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12 South Carriage House
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Blog

CARRIAGE HOUSE NEWS & TALES FROM THE ROAD

12SCH On The Road: SoundWaves at Opryland

8/30/2021

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The Opryland Hotel has long been a favorite of ours both for their amazing Christmas light displays and for the general wonder one feels when wandering through the gardens, or taking the boat ride through the Delta.  When we heard they were opening an indoor/outdoor waterpark, we were delighted and this past week we finally got to take a staycation and check it out!  SoundWaves made a huge splash in our opinion!

To access the waterpark you either have to book a room night and choose the waterpark package, OR you can rent out a party room that includes wristbands.  We took advantage of the Davidson County Resident discount and spend the night so we could have two days of water fun!  (They also have a TN resident package discount if. you live elsewhere in the state.). We timed our adventure well as kiddos here are already back in school but the summer weather is still going strong.  The hotel and park were both virtually empty [one lifeguard said they had only sold 158 passes for the days we were there!] and we felt totally comfortable with the COVID measures in place in the hotel - all the staff were masked and occupancy was so low we barely saw any other guests and it was easy to social distance.

The park itself is immaculately clean, well-laid out and boasts incredible attractions like a wave pool, tons of water slides, a Flowrider surfing/knee board simulator, lazy river and lots of splash pad areas for littles.  Stretchy wristbands make it simple to access the park and never loose your ticket and there are lockers and cabanas available to rent to keep your valuables safe if you don't want to leave them in the room.  

Our favorite attractions were the "Record Launch" centrifuge tube slide, and the Up Tempo Rapids River.  We highly recommend wearing a life jacket in the Rapids so you can pick your feet up and just float along!  We probably spent half our time there just floating this thing in circles as our daughter loved it so much!  They also have an adults only area with an infinity pool and other relaxing spaces that we didn't get to check out on this trip.

Overall, we give this 5 out of 5 stars and while we definitely want you to stay at The Carriage House while you're in town, you might just want to add a night to your trip to make some waves before heading home!
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The Flowrider is MUCH harder than it looks, but SO much fun! You can choose either a stand-up board or a boogie board and the instructors are super helpful!
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My husband did every single one of these crazy slides...the two sticking up at the top have hydraulic floors that literally drop out from under your feet!
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A distance panorama of the wave pool.  They play fun music videos on that huge screen!
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The splash pad options for kids were amazing.  We had fun on this outdoor one, but there is an identical setup inside for the colder months or if you have really tiny ones that you want to shade from the sun!
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Our little one thought this "human dryer" was hilarious!  It felt sooooo good to dry off and warm up in there!
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The park is so massive that it's impossible to get a photo of the whole thing - but this is the outdoor slide complex with the splashpad.  The building to the left is the indoor part of the park including enclosed slides that are open year round, and the giant wave pool is behind me!
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A Visit to the TN State Museum Children's Gallery

3/5/2019

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It's been chilly in Nashville so I've been on the hunt for indoor activities to keep our [super energetic] 14 month old occupied.  This afternoon we hopped in the car and headed just a couple miles to the TN State Museum in Downtown Nashville to check out their Children's Gallery!
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The Children's Gallery is a huge room decorated with amazing murals of Nashville, Tennessee wildlife, song lyrics, factoids or things to look for (like the one our racoon friend is sharing below.)  The floor is an incredible mural as well; a giant map of the state of Tennessee with cities and landmarks.  At one end of the room is a set of bookshelves with favorite children's stories plus some blocks and a few toys for smaller kiddos.  At the other end is a table with crayons and colored pencils with coloring pages featuring current museum exhibits so you can " #ColorOurCollections " (see photo below).
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Curator Matt was on hand the entire time if we had questions and very graciously let Clare carry around a clipboard featuring a scavenger hunt of objects and locations to find hidden among the murals and activities to do when you found them. The website recommends the children's gallery for ages 3-8 and I definitely think that we were a little young to get the full experience of reading the facts, doing the scavenger hunt and coloring the printouts.  However, Clare absolutely LOVED running around the map and stopping to point out various rivers and places and brightly colored animals.  We also colored and read several books that were new to her (and Mama!). The bluegrass music they had playing was also a hit, and she frequently stopped what she was doing for a dance break. 
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All in all it was definitely a fun way to blow off some steam indoors on a chilly afternoon!  We didn't venture into the rest of the museum today, but it's absolutely worth visiting as well.  
Be sure to check out the "Know Before You Go" box below for info - we hope you enjoy your visit!
TN State Museum - Children's Gallery 
Address: 1000 Rosa L. Parks Blvd., Nashville, TN 37208

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Cost: Admission to the museum & parking are both free!!!

Hours: Mon- Closed
              Tues, Wed, Fri & Sat - 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
              Thurs - 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
              Sun - 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The museum is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day & Easter
Our Opinion: Kids age 3-8 will love the scavenger hunt & coloring activities.  Kids under 3 will love the bookshelf, blocks, and running around the map/pointing to murals on the walls.  Free admission and parking are always a win, and the fact that it's indoors makes it a primo rainy/hot/cold activity.  
If you're hoping for lots of exhibits or interactive activities, know that this is mostly a make-your-own-fun type space.  Depending on the age of your kids, we'd recommend allotting 15 minutes - 1 hour to enjoy the space, although if you coupled it with exploring the entire museum, you could easily spend several hours.
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    bETHANY, YOUR HOST

    AirBnB Superhost Bethany has lived in Nashville since 2006 and loves finding fun things to do at home and on the road!

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  • The 12 South Carriage House
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