pigeon forge |

Pigeon Forge,TN

Part of the fun family travel isn’t just going all the places and seeing all the things but it’s also about finding all the fun places to sleep too! I have learned that my husband and I tend to be adventurers over relaxers on vacay. It’s a good thing we agree on that.

The Inn at Christmas Place is an adorable hotel completely decked out in Christmas 24/7 from head to toe. This hotel did not disappoint and as a result needs to be booked well in advance. The Inn is a trip advisor pick but I found out about it through other family travel bloggers which are in my opinion the best way to find all the fun places and get really honest reviews and of course your trusty travel agent.

We drove through Pigeon Forge, TN which I had no idea was such a fun place. There is literally a million places to stay and fun things to do. We counted 10 mini car racing places and just as many mini golf places. Bring your money though because nothing is cheap. We drove up to The Inn and were greeted by a suited door man and a Bavarian hotel with Christmas lights, life sized nutcrackers and Christmas music-it was love.

The entire lobby sticks with the theme. Christmas trees and angels and lights oh my!

We checked in an received an ornament for our first visit. Coffee was available all day long as well as pink lemonade.

Our room was awesome complete with a Christmas tree (easy to turn off but why would you), Christmas pillows, a wreath and chocolate Hershey’s kisses for night time. I opted for a double queen room with no balcony which saved us some money and the room was actually really big, comfortable beds and the bathroom was super large. Our room also had a kitchenette.

The hotel runs specials every evening which include s’mores with Santa and Santa signing-he was really great and answered all the children’s questions.

The hotel also has an outdoor pool with slide and an indoor heated pool-Ro was so mad I didn’t bring suits so from now on I’ll always packs them. Each floor level has something special decorated and a complementary breakfast is included. The breakfast is not your run of the mill complementary breakfast. It has an omelet station, fruit, hot items ready made and served, fruit, breads, you name it. Each night the hotel puts out cookies and milk in the lobby as well.

I almost forgot Ro’s favorite part- a 2 story glockenspiel that rings and sings Christmas music every hour on the hour. I can’t even imagine what staying here during Christmas must be like-actually I can-awesome. #Takethetrip

Fifty Nifty Unites States from 13 original colonies….we are at it again and racking in some states on our most recent family trip. We jumped in the old family truckster and battled pouring rain and early hours to make it to the airport late for this one. So late that we missed the next two flights since they were full so we decided to camp it out in the airport for awhile and enjoy ourselves.

I have been making family travel a priority and we are working on all fifty states before our girl leaves our nest. I have been using Southwest deals to get us to some fun places so if you’d love to make this happen for you family then sign up for the emails. They run deals I would say every three months and for this one Nashville came up and I snagged it.

Tennessee has a ton to offer families traveling so come along with us and see a snapshot of our trip. I will be doing follow up posts with more details on each attraction. How do I plan these trips? Honestly it takes time…and I heavily rely on fellow bloggers who have gone places. Bloggers are such a great resource. They give honest opinions and find things trip advisor just can’t.

Our trip lasted 4 nights and 5 days and we started off in Nashville!

Nashville-Day 1-well we missed our flight so yay-I had to scrap our plans pretty much for the whole day but….I was able to make our planned dinner at The Oprayland Gaylord.

This hotel is amazing!!! It’s basically a complex. You have to pay a hefty price to park and basically get lost doing it but once you’re in the parking lot head on over through the conservatory doors. You will enter right into the hotels amazing conservatory with plants and waterfalls, streaming lights and several restaurants. We chose American Cafe because it was right by the jumping water and it also had the most kid friendly menu. You can also order sushi if you like. The meals are amazing and a complete splurge-so bring the money. Or you can pay to park and walk through several areas,the lobby-not to be missed and ride the glass elevator up and down-oh yes we did. Don’t drive by this one-go in.

Chattanooga Day 2-We made the trek from Nashville to Chattanooga. Our destination was the Historic Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel but we had plans to stop at Ruby Falls, The Incline Railway, and Rock City which technically is in Georgia so number 8 check!. We stopped at the Falls first since it was actually on the way to the hotel. After walking our feet off we headed to our hotel.

Oh MY Word-you must stay here! It’s amazing. We opted for the train car room-you can also get a regular room and it was worth it!

Tons of posh eating all around the area-seems to becoming hipsterish. It was quite nice to have a variety of dining in walking distance.

Pigeon Forge-Day 3-We started our day with breakfast and a car ride to Pigeon Forge. Our hotel was the Christmas Inn and it did not disappoint. As you can see I like to do all the things. We got out of our car and walked into Christmas music!

Our day was spent at the Titanic Museum-yes it was awesome.

And the Old Mill for dinner-so good. I had no idea Pigeon Forge was so awesome and we will be adding this for another trip in the teen years-so much to do!

Great Smoky Mountains-Day 4 We stayed two nights at the Christmas Inn due to the fact that there is no lodging inside the national park. We drove through the entire park-as quick as we could and headed over to the Great Smoky Mountain National Railroad in North Carolina-number 9 if you’re counting. We did a four hour train ride through the Smokys and while it was a bit pricey this was a once in a lifetime thing! We also drove through the Cherokee Nation which was really interesting.

Back to Nashville and Home Day 5-I made a late flight ressie since it’s a 3.5 drive back to Nashville but you can do it! I was actually able to squeeze in one more thing that we missed on our initial day. Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage-yes I am a history geek. It was pouring and we were so wet but we went and did it and it was so worth it.

This was one of our best trips yet and I never realized how much fun was in Nashville!!! More posts in details to come. Come on-fill up your book-make your memories-they’re not too young or too old. All we will have left is love and memories so get out there!