Wandering Around Downtown

Learning the City

May 27, 2026 • Downtown Nashville

I didn't really have anywhere specific I was trying to go today. I just wanted to get out and walk around downtown for a while and see what I could find.

I walked past the big WeGo bus hub, through the courtyard, and eventually ended up at the steps leading up toward the Capitol.

And for some reason I looked at those steps and decided I was Rocky. 😂

I was determined I was going to run all the way up them without stopping.

I did not.

I made it about three-fourths of the way, though, which I'm absolutely counting as something.

Once I recovered from that brilliant idea, I kept walking around up there looking at the buildings, statues and everything else. Then I turned a corner around the back of one of the buildings and immediately realized I had wandered into an area where I probably wasn't supposed to be wandering.

State troopers. Everywhere.

There were trooper cars all around, and three officers right there — two sitting in separate cars and another standing between them. They saw me. I saw them. And at that point turning around would've been even more awkward than just committing to wherever the hell I had accidentally walked.

So I kept going.

One of them said, “How are you this afternoon, ma'am?”

I said, “Good, how about y'all?”

And one of the troopers sitting in his car yelled, “We're over here working real hard. Don't tell nobody!”

Everybody started laughing, including me, and I just kept right on walking like I knew exactly where I was going.

I did not.

😂

I'm still learning my way around Nashville, and apparently part of that process involves accidentally wandering behind government buildings and interrupting state troopers while they're “working real hard.”

I will not be wandering back there again.