eznmomma

My husband and I are visiting our daughter in Charlotte over Thanksgiving. We thought to fly into Memphis or Nashville, drive through those cities, perhaps including Kentucky and then on to Charlotte. I wanted to know if that is a really terrible time to go, mostly because of weather. Also, I didn't know how much time we would need. We enjoy hiking, historical sights and kitsch, as well as what the cities have to offer. If it is too much, we could always save some for the next time we are there.

stumpworks73

Themid-south is not wintry at Thanksgiving. Could be cool, gray and wet, but not frozen.

Memphis has abundant kitsch, Elvis, blues and fine southern cuisine. 1.5 to 2 days max.

Nashville has Country music including the Opry, Bluebird, Station, Exit, and more. Know your nights and buy your tickets in advance. Hermitage is Nashville's historic sight.

Toward Kentucky are the caves for hiking.

Many whiskey making places are popular.

I would make time for Smokey Mountain hiking around Gatlinburg and visiting Biltmore House in Ashville for your history homage.

Easily 7 days and a few more if you can spare.

palmettoprincess

Google your dates with the Grove Park Inn in Asheville. The gingerbread houses should be on display.

Gretchen

The gingerbread houses would be great==it may be a tad early, but I'm not sure.
Weather shouldn't be any problem at all.

eznmomma

Thanks. We have done Asheville so I think we will skip this time.any off the beaten track gems?! or interesting civil war remnants? Everything else you suggested sounds what we are looking for.

Gretchen

You still pretty much have to go through Asheville, so if the houses are there it would be worth the stop.
Nashville has some Civil War things--the town of Franklin I think.
If you wanted to go up the Parkway a little way for some views, you can drop back down to Charlotte.

carolyn

If you fly into Nashville, it isn't a very long drive on I-65 to Bowling Green, KY, which has the Corvette Museum and then on up a little to Mammoth Cave National Park. You can stay on 65 to Louisville where there are a number of museums (Churchill Downs, Slugger Slugger, Muhammed Ali, Frazier Arms) and some historic houses (Farmington, Locust Grove, Thomas Edison). You can then drive to Lexington, seeing horse farms along the way and/or stopping at Harrodsburg for the restored fort and Pleasant Hill Restored Shaker Village, and so back down to Knoxville and the Smokies to North Carolina.

eznmomma

Sounds great. Thanks. I'll look for the houses in Asheville.

Gretchen

If you go that far up in Kentucky you might as well take I64 across Kentucky to I77 and drop down to Charlotte. That does make you miss Asheville however, and now that I think about it, the i40 drive from Knoxville through the Pigeon River valley is probably a prettier drive.

palmettoprincess

I would check the road reports. I-40 is notorious for having lanes closed. When it partially shuts down it is awful. At the moment it is OK.