(Attention: If you are only interested in the “food” section of this post, please scroll down to the bottom.)
This is the fourth year that Drew and I have attended CMA Fest in Nashville, TN, and I believe this one was the best yet! (minus a new complaint I’ll explain soon.)
We arrived Thursday morning around 9:30. After finally finding a parking spot and walking to the entrance of the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage (the biggest free stage, where Old Dominion was beginning the show), and waiting in line for about 45 minutes to get security checked, we finally made it to see the last two songs of Old Dominion. =(
Throughout the four day festival, we spent a lot of time at the Riverfront Stage, but also ventured out to the new Budweiser Dome, the new Crackerbarrel Stage, and the usual Park Stage and Hard Rock Cafe Stage. Here are some pics of just a few of the great acts we saw:
Chevrolet Riverfront Stage:
Budweiser Dome Stage:
Crackerbarrel Stage:
Park Stage:
Music City Center Stage:
We also enjoyed a bit of time each day inside of FanFairX, where my complaint comes in. Years before, you can get in line to meet artists at their “meet and greets”. If you were there early, you could probably make the cut. However, this year, you now have to win a technology-based doorprize to be able to get in line to see these stars. So, I won nothing and got ZERO pics or autographs this year. Not cool, CMA Fest, not cool.
The best I could do was stand on the side and take embarrassing pictures of stars.
However, there are a few stages in FanFairX as well, and we got to see a few great artists here as well, in the lovely air conditioning.
One of my favorite things about CMA Fest is always enjoying the many “freebies” we come across. Here’s a blog post specifically showing all that we got this year: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=972
THE FOOD!
In a very particular order, least favorite to favorite, here are the full blog posts of all four dinners we had while in Nashville. And yes, this was the best food weekend here yet!
Fresh to Order: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=1019
The Wild Cow: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=991
Thai Esane: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=1024Otaku
Ramen: http://twogirlsonedish.com/?p=1035
The only other restaurant I have drastically enjoyed in Nashville is Mas Tacos, which we visited last year.
If you have any other suggestions for places I MUST try during our next Nashville trip, please let me know in the comments!