Charleston

After leaving Asheville we stopped at William B Umstead Park for some quick site seeing.The lake at the park was absolutely beautiful and there are plenty of hiking trails to do. I can only imagine how breathtaking it would be in the month of October when the leaves change colors. 

Our next destination was Charleston, South Carolina and I had picked out the beautiful  Angel Oak Park  to visit. I was anticipating a bit of walking and stretching my legs, but it is more of a park and sight see type of place. EIther way, the park is beautiful and the tree is incredible. Anticipate a lot of tourists while you are there. We were not able to get any pictures without tourists in them unfortunately. 

 

After the visiting the park we checked into our hotel, King Charles Inn. This is the only "nicer" hotel we stayed in during the whole trip. It was worth every penny because it was a great way to relax after a very active and busy trip. We were able to sleep in and since we were staying downtown we could walk to everything (PERFECT for after a week of being in the car) We did a lot of sight seeing down by the waterfront which was only five minutes from the hotel. The scenery reminded me a lot of my hometown Sarasota. 

We stayed in Charleston for two nights and then started the journey back to Orlando, FL. Below is a screen shot of our entire trip we planned out on Roadtrippers. I definitely suggest this website for anyone interested in planning a roadtrip! It will keep you organized and ensure you see everything you want to see. 

Let me know if you have any questions about any of the places! :)

Pisgah National Forest: Looking Glass Falls

Our journey took us next to the Pisgah National Forest as we traveled towards Asheville, North Carolina. If you want to see a beautiful waterfall that you do not need to hike too Looking Glass Falls is perfect for that. You can venture down the stairs to get a closer look, or stay at the road level for a great view. Since we were there in December you were not able to swim (I definitely did not want to anyway it was very cold!!!). I imagine it is a great swimming spot in the summer though! 

After visiting the beautiful waterfall we headed over to Looking Glass Rock trail for an amazing hike. It is about 6.5 miles total with an elevation change of 1700 feet. The trail is definitely challenging and there are many points where it seems like it is over but you need to just continue finding the blazes and trek on. When you get to the top it becomes completely clear why this viewpoint is so popular. The view is absolutely breathtaking. 

After eating a couple cliff bars at the top and soaking in the view, we headed back down and drove directly to Oskar Blues Brewery in Brevard, North Carolina for a few hard-earned beers. At the time we were there they had received a few christmas trees from their other location in Colorado and threw them directly into one of the Old Chub batches (Old Chub is a Scottish Style Ale). They called this concoction Christmas Chub and it tasted incredible. We got a private tour from one of the bartenders and it was probably one of the most fun tours we have been on at a brewery. She took the time to get to know us and told us new information about brewing that we didn't know, instead of just reciting the same spiel that they give to everyone. Overall it was a great experience and we even went home with an amazing growler that keeps beer cold for about 36 hours!

I am already planning my next trip back to North Carolina and the Pisgah National Forest! So many amazing views still to see. 

Great Smoky Mountains: Cades Cove

            This adventure was part of my Graduation Roadtrip with my boyfriend. After leaving Nashville we drove directly to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains. There is an 11 mile loop that is perfect for sight seeing of mountains and wildlife. There are many stop off points where you can get a quick hike in and have some up-close encounters with deer. We were there in the winter so we did not see any bears but I'm sure in other seasons you may see some bear as well. We didn't plan out which trails we wanted to do off of the loop, we just hopped out of the car when we felt like it! The important thing to remember in winter is that although it is a desirable time to go because there aren't as many tourists, some of the waterfalls may be dry if there hasn't been a lot of rain. We hiked to a waterfall only to find out when we got there that it was dry. Regardless, the mountains in the backdrop make this an incredible driving and hiking route!! 

We spent about four hours here, I definitely could have spent an entire day but we had to get on the road and head to Asheville!! More to come on Asheville adventures :)

Tennessee Day 2

After some (not so great) hotel breakfast, we headed to Centennial Park and Bicentennial Capitol Mall. We were able to walk through both parks in about two hours so it was a perfect morning activity. Centennial Park features a full scale replica of the Parthenon in Greece. I hadn't researched this park much, so I was genuinely surprised when I saw this massive replica and was interested to find out more about why it was there. I learned that Nashville is referred to as the "Athens of the South" which explains the replica.

Bicentennial Capitol Mall is just down the street and features a walking history of Nashville Tennessee which I found to be very interesting. Its always important to recognize the history of the the place you are visiting. We had blue skies and sunshine so it as a perfect day for this activity.

