“I love traveling all over the world; but it’s true: there’s nothing like home.” Dolly Parton

You may have wondered where I get the phase that follows each country’s name in my blog titles, usually it’s the country’s official tourism slogan. On occasion, they don’t have one, so I’d find a worthy substitute. I thought Nashville’s slogan was very apropos. If you remember from my last post, my friend and loyal reader, Paula, suggested I write a post about Nashville. So here it is, with repeat appearances by my friend, Kandi -who also joined me in Australia and my grandson, Arthur – who traveled with me in Greece.

In evening walks around my hood, I enjoyed the fireflies dancing across the yards as I passed. One thing I have always liked about Nashville – it is almost constantly in bloom. Crocus and daffodils come up in February and roses can still be on display in November. The magnolias were blooming when I got home. I love these large, lovely trees as their shiny leaves stay green all year long and their beautiful large white blossoms emit a soft enjoyable fragrance. Crepe myrtle trees, also in bloom, have grown on me. I’m not sure why I didn’t like the when I first got here but I’ve changed my mind. They remind me of the lilacs I loved in Wisconsin which don’t grow well here. They present clusters of red, white and pink flowers throughout the summer. Around the world I enjoyed hibiscus and here at home, the rose of Sharon, a hibiscus variety, was showing off its beautiful and delicate blooms.

The second thing I noticed is how prosperous Nashville appears. New construction, both commercial and residential, continues its ten plus year boom in each corner of the city. The ‘flock of cranes’ that were roosted here before I left, continue to punctuate the Nashville skyline, too numerous to count. Though I am sure someone does. Every country music star is opening a honky tonk downtown, new award winning restaurants are popping up across the city – one in my neighborhood, and any piece of vacant land is being snatched up at ever increasing prices. Houses like mine- modest, built in the 1930’s, are hard to find, instead tall and skinnies, flats, townhomes, etc have replaced them. This is creating a denser urban area which is both loved and hated depending on who you talk to.

A popular past time for tourists here is taking a trail, and there are many to choose from: donut trails, brewery tails, distillery trails, wine trails, etc. Arthur and I decided to create our own donut trail versus paying $70 for one on a popular tour site. We mapped out four shops – McGaugh’s, Five Daughters East, The Donut Distillery and East Park Doughnuts. At each stop we shared a delectable pastry, so not to fill up too quickly, which meant we had to negotiate the flavor at every store. The lemon ice box donut at Five Daughters won that day, though we savored everyone we tried. In fact we enjoyed them all so much, we decided to do it another day. This time we hit Parlor Donuts, Fox’s Donut Den, Five Daughters -12S, and Hero. It was hard to choose a clear winner this time as the Peach Truck peach fritter from Fox’s was very tasty and the honey glazed at Parlor was scrumptious. There are more shops to try, but we may have had our fill for a while.

Kandi and I embarked on a distillery trail of our own making. We started at Pennington Distilling Company near the Nations, then hit Nelson’s Green Briar Distillery at Marathon Motorworks, followed by Nashville Craft Distillery and Corsair Distillery in Wedgewood Houston- just a few block from my house, in case we had to walk home. Now there are over 10 distilleries in and around downtown Nashville but nobody needs to drink that much in one day. Kandi is a dirty martini girl, but she ventured out and tried a few bourbons before deciding she liked old fashioneds and enjoyed those at each stop. I like bourbon and rye so pretty much stuck with them as we went from one place to another – Green Briar’s were probably my favorite. They had a variety that had been aged in various casks – madeira, mouvedre, and cognac, which I really liked. Gin, vodka, and moonshine are also available at many places – we shied away from the moonshine, that’s for tourists.

Arthur and I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and even mid-week the place was humming. The museum covers the history of country music through beautiful displays of unique instruments, dazzling and tattered costumes, ostentatious vehicles, multi-colored album covers, bold, eye catching Hatch show prints, and gold, silver and platinum records. It’s quite an impressive collection. They were also hosting the String City puppet performance in collaborative with the Nashville Library. It’s a fun way to hear the history of country music from DeFord Bailey to Miranda Lambert. In hindsight, we should have taken an Uber or Lyft downtown and avoided the $10/hr midday, midweek parking charges. I cringe to think what you would need to pay in the evening or on weekends. Kandi and I considered taking some transportainment – possibly as hayride through downtown but weren’t sure we wanted to woo woo and imbibe at either 10 am or 1 pm, which were the times available. Maybe next time she visits. We just need to coordinate our outfits, get cowboy hats and boots.

You cannot come to Nashville and not see references to the civil war. Historical markers commemorating skirmishes and entrenchments are places throughout the city and its outlying the areas. Battlefields in Franklin and Murfreesboro are frequently visited civil war sites. In Nashville, Fort Negley, which I visited, is perched on a strategic hilltop just south of downtown and a few blocks from my house. It was built by Union troops after the capture of Nashville. It was the largest inland fort built during the war. The stronghold was constructed by conscript laborers, both slaves and free blacks, of stone, logs, earth, and railroad iron. More than 2,700 African American men and women worked to build Fort Negley; only 300 were paid for their labor. Fort Negley was a complex fort, shape like a star, constructed as a multi-tiered defensive fortification. The fort was intended to withstand a lengthy siege, and massive assaults on all fronts. On top St. Cloud Hill where the fort is located you can seen all directions and on a clear day, it seems, all the way to Franklin.

Arthur and I went to the opening day celebration of the Donelson Library. As Nashville grows, our library system is keeping up by building new and replacing old libraries. The goal is to have a library with 15 minutes driving time for all Nashvillians. This is another sign of prosperity in the city. The buildings are beautiful and spread across the town with more being added soon, Richland and Hadley Park for example. Beyond books, the library offers such services as 3D printers, board game collections, seed exchanges, technology labs and more. We also visited the Green Hills library to visit with Arthur’s cousin and my grandson, Sylas. Arthur is a sustaining donor to the libraries and was recently recognized for his giving. I used my library membership a lot during the last year, borrowing many books through Libby-the library’s on-line ‘branch’, as I traveled.

Kandi and I tried to go to the downtown farmer’s market, but our attempt was thwarted by the traffic around the Pride Parade and Festival – in Bicentennial Park which is across the street from the market. We turned around and left the shopping for another day. Arthur and I went bowling – kids bowl free at the Donelson Strike and Spare during the summer. And we beat the heat a few times in my friend, Kim’s pool. Then Arthur, my daughter, Jane, and I headed to Daytona Beach Shores where we were rescued from a riptide. Then embers from the fireworks above us drifted down into our laps. It was exhilarating to be that close but I’m not sure I would recommend it. My life is nothing but exciting. There was also the biggest collection of oversized pick up trucks than I’ve seen anywhere, all parked on the beach – my picture is early in the week so not really a representation of the horde of vehicles. Many day to day items demanded my attention when I got back so I don’t think I’ve done Nashville justice. But then I wasn’t able to explore any country or city to its fullest.

Next up: Epilogue – One Year