Original Message:
seeking advice from Southeastern road warriors (by R P.):
mike1536 wrote:Atlanta is probably your best bet for a halfway stop. And I'm sure you can find some entertainment for the little ones. Maybe you want to consider two stops. One at HHI (only about 60 miles "out of your way") for a few days and other in the Knoxville, TN area for a one or two more days. Being December I do not know what type of activities will be available.
Mike, although I agree with your advice 99% of the time, I will have to disagree with you about stopping in Atlanta ..... Atlanta is a hellhole of tangled massive traffic and traffic jams .... and there's really not much of anything to do there .... it's just another mega, overpopulated city and there's really no bypass as the bypass has been swallowed up by suburb cities.
I would suggest a much more laid back atmosphere such as your suggestion of Hilton Head or Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg which is close to Knoxville. There are several timeshares in both the PF and Gatlinburg area.
Starting the day after Thanksgiving ... Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Dollywood light their million Christmas lights and the Christmas celebration begins.
We went to Dollywood during the Christmas festivities last December and the lights and decorations were comparable to Disney World (I had been to Disney World the year before during the Christmas festivities). And there's so much to do in that area for the kids.
Of course, I love Hilton Head, but I don't know that there would be that much to do there during December, especially for the kids.