East Tennessee to Florida - where to go
 

I'm planning the family vacation. We'll start by visiting relatives in very Eastern Tennessee, then go to our favorite vacation spot, south of Tampa. <BR>We would like to take our time getting to Tampa (maybe 4 or 5 days), and drive down the East caost for a while. Any suggestions on what route to take and what to do? We have two kids, 3 and 6.

Carolanne, <BR>Could you give us a little more information? For instance, are you talking about the East coast from the Carolinas down, or just the east coast of Florida? Are you interested in different beaches or would you prefer visiting some historic areas? There are lots of choices and things to see depending on your interests.

Sorry I didn't give more info. <BR>Our ultimate destination is the beach, so we don't need to go to beaches on the way. But if there's a particularly scenic one, we'd be up for it. <BR>We're looking for interesting towns, historic sites, anything unusual. <BR>We usually go to Florida via Atlanta, down I-75. Since we are starting from a different point, we'd like to go through the Carolinas, the East side of Georgia, and the East side of Florida - not necessarily the coast, but the Eastern part of the states, until we cut over to get to Tampa. <BR>We've never spent any time in this area of the country, so any suggestions would be helpful. <BR>Some specific questions would be: <BR>Any suggestions for a nice town in the mountains? <BR>Would Savannah or Charleston be better with kids? <BR>Please don't slam me for this, but I'm thinking about Mt. Airy, NC, because of the Andy Griffith museum. Anything else to do there? <BR>There are several forts on the coast - Sumter, Pulaski, Frederica - which would you recommend? <BR>Any other civil war sites? <BR>I think our kids could handle sightseeing for half a day inside, but I can't see them in a museum all day. Any places like forts or gardens where they could be outside part of the time would be great.

Savannah and St. Augustine would be two of my choices - great cities, lots of outdoor sites and activities and the fort at St. Augustine is "way cool" according to my kids! If you get to Daytona, the beach there is great and there is a TERRIFIC and FUN restaurant on Ponce Inlet (very reasonably priced when we were there a couple of years ago!) - sitting on the deck or on boats placed around the deck - and there's a lighthouse to visit too! <BR> <BR>Hope this helps! Have a great time!

I'd recommend Charleston and Ft. Sumter along the east coast. St. Augustine is also a good recommendation. Since you're going to be in the very eastern part of TN, which I assume that means the Johnson City area. I'd suggest you go over to Blowing Rock, NC for a couple of days. It's a very quaint village with lots of waterfalls, hiking, shopping and excellent restaurants. Grandfather mountain is nearby, which the kids would like, as well as Tweetsie Railroad. From there you could make your way through Charlotte, Hit I77 south to Columbia, SC. From there it's about a 45 minute drive to Sumter. You can go on east from there about 15 miles and hit I 95 South to I26 which will take you to Charleston. Good secondary roads from there will take you on down to Savannah where you can pick up I 95 again and on down the Florida East Coast. <BR> <BR>And by the way, the Andy Griffith Museum is a hoot. If you go through the Boone/Blowing rock area you can easily get to Mt. Airy. From there you can go straight down I26 to Charlotte.

Thanks for the help. Sal, would you recommend Charleston over Savannah?

Carolanne, <BR> <BR>I think Sal meant I77 from Mt. Airy to Charlotte (I26 will connect you from Asheville to Charleston though). Also, my 2 cents worth on Chareston v. Savannah is . . . I think Charleston has more to do. Specifically, take a boat out to Fort Sumter (it's on an island in the harbor) and with kids I think Patriot Point is a MUST--the WWII aircraft carrier is moored there and walking through that (with lots of vintage planes inside) was great. Also at Patriot Point you can go inside a WWII submarine--incredibly tight quarters but again, really neat (even for a near 40 kid like me). <BR> <BR>Have fun!

A trip to Mt. Airy is fun. Try to have lunch at Slappy's. From Mt. Airy, take Highway 421 to Pilot Mountain (Mt. Pilot in the show). It's a state park. From there I would suggest Winston-Salem and touring Old Salem. That would make for one full day. <BR> <BR>From Winston-Salem go to Greensboro, take 220 south (future I-74 I think) Stop by the N.C. Zoo or at one of the many potters in Seagrove. Highway 220 should take you into South Carolina. I'm writing this without a map in front of me, so I'm not too sure on the routes. <BR> <BR>Or Winston-Salem to Durham and see the Durham Bulls play (AAA minor league team) or Raleigh (stop by the "Y" and see if Andy and Barney are there) then continue down I-40 to Wilmington and tour the USS North Carolina. From Wilmington it's a non-interstate route to Myrtle Beach then onto Charleston. <BR> <BR>I would choose Charleston over Savannah because of all the options in Charleston. Besides intown, you can go to mansions, or a cypress swamp, visit the C.S.S. Hunley (I know I read info on it here). <BR> <BR>Enjoy your trip.

I'd go with Charleston over Savannah. The plantation tours are fun. You should probably do that on your own so that you have more flexibility with your children. If you do a search at this site on Charleston, you'll find lots of good sight seeing, lodging and restaurant recommendations. (Unfortunately, many of the B&Bs don't accomodate young children.) By the way, I did mean to say I77 from Mt. Airy to Charlotte. I also misread your post when I gave you directions to Sumter--I didn't realize you specifically said Ft. Sumter. sorry about that.