Tennessee for flatlanders: what we wish every Texas and Florida family knew

Between the two of us, my husband and I have called a lot of places home: Texas, including years on the Gulf Coast in Galveston, plus New York, New Jersey and Michigan. We have spent many happy weeks in Florida, too. We know flat land and wide skies. So I wrote this for every family loading up the car and pointing it toward the mountains for the first time.

Here is what surprised us most: Tennessee is as beautiful as the famous parks out West, and in some ways even more so. It is lovely all year long, with four true seasons. Spring wildflowers, green summers, a fall that rivals New England, and quiet, frosty winters. Every visit feels like a different place.

How far is it, really?

These are rough estimates to the Wears Valley area, before stops. Use your own navigation for real times.

From Texas, many families split the drive with a night around Birmingham or Chattanooga. From Florida, it is a long single day or an easy two. When the hills start rolling up past Chattanooga, wake the kids. Watching them see the mountains through the windshield is worth every mile.

The time zone surprise

East Tennessee runs on Eastern Time. Coming from Texas, or from the Florida Panhandle, you lose an hour on the way in and gain it back on the way home. It matters for check-in times, dinner reservations and show tickets. Families from most of the Florida peninsula are already on Eastern Time.

Mountain driving, minus the fear

Plenty of Smokies cabins sit up steep, winding, one-lane roads, and that is the part flatland drivers dread. We chose our house partly because it does not: Smoky Signature sits on a level lot with a gravel drive and no steep or narrow sections. You will still drive curvy roads in the park, so a few tips:

• Use a lower gear on long downhills instead of riding your brakes.
• Use pull-offs to let faster local traffic pass. Nobody minds.
• Expect wildlife on the road at dawn and dusk.
• Fill up before you head into the park. There are no gas stations inside.

Weather: pack for two climates

The valleys around Pigeon Forge and Wears Valley feel like a mild Southern spring for much of the year, but the high peaks can run 10 to 20 degrees cooler. In a single day you can go from shorts at a creek to a jacket at Kuwohi. Summer afternoons bring quick thunderstorms. Winter brings frosty mornings and, some years, snow in the high country.

Fun facts for the back seat

• Tennessee is called the Volunteer State for the many volunteers who signed up to fight in the War of 1812.
• The state tree is the tulip poplar , one of the tallest trees in these forests. The state wildflower is the passion flower , and the state cultivated flower is the iris .
• Tennessee has sixteen official state songs , including "Rocky Top."
• Dolly Parton was born in Sevier County, the same county as our house, and built Dollywood here.
• The highest point in the state is Kuwohi , at 6,643 feet. Sea-level families: that is more than a mile up.