s the King of Rock 'n roll's private jet, the Lisa Marie. Head down to Beale Street (bealestreet.com) and make a bar tour. Many establishments feature live entertainment, including dueling pianos. Nearby, visit Sun Studio (sunstudio.com) to see where acts such as Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis once recorded.
Head to the center of the state to experience the heart of country music. Take in a show at the Grand Ole Opry House (opry.com), which once featured classic acts such as Patsy Cline and Minnie Pearl, and still hosts major country stars today. Next door you can stay at the Gaylord Opryland Resort (gaylordhotels.com), which features a massive two-acre atrium with more than 10,000 plants. Even if you don't book a room, you can head in to sneak a peak. Go to Rachel's Lane on the outskirts of town to tour The Hermitage (thehermitage.com), the former home of Andrew Jackson
The area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (nps.gov) has many tourist attractions in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. Be sure to tour the park itself. Top spots in the park include the loop road around the Cades Cove area, where you can visit old homesteads and see wildlife such as bears and deer, and Clingman's Dome where you can walk up to the highest point in the park.
Lookout Mountain, on the edge of Chattanooga, has interesting natural features. Visitors can walk through an underground cavern to reach Ruby Falls (rubyfalls.com), a 145-foot underground waterfall with a reddish tint. Further up the mountains, you will find Rock City, with odd rock formations that include Balanced Rock and Fat Man's Squeeze. Rock City (seerockcity.com) also recreates Mother Goose tales in an indoor glow-in-the-dark area called Fairyland Caverns. The Tennessee Aquarium (tnaqua.org), in downtown Chattanooga, has multiple buildings containing a variety of fish, reptiles and amphibians.
10/10/2017