Discovery Park of America

Prior to the girls arriving at Fort Campbell following the year with their Mother, I conducted an extensive search on activities within a few hours of the post. I found a large selection of zoos, children’s museums, playgrounds, trampoline parks, and other activities to give them a large variety of things to do during our weekends. While trampolining in the backyard and going to the local pool have been fun, nothing in the area has been quite as amazing as visiting the Discovery Park of America in Union City, TN.

Although it is about two hours away from our house, I had heard nothing but great things about this attraction and definitely wanted to take the girls. Even with the recommendations though, I was a little worried after reviewing their website. Aside from an activity zone, the slide, the dinosaurs, and the playground, and even though it billed itself as a children’s museum, it really did not look like there was much for children to do at the park. Once we arrived, I knew my initial assessment was flat-out wrong. While it certainly has its share of adult exhibits, it had more than enough activities to cover all ages.

Immediately upon arriving at the park, the girls headed left to the Regional History Gallery, which included an aquarium and an exhibit on pioneer life.

While Davy Crockett and his “exploits” were not much to write about, the girls loved looking at the frogs and the turtles, including crawl through tunnels to “get inside of” the aquarium. Living creatures is always a good place to start. There was also a very good exhibit on Native American tools and weapons, which of course the girls just blew on through.

We then made it to the Children’s Exploration Gallery, which included blocks, a giant water table, and whatever that contraption is above. There was also a pulley machine that allowed someone to drop plastic balls onto the water table, which Gabriella and I played with for about ten minutes.

Elaina went to work with building an elaborate pipe system to funnel the mist around the water table. I do not know about the girls, but I definitely had more fun with the water table than I probably should have.

Right off the Children’s Exploration Gallery was the two-story metal slide. The girls were very excited about this ride and were looking forward to it the entire trip to the park. And they certainly got some use out of it.

We eventually made our way to the Military Gallery, which focused on military history spanning from the American Civil War to modern conflicts.

While the girls were not particularly interested in most of the pre-Vietnam era exhibits, they were kind enough to let me take some pictures and give them a few history lessons along the way.

We quickly breezed through the Transportation Gallery, which only seemed to interest me. The Discovery Park of America is one of the few places we have been to that I would like to visit without the girls, as it would allow me some more time to go through the car, military, and history exhibits without being rushed.

They spent a lot of time with the Army vehicles though, particularly the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). They like to make the joke a lot, but now they really were at “Dad’s Timeline,” as I have driven such a vehicle quite a bit in my Army career.

As they were coming down the stairs to the vehicles, Elaina shouted “C’mon, Gabby! We’re gonna drive a tank!” Unfortunately, they could not climb into or drive the light tank, so they were more than a little upset.

The classic World War II Jeep lifted their spirits though, as they immediately hopped in and started “driving around.” Aside from the Children’s Exploration Gallery, we surprisingly spent more time in the Military Gallery than anywhere else.

As part of the Enlightenment Gallery, we then found ourselves in the Torture Room, a place that I was definitely not expecting in this museum. The Rack. The Electric Chair. The Guillotine. It was all here. And very difficult to answer questions about. My responding to “Dad, what does this do?” led to a lot of awkward shuffling, then pointing to something less scary, saying “Wow! Check this out!” But they now know what a Guillotine is for, so, um, it makes them a little more worldly? I just do not know how to spin that as a positive yet.

Another feature the girls were really looking forward to was Cooper Tower, with an observation deck located 120 feet above the ground. The girls are still absolutely fearless, and were constantly making fun of me for being afraid of heights. I am sure that these glass panes are perfectly safe… so let me move aside so that you can enjoy them more. Even though this attraction cost extra (for unlimited rides), the girls loved it, and we ended up going up the tower three times throughout the day.

Although they enjoyed the Dinosaur Hall and humored me with some pictures, they just do not seem to be into “Thunder Lizards” as much as their Old Man Dad. I guess you cannot win them all.

By now the girls were getting a craving for the ice cream they were promised, so we grabbed Dippin’ Dots before strolling through The Settlement (pioneer village). Given that the rooms were all dirty and the only toys were blocks and old dolls, the girls certainly appreciated that they were not living in the 19th century. They still enjoyed themselves though, getting a glimpse at what they affectionately refer to as “Dad’s Timeline.” Only about a hundred years off girls. One thing the girls and I found very interesting was a blacksmithing demonstration. Gabriella begged me to leave, but once they pulled the red-hot iron out of the forge and started hammering away at it, we could not pull her away; Gabby just stood there, mesmerized.

Because this was our first time here, I did not want to just walk by any attractions without seeing them; next time we can skip the “boring stuff.” Good thing we did too, as even though the girls begged me not to go into the Agricultural Center, they spent about 15 minutes having a blast on the giant tractor. I definitely reminded them throughout the day how much fun they had in the room they said was going to put them to sleep.

The girls were starting to get hungry, so we headed back to the entrance to eat at the on-site diner, Sabin’s Cafe. Elaina got a pulled pork sandwich while Gabby ate chicken strips, sharing a basket of fries between them. After some food and a quick rest, we were back to exploring.

To stay out of the hot sun a little longer, the girls retraced their steps in the museum, which eventually led them right back to the slide.

After a few more runs and another trip up the tower, the girls wanted to expend some of their energy at the playground, so we headed over to the Children’s Discovery Garden.

The zip-line was the clear favorite when it came to activities at the playground, but the choices were a little limited as the plastic was getting pretty hot out in the Tennessee sun. Elaina could not even finish her game of chess with me because she was getting a little exhausted (given how much I was ahead, it was probably for the best that she resigned). On the way out, as promised, we stopped at the gift shop so the girls could pick out a small toy (and I could pick out a magnet for our fridge).

This was a very fun park and the girls and I are happy that we discovered it (no pun intended) with two years left at Fort Campbell. In fact, we had such a good time, we decided to get an annual membership before leaving for the day. That was a pretty cost-effective move too, as we only have to visit one more time in order to get our money’s worth. I highly recommend the Discovery Park of America for families of all ages, as there seemed to be something for everyone. And what is truly surprising is that we have almost half the park still to see, as we left before visiting some of the special attractions (films), the Train Depot, Freedom Square, and the rest of the Enlightenment Gallery. Even though we will probably still initially gravitate towards the slide and Cooper Tower, it is nice to know there awaits a lot more for us to explore during our next visit.

Thanks for checking in on us.

Cheers!