One thing I've been wanting to do more often in Tennessee is go hiking. There are hiking meetup groups, and specifically night hikes that I plan to do, but then it sort of gets lost throughout the day on my list of priorities. 

While April was here, my friend Matt suggested a little half-day trip to Cummins Falls State Park. He easily convinced me it was an ideal location to hike in from his beautiful photos of the waterfalls themselves and him behind the waterfall. Not only going to a waterfall but being able to go behind one? SOLD. 

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Two weeks ago last night, April flew in to Nashville. I was BEYOND thrilled. The reality didn't even really hit me until I had blown up the air mattress and got ready to go pick her up. 

We went straight to Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream (because I swear that's the best ice cream ever in my life so far (gelato is it's own category)) and then hit up The 5 Spot for their Monday night throwback dancing — making the oldie's good again.

Since she had just come from visiting her sister in Montana, I figured it was better to ease her into the Nashville city life. Instead of going straight into the tourist Nashville, we focused on a few key Nashville aspects before spending most of the day in Franklin.

The itinerary included:

• Breakfast at The Pancake Pantry
• Pictures with art walls nearby (like the one above)
• Carnton Plantation
• Lotz House
• Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge which also included a drive through some of Natchez Trace Parkway
• Dinner at The Loveless Cafe
• Music at The Bluebird Cafe

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By the time we went through the art exhibits in Chinatown, we were really really hungry. Eugene left us and we hopped in our cars again to make one final downtown trek: Pershing Square. And more specifically, Perch & Mrs. Fish.

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Piñatas + Polka Dots + Silly String might be my new favorite combination now.

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Behold: The Grammy Museum! This was an unexpectedly informational and interactive museum with so much about various music legends. 

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From The Original Los Angeles Flower Market we drove over to Chinatown (which is about two miles — we could have technically walked except we both parked in limited hour parking). 

I love going to Chinatown simply because of the lanterns strung through the main plaza areas. And all the fun Chinese mementos you can buy.

We met up with our other friend Eugene at the Golden Dragon Seafood Restaurant for dim sum. I was really grateful Eugene knew how to speak Chinese because I have only had dim sum once before and it gets really confusing if you don't know what you're doing. They come around with carts of different food, so you kind of need to know what you're looking for beforehand, or at least be able to communicate pretty well. 

That aside, dim sum is the best thing to do in Chinatown if you ever have the opportunity to go. Everything is so good! Except for the chicken legs. That wasn't my favorite.

Eugene is really familiar with Chinatown and was telling us some of the history about it like this area is technically the "new" Chinatown. The old one was just about a mile away. He also told us how there's a strong artist community that resides there now because it's a relatively cheap place to live. We had the opportunity to experience first hand some of this community when later at night there was actually an art show.

We also got to see a sort of pre-show when we were walking around the plaza area. A group of people were taking "Jerry McGuire" VHS tapes and stacking them up. We asked them what they were doing, and in preparation for this art show, they were taking this collection of VHS's and making a sort of shrine. 

Before going to our next destination, I was SO EXCITED when Eugene suggested an ice cream place called Scoops Ice Cream. They have daily flavors that they list on their Twitter — I went with Root Beer. It was an amazing break from the heat and equally lovely flavor.

Near the end of the day, April, Eugene and I came back to Chinatown to experience the art show in action, including the completed shrine. And also just to get back to our cars since that's where we parked for the day.

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My friend April is coming to Nashville in less than NINE HOURS. And I couldn't be more excited. I can actually hardly believe it. We both love to explore, and have had so many adventures in Los Angeles, that I'm so looking forward to discovering Nashville and parts of Tennessee with her! 

In celebration, I'm posting a series of spots we scouted on a serious adventure day back in Los Angeles with her and another friend Eugene.

So began one of the most full and fun days before I left L.A. 

First stop: The Original Los Angeles Flower Market. Located in the Los Angeles Flower District. 

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