Georgia, Carolinas, and Tennessee

Georgia

We left for Atlanta, Georgia early in the morning for an 11 hour drive from our house. In Atlanta, we stayed at Country Inn & Suites in Smyrna. The hotel was good and worked for the one night stay. In Atlanta, we went to the Georgia Aquarium, which ended up being insanely cool. The aquarium had a whale shark, beluga whale, a seal show, and many other memorable creatures. After visiting the aquarium, we drove to Savannah and spent the night at Comfort Suites Savannah. For dinner we had a really good place called Treylor Park and this was my dad’s favorite restaurant on this trip. After dinner, we went on a haunted ghost tour where we walked around the city viewing all the supposedly haunted buildings and homes. We definitely enjoyed the stories and feeling a little spooked out during some points. We also enjoyed the city of Savannah as the architecture, restaurants, and activities were top notch.

South Carolina

The state that is just not as good as the state that is north of it! Kidding (sort of - I just really love North Carolina!). After leaving Savannah, we headed to Charleston for two nights and this is a highly underrated city. I feel like I don’t hear many people talk about this city and I have no clue why. I loved the architecture of this city along with its coastal vibe. The hotel that we stayed at was the French Quarter Inn, which was a fancy, older hotel and they even gave us a free upgrade to a nicer room which had a balcony overlooking the city! This hotel also gave us a nice breakfast that came with our room and for all the guests staying there, there is a milk and cookie hour and free bikes. We did take advantage of the free bikes to go and get Jeni’s Ice Cream which was delicious. Early in the morning we went to a historic thing called Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, which my parents thought was cool but my brother and I hated. After our tour there, we walked along the boardwalk. The one thing that I remember is seeing a pineapple fountain and dolphins in the harbor! For dinner we ate at a delicious place called Husk which we walked to from our hotel but on the way back it was pouring rain on us! We then had some milk and cookies and went to bed. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast before driving to Myrtle Beach. I was super excited to go here because I love the beach and we had not been to one in a while. We arrived at our hotel, a large hotel with multiple pools for us kids to play in. We checked in and then hit the beach. The afternoon was great but starting around dinner time the scene started to change from family friendly to adult party time. I was 12 and my brother was 9 at the time so my parents quickly removed us from the boardwalk of Myrtle Beach to our hotel room. My parents started to not feel comfortable in this area so we decided to leave a day early and head to OBX, which we all liked a lot better than Myrtle Beach. If you want that more relaxing, family friendly experience then go to OBX!

North Carolina

In my opinion, this is one of the most underrated states in the entire US. In the west side of the state they have the Smoky Mountains and one the east side they have calming, uncrowded beaches. After leaving Myrtle Beach mid-morning, we headed off towards Kill Devil Hills. We stayed in the Outer Banks for four nights in a picturesque hotel called Shutters on the Banks. While we were here, the waves were pretty high and most of them knocked down my brother and I - which we loved! My family and I loved the town of Outer Banks and highly enjoyed our time here. There are also a lot of really nice town homes right on the beach that sleep 10-15 people and we thought it would be fun to come back and go with friends! We mainly just hung out on the beach but we did take a surf lesson. We were going to go hanggliding in Kitty Hawk near the dunes where the Wright brothers had their first flight, but it was too windy (the reviews for it were great). Some of the places that we liked eating at were Mama Kwans, and Miller's Waterfront Restaurant. After four nights at OBX, we headed towards TN, but first grabbed lunch at a place called Moe’s BBQ in Durham, which was delicious! In Bryson City, NC, we stopped to go tubing down a creek in the Deep Creek Recreation Area and everyone in my family really enjoyed it! There were a bunch of places to rent tubes along the creek and you could take a bus to a higher point in the river and then float down. The water was refreshing but not too cold and there were some rapids to float down.

Tennessee

I love this state so much! Tennessee reminds me of Texas, but is just prettier and they share that same southern culture. I have been here twice, once for spring break in 2021, and the other time was in the summer of 2021 for a night’s stay on the way back from the Georgia/Carolinas trip. On this road trip, after tubing, we drove to Chattanooga to spend the night. This town was surprisingly upbeat and had lots of things to do. We were only here one night and had a good dinner of some infamous fried chicken at Tupelo Honey. We then explored downtown and walked around and had some ice cream.

For the spring break trip in 2021, we stayed in a town called Gatlinburg, an hour Southeast of Knoxville. We stayed with another family of four at a VRBO for several nights. The VRBO was very nice and well run. The back deck was awesome along with the game room downstairs, and who can forget about the great view! For this trip we stayed one night in Memphis at a Hampton Inn & Suites and then drove to Gatlinburg the next day. We ate lunch in Nashville and walked around the city and got to explore it. Nashville was a pretty cool city and I would really like to go back to it. One day, we drove to the Smoky Mountains where we did a great hike that was easy, with a great waterfall at the end. Then we explored and drove around the Smoky Mountains trying to find that perfect photo for the wall. The next day, we went ice skating and ride the gondola to the top of the mountain, where we went snow tubing! One night we went to a pirate dinner show. The show was in Pigeon Forge, and there was tons of different dinner things to attend there. We also did the mountain coaster in Gatlinburg, went to Ripley’s Aquarium (dad rode on an ATV while we did this), and played putt-putt. My favorite restaurant that we ate at was called Local Goat. Some other good restaurants were Crockett's 1875 Breakfast Camp (they have giant cinnamon rolls!), Southern Comfort, and Old Mill Restaurant. Tennessee is one of my favorite states. Nashville is great if you want a large city with lots of food and music options. Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg are great if you want a more friendly family vibe with endless things to do. Chattanooga is a great city to drive through and get to experience Tennessee!

Awards

Best Restaurant: Mama Kwan's

Favorite Activity: OBX Beach

Favorite State: North Carolina

Coolest Thing We Did: Tubing down mountain river