Avoiding Driving the Same Route Twice – The Southern States as an Expansive Area: Highway or Interstate

We were having difficulties to find proper information about the South of the US right before we went there. The area seems to be of little interest to German travel agencies, they are focused on California and Florida. The southern part of Florida is rather small, issues like that don’t exist to the same extend. In particular in the southern states of the East, choosing the right route is important. This determines how fast or slow you move forward and as a consequence what you get to see. Taking short field trips to certain sights usually does not make much sense and will only cost you money and energy. The rule is: avoid driving the same route twice whenever possible.

Atlanta, The Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis: From Georgia to North Carolina and Tennessee

Atlanta is the perfect starting point for a tour. Anyone coming from far away will most likely arrive at Atlanta Airport, the largest airport in the United States with many connections to any destination worldwide. (see Flying via Atlanta)

Georgia’s capital is located conveniently in the center of the South. A tour from here may start in any direction. South of Atlanta at the Atlantic Coast, Florida’s capital Jacksonville can be reached easily. In the North (heading to South Carolina) Savannah and Charleston are within reach. On the direct road, the interstate, all these cities are within a five hour distance to Atlanta. We drove from Charleston to Atlanta (I-20, I-95), it took exactly 5 hours. Depending on where you want to go next, you can choose between these options. On the way to Charleston, there is the little town of Augusta for a stop, on the way to Savannah it’s Macon. Charleston is the right choice if you want to move further north (North Carolina), Jacksonville if you want to move further south to Florida.
We chose a different route. Our second stop after Atlanta was Nashville; on the way to Nashville we stopped to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. (see Great Smoky Mountains)

Our route lead us to the eastern entrance of the park, the village right next to the entrance in called Cherokee, hotels are available here. It’s a 260 km drive (3 hours) (I 85, Hgw 23, Hgw 441). There is one interesting stop on this route: the North Georgia Premium Outlets, and outlet mall 75 km north of Atlanta. Anyways, the outlet center is a bit further northwest and not reachable directly from the Interstate. Instead of the interstate 85, you better take highway 19. This little detour requires an extra 20 minutes even though it’s only an additional 15 km. If you are interested in outlet shopping, you should definitely do that. You don’t need to go a long way round it’s just a minor detour. Outlet centers are usually located outside larger cities; in this case it’s conveniently located on the way.

Asheville is located west of the Great Smoky Mountains. The largest privately owned southern plantation can be visited here. If you have some time left, go there. We didn’t and I regret it. I cannot say more about it, anything else can be found in the article on the Great Smoky Mountains.

Next stop after the Great Smoky Mountains is Nashville. There are two very different tour options here: the northern route is the shortest way (via I 40, 410 km, 4 ½ hours) and the southern route via Chattanooga (Hgw 74, I-24, 450 km, 5 hours). If you want to see the little town Chattanooga, the southern route is the right one. Whiskey fans will find the southern route more interesting. Lynchburg, Tennessee is the home of Jack Daniels and its distillery can be visited. The closest interstate to Lynchburg is I-50, anyways it’s a 50 km drive from the interstate. For the southern road, you need an entire day in order to have time for Chattanooga and the Jack Daniels distillery. We left the Great Smoky Mountains on midday and decided to take the direct route without stop. On the northern route, right before Nashville, there is a little town called Lebanon and a smaller outlet mall. If you have some time left in the evening, you can go here. That’s what we did. Traffic wasn’t heavy and we had some time to kill. So we stopped here for a short break. The Lebanon outlet itself is rather small; I would not drive here only for the outlet.

Die fastest route from Nashville to Memphis is I-40 which connects both cities (3 hours, 340 km). At the western side of Nashville, there is the Belle Meade Plantation (reachable via highway 70s). Going to Belle Meade first and to the interstate after that will only take you a few minutes longer. A stop in Belle Meade is always something interesting, it’s only a minor detour and you lose about 10 minutes. For the rest of the route, I recommend the interstate. I don’t have any more suggestions for stops on the route. We only did Belle Meade Plantation and Memphis.

More Information on this Tour can be Found in Part 2 and Part 3:

Driving in the South Part 2: A Tour From Memphis to Vicksburg, New Orleans and Pensacola

Driving in the South Part 3: From Florida’s Capital Tallahassee on the Georgia Coast to the Carolinas and Charleston

A Tour in the Panhandle/Northern Florida can be found here.

Der Beitrag Driving in the South Part 1: A Tour From Atlanta to the Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Memphis erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

Coca Cola Museum: World of Coca Cola Atlanta

The Coke Museum is in Atlanta’s Downtown, close to the Olympic Park. It’s not cheap, they charge 16 dollars. The square in front of the museum is called Pemberton Place, named after the inventor of Coca Cola. You enter in groups. In the first room, you have to wait a bit until the group is big enough. This room shows some Coca Cola decorations. A tour guides leads everyone to a second room full of kitsch and many Coca Cola Stories are told. Only after listening to this lecture, you get to move freely and independently in the museum.

A central room called “the lobby” connects various other rooms. There are exhibits about how the soda was developed (Pharmacist John Pemberton invented it), a cinema with an endless stream of Coke ads, an exhibit that shows how bottles are filled and an extra room than only deals with the question what Coke’s secret formula is (of course, not telling it). There is a Coca Cola Polar Bear in the lobby. That is where all children gather. Cheesy things about Coca Cola are everywhere, loads of old and new merchandise. So far, so good. Until this point, something you can do but don’t really need to. To me, the Tasting Room made it. It’s a room full of these typical Soda taping systems. You can try any soda worldwide, including sub-brands like Fanta, Sprite, etc. That is indeed something! You can drink as much as you want, the only limit is the amount of sweet sugary soda that you are able to process and digest.

These taping system are organized in groups of continents. All sodas from Africa were extremely sweet, too sweet for me. But quite interesting to try that. The German sodas were Mezzo-Mix (to non-German a mix of Coke and Fanta) and Bonaqua-Lemon. The Indian soda was Mazaa (a viscous Mango juice). Did you know that Mezzo-Mix is only available in Germany, made for the German market? I didn’t. I liked the tasting, I wanted to try at least a sip of everything. But that did not work, in the end it was a bit too much. It was only then when I realized how different these Coca Cola products are in every country.

At the exit you can take a sample glass bottle of Coke. You exit through a big gift shop with all kinds of Coca Cola stuff (clothes, key chains, statues, etc.). Nice to watch but a little expensive. None of us bought anything.

The Coca Cola Museum is good if you like these different sodas. Everything else is nice, of course done accurately and provides quite some information. But it can always be shortened to “Coca Cola is great”. After the third room, I was thinking: ok, I know it, Coke is great and has changed the world. On their website, Coke says you need 2 hours to do the museum. I think that is right, you don’t need more time. I don’t suggest not doing the museum but don’t expect too much for your 16 dollars.

Georgia Aquarium

Right opposite of the Coca Cola Museum is the Georgia Aquarium. More than 500 species can be seen here, big, small, mammals, reptiles and fish. The Aquarium has several rooms but only two are really outstanding: Ocean Voyager and Pacific Cold Water Quest.

Whale Sharks, Sea Turtles and Manta Rays: Ocean Voyager

Ocean Voyager is a huge aquarium full of fish, mammals in particular whale sharks and sea turtles. If you follow the regular route (easy, just follow the crowds) you walk through a glass tunnel and see animals right next to you and on top of you. Just wait a little bit and you will most likely see a turtle or a whale shark swimming by. Following the exhibit, you walk by several smaller and bigger windows. In the end, you reach a kind of exhibit room with huge panoramic windows. This is where s little performance is done. If you think about Sea World and their circus shows, you are wrong. That’s not what they do, it’s much more relaxed.

An employee clears the space in front of the window. That takes a while but when everyone is finally in the back, you see a clear window for the first time and can finally take a pic with no one on it. At this point you already see an incredible amount of different water animals. They give all kinds of information about these animals. In a second step, three divers dive into the aquarium. One diver has a mike and is audible in the room. He answers questions from the audience. The divers’ bubbles attract many animals, now you can see easily how many animals live in that water tank. Moreover, I only realized the sheer size of some fish in comparison to these divers. The animals don’t seem stressed of freaked out, there are no shows and performances.

