Chattanooga (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🌳 Coolidge Park (carousel, splash pad, & river views) — Chattanooga, TN

🐠 Tennessee Aquarium — Chattanooga, TN

🦖 Creative Discovery Museum — Chattanooga, TN

🎢 High Point Climbing & Fitness (indoor climbing wall downtown) — Chattanooga, TN

🛝 DEFY Chattanooga Trampoline Park — Chattanooga, TN

🎭 Tivoli Theatre (family-friendly shows) — Chattanooga, TN

🚂 Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum — Chattanooga, TN

🌿 Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center — Chattanooga, TN

🎡 Ruby Falls (underground waterfall adventure) — Chattanooga, TN

🦋 Rock City Gardens (“See 7 States” overlook) — Lookout Mountain, GA (~15 minutes)

🎨 Hunter Museum of American Art — Chattanooga, TN

🚴‍♀️ Walnut Street Bridge (pedestrian bridge with skyline views) — Chattanooga, TN

🦓 Chattanooga Zoo at Warner Park — Chattanooga, TN

🎳 Spare Time Entertainment — Chattanooga, TN

🎠 Coolidge Carousel — Chattanooga, TN

🐊 Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park — Rossville, GA (~20 minutes)

☀️ Renaissance Park (picnics, splash zone, & open lawns) — Chattanooga, TN

🌆 Chattanooga Riverwalk — Chattanooga, TN

🎢 Insane Paintball & Fun Center — East Ridge, TN

Family Friendly Eats: 

🍔 Urban Stack — Chattanooga, TN

🍕 Lupi’s Pizza Pies — Chattanooga, TN

🥞 Maple Street Biscuit Company — Chattanooga, TN

🌮 Taco Mamacita — Chattanooga, TN

🍗 Champy’s Famous Fried Chicken — Chattanooga, TN

🍦 Clumpies Ice Cream Co. — Chattanooga, TN

☕️ Mean Mug Coffeehouse — Chattanooga, TN

🥗 The Daily Ration — Chattanooga, TN

🍔 Community Pie — Chattanooga, TN

🍩 Julie Darling Donuts — Chattanooga, TN

The Citadel (Charleston, SC)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🌳 Hampton Park (right next to campus — walking trails & playground) — Charleston, SC

🐠 South Carolina Aquarium — Charleston, SC

🦖 Charleston Museum — Charleston, SC

🎨 Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry — Charleston, SC

🚂 Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum — Mount Pleasant, SC

🛝 Sky Zone Trampoline Park — North Charleston, SC

🎢 Velocity Air Sports — North Charleston, SC

🎭 Dock Street Theatre — Charleston, SC

🦋 Magnolia Plantation & Gardens (petting zoo & nature train) — Charleston, SC

🌿 Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens — Mount Pleasant, SC

🎡 Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park — Mount Pleasant, SC

🦓 Charles Towne Landing (animals, ships & nature trails) — Charleston, SC

🚴‍♀️ James Island County Park (playground, splash pad, trails) — James Island, SC

🎳 Ashley Lanes Tavern — Charleston, SC

🐊 Wild Blue Ropes Adventure Park — Charleston, SC

☀️ Folly Beach County Park — Folly Beach, SC

🌆 The Battery & Waterfront Park — Charleston, SC

🎠 Sullivan’s Island Beach — Sullivan’s Island, SC

🎨 Gibbes Museum of Art — Charleston, SC

🐢 Palmetto Islands County Park — Mount Pleasant, SC

Family Friendly Eats: 

🍔 Home Team BBQ — Charleston, SC

🍕 Famulari’s Pizzeria — Charleston, SC

🥞 Millers All Day — Charleston, SC

🌮 Taco Boy — Charleston, SC

🍗 Fleet Landing — Charleston, SC

🍦 Ye Ole Fashioned Ice Cream — Charleston, SC

☕️ The Daily — Charleston, SC

🥗 Park & Grove — Charleston, SC

🍔 Poe’s Tavern — Sullivan’s Island, SC

🍩 Glazed Gourmet Doughnuts — Charleston, SC

East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, TN)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🎢 Wetlands Water Park — Jonesborough, TN

