titanic |

Pigeon Forge, TN

Our family trip to Tennessee took us to Nashville,Chattanooga and Pigeon Forge. If you have never been to Pigeon Forge like me then you will be quite overwhelmed with the amount of things there are to do. Pigeon Forge has tons of water parks, mini golf and go carts but I was looking for something different and unique and then walked in the Titanic Museum.

The Titanic Museum literally looks like the actual Titanic with an iceberg hitting the back of the ship and a water feature in front. As we walked up they were playing “My heart will go on”-I couldn’t believe it. Once you enter you receive a passenger name for each guest and follow them along your tour. Children also receive a more child friendly version. You are also asked if you want an audio necklace to take with you throughout the tour to hear interesting stories along the way.

Unfortunately you are not aloud to take pictures inside due to copyright-I was pretty bummed about that because I am a family memory junkie.

The museum is really interesting and for a history geek like me I loved it. Our little was also engaged throughout the museum with interactive things for her to do. They also had period people dressed up and available throughout the museum. I will say that as we walked through the third class area they had a display of a stairwell which flicked and filled with water and it pretty much freaked me out.

The museum was created by the second person to dive for Titanic. Tons of artifacts. There was also a captains wheel you could spin and then you could walk out onto the deck and feel an actual “iceberg” on the side and you could dip your fingers into frigid water-the same degree it was when the ship went down-yikes.

The most amazing part was the exact replica of the grand staircase which we all walked up. They took pictures for sale of your family on the stairwell as well.

The end of the museum had a fun interactive part which was great for kids. The Titanic Museum was definitely a fun attraction for the whole family!

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!