Sweet Friends, Good Shopping, Great Food.

Hey guys! Ok.. the reason this blog is titled "Keeping Up With the Gates" is because we are constantly on the go. Whether school, work, or traveling, we are always doing something. It's even hard at times for us to keep up with ourselves. So, this past weekend, Matt took the day off Friday and we headed north, to Tennessee. We have some dear friends that live in Murfreesboro, so we went and stayed the weekend with them. It was so nice to get out of town and spend some time together not worrying about work and other things. The drive to TN was so calm and beautiful.. it's always nice to be able to see and enjoy God's magnificent creations. As we were getting closer to their home, we see a castle.. yes, a castle.. on top of a mountain. If you truly know me, you can imagine how excited I was. We later found out that the castle (which is residential and private property) was the film location for Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video. Here's a picture we took of it from the highway.

So, once we arrived to our friends', we got ready and went out to eat (we did this a lot this weekend, ha). We went to a restaurant in Murfreesboro called Demos'. It was wonderful. I had blackened catfish and hash browns. It was the best catfish I have ever had. After dinner, we got the tour of Murfreesboro. It is such a cute town. Downtown is gorgeous. The homes reminded me a lot of Savannah. Here are a few of my favorites.

We laughed and had a great time the first night. The next morning, we woke up and headed to Nashville. We spent the day in Nashville touring and eating. We absolutely loved the city. So much history, so much good music, so much food.. living there wouldn't be a bad idea. Ha. After all, Vanderbilt DOES have a Children's Hospital and offers a Master's in Nursing. Hmmm :) A possibility? Maybe?

So, we went to the park in Nashville to see the Parthenon. It is the only full size replica of the Parthenon in Athens. The detail is so intricate. We were amazed. Here are some pictures from our tour of it.

After we left the Parthenon, we went to grab lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, yum! I'm not much of a cheesecake fan, but Matthew loves it. However, the cheesecake was so delicious, I actually ENJOYED it! I'm craving a piece now! Ha! The food was wonderful, as well.

We left The Cheesecake Factory and went to the Grand Ole Opry. Wow. The Opry is huge and beautiful. The tours were sold out for the day, but we were able to get a few pictures. It is so neat seeing tributes everywhere for those who have been inducted into the Opry.

After we left the Opry, we headed back into downtown Nashville and toured the original opry house, The Ryman Auditorium. We took a backstage tour and were able to see the dressing rooms, lighting, stage, etc. We learned several different fun facts about country music legends, such as Johnny and June, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams Sr., and even Minnie Pearl. The tour was very interesting and the Ryman is gorgeous.

After our tour of the Ryman, we headed to a town outside of Nashville called Lebanon. We met up with our friends and shopped, shopped, shopped. So much fun! We grabbed dinner in Murfreesboro and headed back to their place to watch a movie. The next day, we woke up and grabbed lunch at a small town restaurant called Miller's. The food is to die for. I literally probably gained weight on this trip.. NOT ok. After our meal, we got on the road and headed back home.


We absolutely loved everything up there and cannot wait to go back and visit again. I'm still thinking it would be a nice place to call home one day :) We will wait and see..


Much love,