third man

when we first started exploring nashville as a vacation destination i came across third man records as a place to check out.  it was the only place that i really wanted to go.  it's the personal record stored owned by jack white, of the white stripes fame.  apparently he has been known to jump behind the cash register from time to time, so i was pretty excited to check it out.
unfortunately we didn't end up seeing jack white, but we did get to wander around the record store for a bit!  the place was really cool and packed full of rare and limited run vinyl printings- and you could even open any of them up and give them a listen on the record players in the sound booths.  barbara and james got ledger a cute little 'third man records' shirt and everything!
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nash night

we decided to go downtown one last time.  who knows when we'll be back in the nash so we might as well enjoy it while we're here, right?
we started our night grabbing a bite to eat, and then made our way down the strip again.  this time aaron and i were able to direct everyone to some of the cool places we checked out last time we came down just the two of us.  not everyone lasted very long, and before we knew it, almost everyone was ready to head home for the night.  everyone except aaron and i...  so we waved them off as everyone else went home, and the two of us stayed out for another night on the town!  (as i'm writing this i'm definitely realizing that i spent way more time with aaron than i did with diana... oops.)  we both had another super fun night and really enjoyed our last night in the nash- living it up!
the highlight though, was when we got home.  aaron decided he wanted to fry up some bacon!  he then proceeded to fry up the whole thing and pretend to be some sort of baking show host the whole time.  it was so funny!  after he got it all fried up we ate about 2 pieces each and then went straight to bed.  sorry for whoever woke up first to our fried mess...
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opry backstage

this lunch stop became, unexpectedly, the highlight of our trip.  miranda and levi wanted to go out for a special meal, just the two of them (it was their anniversary while we were down there), and barbara and james just wanted a quiet afternoon, so diana, lissa, aaron, and i headed out for lunch.  we decided to go to the opryland backstage restaurant.  it was a nice place, the food was pretty good, but the amazing part happened as we were leaving.  they had a gift shop that lissa wanted to check out.  as we were at the cash register, lissa struck up a conversation with the guy working there.  he said that he was one of the 'singing waiters' at the restaurant.  lissa asked what that was, and he told us that he's usually a waiter but sometimes goes up on stage and plays his guitar and sings for the customers.  well, lissa was all about that and asked if he could go up and play for us.  he said 'sure' and proceeded to strap on his guitar and walked up on stage!  we headed back in and grabbed a seat to enjoy the improptu show.  he started playing and all four of us were shocked at how fantastic he was- like really really good!  the best part of the show? we were literally the only people there so it was a show just for us!  as he was on stage he just kept talking to us and giving little stories about his life and different songs he would then perform.  his musical tastes run similar to mine (keeping in mind this is nashville)- he loved 90's country and garth brooks.  he asked if we had any requests, so of course i called out 'blackhawk'!  he was absolutely thrilled with that one and told us a whole story about how much he loved blackhawk!  he dared me to try and stump him, so i called out 'thinking problem' by david ball.  well it worked, he was stumped- and felt really embarrassed about it!  he asked for another request, whatever i wanted.  since he had mentioned michael jackson earlier, i told him i'd love to hear a countryfied version of a michael jackson song- he then proceeded to play the coolest 'man in the mirror' cover i've ever heard!
finally, after about an hour, he wrapped it up saying that he really should get back to work.  oh, that's right, he was actually on the clock this whole time!  oops!  well, we were absolutely amazed with his talent and willingness to humor us for so long.  like i said, this turned out to be one of the greatest part of the whole week in nashville!  thanks again for the amazing concert, bradley brassfield!
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distillery

the ladies went off to do their own thing, so levi, aaron, and i decided to check out a local distillery.  nelson's greenbrier distillery was offering tours (with free samples), so we went and checked the place out.  it was really cool to see how it was all done and hear about the 100+ year history of the place.
at the end of the tour we got to try some of the tennessee whiskey they had made.  levi and aaron were all about the samples but i was not so excited- that stuff hurts as it goes down!  i wasn't too thrilled with the whiskey, but seeing how its made was really interesting!
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nash boys

after a long day of checking out the nash, almost everyone was planning on a night in.  well, everyone except aaron and i!  after getting a taste of downtown earlier in the week, the two of us decided that we wanted to check it out again.  we called an uber and off we went!
the two of us had a blast checking out some of the bars that we missed the first time out.  some of the highlights include the rooftop bar we started the night at, and ending with an amazing chocolate milkshake as we closed the bars down!
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hotel nash

man, this place is weird.  there's this hotel in nashville that has a small town inside of it.  yeah, i've been there and i don't get it either...  the opryland hotel is like a circle of hotel rooms surrounding a strange rain forest/water ride/victorian era houses sort of place covered with glass.  we checked it out and wandered around a bit, but it totally felt like a strange twilight zone area that shouldn't actually exist.
we stopped at one of the restaurants in this fairy tale land and got some really yummy pizza.  it was a pretty cool place, but i still don't know why it even exists.
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