Nashville and Antique Archaeology in Marathon Village

We love to travel so it probably comes as no surprise that we really enjoy watching Frank and Mike on the History's Channel's American Pickers.  We love traveling those same back highways where Frank and Mike often find the best stuff, and on a recent trip to Nashville we had a chance to visit the new Antique Archaeology store in Marathon Village near downtown.

It took a bit of driving around to find Marathon Village even though we were using a GPS map, plus you can actually see the big Marathon building from the interstate, which we actually parked under to keep the car cool.  Keeping the car cool was important because when we stopped on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend there was a long line stretching out the door of the shop.  We heard some people in line saying they'd never had to wait to get inside, but because History had been airing a marathon of American Pickers and the show had such a great following, spring vacationers like ourselves had apparently flocked to Antique Archaeology in Nashville.

The store is really cool, and it is in a super cool district near downtown Nashville.  Just don't walk in expecting some huge antique mall.  The store is about 2,000 square feet and is filled with more t-shirts than antiques.  Good news is you get to see firsthand some of the best pieces Mike and Frank have found on American Pickers.  Visiting places like this is how we like to do it when Josh and Joe Travels!

Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry

It had been a few years since we had been to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and when we sat down in the Opry House there was no question it felt like being home.  This was our first time back inside the Opry House since it had been flooded in 2010 and clearly all the hard work and restoration paid off because we couldn't see any difference.  Before the show there was a short video on the bigscreen that showed pictures of the Opry house under four feet of water, and the neighboring Gaylord Opryland now has an impressive flood wall.  Opry Mlls Mall is open and was packed with tourist when we were there over Memorial Day weekend, a good sign after the enormous delay in getting the mall back open.

We love the Opry.  We love the classic country and the famous artist that take turns hosting each portion of the show.  We love the insanely talented bluegrass bands and the musicians who perform on country music's most famous stage.  While we couldn't help love Vince Gill and the Gatlin Brothers who closed the show, there was a special moment when Ayla Brown made her Opry debut.  If you haven't been to the Opry, we hope to bump into you soon spending a little time in Nashville.

When you visit Nashville be sure to plan breakfast at the Pancake Pantry on 21st Street.  We got there pretty much right at 8am and the line was already starting to wrap around the corner, but true to Nashville's country music passion, there was a street musician there to keep us entertained.  We might have waited 15-30 minutes for our table and once we got seated the food came out quickly.  We sampled the chocolate chip pancakes and the blueberry pancakes and they live up to the reputation of the Pantry.  We loved the gigantic pail of butter right below the kitchen window.

Near the Opry House and Opry Mills Mall we've eaten at Caney Fork a couple times.  There food is reasonably priced and they serve good portions of seafood, ribs and pulled pork.  The inside of the place is really neat and decorated with animals, an old pickup truck and a fish pond, so if you have kids they might really have fun at Caney Fork.  We like Caney Fork but we are still looking for really good places to eat near the Opry House.  Most of the really fun places like Pancake Pantry are about a 15-20 minute drive which is not bad if you have a car.

We still have more pictures to show you from our latest adventure in Nashville, so keep watching to see how Josh and Joe Travels!