Fangirling – Nashville Edition

This morning I had the very difficult task of loiter about the Opryland Hotel. It was a hard job and took all of my tenacity to complete 😉 KG’s conference ran until the afternoon so I was left waiting until she was ready to move on. I would think I had the easy morning considering I just lounged in bed, wandered around the gorgeous lush greenery scattered about the hotel and drank Starbucks in the Garden Conservatory Cafe but if you’ve read her post about her morning (The Hot List) you’ll see she was having a pretty fun time too.

When the conference was concluded, our bags were packed and we had checked out it was time to head downtown. We looked a little odd loading our suitcases onto the Wildhorse Shuttle but it was the most economical way to proceed. We didn’t care that it was normally just Opryland guests going on a day trip to the main part of the city, we were using it to get us from our high class resort to our next residence. I am, of course, speaking of the Nashville Downtown Hostel. If you had expected anything else you (a) overestimate our level of class, (b) under estimate our adventurous natures and (c) obviously don’t regularity read our blogs. It was only a few blocks walk from the drop off point (being the famous Ryman Auditorium) and was hardly as hilly as the trek we made with our suitcases in San Fran. We are now settled into a 4-person mixed dorm, although from the look of their stuff we believe both of our roommates are girls, and are prepared for four nights of hostel life. To prep for such a life we hit up a grocery store for snacks & easy lunch/supper food and a convenience store for liquor. This is after the hostel employees looked at us like crazy people for asking where the nearest liquor store was. “Um…there’s a specialty wine store up the street…if you need more selection.” “More selection than what?” “Than what you can get across the street at the convenience store.” It was like light bulbs went off above our heads…oh yeah, you can just buy beer absolutely anywhere in this country, not just from its own special store.

We needed an afternoon snack (also know as lunch if you believe in such a thing) so we headed out in search of live music, beer and bar food. We ended up at The Stage. This is a pretty iconic Nashville bar where many a country music legend has played. We had a drink, some jalapeños poppers & an order of spring rolls. It was serious deep fried goodness. While we ate we enjoyed the song stylings of a man and his band. I call them that because I don’t think I ever knew who they were…sometimes these performers don’t do a very good job of informing an ever-changing crowd of their name. It was an entertaining set though. The lead singer pulled off a wide variety of covers, from classics to current outlaw country hits. He created a stellar party atmosphere, especially when you consider it was the middle of the afternoon and no one in the bar was attempting to party.

Otherwise we spent most of our day relaxing. We got our belongings organized in our rooms. We sat in the common area & blogged. We intensely listed out everything we still wanted to do in Nashville and systematically scheduled each thing in for the next 4 days. We made a light supper of cold meat & cheese sandwiches and salad. It was pretty chill. Spending time at this hostel is pleasant. We are pretty sure it is a converted office building. Our room has 2 bunk beds pushed against the walls of what would have been an office. It’s not a lot of space, but it’s clean and well laid out. Plus the fourth floor where we are bunking has beautiful hardwood flooring. There are small common spaces on the dorm floors, but they are designated quiet areas for just hanging out in to read, etc. (I use etc because I’m not entirely sure what else you’d use them for) the main common area is on the main floor and has an open concept. The check in desk, tv area, dining tables and kitchen are all in the same large room, which seems hectic but due to superior planning actually flows quite well. Everything is nice quality and has a new & classy look to it. Basically it’s still up there with San Francisco as a beautiful place to stay. It doesn’t appear to be as lively though. We’ll see how the weekend progresses, but so far people seem a little lethargic when out lounging and not eager to organize a big hostel-group drinking party.

It was after nine before we even considered moving. KG looked at me and said “We should probably go do something, shouldn’t we?” “I guess so…although it feels like it’s already 4 in the morning.” Ironic…just a little foreshadowing being thrown in here… We decided that the night life is a huge part of the Nashville experience and we could suck it up and go out. Just because we felt sluggish now didn’t mean we wouldn’t perk up with some fresh air and alcohol. Not to mention the music. Instant Party: Just add Beer & Country Music.

After walking 2nd Ave and Broadway we settled on Tootsies Orchid Lounge. The bouncer had done the “Ladies come in here” non-sell that seems to work on us so well. Tootsies is a Nashville institution that we intended on visiting at some point so this was as good of a time as any. The cramped but lively bar is wallpapered with signed photos of all the classic country music greats. When the Grand Ole Opry was situated in the Ryman Auditorium the artists used to finish their set, walk out the back door of the theater and into the back door of Tootsies.
We were luck enough to snag 2 seats at the bar. The place was already squished standing room only but we’d entered as the on stage talent was changing so we also hit the changing of bar patrons. We came in for the new act as the previous owners of our stools left with the last singer. Once on our thrones we kind of just held court while the people around us changed. We made all sorts of random friends as they drifted past, some just for a few minutes but many who kept coming be to pay us a visit as the night progressed. One fellow thought KG should dance with him even though she repeatedly insisted she was good. Multiple old men (and we mean 50+…sorry dad but I’m counting that as old) stopped to tell me how pretty I was. A group of studio musicians alternated between kinda fun, kinda creepy and kinda fun, depending on the time they’d stop by. A super drunk but totally harmless business man kept awkwardly flail-dancing in our vicinity, much to our entertainment. Basically we had a steady stream of randoms to keep us amused.

But the real entertainment of the evening was that evenings entertainment. The band that played from minutes after we entered the bar until close was spectacular! This group of gentlemen had everyone singing, dancing and having a kick ass time. Orio and the Goodfellers are born entertainers who ran through the best party-playlist of requests and inspired fangirl reactions from this prone-to-fangirling duo. We made our request when we tipped the band: something Canadian. Anthony Orio, the lead singer, promised us he’d choose something good. We ended up getting a 2-for-1 deal when he first proudly stood on the stage and belted out Man I feel like A Woman by Shania Twain, then had the whole bar rocking to Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69. After that we got a kick from his random Canadian shout-outs.


As we were now the bands biggest fans we ended up staying right till close…which came a bit sooner than expected when there was a fight upstairs and the police helped the bouncers clear the bar. Staying was aided by the acquisition of 2 new friends, Hostel Friends! When we’d been relax earlier two young men had been playing pool across the common area. Now they spotted us across the bar. Staying at the same hostel always equals instant friends. We tried to educate this Australian & Argentinian pair as to what were the best country songs and enjoyed the company of some other excited travelers.

When we left the bar it was pouring rain. We ran back the hostel trying to duck under store front canopies and into covered doorways…well the others did at least. I, on the other hand, tried to jump in as many puddles as possible and make the most epic splashes my rain-soaked companions had ever seen.
Once back at the hostel we played pool while we dried off. Everyone bonded over travel adventures, stories from home and cross-continental shared interests. Time flies by when your having fun and we finally crawled into bed at 4am. What can I say? We’re party animals 😉

Love & Luck,
Kris