Tennessee '15

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! 

Halloween Horror Nights 25

Last night Ian and I went to Halloween Horror Nights 25!

We love all the corny little houses, and having a few drinks and just having a good time. This was our 3rd year going and even if we don't get "scared" it's still so fun.

Here's a photo of us in the car on our way there. The park opens for HHN at 6:30pm and closes at 2am. We are Florida residents, and Universal normally gives us free parking but not during this event. Parking is 20$ a car. We arrived just around 6:30 and got one of the farthest parking spots (you'd think as HHN Vets we'd know better) 

Firstly, i'd like to talk about HHN Express Plus. For residents its an additional 100$ to your ticket, and since we went on a Friday we paid 60$ a person in addition. Bringing our total to around 330$ for the two of us. With that being said, this was our first year purchasing the passes and normally wait in line for hours like everyone else. BUT, i'm being so serious when I tell you we did not wait more then 5-7 for any houses! And the general admin line was about 90 for each house! Not only that but the pass is good for all rides except for Gringotts. You can only use the pass once per house/ride. I don't think I could ever go again without putting the money out for these amazing, time saving passes.

Next i'm going to be taking about my personal experience within the houses we got to go through.

*Disclaimer; there may be slight spoilers in this post, if you're not interested you can scroll to the bottom*

Monsters & Mayhem; was the first house we went into, wait time was about 5 mins. This house was super long, and took you though history with some of the favorite characters form previous years. It was pretty cool to see all the different makeups and experience seeing some monster brought back to life. Although, if you don't like clowns I don't suggest going in this one, theres many. 

Body Collectors; was a bit creepy, we didn't know much about this house before going inside. Once inside we saw a lot of bones (obvs) and blood...not much to say about this one.

RUN Blood, Sweat and Fears; I thought this was a pretty cool concept that you're apart of a game and people attack and try and "kill" you. Reminded me of a Hunger Games or Maze Runner type house. This house may seen underestimated, but if you have the time you should defiantly check it out.

INSIDIOUS; Obviously one of the most popular houses this year, the normal wait was about 90 minutes and with our passes we waited about 10, if that. I had a lot of expectations for this house since I and and I are both fans of all 3 films. This house was pretty cool, it was very similar to the film and I really appreciate that when going through these houses that are made after movies. I wouldn't say that it scared us, but it was defiantly one of the best houses of the night.

The Purge; Alright, so we got on line for this house and waited about 7ish minutes we were the 3rd couple in line waiting to go inside the house when all of a sudden they called for a emergency evacuation...we were waiting about 20 minutes and there was security, police and Universal employees all around. We were finally told that there was a fire or something going on inside and they weren't sure when the house was going to reopen. Thankfully they reimbursed our passes and sent us on our way. We never made it back.

Freddy vs Jason; Okay, so, being the horror fanatic I am..I can't believe iv'e never seen either of these films. But obviously I know what they're about. This was another house that I thought was really cool, and had a lot of detail. I'm sure I would appreciate it more if I would've seen the films before going.

An American Werewolf In London; This house has been at HHN every year we've gone and this is the first year we have bothered to go in. It was pretty cool, actually. There were a ton of werewolfs throughout the whole thing...but that's expected. The general admin line was only 15, so for this ride the express plus didn't make much of a difference. 

Obviously with you're at HHN and you're over the age of 21, you have to get some draaaanks. This drink is called "All Jack'ed Up" I forget what was in it, I just remember Fire Ball. We didnt want the souvenir cup, but were told that the drink only comes in it. It was around 10$

I guess next I should mention a little about Gringotts and the rest of the Harry Potter world. Firstly, know that the express plus is not good for the Gringotts ride. Ian and I ate at the Leaky Cauldron and Ian finally god his Butter Beer. Though we couldn't use our passes there was only a 30 minute wait for the Gringotts ride. Ill post some pictures of our time in Harry Potter World below.

We ended up leaving the park around 1:15am.

Another good year at HHN, glad we got to be there for the 25th anniversary! 

Check out the HHN website here

*some photos for this blogpost were taken from that website*

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party Experience

Last night Ian and I went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fl. We have gone to Disney multiple times before, but never to this event. And it was magical.

Ian and I dressed as Donald and Daisy Duck, almost everyone there was dressed up as something. The first thing we did when we got there was...buy some rain ponchos because it was pouring out; 

(Ian and I wet from the rain^^) 

Then we attempted to ride Space Mountain but it was closed do to technical difficulties.

And since it was still pouring we decided to head to our favorite indoor ride, The Haunted Mansion. Which was super cool during this event because all the employees of the ride were dressed especially creepy. Lucky after the ride the rain had stopped.

And toward the end of the night we got to see the most amazing Disney fireworks i've ever seen!

And lastly we had to get one of the special desserts they only have during this event. Isn't this cupcake so cute?? I normally don't go for chocolate cake, but this was really yummy! 

Can't wait for next year!