Our first day is a travel day that has us heading for Music City, USA, otherwise known as Nashville, Tennessee. Your Tri-State Travel tour director will be on hand to make your travel day pass quickly. Our overnight accommodations will be at the Drury Inn/Nashville.

Breakfast is included at the hotel this morning before check out. Before heading down the road, we will take time to stop at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Here the country music story is told through a vast collection of historic video clips and recorded music, dynamic exhibits and memorabilia of the many country music legends. We travel through Tennessee, North Carolina and into South Carolina today en route to the Holiday Inn Charleston, our home for the next two nights. After check in, we will have time to freshen up before enjoying dinner at the Charleston Crabhouse.

A Buffet Breakfast is included at the hotel this morning and then we start a full day of touring. Welcome to beautiful Charleston, a city steeped in history, heritage and culture. The tour begins at the Charleston Visitor’s Center, where you have the opportunity to see the original plan of the Walled City. Your Charleston Historic District Tour will take in the Citadel, Joseph P. Riley Stadium, the Battery, White Point Garden, Fort Sumter, Rainbow Row, and the Four Corners of the Law, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church and a possible visit to City Council Chambers. Your tour concludes at the Customs House. Next, we visit the Charleston Tea Plantation, America’s only tea garden. Observe the process of making tea in the factory from the “Tourway” where you’ll hear and see all about the world of tea. Take the narrated bus tour through the farm for unforgettable views. Purchase your own supply of the American Classic Tea for those special moments when only the best will do. We will return to the hotel with time to relax and freshen up. Tonight we will have dinner at Poogan’s Porch, one of Charleston’s oldest and most reputable culinary establishments, serving upscale Lowcountry cuisine daily.

After breakfast, we check out of our hotel and make a stop at the Magnolia Plantation. This world-famous 300 year old plantation includes the country’s oldest garden (circa 1680) and a Reconstruction era plantation house. After lunch on own, we travel to Savannah, Georgia. Upon arrival, we will drop our luggage off at the Doubletree Hotel, our home for the next two nights, then begin our Savannah touring. The tour begins at the Savannah Visitors Center and History Museum, housed in a 100-year old restored train station. We continue through the 2.2 square mile National Historic District and will include some of Savannah’s famous monuments dedicated to their leading citizens. We return to the hotel where a welcome reception awaits us. Tonight, you will enjoy a wonderful southern, home-style meal at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House.

A Buffet Breakfast will be served at the hotel this morning. Our day starts with a tour of the Savannah Low Country by winding your way through the Victorian District and then on through Ardsley Park, Savannah’s first motorized subdivision. Board a boat at the Bull River Marina for the Bull River Eco-Adventure Cruise, a narrated cruise of the salt marshes and barrier islands. Afterwards, we drive through the Low Country and view Fort Pulaski, Fort Screven, and Tybee Lighthouse. You will have time for a great picture opportunity on the beach on Tybee Island. The guide will then take you to the Byrd Cookie Factory to sample the goodies. Lunch today will be at Papa’s BBQ with free time following to browse through the shops on River Street. We return to the hotel in the late afternoon. You are in for a real treat tonight as you have dinner reservations at The Lady & Sons Restaurant, owned by restaurateur Paula Deen. Our evening is not over as we are headed to the Savannah Theatre, the longest running theatre in the United States for a fabulous musical variety show.

After breakfast, it is time to bid farewell to beautiful Savannah. Our travels today take us to Macon Georgia where we will take time to tour this historic city. Macon’s heritage is an exciting story and we just also happen to hit Macon during the Cherry Blossom Festival. You will have time to grab lunch (on own) and enjoy some of the festivities before we take a drive on the Cherry Blossom Trail on our way out of town. We are not far from Atlanta and the beautiful Wyndham Hotel, our home for the night. Dinner tonight will be at Mary Mac’s Team Room.

It’s goodbye Atlanta after breakfast! We check out of the hotel and board our motorcoach for a day of travel. Today’s journey takes us through Georgia, Tennessee and into Kentucky. Our last overnight stop will be in Paducah, Kentucky at the Drury Inn. We will enjoy a farewell dinner at one of Paducah’s fine eating establishments.

Breakfast awaits us before we check out. Our last travel day finds us traveling from Southern Illinois back to the Quad Cities, with arrival home in the early evening. As you bid farewell to our new found traveling friends, we hope you take with you many great memories of this Southern Classic Tour!