Georgia Pacific Cold Water Quest: Penguins and Beluga Whales

I second thing I remember are the penguins. You can stand in front of their compound and see them through a glass window only a few yards away. But there is also a little additional trick: you can crawl in a small tunnel (kind of under the compound) and look through a cylinder. The cylinder is really only big enough for one head and has very thick plastic glass. You don’t disturb or upset the penguins but it still feels like a penguin is standing right next to your head.

The penguin compound is part of the Georgia Pacific Cold Water Quest which also has otters, beluga whales and more polar residents.

More Water Tanks

There is a second aquarium with many colorful fresh-water fish from tropical regions (including clown fish, seahorse, etc.). There is also a dolphin tank and just recently sea lions. Dolphins show little tricks but no circus show like sea world.

Controversies and Issues

When you are in general against keeping animals in captivity, you will say it’s not possible to keep these big water animals adequately and appropriate to their needs. Georgia Aquarium has had some problems with beluga whales dying. You can take this as a proof their life in captivity is not good.

We were there anyways and supported the Aquarium. I’m not feeling guilty because of that. They do at lot for their animals; the polar region for example is entirely closed to maintain a cold surrounding. These animals don’t sweat in Atlanta’s heat. The dolphins barely perform at all they just jump out of the water two or three times. Their trainers stay out of the water. The glass is very thick, knocking would not reach the animals (the windows are double windows with empty room in between them). The cylinder in the penguin area does not bother the animals; everyone still has enough distance to the animals. There is no circus, no tricks and no music. They talk a lot about environmental protection and conserving species.

The big panorama window shows how peaceful and resting in itself this underwater world is. The divers don’t disturb the animals, nature has divers as well and moreover water traffic. This world would remain invisible to most average people. Only divers can experience this world, but these aquariums reach more people and also children. If people cannot see this word, they cannot develop a conscience to protect it. We need aquariums for that. They can only try to keep these animals as good as possible; there is no perfect way to do it.

I know, many people have very different arguments and very different opinions and strongly oppose any way to keep animals in captivity. You need to decide yourself if Georgia Aquarium is the right thing for you. I was there and I’m glad I was.

Some Advice

We were there in winter, in low season, on a Monday morning. Even then, it was already crowded: many people, screaming children, and hullabaloo. If you cannot see anything in the windows, because there are so many people in front of you, it’s probably not that nice any more. If possible, go there early in the morning or in the evening, definitely not when everyone else is there. Another thing is: they charge 50 dollars per person. That’s really expensive, too expensive.

CNN Studio Tour

The CNN headquarters is only a few meters from Coca Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. You can do a tour to the world of news. The fee is 16 dollars and the tour goes one time through the building.

The CNN skyscraper is open to public right at the entrance you can book the CNN Studio Tour. Lonely Planet does not like this tour, they say don’t expect much. But I liked it! You take the longest free-standing escalator in the world (and it’s a really steep climb!). You see a replica of a TV studio. Here they show how news is made, how a teleprompter works and how the footage is made. They shortly play the director’s audio comments from the current show. The next thing you see is a weather map and you see how the weather forecast is made. You walk by a TV studio where a live show is about to start. I waited a bit and really saw the host who was doing a live broadcast. All the cameras and dollies usually remain invisible. The last thing is a gallery where you walk and see the newsroom which is the editors’ open plan office. All the editors sit at their tables, many of them have signs that say “CNN Tour tweet me”.

There are some special tours and VIP tours as well. But I cannot say anything about these. The tour was interesting and we could walk a bit in the CNN building. (Even though there is a security guy in every corner and at every door to make sure you don’t take the wrong way.).

Back in the lobby, you find the compulsory gift shop full of CNN stuff and a Food Court which is open to public. These food courts mean there are many different restaurants with takeaway food and beverages. When you travel in a group, these places are good to make sure everyone finds the right thing. Tables and Chairs in the middle of the room. CNN also has public toilets. These might come in handy after the Coca Cola tasting

Merriott Hotel and Westin Tower

Two things in Atlanta that are for free are the Marriott Hotel and the Westin Tower. The Marriott Hotel has a very impressive lobby, more like an atrium with very unusual architecture. Many scenes from “The Hunger Games” were shot here (when the protagonists are in the capital). If you are free from giddiness and don’t mind heights, you can take the elevator up. I don’t like heights but I did it anyways, quite exhausting I have to say. I have never felt that dizzy looking down. It has to be the very asymmetrical structure of the building.

