Roam With Me! Nashville and Asheville -- July 2019

In July, I took a road trip with my honey, and we went to Nashville, TN, as well as Asheville, NC, and a few places in between. Our main reason for visiting these two areas was to see if we liked them for potential retirement locales. We more than liked the Nashville area -- we loved it!

Here are some of the reasons we may very well retire in the Nashville area.

First and foremost -- the climate. We are both so tired of Nebraska winters. While the Nashville area still sees a little bit of snow, that's all it sees -- a little bit.

Second -- there is a thriving literary scene with numerous bookstores, libraries, writing events, etc. These photos were taken in Books at Cummins Station where the books tower toward the ceiling, Parnassus which is co-owned by Ann Patchett, and McKay's where they offer shopping carts to load up on your choices from the thousands of used books available.

Third -- aside from the literary events, there are many cultural events to suit anything we may be in the mood to attend. Naturally, there are musical events happening all over town, but there are museums, live shows, sporting events, stand-up comedy, parks, and on and on.

Kim outside one of the many bars on Broadway in downtown Nashville. Every single bar has live music spilling out onto the street. It's crazy and it's loud!

The Tennessee Titans stadium viewed from across the Cumberland River.

A life-size replica of the Parthenon in Athens -- located in Centennial Park. It's the only to-scale replica in the world.

Fourth -- motorcycle riding and golfing can be year-round activities instead of relegated to the few fickle summer months in Nebraska. We kept a sharp eye on the roads in Tennessee, and we were pleased to encounter very few potholes and almost no haphazard patch jobs. The roads were smooth and would make for excellent riding. The golf courses stay open all year round and only had to close twelve days last year due to poor weather.

The greens at the Hermitage golf course northeast of Nashville.

See how smooth the roads are!

Fifth -- we love trying new restaurants, and there are so many in and around Nashville that we could keep busy for years simply visiting a different one every week. In downtown Nashville, we ate at Sambuca in the Gulch area. It's pricey but really delicious, and the serving sizes are spot-on. I had the hickory-smoked prime pork chop, and Kim ate the shrimp and crab linguini. We even had room for dessert, so we shared a scrumptious cheesecake sopapilla. There, as in many of the downtown restaurants, we enjoyed live music while we ate -- the night we were there a blues trio was playing. Another day, for lunch, we ate at Peg Leg Porker BBQ. Basically, we just stumbled upon it, having no idea it was one of the most popular eating establishments in the Gulch area. My favorite BBQ meal, though, was at Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint in Mt. Juliet, about twenty minutes east of Nashville. I had the brisket tacos. Yummy.

Sixth -- there is a wonderful 55+ active community in Mr. Juliet that we visited to see if it was to our liking. It definitely is. Wonderful amenities including an indoor pool with dedicated lap lanes and a large outdoor pool, a small lake, walking trails, a fitness room and indoor walking path, a lending library and beautifully landscaped areas everywhere. It may or may not end up being our retirement haven.

I'd swim here every day if we lived here.

How fun do those paddle boats look!

Seventh -- the natural wonders that surround Nashville and abound throughout Tennessee. It's just a pretty state with so many trees, lakes and mountains that there's something pretty to see everywhere you go. We even happened upon some elk!

Simply gorgeous scenery.

This is a view of Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park taken from behind the capitol.

Eighth -- Nashville is the capital of Tennessee, so whatever a person needs in a governmental capacity can be found here, and it draws events like the state fair and major conventions.

Tennessee's Capitol.

Ninth -- Nashville has proximity to many other great places. It's one of two states in the U.S.A. that is bordered by eight different states (Missouri is the other one), and since it's a narrow state, it's easy to be in any of those other eight states in a short amount of time. Additionally, it's only a nine hour drive to the Gulf coast or to the Atlantic at Charleston. You can also drive back to Nebraska in a day as well, so Nashville is ideally located for many future road trips.

Tenth -- it makes a great place for friends and family to visit as well, and if we end up there, we look forward to the memories we'll make with whomever comes to visit. There's just so much to do in and around Nashville that we'll always be able to find something fun to do with anyone who visits.

Asheville, North Carolina, is an easy drive from Nashville, and it was another town I wanted to check out as a possible retirement destination. While we enjoyed our visit there, we both decided it wasn't the town for us as far as living there goes, but we'd definitely go back to see more of what it has to offer. 

The highlights of our time in Asheville were our visit to the Biltmore estate and seeing Thomas Wolfe's boyhood home and memorial as well as his cemetery headstone. My words and photos can't do justice to the behemoth that is the Biltmore estate, so I'll just share a few of my favorites.

I love the gargoyles!!

The Biltmore library was my favorite room, of course.

The chandelier in the main staircase is amazing.

Can I please have this lovely writing desk?

The indoor swimming pool in the basement. No water -- I might have jumped in if there had been any!

That's a 179,000 square foot house! It's the largest privately owned home in the country. You really have to see it to believe it.

Surprisingly, Wolfe isn't the only literary great buried in Asheville's Riverside Cemetery. O. Henry is also there, which is odd since he's not from Asheville.

This life-size cutout of Thomas Wolfe is to show that he was a tall man.

The house his mother used as a boarding house and where he spent some of his childhood. The house where he was born was only a few blocks away, but it no longer exists.

Beautiful books that belonged to Wolfe's father.

O. Henry's real name.

We also took a drive from Asheville back into Tennessee to see Johnson City and the fossil site at Gray. The drive between Asheville and Johnson City was beautiful.

Tennessee definitely stole our hearts. Hopefully, we will return soon -- perhaps to live there, perhaps for just an extended stay. Either way, I look forward to going back.