NEXT STOP! NOLA!!!!

I still wish so badly we gave ourselves more time in New Orleans, but sadly we only had one night so we made it a long one! We checked into our hotel, which we SCORED using the Hotel Tonight app – our absolute favorite app to use when we go anywhere!! Brent had his heart set on staying at The Old No.77 Hotel because they were nominated for best hotel bar and that just so happened to on a great deal on the app- so it was a total win! When we arrived there, I mentioned we were on our honeymoon and they upgraded our room, I never wanted those perks to end! We spent the day and into the night walking everywhere from bourbon street to Frenchmen quarter, eating more delicious food and sipping more cocktails. At night we went to a place I had fallen in love with when I was previously there with my girlfriends – Bacchanal where they have a live jazz band and of course, more great food but in what feels like is someones private back yard, its pure NoLa magic. We made stops into all the bars that people recommended to us or we read about, and then did our own wandering and ended our night with fried chicken and cafe cafe du monde in our hotel room… it was glorious.

 

 

The next morning we woke up early to start another 8 hour drive to Nashville. Only this time we made a tiny detour to stop in Jackson, Mississippi for a diner called Brent’s Drugs, we just had to! To our surprise it was also one of the best cheeseburgers ever and Brent was so stoked on the place (and of course the name) we left with a souvenir tee-shirt.

 

and then off to Nashville…

I have failed to mention so far how beautiful all these drives were… I hardly ever slept while Brent drove because of how stunning it was to drive from city to city through these states. The roads and freeways were so clean, the air felt so fresh and everything surrounding us was SO lush and green!!! So, after a long but pretty drive we arrived in Nashville!

Nashville was SO. MUCH. FUN.

We again scored on the Hotel Tonight App with staying at the Hutton Hotel. It was a seriously stunning hotel that was also walking distance to almost everything we did, Hattie’s Friend chicken, Broadway Street, where all the bars and music are all  lined up and so much more! We ate all over town and eating hot chicken for almost every meal… Prince’s Hot Chicken being our favorite! We did also have an incredible hot chicken brunch at Party Fowl that was recommended by a local friend. Other than hot chicken we had a pretty awesome late night meal at Dino’s that is an Anthony Bourdain spot, and it did not let us down. Besides over eating we had so much bar hoping all around broadway, dancing all night and we even ended our last night with riding a mechanical bull at a random bar. IT WAS HILARIOUS! Every bar you walk into is a great time with great music, and it really isn’t all country music… it’s a little bit of everything . Everyone’s energy just felt so fun. Our favorite bars were Layla’s Honky Tonk on Broadway, Pinewood Social Club and Flamingo Cocktail Club .

 

Then we were on our way to Kentucky for some bourbon tours! But not without some stops along the way…

 

We got to Kentucky early afternoon, it was only a 4 hour drive from Nashville. We had scheduled distillery tours at Makers Mark and Jim Beam. I am not a super fan of bourbon, Brent is, but these tours were still so cool! Of course, my favorite part was getting to dip my own Makers Mark bottle and we also got to bottle our bourbon at Jim Beam and get it engraved, they made special keepsakes for our honeymoon. The Jim Beam tour was incredible, it was like a mini disneyland of bourbon! And I did learn a fun fact – Mila Kunis actually does have a barrel there, the commercials are REAL hahaha! The distilleries were beyond beautiful, and so interesting. After our tours we drove to Louisville with some time to kill before our flight so we got to see the Kentucky Derby and the famous Louisville Slugger Museum. Our flight home was later that night and our amazing honeymoon adventure was its end…

 

 

If you’ve made it this far down, thanks for reading about our adventure! And if you’re ever up for an adventure yourself  be sure to check out the Hotel Tonight App to save big time on some rad hotels! To save you even more, I am sharing my code JEGOCHMAN with you to give you $25 off on your first booking! This isn’t at all sponsored, just sharing a fun tip with you!

 

xox, jess!