We always wanted to go to Nashville in Tennessee. Our family is fairly musically oriented, and for my daughter, visiting the “Country Music Capital of the World,” was truly a dream come true.
For New Year Eve celebrations (Dec 2019) we made our way down to Nashville from Milton, GA where my favorite cousin lives and where we subsequently spent the first week of 2020. My cousin's family joined us which made for great company.
After a ton of research, we all booked ourselves at the famous Opryland's. With 2000+ rooms and 15 restaurants, the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee is one of the world’s largest hotels. It is divided into four quadrants and has several vegetarian food options. It is very very kid-friendly!
It rained so much the first day that we decided to spend our day indoors. The hotel did not disappoint at all - lots of activities and walking around...Soundwaves - the indoor water park, game rooms, shopping, restaurants, and bars.
Also, can I just I tell you about the plants? The variety of plants I have seen in this hotel was absolutely mind blowing - It felt like I was in a botanical garden or a greenhouse! At least 50,000 plants here.
Each winter, Nashville hosts the ICE! exhibit at the Opry. We bought tickets to view the exhibit. It was really cold and despite several layers and a parka, our bodies were numb in about ten minutes. I have to say, however, that it was the best experience ever and I recommend it highly. We saw so many three-dimensional and colorful ice sculptures. The 2019 exhibit was called A Christmas Story, have a look at the photos. Credit goes to my darling cousin was taking the photos, it was so cold, I dreaded taking my gloves off. But she was brave.
Right next to the ICE exhibit, was snow tubing. This was my first time doing this and it was quite lovely and the moonshine that they sold outside was helpful after that experience!
For dinner, we had booked Chauhan's Ale and Masala House way-way in advance. This celebrity-chef restaurant by Maneet Chauhan (claim to fame: Food Network - Chopped) had been on our wish list for a while and we were so excited to check it out. What we were most interested in trying were her Indian spice-influenced beers and cocktails.
Since we were a larger group of four adults, we ordered several on the menu and a few flights to try them all out - This was super fun. The food was good - great for vegetarians, perhaps not all that child-friendly though (at least not for our kids!). Beautiful presentations. Here is a video of my family to showcase our amazing experience.
You obviously do not leave Nashville without listening to some good country music. This gets harder with kids because you can't really just walk into any bar with kids. But we timed it perfectly with an outdoor concert on some of the most popular streets in downtown Nashville.
From the video you will see that kids got that flavor of Nashville and we got to hear some music, so good for the soul. This was a perfect end to our Nashville adventure with kids.
For our next trip when our daughter is a little older, we will plan a longer stay and visit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, tour the historic Studio B, check out a honky-tonk bar and stop by at the famous Ernest Tubb Record Shop.
Note: I paid for this trip - Travel or stay was not complimentary, nor was I asked to write about the hotel, offerings or Nashville restaurants. It was a family trip and we had a great time.
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