I will be vacationing in Tennessee soon and I’m looking for family-friendly activities. We will have two young’uns with us, ages 3 and 5. Preferably outdoors on account of the pandemic you may have read about.
We will be about a half hour from Knoxville and 2 hours from Nashville. 2 hours is likely the max distance we would want to travel from our home base.
Casual hiking, state/national parks, beaches, scenic drives, kid-type adventures and the like are all good.
Thanks!
mmm
You might look at Dollywood:
Dollywood is it.
Oak Ridge has a nuclear museum.
Pigeon Forge has touristy stuff.
Chattanooga, Southeast of you, has lots, especially the State Aquarium.
The Knoxville Aquarium is definitely worth a visit. One of the only places I know of where you can see live paddlefish. (there’s virtually no way to see them in the wild since they live in muddy rivers).
And the Firehouse Subs on the main drag has an old-timey fire truck in the dining area.
whatever you do, don’t talk politics with anyone in Tennessee. Many of them are batshit crazy.
Agreed.
And I live there.
Chattanooga is a fun town, lots to do there.
Lookout Mountain has The Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and the kids will love Rock City.
Not far from Dolllywood/Pigeon Forge is Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which is the most visited national park in the country. Lots of beautiful scenery, with several hiking trails and camping opportunities.
Thanks for the tips, everyone. I shall investigate.
mmm
Not much for the kids to do, but Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg is a fun tour – the “guides” really lay it on.
Eighteen miles down the road from Mr. Jack is the George Dickel Distillery, in Cascade Hollow (could I make that up?), which has a very nice tour, as well.
They’re both in dry counties. Sorry.