Tennessee itinerary ...

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by disneywiseowl

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Opryland. It's close to the Gaylord, (fabulous atrium) The Opry & the mall & there's a few ok bar/restaurants next door that have decent live music. You can park for free at the Mall but need to get there early to find a space! Traffic is very heavy before/after Opry shows so we went about 4ish, looked round the shops & ate in the Aquarium restaurant (disneyish). Then walked across to the show. Leaving the carpark was a nightmare. We were so glad our hotel was so close! Also, The hotel had a good shuttle service to downtown.

You will be doing a lot of driving. Have you thought about omitting Chattanooga this time & maybe combining it with Georgia next time? Savannah, Tybee Island, Charleston & maybe North Florida?

See more...

Good tip there about Opry night ! Yes I am re thinking Chattanooga.. Originally we were staying in Atlanta but we switched to Dallas to be nearer Arkansas . I am thinking we now see Chat on another road trip that picks up Atlanta as well. Too much to cram in !

Originally Posted by aly

We absolutely loved Chattanooga, started out there for a couple of nights then drove to Nashville, via Lynch burgh and the Jack Daniels Distillery, then to Shiloh, Memphis, Natchez, Mobile Alabama. We decided to drive back to Chattanooga and have the last few nights there and visit Rock City again and do Cickamauga battlefield. Loved the battlefields so peaceful and sad.

See more...

That sounds a lovely trip. Hubby wants to see the distillery so I'm thinking either coach trip and we stay an extra night in Nashville or we do it early doors and push on to the smokies and we leave Chattanooga for another trip. Still needs some thought !

Originally Posted by daytonababe

We're off next summer (2018)..

Rough plan is 10 days in Orlando then a internal flight to Memphis stay for a night to do Graceland then drive to Dollywood and stay somewhere around there for a week taking in Dollywood and the Knoxville Nationals and then finally driving back to Charlotte for a couple of nights with friends before flying home.

See more...

Sounds fab ! As we have no teens in tow we are not doing Dollywood. well , that's today's plan anyway


Have you looked at the Graceland tours ? I'm thinking of the VIP one ( not the mega one but one that includes the cars etc)

[disneywiseowl]

Don't forget your ID in Memphis. They wouldn't let me in a bar because I didn't have any.
I'm 66.

[sizzy6]

Your itinerary sounds amazing, we are doing similar in May
Fly to Atlanta, night in Greenville
Drive to Asheville 3 nights there to explore to Smoky mountains
Drive to Chattanooga two nights there the distillery and Lookout mountain and Ruby Falls are on our list.
Fly from Atlanta to Tampa, two weeks at Anna Maria Island.
Three nights in Orlando for a Mickey fix.
Can,t wait, the diet has commenced, the packing cubes have been bought (much to my husbands amusement). It's just the two of us, we will be meeting up with family in Florida so that will be nice.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by disneywiseowl

Don't forget your ID in Memphis. They wouldn't let me in a bar because I didn't have any.
I'm 66.

See more...

That made me chuckle , you must use fabulous face cream to look so young! Andy would be thrilled to get an I'd check in a bar

Originally Posted by sizzy6

Your itinerary sounds amazing, we are doing similar in May
Fly to Atlanta, night in Greenville
Drive to Asheville 3 nights there to explore to Smoky mountains
Drive to Chattanooga two nights there the distillery and Lookout mountain and Ruby Falls are on our list.
Fly from Atlanta to Tampa, two weeks at Anna Maria Island.
Three nights in Orlando for a Mickey fix.
Can,t wait, the diet has commenced, the packing cubes have been bought (much to my husbands amusement). It's just the two of us, we will be meeting up with family in Florida so that will be nice.

See more...

Sounds fab. Also on a diet here and the packing cubes are a must for a road trip. I'm going to pack us an outfit a day per cube up till we reach the cabin where we can wash it all and it will last the remainder. That assumes we don't do any shopping ... Unlikely with us
Two weeks in Anna Maria sounds so relaxing .

