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1 week ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
AMERICUS, Ga. – President Jimmy Carter’s death in 2024 brought renewed attention to south Georgia and his hometown of Plains. Lodging is at a premium in this thinly populated corner of the state, but the nearest “big city” to Plains has a hotel surprise. The Windsor Hotel in Americus (population 15,400) is steeped in history and has solid connections to President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn.
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1 week ago | 
mainstreetmediatn.com | Kara Aguilar |Tom Adkinson |Main Street Nashville
Kirby Davis and his wife Kelsy are rarities in Tennessee agriculture – they are full-time flower farmers. TOM ADKINSONKirby and Kelsy Davis are young and productive Tennessee farmers, but you won’t find corn, soybeans, hay or cattle on their spread just outside of Dickson. Instead, you’ll find snapdragons, ranunculus, anemones, narcissus, peonies and many other beauties of nature.
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2 weeks ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Thomas Jefferson would love Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. It offers music (Jefferson played violin), good food and drink (Jefferson introduced wine production in Virginia), multiple bookstores (Jefferson’s own library was the seed of the University of Virginia) and places for conversation and gathering (Jefferson certainly liked to talk).
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2 weeks ago | 
grouptravelleader.com | Tom Adkinson
Although New Jersey, South Carolina and California each grow significantly more peaches than Georgia, it’s Georgia that has long enjoyed the nickname of “the Peach State.” Fruit production aside, Georgia is a peach of a tour destination. It has mountains and beaches, big cities and small towns, colorful festivals and quiet museums — and plenty of peach cobbler, too.
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3 weeks ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
OKLAHOMA CITY – Spring is a time of mixed emotions in Oklahoma City. While there is joy witnessing nature’s renewal, a sense of somberness also rests on the city because April is the month for special remembranceof the largest act of domestic terrorism in the history of the United States. It was April 19, 1995, when 4,000 pounds of explosives hidden in a rental truck detonated, ripping apart the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, damaging 300 more buildings and killing 168 people.
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4 weeks ago | 
knoxvilledailysun.com | Tom Adkinson
CARTERSVILLE, Ga. – Little Cartersville, population of only 26,000, has at least five good reasons for you to detour off I-75 for a visit – four solid museums and a seafood restaurant you might not expect. More on the museums later. It’s the seafood restaurant that’s the real surprise. Maine Street Coastal Cuisine is the culinary destination.
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1 month 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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1 month 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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1 month 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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1 month 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.
