Please help us with our next trip. We’re going south this time. Yay!!

[dsmith]

We are planning a trip south, and need some fun things to do in between meetings and such. The states we are visiting so far are: DE, VA, MD, NC, SC, GA, FL, TN and AL. We will probably take a night or two in DC as well. Any interesting places off the beaten path as well as the usual touristy must visits would be appreciated. Good casual restaurants too. :D We tend to like family-oriented stuff, science museums, aquariums, unusual places, and the kind of food one might see on Man V. Food or Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Dh and ds have a thing for hot dogs, so if there is a great hot dog place please let us know!

[Dana]

In Columbia, SC, Riverbanks Zoo is neat. Their Adventure Tours are good.

Sandy's has good hot dogs.

[Farrar]

That's way too broad! I mean, so many places!

 

But if you want a DC dive, you'll have to go to Ben's Chili Bowl for a half-smoke. Sort of in the hog dog family.

[Stacia]

Jack's Cosmic Dogs (Charleston, SC area) -- fun. (And, I appreciated that they even had a vegetarian option for me.)

 

The Farmer's Shed (Lexington, SC -- near Columbia) -- this was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives. Ds, dd, & I stopped there last time on our way through SC & enjoyed the southern food.

 

Overall, we prefer the aquarium in Charleston, SC, over the aquarium in Atlanta.

 

Roadside America is a great way to find odd, quirky stops along your route.

[Rjmakmom]

National Aquarium in Baltimore http://www.aqua.org/

Maryland Science Center http://www.mdsci.org/

 

and of course all of the Smithsonian Museums along the mall in DC

[Ellie]

Outer Banks of North Carolina--Wright Brothers Memorial, lighthouses, banker ponies, Jockey Ridge, Teach's Hole, the Lost Colony, great beaches. :)

[Jan in SC]

Jack's cosmic dogs is an awesome place! If you like burgers, you should go to Sullivan's Island and eat at Poe's. It is about a mile from Fort Moultrie.

 

Columbia has a great zoo, Riverbanks. If you have a half a day, it's fun. The state house grounds are nice, except right now, as they are covered with political people! There is a restaurant in an area called five points that has a restaurant from diners and drive thrus.

 

Truthfully, unless you don't have a good zoo, head to Charleston. There is so much to do and so many awesome places to eat!

 

Feel free to PM for more specific info-

[dsmith]

Wow, this could easily end up being a very long trip! Dh gave me a list of places we have to be for meetings. So far he has: Richmond, VA; Beltsville and Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Charlotte, NC; Winston Salem, NC; Durham, NC; Memphis, TN; Dothan, AL. He would also like to go to Pigeon Forge for a night or two, so any recs would be appreciated there. Thanks for the ideas so far!

[sparrow]

We loved wandering all over the USS Yorktown in Charleston, SC.

[Stacia]

If you go through Birmingham, AL, there is a great science museum there: McWane Center.

[Tiffnkids]

Sounds like a fun trip!!

 

Mount Vernon is our favorite place to visit near DC. Beautiful, educational, and fun!

 

Not sure where you will be going in Florida, but here are a couple of ideas if you are in the area(s):

 

St. Augustine

 

The Kennedy Space Center

 

Tampa's Museum of Science and Industry

 

Fort De Soto Park and Beach in St. Petersburg

 

The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg

 

The Ringling Museum in Sarasota

[Stacia]

Also, don't forget that there is a Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. I haven't been there, but have heard that it's great.

[DaffodilDreams]

Memphis, TN

 

The zoo

 

The Pink Palace

 

Lichterman Nature Center

 

The Brooks Museum

 

Dixon Gallery and Gardens

 

National Ornamental Metal Museum

 

The National Civil Rights Museum

 

Graceland (though be careful in that area of town)

 

Stax

 

Sun Studio

 

The Peabody Hotel

 

Memphis Botanic Gardens

 

Shelby Farms

 

Meeman-Shelby Forest

 

Riverboat cruise

 

Mud Island

 

The UofM has a free museum housing their Egyptology collection - really neat place!

 

Restaurants we like: Cafe Eclectic, Trolley Stop Market, Bistro at the Booksellers, La Baguette, Cafe Piazza, Vinegar Jim's, Jasmine, and Las Delicias. We're not hot dog lovers, so I can't help with that. More restaurants: Huey's, The Arcade, Gibson's Donuts (for donuts, of course!), Gus's Fried Chicken - downtown location for fun, and you have to eat BBQ while in Memphis - The Commissary, Central BBQ, Corky's (though it's fast becoming chain-ish), and The Rendezvous (iconic, yes; best bbq - not necessarily).

