Planning a trip to Nashville was half the fun! I sent off for a tourism booklet/visitors guide of Nashville Music City and read it  weeks before I was ready to narrow down my itinerary. There is so much to choose from while planning a trip to Nashville and we were also going to include a stop in Memphis to see Graceland and the historic Peabody hotel.

Here was the method to my madness. We are not huge country music fans. In fact, we are not really country music fans at all but I love the show Nashville and we are all big Johnny Cash fans. I knew I wanted to see the Bluebird Cafe, featured on the TV show Nashville, and I have always been interested in the Grand Ole Opry for its historic significance, obviously. My then 20 year old son is a musician for fun, so I wanted to take him down Music Row and to see a live performance. My husband was mainly interested in the barbecue since Nashville is barbecue country. The distance to Nashville and Memphis make it a somewhat convenient car trip to fit in while two our sons were off at a weeklong summer camp.

Here’s how I narrowed it down. Looking at lodging, I knew we’d want to stay in the famous Gulch district. There’s not a lot of availability there during June so my next option was to check out AirBnB which is becoming a popular alternative to hotels. Air BnBs are so convenient. Throw in an Uber to everywhere and you’re truly on vacay. I found a writer’s bungalow which I thought was appropriate since I planned to write about our trip  while we were there!

A home or apartment also gives us more space and bedrooms rather than three adults all being in one hotel room. I love the idea of having a refrigerator to bring delicious leftovers back to in our bungalow! The pictures of rocking chairs on the front porch sealed the deal! Authentic Nashville living! I told my son to bring his guitar and ukulele so he could entertain us on the porch while we sat in rocking chairs. With this location, we could Uber to the Gulch district four miles away. The Nashville trolleys and tour buses would also be a convenient way to cover a lot of ground and hop off and on at various landmarks. The tour guides on board are an added perk!

Next, I started to narrow down the excursions we’d see. I wanted to leave plenty of time to just experience the city and meander through Music Row and Gulch district. Admission to the Johnny Cash museum seemed easy so I printed off that information. I reserved tickets online for Grand Ole Opry and chose a night based on the performers. I recognized Charlie Daniel’s Band and thought that was perfect since my husband and I were familiar with this band and their megahit during our teen years–“The Devil Went Down to Georgia“. I also knew my son is a big fan of their musicianship. Perfect!

Other highlights would be to check out Bluebird Cafe and, of course, dine in the authentic Nashville pubs. Of course, we planned to visit the Parthenon which is a replica of the real Parthenon in our ancestral homeland of Greece. Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage was a half-day experience and a recommended spot for historians. It will give you a taste of that era in history as people are in period dress and you get to tour his plantation estate and museum. Hattie B’s Hot Chicken is a legendary restaurant that people line up for around 10:30 a.m. for lunch….authentic and spicy!

After Nashville, we planned to go to Memphis which is three hours away. I reserved tickets online to Graceland–Elvis’s mansion and grounds. There are simple tours and deluxe tours showing more of his collections and memorabilia. I knew we’d stop by the Peabody Hotel to watch the famous ducks inside. We made reservations at the Residence Inn Hotel downtown which is moderately priced but planned to have coffee and dessert at the Peabody Hotel to include this historic site on our itinerary.

The drive from Tulsa to Nashville is approximately 9 hours and 3 hours from Nashville to Memphis. Memphis back home to Tulsa would take 5 hours and I planned accordingly to arrive in time to pick up our other sons  at the airport who were arriving from their summer camp trip. A six day trip by car like this was a good way to see a region of Americana that has always interested me. The Loretta Lynn Museum was located between Nashville and Memphis and well worth it!

Although there are great websites for trip planning, I recommend a good old fashioned tourism booklet for easy reference in my purse. This seems more durable and transportable than a file folder of printed off website pages. Highlighted info in the booklet along with my pre-printed museum, show tickets and lodging info made us good to go! Beale Street and the Cooper Young district are must-sees in Memphis. Memphis, Graceland, Beale Street and Cooper Young  are all  covered on this blog (search it in the search bar). So, there you are–3-4 days in Nashville and 1-2 in Memphis is a do-able road trip time frame to see two fabulous Tennessee cities. Fun for all ages!

photos by Gina Kingsley