while we were in the outer banks, we knew we wanted to add to our lighthouse collection. there are five outerbanks lighthouses, but one of them is only reachable by a ferry and not really from where we were staying and covid and all the things. so, we would only be adding four of the […]
national parks
three waterfalls hike.gsmnp.
for our final adventure on this trip to the smokies, we drove out and around to the bryson city entrance, for a nature and waterfall themed hike that derek found in a kid friendly hiking book he picked up at the visitor center. the three waterfalls hike is a loop made up of several other […]
the chimney tops. (almost).great smoky mountain national park.
once we moved to the north carolina side of the park, to smokemont campground, we had a long deliberation about what hikes we wanted to do. we had to take into account the length, elevation, danger, our kids level of motivation, weather. all the things. eventually we decided on the chimneys hike. it’s not super […]
townsend tubing.sort of gsmnp affiliated.
the activity the kids were most looking forward to on our trip to the smokies was tubing. our lazy river time in boone, nc has gotten them hooked. the tiny town of townsend, tennessee, just outside the park has several options, and derek booked reservations on our second day of the trip. and then it […]
abrams falls hike.great smoky mountain national park.
originally, we had planned to lay low on our first day, a sunday, in the smokies. even though we were still in the midst of a pandemic, great smoky mountain national park is the most visited park in the us, especially on a weekend at the more heavily trafficked spots. but then. the weather was […]
great smokies. camping, travel day, clingmans dome, and miscellany.
well. it appears i’ve gotten incredibly behind with my blogging again. the truth is, i’m not very motivated these days. but, we have some rv trips coming up, and i know we will have lots of adventures, and if i fall much further behind, i’m not sure i’ll ever blog again. so without further ado, […]
everglades and fruit stand detour.
when we were planning this florida trip, we knew we wanted to revisit the everglades. but, this time, with ruby in tow, it was a little more complicated. the campgrounds don’t have hookups, and she’s not allowed on any trails, so we would have to leave her inside, with no a/c, which could be a […]
shenendoah national park.part two.
our second full day in shenendoah was beautiful. unfortunately, so overnight wind and rain had knocked a LOT of leaves off the trees. there was a distinct difference in fall foliage between the two days. on tap for the day was a short little hike that derek discovered that took us up to bearfence mountain. […]
shenendoah national park.part one.
we didn’t have much time after our giant acadia adventure before we would head back out into the wild. our second trip in october was to shenendoah national park, which isn’t all that far from our house (4-5 hours), but we have actually never been. we arrived in the afternoon, scoped the visitor center, checked […]
acadia. day five.precipice and general maintenance.
on our first trip to acadia, i was too chicken to hike the precipice trail. but, after making our way around the country, doing more strenuous and dangerous hikes, and consulting with folks who have done the same, i felt confident in my precipice hiking abilities. so, on day five, i ditched the fam and […]