Mt Juliet/Nashville, TN-Cedar Creek COE Park

We stayed in Mt Juliet outside of Nashville at Cedar Creek Park, which is a core of engineers park. It was a nice sized park with some great campsites on the lake (we did not have one, but ours was nice anyways). They had one washing machine and dryer and the showers were pretty nice. There was also a big playscape and beach area for swimming.

It was Memorial Day Weekend so the park was pretty busy when we arrived! The next day it almost completely cleared out.

Greg had the day off so we ventured out. We went to the Adventure Science Center (free with our museum pass). We all had a great time. They had this amazing playscape area in the center that was something like 6 levels tall although I would probably freaked out had my children been younger and I had to try to keep up with them.

There was a huge human body section that had a lot of interactive and unique ideas for demonstrating how the body works.

Jordan loved brushing this huge tooth.

Jacob liked this wheelchair activity. The kids were supposed to try to shoot the basketball and then wheel themselves up the ramp on the side to the back of the wall. 

In the back, there were two demonstration areas. One area had a mustard and ketchup pump and the other had two payphones. One of each of the group of items was placed at the height we would typically use them and the others were put down lower for easier access. The whole thing, of course, was to demonstrate the challenges that those confined to a wheelchair face.

Jacob also got the chance to see what it is like to walk on the moon with less gravity. They were to race across to the other side and back. Most kids just had fun flying through the air!

We also watched the IMAX movie titled Back to the Moon for Good shown in the planetarium. It was an overview of the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition.

After that we made a short visit to Fort Negley. Some of the walls were still visible but not too exciting to see. The fort dates back to the Civil War but no battles took place here.

During the rest of the week, the kids and I went swimming and played in the sand,

washed the bikes,

rode bikes a lot (Jacob is getting more daring; like riding through over and down into ditch areas), checked out the local library, and one evening we went to this great playscape at the community park.

Jordan found the sand pit, of course, and was covered from the top of her head to her toes in sand. It was even in her armpits!!

They also had a nice splashpad that was closed and a skate park.

On Friday night we went to the Grand Ole Opry! I wasn't sure what the kids would think about it but they did really well. And I think one of the big reasons was that recently, when we were in Chattanooga, I had them listen to the songs Rawhide and Rocky Top. And coincidentally, they were the first and third songs performed at the Opry!! So I think because the songs were familiar to them, they were a little more interested.

The line up included: Riders In the Sky, Kathy Mattea, Jimmy C. Newman, Bobby Osborne and The Rocky Top X-Press, John Conlee, Henry Cho (comedian), Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs, Jean Shepard, Jim Ed Brown, Radney Foster, Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, Mary Gauthier.

(Marty Stuart)

But as the night went on, the music got louder and louder. By the last few songs, I was tasked with covering Jacob's ears. All in all, we had a great time and would love to go back some time.

The next day we drove to Bicentennial Park.   Across the street is the capitol building.

And we found this on the ground.  I have always been curious about where the mile markers were measured from.

The park grounds were nicely manicured.  It had a wonderful amphitheater.  Greg and the kids are taking a bow after their superb performance ;)

They also had fun rotating and stopping this earth. And since it was a VERY HOT day, I am sure they enjoyed the splashes of water!

Our last stop was the Hermitage, the home of former president, Andrew Jackson. And believe it or not, this made the kids' lists of favorite things in Tennessee.

There was a guided tour of the mansion.

front view

back view

But other than that, it was a self guided audio tour. You wore a headset and at each station, there was a sign that listed the numbers to punch into your device for the adult tour and the KIDS TOUR! Often, I listened to both the adult and kids versions because I wanted to know what the kids were hearing. It was done really really well. We were there for several hours and Jordan listened to probably 75% of the recordings and Jacob listened to them ALL, even some of the adult recordings! It cost us about $45 for all of us to go and I would say it was well worth it. They made it very enjoyable.

The garden was beautiful and the flowers were gorgeous.  I would love to have something like this in my yard.

In one corner, were the gravesites of Jackson and his wife, Rachel.  

And the sweet words engraved into the stone on top of Rachel's site.

Being Nashville, it was not at all the visit I expected but we had a great time!  From here, we're off to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky!