From Nashville to Gatlinburg

Tennessee 2019

We had a family reunion in Gatlinburg but did a little extra Tennessee exploration the weekends before and after. We enjoyed exploring Nashville and the Smokies. And we learned both how wide Tennessee is and that it crosses two time zones.

We stayed at Courtyard Nashville Green Hills for the first weekend. The hotel felt nice and new. We were not expecting there to be zero parking in the area and had to pay $25/night for the hotel valet parking. We typically find cheaper parking near our hotel. The staff was friendly and gave each of our kids a gift from their treasure box. And we all enjoyed the rooftop pool. We needed to drive to explore Nashville but the drive from Green Hills was typically pretty short. The Bluebird was nearby, which we didn’t visit this trip but hope to in the future.

In summary of our weekend in Nashville:

• We loved breakfast at Biscuit Love in the Gulch. We found it worth the wait even with two small children with us. We did cheat by taking turns exploring and visiting murals while in line.
• We parked at the east end of the John Seigenthaler Pedestrian Bridge and walked over to the arts district.
• We loved the live music and found the chaos of downtown fascinating. It was midday and already every other car seemed to be a truck carrying a dancing bachelorette party. We checked out sights on our walking tour, browsed cowboy boots for our kids, and listened to some live music.
• Milk and Honey was also delicious and probably worth a wait, too. We got there early enough on Sunday to skip the line.
• We enjoyed the murals. We have a variety of photos of us and the kids interacting with the murals in the Gulch.
• There are many options for music but we found the Wildhorse Saloon to be a good fit for our little family. We stopped by for one round of beers, some live music, and a dance lesson. It felt more kid friendly than other options.
• Some other restaraunts we enjoyed are Puckett’s and Edley’s Bar-B-Que. Edley’s was amazing but you have to get there early. They were already sold out of a couple items when we arrived.
• We visited the Parthenon, making for fun photos with the kids. We didn’t explore inside because it was closed so I hope to on another trip. We didn’t visit a festival occurring in the park that looked fun but our kids got some energy out at the playground.

We made the long trek to Gatlinburg. We expected a sleepy village in the Smokies but arrived to a town-sized boardwalk. We stayed in a house near downtown with extended family. We were walking distance to the aquarium, mini golf, arcades, t-shirt shops, and more. We did a little exploring downtown and took our kids to putt putt. The kids also visited the aquarium. Our favorite part of our visit to Gatlinburg, besides the pool at the house, was the Smokies. We only did a few hikes but even in the rain the hikes were beautiful and busy.

We headed back towards Nashville after Gatlinburg for a night in Brentwood. We met up with some old friends that now live on the east coast. We didn’t see more of Nashville and spent most of our time in the hotel – enjoying the pool, the continental breakfast, and catching up with our friends. We did enjoy dinner at Uncle Julio’s and getting a glimpse of the litte Franklin downtown when we went out for lunch. If we were planning to move back east, this area would be tempting.

Our trip to Tennessee felt quick. I hope to go back to see a more of Nashville and the surrounding area. And I hope to spend more time in the Smokies one day; more likely in a tent in the woods for the full Smokies experience.