We’ve been going to Hilton Head for over 10 years now and every time we drive on or off the island, we pass the Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. And every time we go past it, I say that I want to go there. This year we finally did! The small island between Hilton Head and Bluffton is a bird watcher’s paradise, with some 250 species residing there. Thousands of migratory birds stop on the island each year, and there is a rookery for hundreds of ibis, egrets, and herons. The refuge offers hiking, biking, wildlife observation, and fishing. The …

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park straddles North Carolina and Tennessee and is the most visited national park in the US. It is less than 3 hours away from us yet somehow we have never visited! It was definitely high on my reasons for picking Tennessee for our spring break trip. Normally we would find some hiking trails to explore but since we were traveling with my parents, I wanted to find a different way to see the park. Pink Jeep Tours fit the bill exactly! Started as an off-road tour company in Sedona AZ, Pink Jeep Tours now offers …

I have secretly wanted to go to Dollywood for years but knew my husband and boys wouldn’t be super excited about it. So when we were floating around the idea of a Tennessee road trip, I knew I had my opening. I sold it as a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains and subtly tacked on a stop in Dollywood since we would already be in the area. It’s not that my boys need a lot of prodding to go to an amusement park, but unless you are a country music fan or a young kid, Dollywood on the surface …

The Country Music Hall of Fame was established in 1967 but moved to its current location in the heart of Downtown Nashville in 2001. The museum is one of the most iconic buildings in the city, and musical symbolism is heavily featured in its architectural design. From above, the building is shaped like a bass clef. From the street, the front of the building looks like a piano, with the windows emulating the black keys. The left side of the building features a rotunda, with a replica radio tower at its peak. Even the disc-shaped tiers on top of the …

At the hotel brunch on our first morning, my dad overheard another guest come up to one of the staff members and thank him profusely for recommending a tour, saying it was the best tour he had ever been on. Intrigued, my dad went over to ask for more information. The staff member happily repeated his recommendation for the Historic RCA Studio B Tour, agreeing that it is the best tour in Nashville. We immediately got to work researching the tour over breakfast and found out that it is an add-on to the ticket for the Country Music Hall of …

Listening to live music is an essential Nashville experience. One of the most popular places to do that is the Blue Bird Cafe. But its huge popularity and small size make it very difficult to get tickets. I set an alarm for the day tickets were released for our dates and logged on a few minutes before 9am. As soon as they became available, I put the tickets in my cart, but by the time I clicked check out, I got a message that they were sold out. It was 9:02. So… on to plan B! I did some reading …

Since I hadn’t been to Nashville in over 20 years, I wanted a high level tour of the city to help us get the lay of the land and see where the major sites were to determine what we wanted to visit later. There are lots of different city tour options, but many of them involve adult beverages and entertainment. Of the more family-friendly options, I narrowed it down to the Hop On Hop Off Trolley Tour and the Joyride Golf Cart Tour. I decided on the golf cart tour because I thought it would offer a more personalized experience. …

Music is Nashville’s heart and soul. There are two main music-related strips in Nashville – Music Row and Broadway. If Broadway is the partier of the family, Music Row is the more serious cousin. It is in a quiet part of town and is where the recording studios, record label offices, and radio stations are located. Broadway, on the other hand, runs through the heart of downtown and is the lifeblood of the city. Also known as Honky Tonk Highway, Broadway is loud, bright, and crowded. “Colorful” takes on multiple meanings on Broadway, from the bright purple building that houses …