dining

It's been a little while now since my family and I have made our home in Nashville. I came down in March, ahead of my wife and two kids and they were finally able to move down in July when we found a rental house in Lebanon. Lebanon isn't quite a suburb of Nashville, but it's only about 30 miles east of downtown Nashville. I'm doing freelance work for a company creating buzz by specializing in social media and marketing based in Franklin, "A Small-Town Gem Near Nashville", which is and about 45 miles away from me. Luckily I get to work from home the majority of the time, but I'm usually making that drive about once a week. The nice thing is that I can usually make the trip in about an hour, which compared to how long it took me to get from the east side of Indy to our home on the south side is about the same drive time.

There's no denying, the city and the suburbs around it have definitely changed in the years since I lived here after college and before moving to Indianapolis to get married and start a family. I tried to convince my wife she should move to Franklin with me back then. I like to think I won that argument, it just took me 16 years to do it.

It's been a good move for us. It's brought us together as a family since we've all kind of had to start over with all-new friendships. I've got a number of friends still in the area, but I've yet to reconnect with many of them. I've extremely thankful for two that allowed me to live with them for the 4 months I was down here by myself. Their hospitality and generosity will not be forgotten. The friendships I have here have given us the help and support we've needed to get ourselves settled, but haven't overly influenced or restricted us from really establishing a whole new network of our own for our family.

We're all still settling in. Some of us faster than others. I've already been able to enjoy a variety of experiences, from seeing Joe Bonamassa in concert at the Ryman Auditorium, to catching a Pomplamoose concert with Kim at The Mercy Lounge. I get to go fishing frequently on Old Hickory Lake with my friend and when my son is willing to get up at 5:30am to go with us he's joined in as well. He and I have also gone zip-lining at Adventureworks in Kingston Springs with friends from Indy when they were in town. My daughter and I have taken advantage of some of the Nashville Greenways already as well. We've visited and hiked a variety of state parks in the area, all of which are free to access, we've seen and hiked Bledsoe Creek State Park and Fall Creek Falls and we'll visit Cedars of Lebanon and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park soon. And, you know it wouldn't be a post from me without talking about some great places to eat. Some of our favorites already are: Demos' in Lebanon, Courtney's in Mt. Juliet, Martin's BBQ, Snow White Drive-in, Taco Mamacita, The Loveless Cafe, Grays on Main in Franklin, Noshville, Bricktop's,  The Farm House, Barista Parlor, CREMA and The Pied Piper Eatery.

So, that's about it I guess. Probably not, but about all I'll share for now. Stay tuned. More to come later as we continue to explore and set down some southern roots.

Here are some interesting articles I just found this evening about Nashville. If you know me from my time in Indianapolis, you'll know I'm eager to experience all of these things and try these restaurants myself very soon!

• 12 Things That Nashville Does Better Than Anywhere Else
• Nashville's Latest Big hit Could Be the City Itself
• The 10 Habits of Highly Effective Nashvillians
• The South's Red-Hot Town
• Nashville Is Nowville... And Has Been For A While
• The 12 Essential Nashville Restaurants
• The 8 Best Spots to Get Hot Chicken in Nashville
• 8 Hugely Underrated Nashville Restaurants
• The 8 Best Food Trucks in Nashville
• 22 Things You Have to Explain to Out-of-Towners About Nashville

It's not all perfect though! Like any city, they've got their own issues too...

• The 99 Problems with Nashville