 

 

If you have time for side trips: Shiloh National Battlefield is close; William Faulkner's home is in Oxford, MS - easy drive; and Tishomingo State Park in MS is worth staying a couple of nights.

Edited January 19, 2012 by kimmie38017

[Mama Geek]

Wow, this could easily end up being a very long trip! Dh gave me a list of places we have to be for meetings. So far he has: Richmond, VA; Beltsville and Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Charlotte, NC; Winston Salem, NC; Durham, NC; Memphis, TN; Dothan, AL. He would also like to go to Pigeon Forge for a night or two, so any recs would be appreciated there. Thanks for the ideas so far!

 

Baltimore's Inner Harbor has a ton of things, ferry rides around the harbor, the aquarium, food, shopping...

 

Charlotte has Discovery Place

[delaney]

That's way too broad! I mean, so many places!

 

But if you want a DC dive, you'll have to go to Ben's Chili Bowl for a half-smoke. Sort of in the hog dog family.

No kidding. DC is like an eating festival! Old Ebbitt Grill? Georgetown Cupcake? There are so many places to eat. Oh dinner cruise on the Potomac? kids would like that too.

[placeofgrace]

Charleston, SC

 

SC Aquarium

Fort Sumter (depending on the weather, it requires a boat ride, so I wouldn't want to go if it's raining, cold etc.)

Charleston Museum

The Market

USS Yorktown (if you have little ones, this might be difficult)

 

All of these places are right downtown except for the Yorktown. I would find a place to park or stay downtown and walk as much as possible. Lots of old buildings and churches.

 

Have fun!

[Parrothead]

DE - Don't know much other than I have an aunt living there.

 

VA - Never had much occasion to stop in VA except to visit a friend who lives outside of DC.

 

MD - Again, for me this is a blink and you'll miss it situation. Except for that incident with the car just stopped in the fast lane on the freeway. That was a close one. Oh, I wouldn't advise Baltimore at rush hour.

 

NC - The Biltmore Estate is fun to visit. I like driving the Blue Ridge Parkway

 

SC - I adore Charleston. So much to do there. Forts, beaches, shopping, historical stuff.

 

GA - Stone mountain or if you are along the coast Savannah is just like Charleston. There is a nice outlet mall just off I-95 near Glynco. I forgot the name of the actual town. You'll see signs.

 

FL - St. Augustine is fun to visit. The beaches at or near Panama City. Depending on how far south you are going there is always Orlando and the Keys on down.

 

TN - I love Gatlinburg. Lots to do there. The aquarium is nice.

 

AL - The US Arm Aviation Museum is cool in Fr. Rucker. I've not spent much time in AL. (That is Army not arm)

 

DC - I recommend the Smithsonian Natural History Museum if you are in town for the day. If you have more than one day a trip to Arlington, the Washington Monument and maybe the Capitol building.

 

Oh! Food! Stay away from chains. Ask the locals for recommendations.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Parrothead

[Jennifer in MI]

We drove down the GA coast one year and stayed the night in Kingsland. I think it was exit 1 or 2 on 95. We expected to find a hotel and a restaurant and sleep, but it was SUCH a cute town. The person at the front desk of the hotel told us of an oceanfront park that was AMAZING!!! They had men there catching crabs and they showed my kids how they did it. They LOVED that. There is also a submarine base there and they have a submarine that the kids can climb on. I'm sure there's more, but we ran out of time.

 

We just love those unexpected finds!

 

If you are on the other side of GA - be sure to visit the Lookout Mountain area. There is a TON of historical information there. Chattanooga, TN is right across the river and is definitely worth a visit. The Aquarium there is easily a 1/2 to full day visit.

 

And, I'll second the recommendation for the space center in AL.

 

And, if you are in FL, be sure to see the manitees in their natural habitats. They are incredible creatures. I found it very relaxing to watch them!

[KarenNC]

Charlotte has Discovery Place

 

Discovery Place is newly remodeled and has a lot of very nice exhibits. They have a cool mummies exhibit right now, but I'm not sure how long that will last. There are several museums downtown that would be convenient if you are at Discovery Place. You could also consider the Energy Explorium http://www.duke-energy.com/visitor-centers/energyexplorium.asp, which has periodic homeschool days.

