3 Days in Nashville

We spent 3 days in Nashville over the weekend, a new city to us as a family, and had a blast. Our older daughter was there for a school band trip so the other 3 of us decided to make a road trip out of it. We were in town at the same time as the Q conference and I thought their write up about why they chose Nashville this year was pretty instructive, as far as strategic cities go:

In 2013, Nashville was on the top end of many lists. Forbes ranks it number three as the next big boom town. A recent Gallup poll ranked Nashville in the top five regions for job growth. This country start-up town was also recently listed as one of the "5 best places to go in 2013" by Conde Nast Traveler. Infamous as "Music City," with more than 180 recording studios and 5,000 working musicians it comes as no surprise that Rolling Stone called Nashville "the nation's best music scene.

Music may be the reason people go to Nashville, but it's not the only reason they stay. In the 1990's the renovation of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, downtown Nashville Public Library, the Bridgestone Arena and LP Field began an urban renewal of the city. In 2001, Mayor Karl Dean was elected and then re-elected in 2011 because of his determination to make neighborhoods safer and bring higher quality jobs to Nashville. The city's unemployment rate is currently below the national average and its job growth has been predicted to rise 18 percent within the next few years. His efforts to revitalize the city have not gone unnoticed, as titled in a recent article by the NY Times,"Nashville's Latest Big Hit Could Be the City Itself."

Besides the normal tourist stuff, we also visited with good family friends Sean and Kari. Sean works in the music industry and Kari has a horse - both were topics they taught us a ton about. I also had the great fortune of having breakfast with Kyle Goen. Tell you more about him later this week.

3 days was not enough.