🌳 Rotary Park — Johnson City, TN

🎨 Hands On! Discovery Center — Gray, TN

🧠 Tipton-Haynes Historic Site — Johnson City, TN

🛝 Wallabies Parties and Play – Johnson, TN

Family-Friendly Eats:

🍔 Mid City Grill — Johnson City, TN

🍕 Main Street Pizza Company — Johnson City, TN

🥞 First Watch — Johnson City, TN

🌮 Holy Taco & Cantina — Johnson City, TN

🍗 Southern Craft BBQ — Johnson City, TN

🍦 Mona Lisa’s Gelato — Johnson City, TN

☕️ Dos Gatos Coffee Bar — Johnson City, TN

🥗 White Duck Taco Shop — Johnson City, TN

🍔 Freiberg’s German Restaurant — Johnson City, TN

🍩 Peggy Ann Bakery — Johnson City, TN

Furman University (Greenville, SC)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🌳 Falls Park on the Reedy (waterfalls, bridges, & trails) — Greenville, SC

🚴‍♀️ Swamp Rabbit Trail (bike & walking path runs right by campus) — Greenville, SC

🎨 The Children’s Museum of the Upstate — Greenville, SC

🐠 Greenville Zoo — Greenville, SC

🦖 Roper Mountain Science Center — Greenville, SC

🎢 DEFY Greenville Trampoline Park — Greenville, SC

🛝 Big Air Trampoline Park — Greenville, SC

🎭 Peace Center for the Performing Arts — Greenville, SC

🌿 Paris Mountain State Park (hiking, swimming & picnics) — Greenville, SC

🎡 Herdklotz Park (huge playground & views) — Greenville, SC

🦓 Hollywild Animal Park — Wellford, SC (~30 minutes)

🎳 Bowlero Greenville — Greenville, SC

🐊 Otter Creek Water Park — Greenville, SC

☀️ Legacy Park — Greenville, SC

🌆 Downtown Greenville (shops, restaurants, & weekend markets) — Greenville, SC

Family Friendly Eats: 

🍔 Grill Marks — Greenville, SC

🍕 Sidewall Pizza — Travelers Rest, SC

🥞 Biscuit Head — Greenville, SC

🌮 Willy Taco — Greenville, SC

🍗 Smoke on the Water — Greenville, SC

🍦 Spill the Beans (coffee & ice cream by the falls) — Greenville, SC

☕️ Methodical Coffee — Greenville, SC

🥗 Tupelo Honey Café — Greenville, SC

🍔 Farmhouse Tacos — Travelers Rest, SC

🍩 The Donut Experiment — Greenville, SC

Mercer University (Macon, GA)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🌳 Amerson River Park (hiking, tubing & playgrounds along the Ocmulgee River) — Macon, GA

🦖 Museum of Arts and Sciences (planetarium, mini-zoo, hands-on exhibits) — Macon, GA

🎭 Grand Opera House (family shows & performances) — Macon, GA

🚴‍♀️ Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park — Macon, GA

🛝 Sky Zone Trampoline Park — Macon, GA

🎢 Urban Air Adventure Park — Macon, GA

🐠 Georgia Sports Hall of Fame — Macon, GA

🌿 Tattnall Square Park — Macon, GA

🎳 Pin Strikes Entertainment Center — Macon, GA

🚂 Macon Railroad Museum — Macon, GA

🎡 Downtown Macon (local shops, murals & markets) — Macon, GA

🧗‍♀️ The Shoppes at River Crossing— Macon, GA

🎠 Rigby’s Entertainment Complex (arcade, bowling, laser tag) — Warner Robins, GA (~30 minutes)

Family Friendly Eats:

🍔 The Rookery — Macon, GA

🍕 Ingleside Village Pizza — Macon, GA

🥞 H&H Soul Food — Macon, GA

🌮 La Parrilla Mexican Restaurant — Macon, GA

🍗 Ocmulgee Brewpub — Macon, GA

🍦 Scoops Ice Cream — Macon, GA

☕️ Z-Beans Coffee — Macon, GA

🥗 Kudzu Seafood Company — Macon, GA

🍔 Bearfoot Tavern — Macon, GA

🍩 Tommy’s Bakery — Macon, GA

Samford University (Birmingham, AL)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🐾 Birmingham Zoo — Birmingham, AL

