It’s true: I love Sara. A lot. That said, I also know just how important it is to stoke the fires of the bromance. And it was with that in mind that I went to Tennessee last month with my friends Gentry and Seth. We used to play in a band together, and went to Nashville to see some of our favorite bands, Wilco and the Arctic Monkeys.

The bands were awesome. We’d never seen Wilco before, and they were fantastic. Nashville’s historic Ryman Theater is a great place to see a show, too. The original home of the Grand Ol’ Opry, the Ryman is like a big rock music church, complete with pews. Nick Lowe did a great job opening, and I solidified my place as “guy who knows the bands you don’t” by knowing who Nick Lowe was before the show.

In between the Wilco show and the Arctic Monkeys, we spent our days sleeping and our nights cruising Nashville’s honkey-tonk bars. We made it to the Country Music Hall of Fame (which is way cooler than you’d think it is), where we saw great stuff like this dress worn by Taylor Swift (one of Sara’s favorites).

As great as Nashville’s music scene is, the food is just as awesome. It’s hard to find decent barbecue in a place like Utah, so we took advantage of Nashville’s culinary delights. We also made a few unexpected meal stops for hard-to-find foods such as the chicken livers and spicy wings at Brother Z’s Wang Shack. Yes, Wang Shack.

We finished out the week by catching the Arctic Monkeys at the War Memorial Auditorium. Gentry and I had seen them before, but the show was a first for Seth. As expected, they rocked so hard our faces nigh melted off. I again knew the opening band (the wonderful Smith Westerns), and the show was all around great rock. Don’t believe me? Allow me to present exhibit one, a video I took of them when Gentry and I saw them in Utah:

Nashville is also home to all kinds of great buildings to take pictures of (because who goes on vacation to take pictures of themselves?)

In sum, Nashville is awesome and I can’t wait to revisit it with Sara. But the greatest part of the trip? Getting back home to Sara. The bromance is great, but it can’t compare to this: