We recently escaped the city and took a road trip down to Tennessee to meet up with our parents for a little getaway. Because of Covid, none of us were comfortable getting on a plane. But we hadn’t seen each other all year so we started to brainstorm how we could do something as safely as possible to meet up in person. Tennessee is about halfway between NYC and Dallas (where our parents live) so we decided to recreate a family trip we took 26 years ago to the Smoky Mountains! We rented a cabin via AirBnB for a week and it was such a nice and relaxing trip!
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The two bedroom cabin offered plenty of space for all of us, and the kitchen was stocked with all of the essentials needed for us to cook all of our meals in. But the best part of the cabin was the extensive outdoor space. There was a wrap-around extended porch with plenty of places to sit and hang out, an outdoor fire pit and a hot tub! There was also a second porch off the upstairs loft. Large sections of the porch were covered which was helpful as it was pretty rainy while we were there, but we were able to still hang out outside.
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We spent a lot of our time just hanging out at the cabin, playing games, reading, and just enjoying being able to spend time together. But we did get out a couple of days to go explore a bit of Smoky Mountain National Park.
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We hiked up Clingman’s Dome one day, which is the highest point in the park. It happened to be quite rainy that day, but on a clear day the views are supposed to be extensive. But even up among the clouds, it was still quite pretty. The hike to the top is only about half a mile but it is entirely uphill and a pretty steep incline. The path is paved, so you’re not navigating rough terrain, but it’s definitely not a leisurely hike despite sounding short.
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Another day we drove out to Cade’s Cove. Here there is a loop that you can drive with areas to stop off and see things along the way. This was a long day in the car, but it was a great way to (safely) see a lot from the safety of your own vehicle.
One of the highlights was seeing a little family of bears! They crossed the road right in front of our car. There was a momma and three little cubs. None of us had seen bears in the wild before so that was a fun thing to be able to check off of our bucket lists.
Overall it was a really fun trip and kind of the perfect thing to do during a pandemic. And it was fun to revisit a place we went as kids! If you haven’t already, be sure to also check out our two travel vlogs from the trip linked down below. You can also see our previous travel content here.
-Ash
P.S. Most of the t-shirts/sweatshirts we are wearing in these photos are from The Sister Market: adventure t-shirt, adventure sweatshirt, wanderlust t-shirt.