Typically when we travel, we like to stay in bed & breakfasts, but, for the holiday weekend, most B&Bs were booked or had high holiday rates. We knew we could go up to 8 hours away, and we wanted to go south, so we started searching for a cabin. The one we ended up with was called Top of the Mountain, and warned that four-wheel drive was needed to reach it. Wow, they weren't kidding- good thing our Volvo has four wheel drive! I tried to capture the hills, but I'm not sure the steepness was adequately communicated. I was white-knuckled the whole way up. The pictures of the car driving are all on the driveway up to the cabin- note the guard rails on the driveway. We were thankful for the absence of ice.
[Click for a bigger view]
Once we got there, we played games, cooked dinner, enjoyed birthday cake, and watched the New Year's Twilight Zone marathon. We ventured out to check out the shopping and to tour the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Beautiful. Check out the album full of pictures:
 |
| New Years 10 |
When we came back to 'real life,' we decided this was one of our favorite vacations ever. Josh said we should do all our vacations like this one. I made the observation that we did nothing we couldn't have done at home- shopping, driving, games, and cooking are all very 'normal' activities. Because we were away, though, the change of scenery and lack of schedule and responsibilities helped us relax. Also, I'd have to say, the scenery in Tennessee beats out anything we have in Indiana!
5 comments:
Fun! I looked at all your photos - boy - does that make me homesick - I grew up in the mountains...
Looks like a fun trip! I was thinking the other day, wouldn't it be fun if your goal was to be in a different state every year for New Year's Eve? Then you would see 50 states in 50 years. When you are younger, you could go to the nearby states to save money. Then as you get older and have more money, you could go to places like Alaska and Hawaii (which, actually, you probably already have under your belt). I'm seriously considering beginning this next year.
I love riding my Motorcycle in the Smoky Mountains. The views are amazing!
This sounds like fun! I agree that if you stay home, you quickly find things you 'should' be doing...laundry, dishes, cleaning..whatever. I like Larissa's idea to hit 50 states in 50 years, although I might say that real young, before kids, you may be able to get a little further away.
I'm still working on my goals for the New Year, but one is to travel to a state I haven't been to before. I'm close enough to 50, that I should probably think about doubling up some!!
I love Larissa's idea! What a great tradition! It could also be fun to have a set time that you always "get away" by yourselves (if you can) even after you have kids.
Post a Comment