Nashville, Tennessee has my heart! For Christmas, TJ gifted me tickets to Rachel Cruz’s Marriage & Money conference. Now some of you may be thinking that is a weird Christmas gift, but it’s my love language! TJ knows the way to my heart. He knows that I love adventure, weekend getaways, exploring a new place and all things financials! Rachel Cruz is the daughter of Dave Ramsey, a financial guru who TJ and I have been following for years.

Most people would be happy to hear and see all of the musical aspects of Nashville. But I was more excited to visit Ramsey Solutions. Ramsey Solutions is the where Dave and his team work, record podcasts and live streams. They also open it to public to watch. We toured Ramsey Solutions while enjoying free refreshments of cookies and coffee. We learned even more about the history and new faces and books available on different financial areas.

Everything Ramsey Solutions stands for is what TJ and I have been implementing in our home and financial lives. Our financial situation is so much better from where we were when we first got married. It is all attributed to Dave and his baby steps. Most people get star struck when they see their favorite singer or actress. I got star struck being at Ramsey Solutions and seeing Rachel Cruz and Chris Hogan in person.

I took my big camera to Ramsey Solutions but tried to be present for the remaining of the trip by only taking my iPhone. Below is a recap of our trip. I have listed all the places we visited and more!

Recap Of Our Trip

The Marriage and Money conference was on Valentine’s Day. We traveled down on Thursday and had an extended weekend. We had limited time but so much to see. On Thursday we drove down and arrived around 3 p.m. We quickly settled in to our AirBnB and got ready for our first night out. We attended the Nashville Symphony to celebrate Boudleaux Bryant’s 100th birthday and the 75th anniversary of meeting his wife and songwriting partner Felice.

On Friday, we started our day with breakfast at Biscuit Love in Franklin Tennessee, which was not only adorably quaint but delicious. We indulged in the bonuts, which are biscuit dough, tossed in sugar, topped with lemon mascarpone over blueberry compote. TJ had himself a spicy boneless chicken thigh that was fall apart amazing too. After that breakfast, we decided to walk the downtown area to see the small town.

After breakfast, we spent the day at Ramsey Solutions, watched the live recording of The Dave Ramsey Show. Rachel Cruz and Dave Hogan filled in for Dave while he was out of town. There were two live debt free screams. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many like minded people on the same path. Everyone was at different stages in their lives but the story of improving their financial well being was the same throughout the building.

After TJ drug me out of Ramsey Solutions, we decided to head back to our AirBnB and I stalked Dave’s new home and found the address. We didn’t get far since obviously because he would live behind a gated community, but I saw the gate! That night we attended the Marriage and Money Conference. Rachel and Dr. Les Parrott a psychologist and award winning author spoke about relationship psychology and personal finance.

After the conference, we decided to get Valentine’s Day dinner so we swung through Hardees, went back to our AirBnB and ate dinner in our PJs in bed!

On Saturday, we did all of the touristy things. We spent the day in Nashville. We got our photo with the “What Lifts You Wings” by Kelsey Montague. The big and little one because how cute, right. When you have cool walls of art, you have to do a mini photoshoot so we took turns being silly.

For comparison, not everyone can be a photographer! These two photos were ones I took some of TJ, album cover photo and cute smile. He is in the center vertically and horizontally.  Then TJ tries to take a photo of me and I end up with the photo on the left. Why is there so much of the gray concrete ground when there is an awesome wall behind me? Needless to say, we did a little teaching and got some better photos. Thank goodness for the crop function!

We found another wall and TJ had to pose on the green wall with his green drink, something with wheat grass from I Love Juice Bar. Not my drink of choice but I tried it. Also, photos of me when I get no direction and being goofy!

After being silly, we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. We didn’t get tickets in advance and the line was crazy, so we only ventured through the gift shop.

TJ decided that he would rather go to the Johnny Cash Museum and so we opted for that museum since we didn’t have time for both. I had no prior knowledge of Johnny Cash and although the museum was smaller, it was full of interesting details. I learned so much about him, his wives, children, and music. It was one of the best museums I have ever been too.

We then found CMT and the Ryman Auditorium. We heard that performers would perform at the Ryman and then walk to Toosie’s using the alleyway. So we found the footsteps and back door to Tootsies that they used. We explored all three floors of Tootsies, each with their own performer.

TJ made us dinner reservations at Deacon’s New South restaurant located on the first floor of the historic L&C Tower. We enjoyed skillet cornbread with a 20 oz. dry-aged bone-in ribeye with asparagus and mac & cheese. TJ was fascinated at the cooler that displayed all of the meats. We were able to watch as they prepared our steak in the kitchen. After dinner we walked to the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge, a pedestrian truss bridge spanning the Cumberland River. The John Seigenthaler is one of the longest pedestrian bridges in the world.

After the pedestrian bridge, we found The Bluebird Cafe from the show “Nashville.” We weren’t able to go in but we did look through the windows and saw singers performing in a circle and could hear them from outside. Our last stop of the night and our trip was a comedy show. We went to Zanies comedy night club to watch Jared Fried.

I loved our weekend getaway to Nashville. The perfect mini adventure trip filled with so many great sites, history and time with my forever Valentine!