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Anyone want to help me plan a road trip (orlando to Kansas)


lovinmyboys
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We are going to Disney world soon, then visiting family in Kansas for the holidays. I am thinking of stopping in Atlanta, somewhere in Tennessee, and St. Louis. Any suggestions? Also, we usually just drive from place to place and don't really stop. I'm trying to figure out the logistics so we don't spend the days driving and get to our destinations after most of the attractions are closed for the day. And I don't really want to take more than 5 days for this trip.

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In Atlanta, I'd definitely go to the Aquarium and the High Museum.

 

In TN, why not Memphis? Go to Graceland. :)  Or if you go to Nashville through Chattanooga you can stop at Rock City.  (You'll see 848983 billboards advertising it.)  :)

 

If you do go to Nashville, I love the NashTrash tours.   Jack Daniels is on the way from Chattanooga to Nashville.

 

Let's see... I used to drive Orlando to Nashville straight... but you could easily break it up to two days.    So leave Orlando arrive in Atlanta same day.  I want to say it's about a 6-7 hour drive.  So if you left Orlando very early.... you could have most of the afternoon to do stuff in Atlanta.  Depending on the date, Georgia Aquarium is open until 8 p.m. so that might work.  High Museum closes earlier, so maybe could do that early the next day if you wanted?

 

Atlanta to Nashville is about five hours.  Memphis, I think...maybe an hour more?

 

From Nashville or Memphis to Kansas, though...no idea. :)

 

 

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Atlanta isn't a great tourist town in my opinion. I live here now. If I had to pick one thing I might choose hiking up Stone Mountain. Park gates open at 5am. Nothing else is really that unique. The Atlanta History Center is okay if you like Olympic stuff. The Civil War exhibit is pretty good also.

 

Nashville isn't very exciting either unless you like country music. I used to work there.

 

If you like nature, Cloudland Canyon in North Georgia would be a good stop.

 

You could detour a bit and go to Huntsville, AL. The NASA facility there is pretty cool.

 

It's also a bit off the interstate, but stopping at one of the natural springs in Florida would be neat. They are gorgeous. Do a quick Google Image search of Ichetucknee Springs state park.

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The kids are four boys age 3-9 and it will be before Christmas.

 

Yes, I think it is 8 hours to Atlanta. Maybe we could leave around 4am and get there at noon so we have time to do something that day and not waste it all on driving.

 

I'm wondering if we should do fewer stops and stay more days at our stop. Instead of doing Atlanta, Tennessee, St. Louis, just do Atlanta. Or pick two of the 3?

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Atlanta isn't a great tourist town in my opinion. I live here now. If I had to pick one thing I might choose hiking up Stone Mountain. Park gates open at 5am. Nothing else is really that unique. The Atlanta History Center is okay if you like Olympic stuff. The Civil War exhibit is pretty good also.

 

Nashville isn't very exciting either unless you like country music. I used to work there.

 

If you like nature, Cloudland Canyon in North Georgia would be a good stop.

 

You could detour a bit and go to Huntsville, AL. The NASA facility there is pretty cool.

 

It's also a bit off the interstate, but stopping at one of the natural springs in Florida would be neat. They are gorgeous. Do a quick Google Image search of Ichetucknee Springs state park.

Will it be warm enough to do outdoor things in December?

 

We do live in a city-not as big as Atlanta but we have an aquarium, art museum, pro sports teams, science museum, zoo, theater, etc. It did make me wonder if going to Atlanta would be that different (I have never been there except driving through).

 

The kids do love the city museum in St Louis, but maybe we should look at non city stuff for our other stops.

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It's hard to say if it will be warm enough. Really the bigger problem could be rain.

 

If you live in another large city, then pretty much everything in Atlanta will be about the same. The Tellus museum north of Atlanta has a nice mineral collection but it's not that different from multiple other science centers. They do have a panning for mineral activity which is a lot of fun.

 

I asked my eight year old what she would recommended and she said the indoor bouncy house is the only fun thing here.

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It only adds about 2 hours to the trip according to Google Maps, but would you want to go through New Orleans?  I've never been, but I've always wanted to go.  Then that route has you going up through Shreveport, over to Fort Worth, and up through Oklahoma City.  Though I don't know where in Kansas you're going, so I just plugged in Wichita... 

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Thanks! I didn't consider going a different route. I think we could find things to do in Atlanta, but Huntsville or New Orleans might be more what I am looking for. And the natural springs sounds great.

 

The kids want to go to city museum in St. Louis. But, if we don't make it this time we can go another time. St. Louis is much closer to us than New Orleans.

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