Road Trip USA: Tennessee

I'd never before visited Tennessee but had always been a bit enamored with the state. When planning out our trip, some places made the cut because we had family or friends there, some were chosen because of meaningful historical or religious value, some were highly touted National Parks, some just happened to be on the way to somewhere else, and some made the list just because I've always wanted to visit. Nashville falls in the final category.  Sometimes high expectations can lead to disappointment, but not with Nashville. We loved our time there!

After leaving our hotel in the morning, we first made our way to Centennial Park, which is right next to Vanderbilt University. Centennial Park boasts the only full-scale Parthenon replica in the world. 

We didn't pay to go inside, but were duly impressed by the outside.

We spent some time exploring the park, and even found a big playground in a lovely shaded area where the kids could run around and play.

From there we drove down music row (not too much to see except signs) and made our way to Bicentennial Park just down the hill from the Tennessee State Capitol building. It was hot, so the kids were especially enticed by the water fountains and memorials. 

Right next to Bicentennial Park is the Tennessee State History Museum which is free to the public and (gloriously) heavily air-conditioned. It's a really well done museum, but my kids were feeling a bit museumed-out. Bryce and Aubree consented to watch the short history videos and wandered through the displays.

Mark took Thane, Nellie, and Graham down to a children's gallery where they were able to be more hands-on. 

By this time we were getting hungry, so we decided to check out a restaurant that had been recommended to us: Another Broken Egg Cafe. I should have planned lunch out better before-hand. If I'd thought about it more, we probably wouldn't have chosen a place that served breakfast when we've been having so many hotel breakfasts. Regardless, we set off to walk to the cafe. It was a relatively long walk, almost a mile, but a brisk breeze gratefully kept us from totally roasting. Nellie got to ride in the stroller, so she was extremely pleased.
Eating out with our crew is always an, uh, adventure. In the months leading up to our trip, we consistently told them, "let's pretend to have manners so that when we're actually on our trip, we might actually have them!" Perhaps that wasn't the best strategy. They're not terrible, but there's definitely room for improvement. Regardless, the food was tasty, the portions were large, and when we were done we were totally stuffed.

We rolled out of the restaurant and found ourselves just a block away from the famous Broadway. It was 1:30 pm on a Wednesday, so we weren't sure if we'd find much music, but almost every bar/ restaurant we passed had live music. In some places, there was so much music playing simultaneously that it was a bit of a cacophony, but it was still really neat. We couldn't really take the kids into the music venues, so we didn't stay long, but Mark and I would love to come back another time without kids (or with older kids) to explore more and get to listen to the music. Music is one of Mark's favorite things.
The walk back to our car felt even longer than the walk to lunch, but we liked all we saw of Nashville. It seems to be a clean, safe, friendly city. I'm definitely a fan.
Once we finally made it back to our car, we made one final Nashville stop before making our way to our hotel: The Grand Ole Opry. Tours of the Opry house are suuuuper expensive, but we enjoyed getting to walk around the outside. Nellie was really excited about getting a picture in front of the big guitar.

At the hotel, the kids finally got a chance to swim in a hotel pool. 

True to form, Graham made a little friend within minutes of arriving. This friend had wisely brought pool toys with her, so she, Graham, and Thane had a good time diving for toys.

This particular hotel chain, Drury Inn, offers dinner every night, so after dinner we made our way to the dining area. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the dinner was pretty good and had a lot of options. Graham got almost as much dinner on his face as in his mouth. Remember those manners we were trying to work on? My kids think Drury Inn is the best, because not only do they have dinner, they also have free popcorn. They each got a bag of popcorn, took it back to our room, and ate while watching a show. If they weren't already Nashville fans, their hotel experience might have sealed the deal.

Thursday morning we made our way to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains. The entire drive there was gorgeous. The Sugarlands Visitor's Center is only 10 minutes from Gatlinburg, and it's there we went to get our Jr. Ranger booklets. We were surprised to find that we had to buy the booklets. Apparently The Great Smoky Mountains National Park doesn't charge an entrance fee, so they try to make extra revenue in other ways. Perhaps as a result of not charging an entrance fee, this visitor's center seemed quite old and run-down compared to some of the others we visited. It could also be a result of being the most visited of all the National Parks. 
While the kids worked on their booklets, we took a short hike to Cataract Falls. 

It's a super easy hike, only .5 miles round trip, and thankfully shaded the whole way.

On the way back, I tried to be a nice mom and let the kids play in the water. I say "tried" because it didn't end very well when it was time to go and certain children wouldn't obey and get their shoes and socks back on. Oh, and Bryce is upset in this picture because right before I snapped the photo, Graham had accidentally bashed his head into Bryce's face.

It took a long time back at the visitor's center to compete the Jr Ranger booklets. While the kids worked, Mark helped out by holding everyone's water.

You know what took even longer? Getting their booklets checked and then getting sworn in. This Ranger was suuuuuper chatty! Very nice, but very long-winded. She talked to the kids for at least 30 minutes despite the line of folks behind us.

While chatty ranger talked to the kids, I ordered pizza online, and we picked it up on our way to our hotel. Our hotel was older, but was right over a small river and had two neat balconies.

Gatlinburg is a beautiful little town. 

We love Tennessee!