Work Trip to Nashville and Jackson, TN

A day after getting back from our RV road trip I flew out to Tennessee for another college campus 360 shoot. Oh, yeah, that's what I do for a living. Shoot 360s and architectural photography.

I told him he should have changed his flight to just go directly to Nashville.

Anyways after shooting at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, I took my clients recommendation and ate at Clifton Brothers BBQ on the outskirts of town. Don't believe the negative reviews (who mostly don't seem to understand sometimes staff are new or overworked), great BBQ.

The client said that some people call Jackson a suburb without a city. That made me intrigued, so before heading to Nashville for my flight home, I thought I'd check out the downtown.

Cool old houses. Check.

Sweet art moderne Greyhound station. Check.

Strange store full of oddities. Check.

Wow this reminds of the bank in Little Chute.

Overall a charming, yet sleepy downtown that seemed to be on the way up.

Each time I turned a corner I found more impressive architecture.

Until next time Jackson, Tennessee.

I actually flew into Nashville late the previous night, but just went straight to my hotel. Now I had time to explore. Didn't really find anything traversing the sprawling southern boom town, so I ended up on Nashville's Broadway aka the Honky-Tonk Highway.

There were gyro and Halal stands everywhere.

Good people watching even if it ain't my jam.

Don't mind the creepy old security guard, ladies.

Or the single guy walking around with a fancy camera.

True, true.

I stopped by a few of the bars and listened to bands play from the street. A lot more rock than I was expecting in the country music capital.

Still regretting that I didn't get a late night gyro.

I was kind of bored with Nashville by morning. Besides Broadway there aren't a lot of walkable neighborhoods. Plus it was raining on and off.

I did something I never did. I sat at a coffee shop and got some editing done. East Park's donuts ruled and the iced tea hit the spot.

I guess all those gyro stands got me in the mood. I didn't want some millennial-core place, but maybe I made a mistake. Chicago Style Gyros #3 was the most uninspiring meal I've had on a work trip in a while. Did have a killer mango juice that almost made up for the dried out gyros. Not anywhere close to as good as the places you find in Chicago's Greektown.

Gallatin turned out to be full of decent restaurants even if the urban environment wasn't the best. I feel like this was the average Nashville house. Big lot. Brick ranch. Uninspiring.

Reddit had also recommended the area around Vanderbilt University. Did you folks know that Nashville calls itself the Athens of the South? They even built a full size replica of the Parthenon for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition way back in 1897 and then rebuilt it in its current glory between 1921 and 1931.