Snapshots of Metropolis, IL // July 2016

On our way home from Nashville in July, we decided to stop in Metropolis, IL. Might sound a little familiar, because Metropolis is also the name of the city where Superman takes place. It sounded like a good kitschy, silly, road trip stop... and I am so glad that we did stop! :)

We visited the teeny town of Metropolis (hehe) and went to the Super Museum, and saw the giant Superman statue it was the perfect road trip activity!

Do/See/Shop: The Super Museum + Gift Shop + Superman Statue

The museum is pretty small, and costs just $5 to enter. It is filled with a collection of superman memorabilia, and swag through the many years and iterations. It is PACKED with photos, figurines, costumes from movies, kid's toys, etc. Such a blast to see so much in one space like this. It even goes so far as to include Smallville and Lois and Clark.

The gift shop, which is free to enter, contains tons of superman and other super hero items for purchase.

The superman statue is located near the museum, and is a great photo op.

There are also several superman and supergirl cut outs located around the outside of the museum for other photo ops... I clearly stuck my head in every single one... #noshame

I'm really glad we stopped here, I love to do quirky things like this while we are on the road! :)

Have you ever been to a fun road trip stop like this? - if so, where? I'd love to know.

Happy Trails!

Alexandra

Snapshots of Nashville // July 2016

Over the 4th of July / my birthday weekend KC and I took a mini road trip down to Nashville. For us it's about an 8 hour drive, and we loved visiting it on our last trip.

Let's get real for a minute though: 

It turned out that this trip was a bit too much all at once, it had only been about 10 days that we had been home from Georgia... and we were pretty exhausted. We also had a tough time with weather, traffic, the airbnb dog... etc. So in the end, we were kind of like... ah, we should have stayed home.

Not to mention my 2 HOUR melt down in the car. I think it finally hit me that my family is gone, and while I am *not* mad at them for moving... I'm mad at what we can't have together anymore with them 20 hours away. Ex. we always spent my birthday and the 4th together and now we can't, and what does that mean for my future kids? - yeah, it was pretty epic. God bless KC...

...

Bummer, but all the same, we did some fun things - so why not talk about them real quick? :)

Eat: 

We revisited a lot of favorites from our first trip: like Hattie B's Hot Chicken, and Loveless Cafe.

We also tried a lot of new places: one of note is 5 Point Pizza, which we may have visited twice... Get the garlic knots! :) Also, at Burger Up! (a sustainable, community restaurant) - the fried mac and cheese appetizer is a must. I swear, I never order stuff like this... but it was SO GOOD. Yeast has great breakfast, and we finally got to try Jeni's for ice cream - which was really good + they had free postcards. They know the way to my heart! :P 

See: Cheekwood Gardens, Estate, etc. Explore the neighborhoods of Nashville, and see the wonder that is McKay's Bookstore!!

Shop: We did not do a ton of shopping - at least we didn't go to a lot of places... we DID make sure to check out McKay's Bookstore (HEAVEN! HUGE! ALL USED BOOKS!) - twice... and we also had to get out to Reese Witherspoon's store Draper James. The style was ultra-preppy - which isn't really "me"... What do we think of the necklace in the first picture though...? Still debating! but it was such a lovely store, beautifully curated. I didn't want any of the clothing... but I did pick out a little notepad with a peach print on it. Because #stationeryismylife . :) Lastly, a little local boutique called Rustique was lovely, and the girl working was SO sweet. :) 

Do: 

• Walk through Cheekwood gardens. There is a ton to see there. I liked the estate best (air conditioning... ) but it is a small art museum - which was lovely. The wisteria arbor outside of the estate was my favorite hands down. - this would be a great place to walk around with your kiddos! 
• Frist Center for the Arts - we expected this to be a traditional art museum, turns out it is fully made up of rotating exhibits. It was interesting, but not what we were expecting. Had we known this - we may not have gone based on the exhibits that were currently there. The exhibits at the time were on Italian Cars "Bellisima!" and "The Power of Pictures: Early Soviet Photography and Film".  I'm not big on photography exhibits in general, and I'm not into cars. So, while it was interesting, it wasn't really my thing. My favorite thing about The Frist was that it used to be a post office. It's got this great deco design. - anyhow, if you're interested check out the exhibits on the website in advance! 

Favorites: 5 Points Pizza, Cheekwood Garden's Wisteria Arbor, McKay's - duh, and Draper James.

New Experiences: Visiting a celebrity's store, fried mac and cheese, visiting a garden/estate - it was huge!, going to such a massive used bookstore, wishing we hadn't taken a trip.

Random Tips: If you go to Cheekwood, it costs to enter the park, but not each individual thing. You probably want to spend the whole day if you go. Parking and admission at the Frist is not worth it unless you are actually interested in the exhibits, check them on the website first! Nashville is insanely busy on the weekend of the 4th. Don't expect to go downtown unless you want to stay all day, and be prepared to pay for parking - pretty far away. Get in line early at Hattie B's it's busy on weekends, etc.! - but worth the wait!

Have you been to Nashville? What did you think?

Have you ever had a trip that was just kind of difficult?


Have you ever been to a used bookstore that we so huge?!?!

See Our Previous Trip to Nashville!

Happy Travels!

XO,

Alexandra