[daytonababe]

I haven't looked at Graceland tours yet tbh so will be interested in seeing your pics when you've been :-)

Originally we were just going to Orlando but my youngest (who will be 15) moaned about doing parks and no motor racing.. So then we said we'd do the Knoxville Nationals for 4 days, I think realised it wasn't far from Dollywood so that got added on for my eldest (She'll be 19 but loves Dolly Parton)..Then I came up with adding on Graceland again for Chloe as she's always wanted to go.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by daytonababe

I haven't looked at Graceland tours yet tbh so will be interested in seeing your pics when you've been :-)

Originally we were just going to Orlando but my youngest (who will be 15) moaned about doing parks and no motor racing.. So then we said we'd do the Knoxville Nationals for 4 days, I think realised it wasn't far from Dollywood so that got added on for my eldest (She'll be 19 but loves Dolly Parton)..Then I came up with adding on Graceland again for Chloe as she's always wanted to go.

See more...

I'm still dithering over which tour to pick and I also can't decide if I want to go for the early early opening when they let you go up to where he is buried. I can't decide if that's a bit creepy or not..

In other plans, we dropped Chattanooga and now plan 3 nights in Nashville and 4 nights in the smokies , just makes it a bit less hectic.

Finding a cabin is doing my head in ... There is so much choice , I can't narrow it down

[jocat]

Just caught up with this Amanda. Sounds a fantastic trip you've got planned.

It's such a hard decision pinning down where to go in new areas, when there's so much to see. It's a fine line between visiting as many places as you can, and still feeling like you're having a relaxing holiday. Think you've done the right thing tweaking your plans slightly.

[Guest]

Not a part of the USA that we have explored yet. (We once landed at DFW for a stop on an internal flight.) We've used the cube method for clothes and find it works really well. They featured Gracelands on the Michael Portillo - Great American Railroad Journeys only last week. If you are a fan then definitely go and the grave area with his Ma and Pa seems fine. Tastefully done.
Your itinerary looks great and I really look forward to reading your trip report when you get back.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by jocat

Just caught up with this Amanda. Sounds a fantastic trip you've got planned.

It's such a hard decision pinning down where to go in new areas, when there's so much to see. It's a fine line between visiting as many places as you can, and still feeling like you're having a relaxing holiday. Think you've done the right thing tweaking your plans slightly.

See more...

There really is so much to see but I think I'm ok now with this plan . I just keep telling myself that places that drop off go on the " another trip" list
Hope you have fond your west coast mojo this week

Originally Posted by geoffa

Not a part of the USA that we have explored yet. (We once landed at DFW for a stop on an internal flight.) We've used the cube method for clothes and find it works really well. They featured Gracelands on the Michael Portillo - Great American Railroad Journeys only last week. If you are a fan then definitely go and the grave area with his Ma and Pa seems fine. Tastefully done.
Your itinerary looks great and I really look forward to reading your trip report when you get back.

See more...

Thanks Geoffa, I am so excited for this trip , lots of different aspects to it and as it's just us , no kids, we can set our own pace. I'm so looking forward to sharing it ! Oh and I just ordered a few more cubes .. Need some for the shopping purchases Along the way

I went to Eureka Springs as a child and I really wanted to go back and share the experience with Andy, it's just the quirkiest place. Plus the Christ of the Ozarks is the closest we will ever get to seeing something like the Rio statue

[tocpe321]

Looks like a lovely trip. A visit to JD distillery sounds nice.
I was thinking last year about a loop into/ out of Washington, onto Outer Banks NC and Gatlinburg. Smokies sound fantastic.
See that you are flying into Dallas initially. My older DS told me that Singapore Airlines do some good prices from Manchester to Houston on Premium Economy. We live near London but may be worth a trip up north.
Happy planning for your trip.