Stop #2: The Carolina Basketball Museum

Our second stretch of driving was from Louisville, Kentucky, to Durham, North Carolina.  It was a LONG day of driving, but filled with beautiful scenery!  We opted to travel through Tennessee, a state I had never been too nor the kids, and enjoyed our views of the smokey mountains.  We hit a few bad rain showers, but overall the views were pretty amazing.

While driving through Gatlinburg, Tennessee, we noticed a sign for white water rafting that piqued our curiosity.  My husband made a mental note to check into it more once we arrived at the beach.  A quick Google search found information on a family float option in the Smokey Mountains.  Guess what's on the agenda for the trip down next year?  That ought to be an interesting adventure!

We stopped off for dinner in Asheville near the Biltmore Estate.  Both my husband and I had heard of it before, but didn't really know what it was.  After looking into that a bit more, I think next year I'd like to drive by just to see what it looks like!

We arrived at our hotel much later than we had expected, but were relieved to find the Homewood Suites in Durham near I-40 to be very clean and the extras we had requested for our room already there.  We quickly got unpacked and the kids transferred to their beds with relative ease.

Some of the troops were pretty worn out and slept in quite late the next morning, which put us a bit behind schedule.  After most of us had breakfast, we debated whether to go to Duke or UNC's campus.  After some discussion, we decided to venture over to the University of North Carolina campus and the Carolina Basketball Museum.

After a quick drive around campus, we located the Dean Smith Dome and the Museum.  The Museum, which is free to the public, did not disappoint.  It is very nice and filled with everything from the center court at a championship game, to trophies, clothing, and displays of some of the most notable UNC players.  We were very impressed and so glad we made the stop.  Growing up as Bulls fans, my husband and I both thought the Michael Jordan display was pretty awesome.

Practicing his form

Our oldest son really wanted to see the inside of the Dean Dome and as luck may have it, it was open for a basketball camp that day.  He got to go inside and check it out.  It was one of the highlights of his trip.  I remember feeling the same way when I was in middle school and saw it for the first time!

Once we wrapped up at UNC, we loaded up the troops and began our last leg of our journey to the beach.  It wouldn't be long now!