Nashville, Tennessee

With live country music blaring from every open bar door on the main strip, Jason and I had a blast walking through Nashville at night.

We spent a few hours just walking past the bars, listening to the different bands and taking a bunch of photos. 

Not sure on how long we were going to stay in Nashville, we decided to take a short drive to the Grand Ole Opry. We felt in the Christmas spirit as soon as we arrived. Every light surrounding the hotel was beaming with Christmas lights. After driving around, Jason and I found a place to park around the hotel and spent some time walking around the outdoor nativity display.

If it weren’t for the freezing weather, I would have wanted to stay longer. It  was too cold to stay out long so Jason and I drove to a Wal-mart just outside of the city for the night. 

I had really wanted to take photos of Nashville in the  day time, so the next morning we drove around the city. Going to the same main strip as the night before, I was able to take a few more photos than the night before.

After crossing the bridge to get some city skyline photos, Jason and I began our long journey back to New Jersey. 

Natchez Trace

After staying in New Orleans for a night, Jason and I decided to start our journey North really early in the morning. I really wanted to stop in Slidell, where a lot of homes and buildings were damaged due to Hurricane Katrina.

Just as we began driving on the highway the drizzles turned into a heavy downpour. Turning on the radio we heard that the rainy forecast wasn’t the only weather condition that we had to worry about. Tornado warnings were causing traffic backup throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. To stay safe, Jason and I made a dash past Slidell, straight to Mississippi. 

Luckily, we drove through the end of the storm and once we arrived in Mississippi the rain had settled and the sun came out.

We were heading to our final National Park, Natchez Trail.

Natchez Trail is a “unique journey from Natchez to Nashville.” The trail begins in Mississippi cuts through Northern Alabama and end in Nashville Tennessee.

Starting in Natchez Mississippi, we were able to follow the trading route of those in the 1800’s to Nashville. Now a tri-state parkway, the trail has many historic sights that can be viewed at turnouts and picnic areas.

We traveled the trail for two days, stopping at only half of the sights. There is so much to see on the trail that two days wasn’t enough time. But Jason and I were ready to head to the East coast so, we drove straight through Northern Alabama, made a few stops in Tennessee and made it to Nashville by dusk. Wanting to explore this musical city a bit, we decided to stay the night.