Yeah Let’s Go traveled to Nashville for the first time last week! It was a fantastic time and I discovered a few of my favorite spots to take children where they can have hours of fun. Nashville, also known as the Music City is about a 4 hour drive from Atlanta.
Your first stop should be to the Gaylord Opryland Resort. Don’t bother staying anywhere else in Nashville because you won’t find anything like it. This resort covers 9 acres, 20 restaurants and has 2,881 rooms!
Waterfall inside Opryland
You won’t have to worry about getting lost with these interactive touch screen maps located all over Opryland. They are gearing up for their Spring Break that will include an Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt throughout the property and their new Dreamworks Programming that include Madagascar and Shrek characters. During the Winter months you can check out the massive slides made of Ice and one of the best Christmas around. The kids will love the 1/4 mile river inside with fish and waterfalls! I can’t wait to return, it was the most magical and amazing place I’ve ever visited.
After you’ve settled head out to the South side of Nashville to check out their great Zoo. Here is an awesome hint, bring your Zoo Atlanta Membership card and you can get in free to the Nashville Zoo as well! The Nashville Zoo has the same great feel that our Atlanta Zoo has, nestled in a busy part of town but when you step into the Zoo your forget that you are in the city! The landscaping it fantastic and you loose yourself walking around this great Zoo. I went in the morning before it got crowded and was able to enjoy all the great animals in a quiet setting. The Bamboo trail that they have looks like it’s strait out of a movie. It’s beautiful. I discovered the Snow leopards and Red panda hidden on the trial. I also got to see an Anaconda for the first time in my life. It’s quite a site along with the bats! The Nashville Zoo is a great place to visit with your kids if you are looking for something in the fresh air.
The next stop on your family vacation has to be The Adventure Science Center. This place is a kids and science lovers dream. My first thought was that you could spend all day here easily with your child(ren) having fun and teaching them some amazing science facts. When ou first arrive you will see the massive Adventure Tower that is two stories of climbing, sliding and small learning stations throughout the tower. They also have a preschool area for the little ones. Check out the Space Chase where your family can learn all about the universe. Even strap yourself in to find out what it’s like to space walk! Head upstairs to the BodyQuest area where you can launch healthy food into the giant mouth. Shoot bad germs and check out the giant heart that is pumping to each of the stations. I was in science heaven and I didn’t see a single child just sitting around. Neither were the parents. They were right in the mix learning with their children. There is also a planetarium!
If you are anything like me and my family you like to educate as much as you can when visiting a new place in the country. So I made one more stop because I heard it was a must see before I left Nashville. It’s the Parthenon. The re-creation of the 42-foot statue Athena is the focus of the Parthenon just as it was in ancient Greece. The building and the Athena statue are both full-scale replicas of the Athenian originals. Talk about full of history. Down to the massive gold statue on the inside. Pack a picnic lunch and enjoy the Parthenon located in Centennial Park. Feed the ducks and then head inside to see all the amazing history and story behind the Parthenon.
You and your family will have a fantastic trip that they can learn some amazing things from. Which sounds like a win – win trip to me! If you are staying at Opryland you may get so caught up in it’s beauty that you stay there the whole time!
Check out all the great pictures from our Nashville trip with lots from the places listed above on our Facebook page.
