All this month, we’re taking you on a road trip. Bid your city and your stresses adieu. Grab some friends, jump in the car and take the scenic route with us. Find brilliant little stops, surprises tucked away, and tips to make the road trip experience complete. Do you already have a favorite road trip that you took? Let us know!
Hard to believe it but fall is here! Hot and steamy summer nights make way for colorful days and cozy evenings.
Fall follows summer, meaning beach memories and tan lines remain fresh, but you’re ready for vineyard tours, bonfires, and foliage drives with your special someone. Now’s the perfect time to plan a long weekend or week — you deserve it! — exploring a gay-friendly city and its surrounding Technicolor countryside towns.
Destination:
There’s something about crooning cowboys that makes us swoon. America’s South features incredible country and folk acts every night in venues all around — especially around Dolly Partons neck-of-the-woods!
Directions:
Heading out of Nashville, take I-40 East and stick with this for about 3 hours until the signs for TN-66 to Sevierville are more prominent. Once on TN-66, you know you’re close since Dolly’s face dots billboards more frequently with only about 30 minutes to go until you arrive in Pigeon Forge.
The Itinerary:
Pack up the car and head out of Nashville making your way through the Tennessee Mountains to visit Pigeon Forge. Technically, Ms. Parton calls Sevier County her childhood home, but Pigeon Forge is home to the namesake amusement park, Dollywood.
About 2 hours into the trip, the college town of Knoxville will make for a perfect pit-stop to score some bar-be-que while checking out the antebellum mansions and the college boys.
Once in Pigeon Forge, you’ll know you arrived when you see more Dolly than you can shake a stick at. With live country music performance, thrill rides and a water park, Dollywood is the perfect detour after a long car ride. We recommend you head on to The Dream More Resort for your overnight stay while enjoying a massage in the world class spa. Just opened last summer, the resort provides guests with free access to the park for two days.
If the fever of the Smoky Mountains compels you enough, rental cabins are available for a more rugged feel.
Gatlinburg, the next town over, is a quaint mountain village that is known as the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park that boasts an observation tower for uninterrupted panoramas of the surrounding mountains — this time of year you get to see the leaves changing (lucky you!).
RELATED LINKS:
Skip the Chips and Dip for These Healthiest Road Trip Snacks
Find Healthy Food on Your Road Trip (There’s an App for That)
Hit the Road, Jack: Road Trip Through Midwest
Drive Out of Your Comfort Zone: Road Trip Through the Mid-Atlantic
Hit the Road, Jack: Making a Run from the Border to the Desert
Hit the Road, Jack: California Colors
Drive Out of Your Comfort Zone: Road Trip Through New England
Drive Out of Your Comfort Zone: Road Trip Through Northern California
Photo by Flickr user Jen used under the Creative Commons Attribution license