Nashville

Our original plan was to travel for one full year but with a little money left in our pockets and a strong desire not to job hunt through summer we decided to hit the road again. Since we spent last summer road-tripping throughout the western states we figured we better give the eastern side of our country a shot. We kicked off the trip with a Milwaukee summer staple, Summerfest. The perfect weather, fireworks, great bands and company of my sister Amy made for a great start to our trip.

Since Illinois rates even lower than Nebraska on the Bored to Death driving index we raced as fast as possible to Nashville, Tennessee. Danielle polished up her cowboy boots and I my southern accent while blaring country music with the windows down in preparation for a long weekend in Music City USA. Our friend Dave was nice enough to provide accommodations for us just south of downtown and we spent no time in getting acquainted with the city.

It's great to stay with people who really love their city and can give us the insider guide and Dave was no exception. Our first night he took us to a small neighborhood bar that he was going to perform at during their open mic night. Other open mic nights I've been to have featured one or two brave souls and the random drunk who thinks they should sing Journey songs all night. Not so in Nashville. The line of emerging artists was so long they had to limit the number of songs to only two each. The talent level was impressive and featured a surprisingly wide range of music.

Nashville is a very pedestrian friendly city and we spent the next two days strolling through the historic downtown popping into honky tonk bars and cowboy boot stores along the way. The music starts at 11am due to the high number of talented musicians in town. Not much has changed inside the dusty bars since the likes of Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams used to frequent them after shows at the famous Grand Ole Opry.

We left after the weekend for Chattanooga but couldn't stop talking about how much we enjoyed our stay. Even if you aren't into country music it's hard not to like a city with so much positive energy and intriguing history.