The Westin Tower is remarkably higher. The Westin Hotel has a tower; its elevator is free of charge. There is a bar on top and you can drink something and enjoy the view. The dizzymaking Marriot Hotel does not even have half the size and looks really tiny from Westin Tower. I would always recommend Westin Tower; its 360 degrees view is absolutely stunning.

Right next to Westin Tower is the Peachtree Center, the bridges that connect the upstairs floors are easily visible. Underground Atlanta, a shopping center below ground, is here as well. Underground Atlanta has clubs, bars, shops and restaurants. We only walked there shortly. You can visit it, but you don’t need to.

Olympic Park

The Olympic Park in Atlanta’s Downtown is quite nice. In November, they already had their Christmas decorations everywhere. In the South, this seems to be very important at Christmas.

I also recommend a little walking tour in downtown to see all the skyscrapers.

How to Combine Things

The Coca Cola Museum, CNN and the Georgia Aquarium are very close. Right next to the Coca Cola Museum is a Center for Civil and Human Rights. We did not have enough time to do that, also we missed all the Martin Luther King Sights (but we did a very nice Museum about Freeing Slaves in Memphis, take a look here). You can walk to any of these places.
Downtown is not far. Westin Hotel, Marriott Hotel and Underground Atlanta are all in walking distance. We did all of this in 2 days; we spent the third day watching football (see Football in Atlanta).

If I ever come back to Atlanta, I would do the Center for Civil and Human Rights, King Center and the Martin Luther King birthplace. Both are a little outside, though.

Trivia

Many streets and center in Atlanta are called Peachtree. Georgia, the state, is called Peachtree State. You need to pay attention to not get confused with addresses and places.

Der Beitrag Atlanta – Just Coca Cola’s City or More? erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Where It Is and How It’s Called

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is in Tennessee and North Carolina, the closest town is Knoxville, Tn. You can best reach the Great Smoky Mountains from the two cities Atlanta and Charlotte. From Atlanta, it’s a 3-hour-drive (260 km, Interstate 85, Highway 23 and 441). There are two smaller villages close to the park: Cherokee (at the park’s main entrance) and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg (west of the park). Both have many hotel options available. Highway 441 goes through the park from Cherokee to Gatlinburg.

Great Smoky Mountains is the official name, but the forest is most commonly called Smokies. The name comes from the fact that the view is in general bad: because of high humidity, large parts of the mountain are covered in smoky clouds.

Booking a Hotel in Cherokee: Harrrah’s Cherokee Casino

We stayed in Cherokee, east of the park. Cherokee is a little village, basically a transit place to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Quality Inn Hotel was, as expected, good and cheap. We were totally surprised to see a casino right on the opposite side of the road. Not a small casino, but a huge hotel called Harrah’s Cherokee Casino, a hotel with restaurants, buffets and of course gambling: a huge complex right in the middle of nowhere. According to Wikipedia, the hotel has 1108 rooms. It’s the only place in Cherokee that serves alcohol. I was expecting to find a hotel that size in Las Vegas but not in Cherokee, a little village with a bit over 2000 residents.

Clingman’s Dome

The Smokies is one of the very few national parks in the US that is free (that means you don’t have to pay admission fee). The forest is very important for environmental protection and even became UNESCO world heritage in the 1980s. For this, the very old parts of the forest (that have existed even before the European settlers came) are particularly important. Highest peak of the forest is Clingman’s Dome (2015 m). You can walk there on a paved, solid path. It’s only a few hundred meters from the parking space but it’s quite a climb and not totally easy. You don’t need to be a professional climber for that it’s only a steeply rising walking lane. There is an observation tower at the peak that can be reached on a long, winding bridge. The bridge made me a bit dizzy but I’m uncomfortable with heights anyways. You can indeed reach the tower easily by just walking there.

