Tennessee bound for a small family vacation full of new adventures!
I researched some stops along the way to make the travel part more fun and break it up a bit. This proved to be very important for Shiloh's motion sickness tendency (which I forgot about but was reminded all to well just a minute from our first stop). I had never heard of Jeter Mountain Farm but after seeing how my sister had happened to go the previous day and raved about it, and it not being to far off route, we stopped by.
We were sooo glad we did and had a fantastic time. We started on the playground and loved their set up.
Inside a playhouse they had blue lights and glow in the dark chalk.
After a picnic lunch and randomly running into an old friend and co-worker, we headed on the covered wagon.
It was incredibly beautiful and picturesque.
They even had a flower field (which we didn't stop at for time sake) but was so beautiful.
We had never picked peaches before and it was an easy enjoyable experience.
Ezra was especially loving the shape of these fruit!
Love that my oldest still likes taking pictures with me.
Most of them were not quite ripe enough to eat on the spot...but we found a couple to share.
Then it was back onto the wagon to all the other fun.
We picked just a bit a blueberries....for some reason this area was so much hotter and not many of the fam were up for it.
Then it was treat time with some apple donuts and a flight of apple cider (for the grownups).
They were all so yummy!
Even the bathrooms were fun to visit and examine their decore.
My parents and sister, Lauren, were joining us on this trip. They were a couple of hours behind us, but we got to visit briefly to tell about the place.
Our goodies to go and we were so thankful for this amazing spot. We will be back!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After hitting the road again we wanted to stop for coffee near Asheville, but we didn't fully understand that it was leading us to a mall. It made for an interesting experience.
The kids loved their drink, which they all shared, as the barista could not tell me at all what was actually in it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A random stop led us to an old school store on the side of the road in the mountains.
For 50 cents a person you can climb the tall tower for a great lookout. We visited the bear on the way up.
It has been a long time since the kids have seen mountains!
My cute crew!
The kids got some great deals on souvenirs for another worthy stop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next stopping point was a waterfall right off the side of the road (no clear signage made it a little tricker to find)...
but worth it.
Stressed over hard directions...
but we got over it.
We decided not to hike down to the falls, as it was really wet and steep (needing to hold onto a rope to do so). Didn't want any injuries at the beginning of the trip!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We drove through Cherokee, to see what that was about. However, we only stopped to take a picture of one of their bears.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Then it was on to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where we were able to check out many historical sites.
Shiloh was excited that they had some horses there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Driving through the park was so beautiful and we even saw an elk crossing the road in front of us.
Stopping off for one more beautiful view overlook!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The kids were excited to get to the cabin and check out their room...
and Beach was excited about the hot tub!
While in the car quite a bit, it was so fun (and necessary for the daughter that gets car sickness) to explore the land around, as we may our way to our destination for the next few days!
