After our 2 nights in Nashville, we continued our drive across Tennessee, over the Mississippi River and into Arkansas on our 2016 road trip! We were trying to keep our driving days down to 5-6 hours maximum so that we had time to explore a little bit each day. The drive from Nashville to Hot Springs, Arkansas was about 6 hours. We checked into Catherine’s Landing, our campground for the next 2 nights. This was one of our favorite campgrounds…
After a fantastic few days in the Great Smoky Mountains, we continued our 2016 road trip drive west toward Nashville, Tennessee. The route from Gatlinburg through Pigeon Forge and along I-40 to Nashville is about 4 hours. Tennessee is a long state! Because we had two cars, I went ahead of Todd with the camper on this drive. Special Visitors The day we drove to Nashville happened to be my birthday, and some special guests were joining us for the…
After a beautiful morning in downtown Asheville, we began the quick hour and forty-minute drive over to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, our home for the next 3 nights as we explored the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The drive through North Carolina and Tennessee was beautiful. Thankfully I was ahead of Todd on this drive because I was able to warn him that the camper would not be able to make it on some of the curvy roads. He had to…
After completing our morning hike around Abbott Lake at Peaks of Otter lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we began our drive south to Asheville, North Carolina. The Blue Ridge Parkway actually continues into North Carolina and just passes to the east of Asheville. While that would’ve made for an incredible drive, we decided that we needed to save that drive for another trip where we had more time just to explore that area. We would hate to rush the…
While living in Washington, DC, I got a lot of recommendations to visit Natural Bridge, Virginia. Natural Bridge is just a short 3 hour and 15-minute drive from the city. I didn’t know much about the area, honestly. But, once I read a little about Natural Bridge, I added it to our DC bucket list. Unfortunately, our weekends during the short time we lived in the area quickly filled up. So, when we began planning this road trip I figured this was…
The Blue Ridge Parkway is an iconic roadway through the Appalachian Highlands with 469 miles of winding roadways and stunning vistas. The Blue Ridge Parkway is the Utah Route 12 of the East Coast. We drove Utah Route 12 last year through breath-taking Utah scenery on our cross-country road trip. This year we decided to drive a portion of the East Coast equivalent, the Blue Ridge Parkway. This drive connects Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National…
The first stop of our 2nd road trip was a place we visited often during our stay in Washington, DC. Charlottesville is definitely picturesque Virginia countryside at its finest! The beautiful rolling hills of the Appalachian Mountains are lined with vineyards and farms. Charlottesville is home to the University of Virginia, founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, and also lies at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Shenandoah National Park is only a short distance away, and the town…
As we began to prepare for our second cross-country road trip in 9 months, I had to prepare mentally more than anything else. Although I was really excited to embark on another adventure across the great United States of America, the thought of the end of our last road trip crossed my mind a few times. If you remember, our road trip in 2015 ended with a mad dash from South Dakota to Washington, D.C. We front-loaded the trip with…
“Rrrrrrrocket!” Philip’s new favorite word after our trip to Kennedy Space Center this year is rocket. But, not just rocket; you must say “rrrrrrocket!” Every airplane he spots in the sky is suddenly a rocket! His fork is a rocket! The shampoo bottle is a rocket! Dad’s beer bottle is definitely a rocket! It’s been so fun to watch him develop a love for something that I find equally exciting – space travel! My love for science began at an…
Planning road trips with young kids can be a daunting task! What will I do to keep them entertained? How many times will I hear “Are we there yet?” from the backseat? Will they even enjoy the places we visit? All of these questions and more were some reasonable concerns I had before departing on the open road with my little ones. Today I’m sharing 7 tips (that I have used!) to get young kids involved and interested in a road trip!…