Chimney Top Trail and Newfound Gap

We also walked along Chimney Top Trail. We wanted to do a short hike that is doable in regular running shoes and anyways leaves the regular, paved roads. We did not walk until the very end, the Chimney Top. On this hike, you get to see a forest, nature and a little creek. Signs are everywhere, the hiking path is easy to find. The visitor center has free maps that describe exactly where all the hikes lead, how long and how difficult these hikes are. That is always very helpful. We always try to find easy hikes with no climbing. We also reasonaly long because we usually don’t have time to hike 10 or 12 miles per day.

Newfound Gap is right next to highway 441 and is good spot to stop for the view. Gap refers to a low point between the mountains that connects one mountain to the other. The ecosystem changes a lot here, even temperature and weather can change within short distance.

Cades Cove

Cades Cove is an area in the far northeast of the park (in the Tennessee part, 57 miles from Cherokee). Cades Cove was the center of early settlement: a well isolated, green valley with meadows and grass. The valley still has some leftovers from the early settlers: a Methodist church, a Baptist church, an old wooden house, a mill and a little creek. The best way to see the valley and all the remaining buildings is to drive the Cades Cove Loop Road. It’s an 11-miles-one-way-loop-road (20 km). You drive very slowly and can stop whenever you see something interesting. You can also rent a bicycle and do the loop on the bike.

Cades Cove is the main attraction of the Smokies and attracts most visitors. It’s always busy. You drive the loop in a bit of a chain. That mean you just follow the car in front of you. If you are on the loop, there is no way to turn around and go back, you can only do the entire loop. The valley is very beautiful the early settlers have indeed chosen a very nice place to stay. The visitor center is half way on the loop, next to the mill.

We made a mistake and took the loop twice. The GPS gave us some wrong information. The GPS lead us to an exit that was indeed a 20 mile unpaved road. When we saw that, we were already on the loop and had to finish it a second time. You definitely need to plan enough time for that loop, you cannot drive fast at all. You need at least 2 hours (better 3, to have time to stop).

The official park website says the GPS is wrong in the park. We did not know that and made that mistake. Some advice: get a map from the visitor center and use that map instead.

There are many more hikes, paths and camping shacks in the park.

Some Advice and General Information

We liked the park. At the beginning, you get to see a huge are of forest. It looks a bit like the Black Forest. Yet, in the US things are always bigger. Same counts for the Smokies.
We liked the combination we did: a viewpoint, hiking in the forest and seeing the valley of an early settlement. I would also recommend doing something like that. The national park has many faces. Besides Clingman’s Dome, there are many more viewpoints like Rich Mountain Road which has a great view of the Cades Cove Valley or Abraham’s Creek. Newfound Gap is easy to reach, right at highway 441. Cades Cove is not the only valley; a second valley is called Cataloochee Valley. There are two waterfalls called Deep Creek and the Damm in Fontana. There are many hiking paths here, you should pick the one you do according to time, motivation, and fitness level. It’s definitely recommendable to leave your car and do at least some walking.

In the Smokies, I asked myself quite some times: where is the forest line? There is still heavy coniferous forest in Clingman’s Dome on 2000 meters. I always thought, the forest stops somewhere at around 2000 meters? I don’t know much about that, maybe someone can answer that.

I think, without a car, it’s very difficult to do the Smokies. We drove along 441 in one day (including a tunnel right through a mountain) and did some viewpoints, hiking and Newfound Gap. The following day, we did Cades Cove and its loop and left the park on the west (heading to Nashville). Going back and forth makes little sense because of the sheer size of the park. It’s better to make a plan about how these routes fit together.

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton is from here. People here are obviously proud of here. Dolly Parton ads and gifts are everywhere, also pics and CDs. Pigeon Forge has a Dolly Parton amusement area, which we did not visit. The movie Serena (2014) with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper plays in the Great Smoky Mountains but was shot somewhere else.

Asheville: Biltmore Estate

Biltmore estate in Asheville is one hour from Cherokee. It’s America’s largest private home, a huge Renaissance-styled mansion from the late 19th century. I really wanted to go there but because of the jetlag, we were all extremely tired in the evening and did not do it. I still regret that! Now, I would definitely drive that one hour to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate.

Der Beitrag The Great Smoky Mountains: a Forest covering an Extensive Area of More than 200,000 Hectares erschien zuerst auf travelspotting.