a certain someone who was MORE than excited to have us as guests, and that was Sadie, our friend’s super adorable dog. She is seriously one of the cutest dogs I’ve ever seen… maybe I’m biased because I’ve been given the title of Aunt Nikki, but I don’t even care she’s just SO cute. Jim was more than happy to play with her in the AM before we went out for some exploring.
After about 10 minutes she was pretty much over it and just wanted to sit on him. She’s basically a cat, which you all know I love cats, so it was pretty perfect.
But I mean, COME ON – look at that face! If she were mine I don’t think she’d ever get in any real trouble because she’d look at me and I would just melt.
Our first adventure of Friday while Mike & Shannon were working was to head to Centennial Park which was super cute. It’s an area that was perfect for our morning so we could take a short walk and soak up the good weather while it was uncrowded due to it being 9am on a weekday. Plus, y’all know I love a good willow tree, so this park did not disappoint in that department! This also begins my first installment in something I didn’t realize I was doing, but creating a bit of a theme with “big scene and little Jim” photos. Enjoy that.
The park also houses a replica of the Parthenon that’s atop the Acropolis in Greece. Having been to the actual Parthenon in Greece years ago, this was pretty… random? to me but I could see that some people would think it’s pretty cool. This was also nice because you can walk right up to the building and meander in and out of the columns, and when I was at the real thing it was pretty off limits.
I call this one “stripes on stripes”. You know, if I had to name photos or something. (:
From the park we wandered around Vanderbilt a little bit because one of our other good friends actually is a smarty pants and works there.. and in the few times that Jim and I have been to Nashville neither of us have actually set foot on Vanderbilt’s campus! I have to say, I loved it. Jim wasn’t as partial to it because he decided that OU’s campus is the best and nothing compares, but I liked the feel of the area and how it was all put together.
After all this walking, we obviously built up an appetite, and lucky for us we had pre-decided before we even went to Nashville that there was one main place we needed to try: Hattie B’s. Ironically, it’s a very very similar set up to Raising Cane’s, so yes, we had chicken fingers and fries two days in a row, but YOU GUYS, it was the best chicken I’ve ever had in my entire life. MY WHOLE LIFE. The full name is Hattie B’s Hot Chicken and that’s exactly what it is, spicy chicken tenders with your choice of sides. You can choose a level of heat and how you want it presented (wings, tenders, legs) and then your sides and that’s it, and it’s perfect. We arrived there around 11:15 (they open at 11) and there was already a line out the door. We then ordered and made our way to a picnic table and the line was out the door and around the corner of the building – crazy! However, after eating it, all those people in line were totally justified. Man, I could eat that every day. Well, maybe not every day, because then I’d have to work out about 10x more than I already do, but you catch my drift. It was so good, we finished eating, started walking around the area, and I realized I didn’t take a single photo. THAT good. …and now my mouth is watering.
The rest of that day/night was awesome, we spent some time at Mike’s school since he’s a teacher of the kiddos and there was a school event – so we got to see all around where he works, his classroom, etc. which was just so cool. We then decided to make it a mellow night, grabbed some Mexican food at one of their favorite spots, and played some Cards Against Humanity because hey, it’s one of the best games ever.
Saturday was a different story, we all woke up and decided to go rent some of the bikes that are all around the city to go for a bike ride and check out some cool spots. A good idea in theory, we didn’t take into account how uncomfortable the seats are (pretty sure my butt is still bruised for those that care!) plus it was pretty chilly and the combination of cold weather and wind in my face was no bueno for my sinus issues. We rode around for about an hour before abandoning ship at the local farmer’s market. From there, we made the smartest choice of the day, and took a cab ride back to the car to drive home – forget those bikes! As a reward (kinda?) we then went to one of the other places Jim wanted to check out, Yazoo Brewing.
I actually never even asked him or Mike how the beer was, because Shannon and I were far too busy planning where we were going to eat because at this point we were STARVING. So, as you guessed, after this we quickly went and got lunch and it was amazing, as are all of the restaurants I’ve been to thus far in Nashville.
That night we traveled to Franklin, Tennessee and it is ADORABLE. I wish we had gotten a chance to go in the daytime so I could have taken some photos (the downtown area didn’t lend itself to photos as well as I would have hoped) but man, it was super cute. We went to dinner at a pizza place that was amazing and then got Sweet CeCe’s for dessert – the perfect night! On our way home, Mike and Shannon were nice enough to cart Jim and I to this pedestrian bridge in downtown Nashville so I could take some photos of the city at night and despite it being pretty chilly on the bridge, it was worth it!
Oh, and when we got home I forced Mike, Shannon, and Sadie to take a family photo. And I’m not even sorry because they’re adorable.
Sunday morning was the BEST EVER because we went and participated in The Escape Game in Nashville – if you’re ever there or live there, you should do this! It’s so cool. I’ll spare you the blog post about it and let you google it yourself but oh man, it was SO fun. After that experience, Shannon and Mike decided to take us to one of the best breakfast spots ever, the Pfunky Griddle. You sit hibachi style around a cook top and they bring you pitches of PANCAKE BATTER along with toppings. Um, it was like heaven, especially for Jim who love love loves pancakes. We actually kept it a secret from him for the weekend so he’d be surprised when we got there Sunday, and he had a big smile once he figured it out – worth it! After breakfast it was, sadly, time to go home, so we said our goodbyes and started our adventure back to Cleveland.
Well, that was until we made a snap decision in the car to go to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. I mean, why not, right? As much as I thought it would be a quick stop since I still wasn’t feeling 100%, we went on what turned out to be a two hour tour, but it was so worth it. Caves are awesome, guys!
We had a super cool guide and were with a large group of random people so it made for quite the experience. But, we learned a lot and got to check out this awesome cave. I tried to get a photo of this one wall that I saw, it didn’t turn out because it was not illuminated very well, but there was a wall marking from a “captain and mrs. _____” with a date of 8/1/24! Pretty freaking cool. Also, we learned that they are converting all the lights in the cave to LED’s because the ones that they’ve had for years a letting the cave produce algae on the walls, crazy! (All the green you see on the cave walls would be the algae!)
Jim was thrilled that I wanted to take 100 photos of him. I swear, sometimes I’m like a soccer mom at her kid’s first big game, ya know?
Then we were done and exited through a door in the side of the hills. Also – are there any Lost fans out there? Does anyone else think that this could pass for an entrance into where Dharma was?! Because I did, so I took a photo of it!
Once we were leaving, we took one last quick stop at a “scenic overlook” on the way out. I put that in quotations because it really wasn’t much of anything, despite us getting a lecture from a random guy with a pretty nice Nikon about how super great the whole area was. Decide for yourself.
And with that, we were finally on our way home. But seriously an awesome trip that was packed full of good friends, good food, and some random exploration! Nashville, see you next year! (:
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