Thank you for the information! I'll warn my husband not to pick up the phone. And yes! What did you do? We have 2 days (maybe 3) where we will be able to drive into Nashville. One day we are going to Memphis. and 2 days I have to be at the convention, so my husband and son will be going to Dave and Busters one day and the Lane Motor Museum another day. I am at a loss on really what to see in Nashville. Any ideas would be appreciated!
In the downtown-ish area, we enjoyed the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, even though none of us are necessarily country music superfans, it was cool to see all of the history and memorabilia. We also did a ghost walk/tour in downtown Nashville one night. My 11 year old son marked that as his favorite activity. And the Tennessee History Museum in downtown is a good way to spend a couple hours. If you need an outside place for your son (I'm not sure of his age) or if he is a Percy Jackson fan, the Parthenon is neat and it seems like it was in that general area.
We toured the Jack Daniel's distillery, which is a bit outside of Nashville, but it was really interesting. Even my kids, who were 11 and 13 at the time, thought that the process was interesting. It's located in a dry county, so no tastings, but the information and the history were cool. That same day we saw the Cumberland Caverns, so they must be in the same direction. My boys really liked walking around in the caverns, as well.
The Hermitage, which was Andrew Jackson's home, was beautiful. Regardless of how I (or anyone) may feel about him as a president or person (I'm looking at you, Indian Removal Act), the historical value of the home is clear and there is so much to explore. It was eye opening for my kids (we live in Colorado, so we have different kinds of history here) to see the living quarters of those who were held as slaves, etc. And history aside, the grounds are beautiful, as is the house. In a similar vein, Belle Meade Plantation was also very interesting and beautiful (they raised racehorses during the Civil War period and now it is a winery--I still order wine from them six years later, they had some that we enjoyed so much and can't get here) and we also toured Carnton Plantation (are you familiar with the book "Widow of the South"--this is the house) and the graveyard there. All are interesting Civil War historical sites and again, a type of history that my kids just don't get living in the west, so it was good for them to see things firsthand that they only read about. Your mileage on that may vary depending on your son's age and where you currently live. These three are not close together, we did them on three separate days, but they are all in the same vein and so with only a couple of days you would need to pick and choose.
Make sure to try Nashville Hot Chicken while you are there--we liked Hattie B's A LOT!! What some fast food chains are currently passing off as Nashville Hot Chicken cannot even compare--get the real thing.
And in the realm of the truly kitschy, there is a Duke's of Hazard museum right by the hotel--it won't take much time, but it was a fun blast from the past for DH and I and made my boys interested in watching some old episodes, which they find hilarious.
We wanted to tour the campus of Vanderbilt University and just ran out of time--but it looks beautiful and I love walking college campuses.
We had such a good time on our vacation there--I'd love to go back.
Thanks for helping me re-live what was a really great Spring Break!!