 

If anyone in the family is into stock car racing, there's Charlotte Motor Speedway http://www.charlottemotorspeedway.com/ and the NASCAR Hall of Fame http://www.nascarhall.com/ (haven't been to either) and you can do tours of local race shops as there are a ton of them. I don't know if they still let you take your car on the racetrack for a fee, which might interest a kid who likes Mario. Even if they aren't on your lists of interests, you may want to check the schedule to see if there are any big races at the time as that affects traffic quite a bit. If you are in Charlotte, stop at Concord Mills mall for the Lego store (very close to the speedway). There's also one in Raleigh somewhere, not sure where, but Durham and Raleigh are close. I travel by used bookstore, homeschool bookstores in particular ;), and we have a nice one here called The Homeschool Room, which is all consignment http://www.thehomeschoolroom.net/

 

Depending on when your trip is, you might consider the Whitewater Center for ziplines, bouldering, kayaking, rafting, etc. usnwc.org/ For theme parks, there's Carowinds, but I haven't been in years. You can also keep an eye on http://www.bigsplashcharlotte.org/ for really cheap day passes to the indoor water park at Great Wolf Lodge. GWL does a fundraiser with Big Brothers, Big Sisters twice a year and we got passes for $5 each (M-Wed, it was $15 on Th, $30 Fri-Sun) in the fall. I haven't seen dates announced for the spring yet. GWL is between Concord Mills and the Speedway. Since the only other way to access that waterpark is to stay overnight at the resort, it's a nice amenity. If you want to stay there, they have periodic homeschool rate specials (they also have a MagiQuest there, if your son is into that).

 

For hot dogs, go to Brooks (no seating, but there are stand up tables outside, looks like a total dive but the hot dogs are wonderful). http://charlotteeats.blogspot.com/2008/12/brooks-sandwich-house-hall-of-fame.html For fried chicken, Price's Chicken Coop. It's listed on Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/food-network-specials/top-american-restaurants-bon-appetit-picks-the-best/index.html. Another hole in the wall sort of place.

 

Overall, for the kind of places you want to eat, look at Jane and Michael Stern. Finding these sorts of places all over the country is what they do. http://www.roadfood.com/ They are regulars on Splendid Table on NPR.

 

If you pass through Nashville, the Parthenon with the 40 foot gilded Athena is a must-see for us http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/ If you happen to be near a Ripley's Aquarium (there's one in Gatlinburg, TN, IIRC, which is pretty close to Pigeon Forge, I think), note that you can get a greatly discounted homeschool ticket, but must have some proof of homeschooling. We got ours at the customer service desk rather than the regular ticket booth. Check their group rate page. It's not a huge aquarium, but the one at the beach was nice and could be a place to spend some time if one of you needs something to do with your son while the other is in a meeting.

[KarenNC]

Wow, this could easily end up being a very long trip! Dh gave me a list of places we have to be for meetings. So far he has: Richmond, VA; Beltsville and Baltimore, MD; Charleston, SC; Charlotte, NC; Winston Salem, NC; Durham, NC; Memphis, TN; Dothan, AL. He would also like to go to Pigeon Forge for a night or two, so any recs would be appreciated there. Thanks for the ideas so far!

 

For Winston Salem, Old Salem is great http://www.oldsalem.org. See if they are having their homeschool days when you are going through.

[KarenNC]

Again, depending on your timing and interest, Opera Carolina in Charlotte has student nights for the final dress rehearsal http://www.operacarolina.org/education/student_night/. There are also a variety of different cultural festivals, depending on the time of year, many happening downtown. We always try to hit the Bon Odori Japanese festival right around the first weekend of August, for example.

[TXMomof4]

We just went to the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon in Charleston a few weeks ago. Very, very interesting! It was recommended to us by another passenger on the ferry out to Ft. Sumter and it was a big hit with everyone involved!

 

Have fun - sounds like a great trip!

[chepyl]

Charleston has several beautiful plantations to visit. We went to the one where they filmed the North and South mini series with Patrick Swazye and Roots. It was gorgeous! We also took a ghost tour. It was a lot of fun. It is and after dark walking tpur of the old city. They tell you historical information as well as stories of "hauntings." It was very cool.

 

Savannah, GA is just a beautiful city!

 

Dreamland bbq in Birmingham is delicious!!!!

 

We ate ate the Elvis resturaunt in Memphis. It has interesting food :)

[Chris in VA]

You could visit Edgar Allan Poe's house in Richmond.

 

I think he had one in Baltimore, too, but I'd spend my time there at the Inner Harbor.

 

Mt. Vernon is a fav of ours. You could see it if you are coming out of DC, on your way south. Go to the actual house, then spend a couple of hours in the Education Museum (interactive movies, see artifacts, etc.) and eat in the Mt. Vernon Inn (they serve some yummy colonial foods, like peanut soup and hoecakes with crab--my favorite!). All told, you can do a cursory tour in about 4 hours. You can also go up the pike just a couple of miles and tour the Gristmill and Distillery (you can buy cornmeal from the mill--pretty neat souvenir!), and you can even come further to Pohick Church. It's 6 miles from Mt. V. (I hear the Rector's wife is a hoot. :lol: )

 

There's also Pope-Leighy House, which is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's houses--it's interesting and doesn't take long to see. It's located about 3 miles from Mt V on the way to Pohick.