🎨 McWane Science Center — Birmingham, AL

🌳 Railroad Park — Birmingham, AL

🎢 Urban Air Trampoline Park — Homewood, AL

Family-Friendly Eats:

🍔 MELT — Birmingham, AL

🍕 Davenport’s Pizza Palace — Mountain Brook, AL

🍦 Big Spoon Creamery — Birmingham, AL

🥩 Urban Cookhouse — Birmingham, AL

🥓 Jim n Nicks — Birmingham, AL

University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🌳 Greensboro Arboretum — Greensboro, NC

🎨 Greensboro Children’s Museum — Greensboro, NC

🦖 Greensboro Science Center (aquarium, zoo & treetop adventure) — Greensboro, NC

🐠 Wet’n Wild Emerald Pointe Water Park — Greensboro, NC

🛝 Safari Nation Indoor Playground — Greensboro, NC

🎢 Surge Trampoline Park — Greensboro, NC

🚴‍♀️ Country Park (trails, playgrounds, & pedal boats) — Greensboro, NC

🌿 Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden — Greensboro, NC

🎡 LeBauer Park (splash pad, playground & lawn games) — Greensboro, NC

🦋 Gateway Gardens — Greensboro, NC

🎳 Spare Time Entertainment — Greensboro, NC

🚂 High Point City Lake Park (mini golf, train rides, water slides) — High Point, NC (~20 min)

☀️ Bur-Mil Park — Greensboro, NC

🎢 Air Fun Trampoline Park — High Point, NC (~25 min)

Kid-Friendly Eats:

🍔 Hops Burger Bar — Greensboro, NC

🍕 Sticks & Stones Clay Oven Pizza — Greensboro, NC

🥞 Scrambled Southern Diner — Greensboro, NC

🌮 Crafted: The Art of the Taco — Greensboro, NC

🍗 Dame’s Chicken & Waffles — Greensboro, NC

🍦 Yum Yum Better Ice Cream — Greensboro, NC

☕️ Tate Street Coffee House — Greensboro, NC

🥗 Emma Key’s Flat Top Grill — Greensboro, NC

🍔 Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen — Greensboro, NC

🍩 Duck Donuts — Greensboro, NC

Virginia Military Institute (Lexington, VA)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🎨 Virginia Museum of the Civil War — New Market, VA

🌳 Boxerwood Nature Center — Lexington, VA

🎢 Hull’s Drive-In Theatre — Lexington, VA

🧠 Virginia Safari Park — Natural Bridge, VA

Family-Friendly Eats:

🍔 The Palms — Lexington, VA

🍕 Salerno Wood Fired Pizza — Lexington, VA

🍦 Sweet Things Ice Cream Shoppe — Lexington, VA

Western Carolina University (Cullowhee, NC)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🌊 Great Smoky Mountains Railroad — Bryson City, NC

🎢 Santa’s Land Fun Park & Zoo — Cherokee, NC

🌳 Pinnacle Park — Sylva, NC

🍊 Barbers Orchard Fruit Stand - Waynesville, NC

🍎 Darnell Farms — Bryson City, NC

💎 Rose Creek Mine - Franklin, NC

Family-Friendly Eats:

🍔 Haywood Smokehouse — Dillsboro, NC

🍕 Speedy’s Pizza — Sylva, NC

🍦 Jack the Dipper Ice Cream — Sylva, NC

🥪 Foragers Canteen — Sylva, NC

🥧 Happ’s Place - Glenville, NC

Wofford College (Spartanburg, SC)

Kid-Friendly Activities:

🎨 Spartanburg Science Center — Spartanburg, SC

🌳 Hatcher Garden & Woodland Preserve — Spartanburg, SC

🎢 Big Air Trampoline Park — Spartanburg, SC

🧠 Hub City Railroad Museum — Spartanburg, SC

 🛍️ Imagination Station – Spartanburg, SC

🚂 The Children’s Museum of the Upstate – Spartanburg, SC

Family-Friendly Eats:

🍔 Cribbs Kitchen — Spartanburg, SC

🍕 Venus Pie Pizzeria — Spartanburg, SC

🍦 Hub City Scoops — Spartanburg, SC

🍗Wade’s Restaurant – Spartanburg, SC

🍺 Fr8yard – Spartanburg, SC