[EKUAlum05]

I have decided not to do the driving spree and just spend Christmas in Mississippi.
For those going who have never been to Nashville:

LOCATION
LP Field sits on the river adjacent to downtown. You have parking directly surrounding the stadium, or you can choose to park in downtown and take one of the two foot bridges that cross the river.

Where to Stay
Few key things to address first to help decide where you want to stay.
1. The game is at 8:30 CST if I am not mistaken, which means it won't be over until roughly 11:30. Cabs in downtown Nashville are attrocious between 1:30 am until the bars close..before 1:30 they are everywhere along Broadway. Cabs are moderately priced compared to most big cities. A trip to the Vanderbilt/West End will be 15.00 or less, a trip to the airport will be 35.00-40.00, a trip to Opryland area will be 40.00-50.00.
2. Parking in downtown is fairly reasonable. You can park at the Hilton for 15.00-20.00 and be right at a pedestrian bridge. If you don't mind walking you can find 10.00 parking very easily.
3. In terms of safety..Nashville has bad areas. I would limit my choices of where to stay to Downtown, West End/Vanderbilt, Airport, and Opryland area. You can always stay in Brentwood if you wanted, but it is a solid drive to the city.

With that said:
Downtown- Ideal place to stay because you can walk everywhere and be right where the night life is. The trade off is price... downtown will be expensive. Prise wise High 100's to high 200's.

West End/Vanderbilt- Will require either to drive, take a taxi, or a shuttle because it will be 2-5 miles away. Moderately priced, plenty of places to eat, and usually pretty good accomodations. my suggestion is use the Courtyard by Marriott as a reference. About 2.5 miles away.. you can walk to about 7 different restaraunts..and they run a free shuttle downtown. Price wise in the mid 100's to high 100's.

Airport- Will require driving, taxi, or shuttle. Cheaper than West End.. but less to see and do and much further away. Wide gambit of accomodations from low end to high end. I stayed at the LaQuinta one night and was pleasantly surprised. It was like 60.00 and exceeded my expectations. Range from 60.00 to mid 100's.

Opryland- I honestly would stay elsewhere unless you want to go to Opryland or just find an excellent deal. Furthest distance. Prices from 60.00 to mid 100's.

WHAT TO DO
- Hit the Honkey Tonks. They line Broadway downtown leading to the river. One of the best live music venues in the country. Nearly all of them have free cover charges...but note that smoking is still allowed in Nashville bars.
- Ryman Auditorium- It is also downtown. Original home of the Grand Ole Opry..Zac Brown Band will be performing on Saturday night. Self guided tours are available during the day and for a small up charge you can go on a guided backstage tour. They even let you take you picture up on stage holding a guitar.
- Music Row- On the West End.. trust me it is very easy to overlook.
- Country Music Hall of Fame- Downtown.. I have never been but would expect it to be pretty cool.
- Opryland- Should still have all their Christmas decorations up.

WHERE TO GO AFTERWARDS
Bars/Honkey Tonks: The Stage (lots of well known artists make cameos), Paradise Park (Southern Rock meets country, great house band usually), Tin Roof (West End, gets very crowded but is a very good time), Wild Horse Saloon (where they filmed the show "Gone Country", it is HUGE...crowds are hit or miss), BB King's (Jazz bar, good BBQ)