Over this past weekend I made the last minute decision to join my family on vacation to Tennessee. It was so much fun. I want to share with you guys what we did, and show you where you should check out if you ever make it out that way.
Let me fisrt start out by saying that my sister, her bf, and my parents started their drive from SW Florida and picked me up in central FL on their way, I believe the drive in total for me was about 10 hours or so.
Once we got there we were welcomes by a bunch of elk on out way up the Carolina side of the Smoky Mountains
Continuing our drive we finally made it to out cabin, which was on the Tennessee side of the Smoky Mountains. This is our cabin. It's a 3 bed/2 bath with 3 floors.
Once we got there we quickly left to have dinner, since we were all starving. I was able to call ahead at Paula Deens Kitchen to get the 5 of us a table. It was pricey, but they give you a lot of food that was pretty good. Below is a picture of me, my sister Claudia, and her bf Will. Paula Deen's is located at The Island at Pigeon Forge.
The next day we started to head up the Smoky Mountains, we were heading up to Clingmans Dome. It took us about 2 hours to drive all the way up and find a parking spot. Once we got there Claudia, Will and I took on the mountain to hike to the top. While it's only about a .5 mile hike it is extremely steep all the way up, we took multiple breaks but eventually made it! Claingmans is the highest mountains in the Smoky Mountain and in Tennessee, elevated at 6,643 ft. Some photos of us and the amazing view below.
After that we headed to Newfound Gap, which is the spot in the mountains where North Carolina and Tennessee meet.
After that we headed back down the mountain to get ready to go to Downtown Gatlinburg for the night to grab dinner and do a bunch of moonshine tastings.
The first distillery we went to was Jakes Distillery in Sevierville, TN
Once in side we tried their corn and grain based moonshine, they also had some flavored shine for us to try that aren't for sale yet. When we were there it was only their second day open. I did purchase a candle there and it smells amazing! You can view their website
here
The next place we went to was in Down tow Gatlinburg called, Sugarland Distilling Company. I didn't take any photos, but here we did try 4 different moonshines, during the day they said they let people try 12. You can visit their website
here for more information.
Lastly we went to the most popular moonshine location in Gatlinburg, Ole Smoky. This place is pretty popular we waited about 20 minutes before we could try their moonshine, at this location you can try 9 of their different flavors. The ones we tried were, Pina Colada, Margarita, White Lightning Peach, Blue Flame, Hunch Punch, Cinnamon, Shine Nog, Pumpkin Pie and Blackberry.
I purchased The Pumpkin Pie and Shine Nog, mainly because they're seasonal and I was told that the Shine Nog is amazing in coffee! WOOT. Both shines were 25$ each, with the purchase I got a free pocketknife, and two lids for 1$, I also purchased a metal shot glass for 5.99$ You can view their website
here
The final day of our trip we started out by getting some sandwiches, meeting up with some more family and heading up the mountain once again. Our first stop was at this pretty water fall heading up to Cades Cove.
Once at Cades Cove we opted for the 11 mile scenic drive, which is a one way trip around the mountain.
Toward the end of the night we grabbed dinner at the Old Mill. This place is very popular we went there on a Sunday and had over an hour wait for 10 people. You can check them out
here
Okay so, the next day I left at 6:15am. I opted for the cheapest route to get back to Central Fl. I took a bus for 12 hours with a bunch of strangers. I've never done anything like this before and it was pretty nerve racking. I caught the first bus in Knoxville, TN then had a transfer in Atlanta, GA. If I didn't choose the bus I would've had to take a flight for 500$ and wouldn't have gotten home till almost midnight, but the bus only cost me 133$ and I was home before 8pm!