The wife and I are going to Tenneesee, wanted to get some advice or recommendations. Here's the little bit I have planned so far.

Friday, Oct 16 - Drive from DFW to Shreveport for the night, do some gambling

Sat, Oct 17 - Drive from Shreveport to the condo to meet my folks in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Sun, Oct 18 - Drive down to Ductown, TN to raft the middle Ocoee River

Mon, Oct 19 through Thur, Oct 22 Tour the park and anything else we come up with

Fri, Oct 23 - Check out of resort and drive to Nashville, spend half day there, then drive to memphis, spend half day there and stay there the night

Sat, Oct 24 - Drive back to Dallas from memphis

Any suggestions or things to do while around the Smokey Mountain park, along with stuff to do in memphis and nashville. Thanks.

I guess there's always Graceland in Memphis. And maybe on the way from Memphis to Dallas you could stop by Hot Springs National Park. It's not too far out of the way. (I'm sure others will have better ideas).

When you are in Memphis tour the Lorraine motel where MLK was murdered. Graceland is expensive so we skipped it. Try not to get stabbed, Memphis is pretty rough.

The Hermatige,Andrew Jackson Home...waay cool.
If you're out over by Dollywood-Gatlinburg, take the drive around the Smokie Mountian Trail (I think it's called...can't miss it, only one road in and out...plus, as I recall, it goes up to the Cumberland Gap...Oct., could be pretty snowy and blowie up on the Gap.

I was out that way at last month. There is a canopy tour (zip line) that just opened up in July of this year in Bryson City, NC. I ran out of time and didn't get to do it. IF you have kids, Thomas the Train is also in Bryson. If you get down that way you can hop on the tail end of Blue Ridge Parkway and drive that stretch to Asheville, NC. There are plenty of hiking trails on the pull off's dotted along the parkway. Also lots of things to do in and around Asheville. I did the full Ocoee River trip, both upper and middle where great stretches. The upper has the Olympic whitewater course rapids, but the middle is pretty exciting as well.

Grab some Memphis BBQ at Rendezvous Restaurant a few blocks off of Beale St. then head to Beale and listen to some Blues and Jazz. If the minor league Baseball team is playing catch some of the game. The stadium is right in downtown about a block off of Beale. Grab a burger at Dyer's for a late night snack.

Your drive from Shreveport to Pigeon Forge will be a long one. Second Rebel96 on Rendevous for excellet ribs. We were in Gatlinburg a year ago. There is a really good locally owned restaurant directly across the street from the Hampton Inn. Can't remember the name but it was really good.

Memphis - it is a rough town, so be careful. We didn't bother with Graceland other than to drive by and take a couple of pictures. Seemed too expensive to go in and look at a dead guy's house and belongings.

Second Rendezvous BBQ. Just note that it's not easy to find if you happen to be walking along the wrong street. We ended up on top of the Mayfield (?) Hotel to see the ducks and spotted the Rendezvous in a side alley. Definitely good eating even if you're not accustomed to the Memphis way of doing BBQ.

That drive from Nashville to Memphis will take roughly 3 hours if I recall correctly. Be careful for cops outside Memphis, I remember seeing a bunch of them.

Tennessee is a nice state of visit, have fun!

Gattlinburg...THE WORLDS LARGEST BUFFETT....UMMM!!!!! Right down from the Taffy shop.

This is what we did on our trip to Memphis and Nashville.

Memphis - we skipped the BBQ and went to Gus' World Famous Chicken. It was amazing! 3 blocks off Beale and one block off the river. Saw the ducks at the Peabody; pretty cute. Toured the Gibson factory; call ahead for reservations. Toured Sun Studios; lots of fun.

Nashville - Toured The Ryman Auditorium; definitely worth it. Ate BBQ at the Pig place around the corner from the Ryman; pretty darn tasty.

thanks for all the tips, I really appreciate it. I'm really looking forward to this vacation, it's been a while since my last one.

Based on a trip to Nashville a few years back, I'd recommend the following:

* Visit the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
* Check out the Parthenon replica in Centennial Park (feels very weird to see it in Nashville!)
* Tool around and have dinner at the Gaylord Opryland -- you can spend a few hours just checking out the place. It's huge!
* Get tickets to see a show at the Grand Ole Opry!!! This was by far our favorite thing.

Have fun!