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2 weeks ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Tennessee’s fourth largest city already has earned a pile of praisefor visitor appeal and livability. It has been on the covers of “U.S. News and World Report” and “Parade” magazines. NPR’s “Morning Edition” called it one of the world’s great cities.“Family Fun” named it a Top 10 family vacation destination. Editors at “Outside” magazine labeled it one of the country’s best places to live, work and play. Now, another accolade has come its way.
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2 weeks ago | 
mainstreetmediatn.com | Kara Aguilar |Tom Adkinson |Main Street Nashville
CHATTANOOGA – Chattanooga has earned a new international accolade with a slightly confusing name. The vibrant city – once derided as “the dirtiest city in America” but now celebrated for its livability and focus on outdoor activities – is a National Park City, one of only three in the world.
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3 weeks ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
NEW ORLEANS – It’s easy to imagine the following conversation at the French Market, a place with a history of commerce dating to 1790. While it began as a meat market and later added vegetables and seafood, today’s shopping experience largely is for souvenirs of the Big Easy. Child: “C’mon, Mom. Please. I really want one of those. Nobody I know has one. It’s really, really cool.”Mom: “Hush up, son! I am not buying you a taxidermied alligator head. If you don’t hush, we’re leaving.
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3 weeks ago | 
long-weekends.com | Tom Adkinson
Getting dirty is the hallmark of a day in an off-road vehicle careening through West Virginia’s mountains on the Hatfield-McCoy Trails. They constitute the largest adventuring trail system east of the Mississippi River, and as a souvenir T-shirt proclaims, “If Mud Ain’t Flying, You Ain’t Trying.”A dozen trails — Bearwallow, Rockhouse, Warrior, Braveheart and more — twist and turn for almost 1,000 miles through southern West Virginia’s rugged backcountry.
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3 weeks ago | 
grouptravelleader.com | Tom Adkinson
Archaeologists keep uncovering treasures; historians continue reinterpreting the past; and tour operators never have to duplicate itineraries in Williamsburg and Virginia’s Historic Triangle. The region may be old, but newness blossoms regularly. America is on the cusp of its semiquincentennial (that’s the fancy word for 250th birthday) in 2026, and the Williamsburg region is a window into the story of the nation’s origin.
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3 weeks ago | 
long-weekends.com | Tom Adkinson
Kentucky’s famous thoroughbred racehorses have careers of only two or three years. A five-year career is extraordinary. However, their lifespans run from 20 to 25 years, and while owners keep some, many racehorses are purchased directly off the track in private sales, leading to a lack of accountability and record keeping. Luckily, aftercare programs like Second Stride at Chorleywood Farm just outside Louisville exist to cater to the needs of retired racehorses.
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1 month ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
NEW ORLEANS – Jazz is the music of New Orleans. It’s in the clubs. It’s in the streets. It’s at funerals. It’s everywhere – and for a good reason: It was born here. The National Park Service helps tell the story of jazz from a spot in the famed French Quarter. Amid neon signs and sometimes risqué chalkboards, an understated park service sign on N. Peters Street beckons you into a breezeway where displays explain the history of New Orleans.
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1 month ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Grammar fanatics cringe when they hear someone say, “I feel good,” but even the biggest grammar stickler smiles and starts grooving when James Brown shouts, “I FEEL GOOD!” and his band’s brass section hits the rhythmic bars of a song synonymous with the “Godfather of Soul". Brown rose to international fame from an impoverished startin the Depression-era South.
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1 month ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – By all appearances, Michie Tavern is a structure from the same eraas Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, its neighbor only a half-mile away. It is. However, Jefferson never enjoyed a glass of wine or a spirited political discussion at this spot at the foot of Carter’s Mountain. That’s because in Jefferson’s day, Michie Tavern was 17 miles away on Buck Mountain.
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1 month ago | 
grouptravelleader.com | Tom Adkinson
After a few tours to Louisiana, you learn about lagniappe (LAN-yap), a Cajun-French word meaning “something extra.” It’s common in restaurants — a surprise sample appetizer or a dessert bite — but it’s also in other aspects of the hospitality industry. Louisianans are famous for embodying the spirit of lagniappe, so don’t be too surprised when someone unexpectedly does something nice for your tour in any corner of the Bayou State.