 

But you probably don't want to take a full day to do all that! LOL

 

I can see the trouble you will have will be narrowing down your choices!

[Cindy in FL.]

Come to Citrus County, FL. and see the manatees!

 

Cindy

[dm379]

There's not much near Dothan, AL other than the aviation museum already mentioned. I live about 15 minutes from Dothan, 5 from the museum. If you have questions, feel free to pm me.

[dsmith]

Wow, so many things to see and do! Thanks for all the replies.:001_smile: This trip could easily turn into a monster! We are looking to leave sometime near the middle or end of March, and we are going to try to keep it to 3 - 4 weeks. Please tell me it’s not too hot down south at that time.:D

[DaffodilDreams]

Should be nice temps in TN at that time. Much better than waiting until later.

[KarenNC]

Wow, so many things to see and do! Thanks for all the replies.:001_smile: This trip could easily turn into a monster! We are looking to leave sometime near the middle or end of March, and we are going to try to keep it to 3 - 4 weeks. Please tell me it’s not too hot down south at that time.:D

 

Should be really nice in NC at that time. The azaleas are likely to be in full bloom (most bloom in March or April), so you might want to hit a couple of botanical gardens if you are interested in that at all. I was astonished when I visited upstate New York at the end of April one year to discover how much difference even a few degrees of latitude make in the seasons. They had daffodils just out and we were already picking early strawberries down here. Reynolda Gardens in Winston Salem were always beautiful http://www.reynoldagardens.org/. They're just off the campus of Wake Forest University. WFU also has a Museum of Anthropology on campus that sounds interesting (though I haven't made it there yet) http://www.wfu.edu/moa/. While in Winston, be sure to visit one of the bakeries and try Moravian cookies (very thin crisp tea cookies, sugar or ginger are the most common) or Moravian sugar cake, since you like regional foods.

[Susan in TN]

TN - Gatlinburg is a great family place with a huge variety, plus hiking in the Smokey Mountains.

 

http://www.gatlinburg.com/default.asp

 

I've never been to Memphis (shame!) but Graceland is an obvious one :).

 

And nearly forgot the Natchez Trace Parkway - picturesque road with tons of history to it - (speed limit is slow, though, if you're in a hurry.)

 

http://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm

 

In Nashville, the Parthenon is a great site, and not far from the Country Music Hall of Fame and other musical sites. Also lots of Civil War history.

 

http://www.nashville.gov/parthenon/

 

Franklin, 20 min. south of Nashville, is a delightful town to explore with a great town square/shops/old book store :D/lots of civil war history. Plus, it's where I live so stop on by and say hello :). http://www.franklintn.gov/index.aspx?page=57

 

Have fun planning - sounds like a wonderful trip!

Edited January 20, 2012 by Susan in TN

[Cinder]

Also, don't forget that there is a Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. I haven't been there, but have heard that it's great.

 

We just went a couple weeks ago and enjoyed it. At first I was disappointed as the main building seemed to have been stripped of much of what had been there several years before (the last time we visited). But there's a new building with really informative (and some interactive) exhibits. Overall the changes were good.

 

Chattanooga, TN is right across the river and is definitely worth a visit. The Aquarium there is easily a 1/2 to full day visit.

 

 

The TN Aquarium is very good but their giant fresh water tank is down for renovation. There is still a lot to see. A lot. But it was a big disappointment to have that tank down. And we've been there quite a few times before. I think the reno is scheduled to be completed at the end of May.

 

Off the beaten path but right near I-75 is the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville GA. The top floor has a Presidential exhibit; the basement has a play area for younger kids.

 

The Etowah Indian Mounds Historic Site is also nearby. Not sure if your timing would enable you to go for the torchlight tour--it was great, but I probably wouldn't go otherwise. They set up exhibits and explain the culture and history on the tour but otherwise it's just the mounds and not all that exciting.

[Farrar]

You didn't get enough Durham, NC rec's! Durham rocks.

 

Get a popsicle at LocoPops. Go see Duke Gardens - they're AMAZING. Duke Chapel is also quite lovely. The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science is fun and has a lot of outdoor exhibits (one where you play with the wind, a sort of mini-zoo, life size dinosaur replicas, and a really nice bug house, in addition to a whole building with their regular exhibits - it's one of our favorite science centers and we've been to many). The Q Shack has the best BBQ. Foster's Market has delish cookies, among other things. If you're there in the summer, seeing the Durham Bulls play is a must. The old tobacco buildings are also strangely pretty, at least, I think so.