Well we made it! We successfully traversed 7 states in 7 days. Our goal: add some states to the bucket list and get some stamps on the ol' National Park Passport book. What better time to travel north than March, right? Yeah, we went anyway. However, we got pretty lucky. The weather wasn't terrible and the views were pretty nice along the way. Here's how it went down.
We left eastern NC and traveled west to Tennessee for our first stopping point. We took a ride on the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's a short but beautiful drive and definitely the scenic route to Pigeon Forge. While in Pigeon Forge, we visited the Lodge Factory Store where we picked up a Lodge Camp Style Dutch Oven at a great price. We shopped the seconds at the back of the store for great discounts. The seconds may have slight "dings" or minor flaws but are perfect for what we need. Highly recommend a stop if you're into Lodge cast iron. It's not a large store so can be a fairly quick stop. We then went over to the island and walked around. We stopped in Yee Haw beer for a break and then headed off to our hotel. We stayed in Sevierville at a hotel and it was a nice enough stay. Hit they hay and headed back out in the am. On to Kentucky!
Somehow we have never visited Kentucky. I wish we had planned more time here but it was only an overnight stop. We drove through the Jim Beam distillery but they were, unfortunately, closed. What a pretty place though. We would love to come back. There is a bourbon trail in Kentucky that warrants some further research. Neither of us are bourbon drinkers but it sounds fun. We then took a drive by the defunct Kentucky Motor Speedway and marveled at all the vehicles being store there. Now off to Mammoth Cave!
More stamps for the book! So exciting, What is it about those little stamps? It was quite busy here and we did not have reservations for a tour. There was only one remaining that was not sold out so we signed up for it. They have a nice visitor center and gift shop area so we killed the 40ish minutes until our tour browsing and getting the requisite souvenirs.
Soon it was time for our tour so we met at the designated area. A tour guide appeared and informed us there were only 2 people scheduled for the tour. 2? What? Just us! Our own private Mammoth Cave tour. We are not the lucky type but we sure were lucky that day. In hindsight we probably should have bought a lottery ticket when we left. That darn 20/20 hindsight gets me every time. The tour was fabulous. We saw numerous bats that we probably wouldn't have seen were we with a large crowd. Our tour guides were absolutely awesome and the caves were astounding. Highly recommend whichever tour your time allows. We took the Mammoth Passage tour but there are several options with differing lengths and activities. We did not plan ahead and were left with only one choice but luckily for us, it was awesome. Afterwards, we took a walk through the campground that is adjacent to the visitor center. It looks like it would be a great place to camp. The campground seems to be mostly dry camping with 2 full hookup spots. We'd love to luck into one of those one day! Then we were off to the next hotel for the night.
Up and at it again! Or should I say onward and upward - wink wink, nudge nudge. Onto Ohio! Another state neither of us have visited before. We checked into our airbnb for 3 nights and prepared for Mr. OnwardandUpwards birthday the following day. We headed to Cuyahoga National Park for some hiking and a cookout. Not a bad way to spend a birthday! There is great hiking there and we chose to do The Ledges. It was cold and windy so there weren't many people there. Highly recommend that hike. There are ample picnic spots including park grills and we had a nice post hike burger.
Also, more stamps for the book.
Day 2 in Ohio takes us to the Christmas Story House. I had very low expectations here but was pleasantly surprised! It was a fun time and worth the stop if you are a fan of the movie. Even though the tour is guided, you are also allowed plenty of time to explore rooms on your own. Our tour guide was entertaining and very friendly.
We followed that up with some giant bacon wrapped tater tots at the Rowley Inn across the street. Somehow I failed to get a photo. Bad blogger, bad! We ended the day exploring the Tremont area, dodging raindrops. It was walkable from our airbnb so it made for a nice a nice last afternoon in Cleveland. If you're ever in the area, Great Lakes Brewing Company is definitely worth a stop. Great beers and a cozy pub style vibe equal a great rainy afternoon stop. We then headed back to the house to pack up and have a farewell fire in the solo stove at the Airbnb.
Another day, onward and upward! Or downward since it's now time to head back south. We rented a small camp style cabin near the New River Gorge National Park. It was a dreary drive but very scenic as the fog created a cool backdrop. We pulled into West Virginia in time to do a quick hike and head back to the cabin for a camp fire and some hot dogs. It was the perfect end to our little adventure. We got up the next morning and made a beeline for Tudor's Biscuit World for the perfect fuel for our trek back to NC. Are you tired of hearing about that blackberry biscuit yet? I'll just post one last picture of it. Don't hold me to that.
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