the great east coast road trip (Lexington, Bowling Green: home, college, restaurants)

[down under dude]

HI We are coming to visit your great country in November-December
We are a family of Mum Dad and 2, 20 something sons. Our Trip will include driving from Buffalo thru KY to Memphis to Orlando Fl then back north to Baltimore . We have 25 days. Sounds a lot but us Aussies are used to long drives. We know the normal tourist things DC, Elvis, Disney world, but there are a hell of a lot of other things to see and do. So I am after a list of the "must sees" along the way.
Interests are Sport, cars, military, technology and cottage craft (for the wife) One other question will the NC end of the blue ridge parkway be drivable around thanksgiving?

[SVTLightning]

If you are driving through Ky, Bowling Green would be a good stop if you are car fans. There you can see from I65 interstate is the Corvette Manufacturing plant and they have a museum there also dedicated to the Corvette. Its right off the interstate and is really amazing.

[lexingtongal]

In Lexington it is almost required to take in the Horse Park and take a horse farm tour! Also you must take in at least one Bourbon Tour. I recommend Woodford Reserve. It's in a beautiful setting.

[BMH47]

Buffalo can be a bit hairy in Nov -Dec so make sure you have good tires. Are you stopping anywhere else on your way to KY? What route will you take? Not sure if you will be going through Canton, Ohio but there is the football Hall of fame.

[CraigCreek]

Agree with Corvette Museum recommendation - also, the Toyota Assembly Plant in Georgetown, Ky (about twelve miles of Lexington) offers free tours. Bowling Green, home of the Corvette Museum, is near the cave country. Mammoth Cave National Park, just off I-65 north of Bowling Green, is a must, and there are many other caves in the area. If you're going from Bowling Green to Memphis, you'll go through Nashville, which has its own multiple attractions, notably those related to country music.

Back in Kentucky - 35 miles south of Lexington is Berea, Kentucky's arts and crafts capital, with lots of antique malls as well as traditional music and dance (if you time it right for music and dance events). Very scenic college campus, friendly and creative people, good restaurants, at the westernmost edge of the Appalachian Mountains, Berea has a lot going for it.

The North Carolina Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville includes parts that are around 6,000 feet in elevation - quite spectacular, but possibly closed by late November. However, it may be that the Mount Pisgah area (and the Pisgah Inn) is still open then, with the parkway closed just beyond. The Parkway Craft Center, just outside of Asheville, is at lower elevation and may be open in November - not sure, but if so, well-worth a visit, as are other Asheville attractions. The BRP has a good website - sorry, don't have the link but google it - that should answer your question.

Do check your mileage in advance, though - Memphis is on the Tennessee-Arkansas border, while Nashville is is middle Tennessee, and the Blue Ridge Parkway in western North Carolina, pretty far-flung. If you're heading to Florida from Memphis, will you drive through Tennessee or take a southern route? Chattanooga has lots of attractions of various kinds - museums, aquarium, Civil War and Cherokee history, caves, and more - and is quite scenic.

Interstates will be open everywhere, barring very unusual extremes of weather (unusual for November, that is), and you might want to consider visiting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, on the TN-NC border, instead of the Blue Ridge Parkway in late November. Sometimes the transmontane highway across the Smokies gets closed by weather, but visitor centers and other points of interest are at lower elevations, especially on the TN side. If you find yourself on the NC side, the town of Cherokee (on the reservation) includes lots of tacky stuff but also the excellent Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Qualla Mutual Craft Shop. Nearby is the Oconoluftee pioneer farm and Smokies visitor center, which is open all year. The Blue Ridge Parkway ends (or begins, depending on your direction of travel) just outside of Cherokee.

Hope this helps - enjoy your visit!

[down under dude]

Just a quick thankyou to all who posted some suggestions, It should be interesting, despite having the same ancestors, Aussies and Americans are very different, I have been over there a few times (Loved SC) so know what to expect, but I think it will be a bit of a culture shock for my boys.