Recon Trip-next weekend 1/11/08-need advice. (Jackson, Franklin: to rent, how much, hotel)

[sipperphoto]

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are heading out to the Nashville area next Friday in order to decide if it is a place we may want to relocate to. We are staying in Goodlettsville, and will be checking out that, Hendersonville, Gallatin, and any other communities in and around Nashville. We basically want to see how day to day life is, and try not too hard to look like tourists! :-)

That being said, is there anything I should be looking for, any areas, or things to see, shopping, dining, etc.

We are pretty excited to check things out, as we have friends who live in Hendersonville, who really love it, and want to get out of CA, as soon as we can, while there is still some value left in our house!

Any help would be great!

Thanks!

Jeff

[gbone]

Sipper, I don't know close you want to be to your friends nor how much you are planning to spend on a house but their are some additional areas you might want to look at. Check out Mr. Juliet, Brentwood, and Franklin. They are all a little different with their own positives and negatives. Good luck and enjoy!

[sipperphoto]

Originally Posted by gbone

Sipper, I don't know close you want to be to your friends nor how much you are planning to spend on a house but their are some additional areas you might want to look at. Check out Mr. Juliet, Brentwood, and Franklin. They are all a little different with their own positives and negatives. Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks Gbone!

At this point, we are pretty much open to anything, as far as where to live. We were hoping to spend between $180k-250k on a house, eventually. Something with 4 bdrms, 2000+ sq. ft.

The plan is to rent for at least 6 mos. or so, get ourselves established, get jobs, and/or get our business up and running there, and figure out which area we would like to buy in. :-)

We checked out Brentwood, and Franklin online a bit, and they look nice. I'll have to check out Mt. Juliet! :-)

Thanks!

jeff

[alleycat]

Originally Posted by sipperphoto

We basically want to see how day to day life is, and try not too hard to look like tourists! :-)

Don't wear polyester or stretch pants . . . ;-)

Here's a few possibilities to check out, based on your original post: Opry Mills, Green Hills, and Cool Springs malls.

Other places and attractions: Centennial Park; the Hillsboro Village area; a drive through Belle Meade (wave if you see Al Gore); the lower Broad/2nd Avenue area; the symphony hall; the Country Music Hall of Fame (if nothing else just to see the building); a drive down West End (lots of hospitals, Vanderbilt University, the Frist Center); the lakes-Old Hickory and Percy Priest); Belle Meade Plantation; Cheekwood; the Loveless Cafe; if it were spring or fall I'd suggest a short drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway; Bicentennial Mall and the Farmer's Market; drive the loop around downtown (but not at rush hour); the Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson); Davis-Kidd, McKay's, and Elder's bookstores (just to reassure yourself that rednecks read ;-); find Nicole Kidman's house and give her a letter from me . . . ;-)

Of course, January isn't the prettiest month to visit Tennessee, but you should still be able to get a taste of Nashville and see whether it's right for you or not.

[Curious...]

Originally Posted by sipperphoto

Hey everyone,

My wife and I are heading out to the Nashville area next Friday in order to decide if it is a place we may want to relocate to. We are staying in Goodlettsville, and will be checking out that, Hendersonville, Gallatin, and any other communities in and around Nashville. We basically want to see how day to day life is, and try not too hard to look like tourists! :-)

That being said, is there anything I should be looking for, any areas, or things to see, shopping, dining, etc.

We are pretty excited to check things out, as we have friends who live in Hendersonville, who really love it, and want to get out of CA, as soon as we can, while there is still some value left in our house!

Any help would be great!

Thanks!

Jeff

Gallatin is a great city except it has a little bit of a crime/poverty side to it but just avoid that part of it because overall it is a wonderful city.

PS TORNADOS HAVE DESTROYED THE CITY BEFORE AS RECENTLY AS 2006/2006

[Curious...]

Originally Posted by City expert

Gallatin is a great city except it has a little bit of a crime/poverty side to it but just avoid that part of it because overall it is a wonderful city.

PS TORNADOS HAVE DESTROYED THE CITY BEFORE AS RECENTLY AS 2006/2006

by bad 2005/2006

[sipperphoto]

Originally Posted by alleycat

Don't wear polyester or stretch pants . . . ;-)

Here's a few possibilities to check out, based on your original post: Opry Mills, Green Hills, and Cool Springs malls.

Other places and attractions: Centennial Park; the Hillsboro Village area; a drive through Belle Meade (wave if you see Al Gore); the lower Broad/2nd Avenue area; the symphony hall; the Country Music Hall of Fame (if nothing else just to see the building); a drive down West End (lots of hospitals, Vanderbilt University, the Frist Center); the lakes-Old Hickory and Percy Priest); Belle Meade Plantation; Cheekwood; the Loveless Cafe; if it were spring or fall I'd suggest a short drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway; Bicentennial Mall and the Farmer's Market; drive the loop around downtown (but not at rush hour); the Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson); Davis-Kidd, McKay's, and Elder's bookstores (just to reassure yourself that rednecks read ;-); find Nicole Kidman's house and give her a letter from me . . . ;-)

Of course, January isn't the prettiest month to visit Tennessee, but you should still be able to get a taste of Nashville and see whether it's right for you or not.

Wow! That's a fairly comprehensive list!

In a way, I kinda wanna see everything at the least pretty time of year. I wanna know all the negatives, and bad stuff... try to keep it pretty realistic, and not look at everything with rose colored shades, ya know! :-)

Thanks!

Jeff

[Turtle]

Oooooooooh I love Opry Mills...could you stop and do some shopping for me? I make sure we stop there every time we go through Nashville!

[denawilliams]

Well, it's hard to add anything of value after alleycat makes his posts...he usually covers most everything , but I'd also drive down Music Row, maybe hit a place or two on the strip on Demonbreum because it's right near the Row, visit the Hill Center and the Green Hills Mall in Green Hills, take a hike at Radnor Lake (if warm enough) and watch the deer, drive through Percy Warner Park, pick a weekday and go to Pancake Pantry for breakfast one morning in Hillsboro Village. Check out songwriter night at the Bluebird Cafe. You never know who will be up there and what hits that writer has cranked out. Have a nice night out in the Gulch area. If you do make it to Franklin as was mentioned by someone else, check out Downtown Franklin. It has a small town square feel to it. And when you're in the Opry Mills area, take a walk through the gardens in the hotel.
Definitely have Southern food at least once while you're here...I think there are other threads on here of Southern food restaurants that people like. And last, pick up a copy of the Nashville Scene or Rage (can be found nearly at any local restaurant/shopping area)...pick your favorite genre and go hear live music.

As for the home search, you can find homes that meet your criteria in many areas both in Nashville and in suburbs. Do you know in which part of town you will work?

[akm4]

I agree with everything alleycat says, as usual, but especially want to echo 2 points made by denawilliams. Namely, Pancake Pantry and the Bluebird. The Bluebird Cafe

Be sure and take a few minutes while at Centennial Park to tour the Parthenon and see Athena. Stunning!

Downtown Franklin is what convinced me to buy in Franklin instead of Hendersonville.

We moved here from Norhtern CA. Easiest transition we ever made. Hope you love it too!