After our walk we were ready for lunch! I mentioned before that I am a vegan, so I am always on the hunt for vegan treats. We found a place called Khan's Desserts, but don't let the name deceive you because they sell awesome lunch food as well! I had the Surly Bird and it was incredibly flavorful and incorporated a lot of different textures and tastes. Of course I took home some desserts as well. They had many to choose from but I picked the chocolate peanut butter bar and a chocolate cupcake. Both desserts were amazing!

After lunch it was time to find a local brewery/brewpub. We went to a place called Blackstone Brewpub and were able to get a beer sampler. At some locations, the sampler is a waste of money because they charge you a lot more per ounce than they would if you just ordered one beer. At Blackstone it was a great deal. My favorite was definitely the Oatmeal Stout because it had smooth malty sweet taste.

Later that night we walked around downtown Nashville and tried out about five different bars listening to live music. My favorite was The Stage on Broadway because they had amazing bands singing country music. One of the groups lead singer looked to be about 15 years old, but when he started singing no one doubted him- he was amazing. If you are planning to visit Nashville I would recommend planning out what you want to do during the day, but at night its best to just walk around try out new places, its an adventure after all!

We didn't stay out too late because we were heading to the Great Smoky Mountains early in the morning for more hiking. More on the Smokys later :)

Tennessee Day 1

After Atlanta we put on our hiking boots and drove straight to Falls Creek Falls State Park. Well, that was the plan at least! We ended up seeing a sign for Cumberland Caverns and it sounded interesting so we took a slight detour! Turns out they have concerts in the Caverns where they have bands as unique as Pirate bands that play Christmas Music. We were not able to attend a concert because of timing but apparently the caverns create awesome acoustics!

Side note: you are able to camp overnight in the caverns if that is something you are interested in! For us the brief tour was perfect.

Next we continued on our journey down the road just a few miles to Fall Creek Falls State Park. We hiked down to Fall Creek Falls which is the highest waterfall in the eastern United States. We went in December when there hadn’t been much rainfall so the fall was not very full but it was still absolutely breathtaking! The hike down was wonderful as well. A couple babbling brooks and many trees made for a great hike. I definitely would suggest wearing hiking boots as the rocks get slippery, saw a few people take a tumble because they were not wearing the correct footwear.

After the hike we did the scenic drive which was absolutely beautiful. We also got to take some model shots of the Jeep! The edge of the road is a cliff and I was very surprised my boyfriend let me drive through this part :)

Definitely a park I would love to go back to when the waterfall is heavier and the trees have more color, maybe October!

More later on Tennessee, happy trails

Graduation Roadtrip!

After graduation, my boyfriend and I decided to go on an adventure. We went on a road-trip planned around breweries and parks throughout the Southeast. We started in Orlando and travelled to Atlanta, Nashville, Asheville, Raleigh, and Charleston (and a few others in between).  We planned our entire trip on a site called Roadtrippers.com, which was incredibly helpful and allowed us to have organized options for what to do in each city. We did not follow an hour by hour itinerary, but we didnt have to waste time researching fun things to do when we got to each city because we did all of the work before leaving!

Our first city was Altanta, Georgia.

For us, Atlanta was mostly a great stopping point between Orlando and Nashville. We initially intended on visiting Terrapin Brewery (my boyfriend’s absolute favorite) but unfortunately the timing on the brewery’s taproom hours did not workout for us.

We did, however, get to eat at an amazing vegan restaurant called Soul Vegetarian. I was also very excited because the building is called “The Chelsea Building” and my name is Chelsea AND I am a vegan. Its like it was meant to be!

This restaurant had the most amazing comfort vegan food (sounds like an oxymoron) that I have EVER had. Everything is made at the restaurant from good quality ingredients. If you ever get the chance to go there try the Kalebone- sounds odd but they are wonderful. We even tried some of their vegan ice cream which was amazing when inside- not so amazing when I went outside to discover after the sun had gone down the weather became FREEZING. Guess we’re not in Florida anymore…

After having some deliciously comforting food, we headed over to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the Holiday Lights. Our trip was in December, two weeks before Christmas so this experience was magical and defiintely got me in the Christmas mood. I even wanted to listen to Christmas music afterwards!

After a long day of driving and adjusting to cold weather, we headed back to the hotel very excited for our drive to Tennessee in the morning when we could finally hit some trails!

Lessons learned on day 1

1) Do NOT eat ice cream when it is 25 degrees outside and you are from Florida- hot tea is the way to go

2) Check hours of breweries before you make plans to visit them. Unless it is a brewpub that serves food and operates more like a restaurant.. the taproom probably has uncommon hours.

More to come later on the next days of our trip!