Is there anything to do in Tennessee?

[mjdwyer23]

Hey Everyone-
I might have a job at Oak Ridge National Lab this summer in Oak Ridge, TN. I'm worried about being bored living there for three months. Is there anything to do around there? I've obviously never been to TN, so any opinions would be great. Thanks

 

[S10xGN]

Floyd Garrett's museum in Sevierville!

 

[NJ Torque]

Tennesse Valley Railroad.... If thats your bag

 

[vicious6]

Originally posted by S10xGN
Floyd Garrett's museum in Sevierville!

Absolutely, you will have to see Floyd Garretts Muscle Car Museum!!! Really nice! Been there several times!

 

[NJTurbo]

The state itself is cool. If you wanted to take a drive, you could always go to Graceland. Lots to see and Elvis has a neat car museum of most of his cars and motorcycles. http://www.elvis.com/graceland/

Beale street is really cool to.
http://www.bealestreet.com/

Smoky mountains are really nice also.
http://www.smokymtnmall.com/

Bristol Motor Speedway
http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/

Have Fun

 

[XLR8]

You could observe all the people walking around muttering to themselves while taking a driving tour of all the mobile home parks and looking for Elvis while "Rocky Top" plays over and over again on your radio. j/k
Actually TN wasn't too bad when I visited except most of the food served there was deep fried.

 

[John Larkin]

Oak Ridge is kinda in between most anything to do. A few day trips could be Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg - nice tour. Go to the North Carolina border and see The Biltmore, a huge house and winery once owned by a railroad millionaire. The Smokey Mountains as mentioned are good. Coker Tire is in Chattanooga. Dollywood and the car museum in Sevierville as mentioned. Drive down deserted roads and look for moonshiners.

 

[1ARUNEM]

Just go hang out in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg. Sevierville has Floyd Garrett's Musclecar Museum (as mentioned). Gatlinburg has the beautiful Smoky Mtns. with plenty of attractions. Pigeon Forge has lots to do and a car show just about every other week during the nice months.

 

[TurboDave]

And my house in Sevierville should be completed in a few weeks, so I'll be around to visit with and talk Buicks. In Oak Ridge, you'll be north of Knoxville a little bit, and all the tourist trap stuff (Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, etc) is a little south east of Knox.
My contact info will be updated in my profile in a month or two once we're settled in. Some pix of the house going up are in my sig though.

 

[mjdwyer23]

Thanks for all the replies... one really important thing to me is riding my road bike so are there nice roads and hills to ride around there? Thanks again

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by Chevymd38
Thanks for all the replies... one really important thing to me is riding my road bike so are there nice roads and hills to ride around there? Thanks again

Nope, flat as a pool table....
Dunno about bikes but the Blue Ridge Mountain Highway is enough to change many people into making a car handle.
Garrett's is a must.
Lots of Pulbic Work Project Dams to investigate. They used to rent cabins, that were where the workers stayed. The area's long been overgrown, and they're really enjoyable. Nice hiking areas also.
Lots of Cruise ins, and car shows in Pidgeon Forge in the Summer time. Or at least used to be.
National Museum of Science (?), the Feds have a museum in Oak Ridge all about the history of the area, and nuke stuff.
Some of the deer are so used to humans you might hit one with a bike.
It's an area like most of the country areas, it's more about what you want to make out of it. It's not NYC, but it has 4 seasons, and sociable people.
Be sure to hit the sorgum festival....

 

[bishir]

You can drive the Nashville 500 every day around 4:30-5:00. Just take an Interstate to Nashville. There are usually a lot of wrecks though.

 

[TurboDave]

Originally posted by bruce
Nope, flat as a pool table....
Dunno about bikes but the Blue Ridge Mountain Highway is enough to change many people into making a car handle.
Garrett's is a must.
Lots of Pulbic Work Project Dams to investigate. They used to rent cabins, that were where the workers stayed. The area's long been overgrown, and they're really enjoyable. Nice hiking areas also.
Lots of Cruise ins, and car shows in Pidgeon Forge in the Summer time. Or at least used to be.
National Museum of Science (?), the Feds have a museum in Oak Ridge all about the history of the area, and nuke stuff.
Some of the deer are so used to humans you might hit one with a bike.
It's an area like most of the country areas, it's more about what you want to make out of it. It's not NYC, but it has 4 seasons, and sociable people.
Be sure to hit the sorgum festival....

Flat as a pool table...

I may not live there yet, but I've been down there a BUNCH of times over the last few months, and I didn't see a flat piece of road anywhere
You may have to go a few miles to get into the foot hills of the smokies, but there aint flat piece of nothin' around where I'm at (Sevierville).

You are right about the people though, very friendly, nothing like what I'm used to here in WI and MI.

 

[John Larkin]

Heh, I forgot about the nukes in Oak Ridge. Birthplace of Fat Boy I think. The flat as a pool table has to be tongue in cheek. I-40 is carved out of the side of a hill above it. If you want a wild motorcycle ride, take I-40 through the tunnel going into North Carolina. That's a wicked stretch of road.

 

[1ARUNEM]

Go run "the Dragon" if you like twisty roads. Something like 300 curves in 14 miles..

 

[Quick6'n'-K.C.]

would you run into the dragon if you were headed from birmingham to texas? when i was in Bham the dragon is the only thing the guys were talking about

BW

 

[bruce]

Originally posted by TurboDave
Flat as a pool table...

I may not live there yet, but I've been down there a BUNCH of times over the last few months, and I didn't see a flat piece of road anywhere

I knew you had been, it was an Ohio humor thing,
gone bad...

If it's still in business, you can visit the Rusty Wallace Mazda store. Oops wait I better quit while, I'm ahead, er, make that cut my loses.

But, driving down there, when it's not tourist season is great.

 

[Bobtempest]

Great state for vacations with lots of stuff to do and see.
Most people in the south have some manners and treat people with respect. Tradition still lives here.

 

[TurboDave]

Originally posted by bruce
I knew you had been, it was an Ohio humor thing,
gone bad...

If it's still in business, you can visit the Rusty Wallace Mazda store. Oops wait I better quit while, I'm ahead, er, make that cut my loses.

But, driving down there, when it's not tourist season is great.

Sorry Bruce, missed the humor

 

[1ARUNEM]

Sorry Bryan, you wouldn't run into the dragon going from BHam to Texas. It's NE of here up in the Smokies of Tn.