Our 9th Anniversary Getaway...to Nashville!!

Alrightie! I'm finally ready to start telling you about our anniversary getaway. It started a week ago today, and I'm already SORELY missing the temps of our destination: Nashville, Tennessee! 

Neither of us had ever been TO Nashville before. Through it, yes, but never to it. We had the best time, and I'm so grateful Sean and Sarah covered things here at WillowBridge so we could get away.

To be honest, the start of the trip wasn't great. In typical fashion, we had a situation to work through at WillowBridge the NIGHT BEFORE we left, and I wasn't even sure we should leave. But Sean and Sarah stayed on task with it after we departed and kept us updated, which eventually allowed us to rest and enjoy. 

We had a BEAUTIFUL day to drive! So sunny. And we had a Shafferland funny immediately into our trip. We wanted to stop at a Subway to get breakfast sandwiches to eat on the road, so we found the nearest one on our route...but we had no idea they actually REMOVED AN EXIT from the interstate in Fort Wayne. Where we planned to exit is now all grass! Okay! Next Subway. We drove to it, and it was closed. Okay! Next Subway. We called to make sure it was open and they said, "We are, but you should know that we don't have any eggs." Okay! Next Subway. By this time we were an HOUR into our drive and I was hangry. We got to Subway, and guess what? Say it with me: no eggs!! Apparently it's like a thing at Subway in general. At least Indiana ones. We no longer cared.

In a strange twist, we encountered ZERO traffic jams this entire trip! We made it to the Kentucky line, which you'll just have to imagine because THERE WAS NO WELCOME TO KENTUCKY SIGN. You're killin' me, Kentucky.

We passed through Louisville and reminisced about the anniversary we spent there just a few years ago! 

Tennessee was much kinder to us...we felt very welcomed.

We stayed at an Airbnb, and you guys, it was so cute!! It used to be a one car garage, and the homeowner had it converted into a little hotel room type Airbnb. Want to see?

The entry was very private - and we even had our own little courtyard!

Here's the main living space. I loved the little couch table - and the actual table could expand if needed!

Over in the corner was everything we could need for a kitchenette.

And the bathroom was a step-up room over to the side. I think it might have originally been the mud room in the house? It was very nice!

That's a barn door on there! We really loved this Airbnb. The host was so kind and accommodating, the space was super clean, and we felt completely safe. It was about a 20 minute drive from where we stayed to the heart of Nashville.

We were pretty tired after getting up so early to travel, so we took a little nap and then decided to drive toward the city to get some dinner! I was glad we were going INTO the city and not OUT of it. So much traffic! And such a pretty sunset over the skyline.

Do you guys know about Crumbl Cookies? I started following them (and drooling) about a year ago after one of my Instagram friends posted about them. I've been wanting to try them, and I found that there was a Crumbl in downtown Nashville! The cookies are served warm and fresh and are HUGE. Seriously each cookie is the size of a donut. So we went there first. We had the place to ourselves and got right in and out!

Except for chocolate chip and frosted sugar, the flavors rotate every week. We had hot chocolate, red velvet, snickerdoodle, and pancake. I loved them all - even red velvet! (We also ate them very slowly over the course of several days and split each cookie so we could sample everything.) 

After we purchased our cookies, we headed out to dinner, which was a Pinterest find for me! The restaurant is called the Ainsworth, and it's in downtown Nashville. I hoped it was okay that we didn't make reservations (because I wasn't sure what time we'd be hungry) and it was definitely not a problem. We had almost the entire place to ourselves. There was a small party in a side room - and then us. While I felt really bad that this fabulous restaurant wasn't busy, it was also really nice to have a private dining experience! The booths were so fancy!

We shared this, you guys, and OH MY WORD. It's one of their signature dishes. Take a look, and then I'll tell you about it:

That sandwich is a fried mac and cheese patty with a burger on top, with a slice of cheese on top of that, and then a serving of mac and cheese on top of that. All on a bun. With seasoned fries on the side. 

Not. Kidding. 

I went into a literal food coma when we got home!!!

Here are a couple of pictures of how pretty the outside of the restaurant was:

We had one more adventure that evening, but I'm going to wait until tomorrow to tell you about it.