So I recently returned from a week-long vacation to Tennessee! I’m not a country girl and this trip experience certainly didn’t make me want to pack my bags and head down south any time soon, but I definitely had a great time. Here are some pictures from my trip & some details in case you plan on planning a vacation to Tennessee!
We went to Dollywood, we white water rafted, drove go-karts, did The Escape Game (a real life escape the room sort of thing), got AMAZING cupcakes, saw a magician, shopped around…there was a lot to do!
One of my favorite places was Gigi’s Cupcakes. This place was seriously DELICIOUS. There are apparently a bunch of them throughout the south but the frostings were the best frostings I’ve ever had and they were just too pretty. I ended up getting a cookie dough cupcake (the frosting tasted like literal cookie dough !!! ) and a lemon one.
I don’t have a good picture of it but the lemon was my favorite! My family tried chocolate ones, candy bar ones, Oreo ones and an orange creamsicle cupcake. We all were impressed by each of our cupcakes. Fingers crossed that Gigi’s opens a cupcake shop in NYC.
My family and family friends stayed in a huge cabin together. It was on this really high mountain top and it had a little arcade area with a pool table. I suck at pool and arcade games, BTW. I had my own King sized bed and I never wanted to leave it. It’s a true tragedy going back to my small twin sized bed at home.
We even saw a bear and its baby bear on the road! I didn’t get any good pictures but, being a New Yorker, seeing a bear is not an everyday thing. I’ve seen my fair share of large bear-like possums, but never a bear and its baby cub! They must’ve been only a few feet away. Shout out to the drunk dude in his socks trying to take a picture of the bear with his iPad. He got dangerously close. You don’t mess with a Mama Bear!!!!
There were also a ton of cute shops in The Island and in Gatlinburg. A lot of them were old fashioned. Although I only bought a hoodie, I enjoyed perusing the shelves of oddities and vintage items. One shop even had coffee flavored soda! It sounds disgustingly interesting…
I also took the time to pose with basically everything—I love a good photo opportunity. I also took tons of selfies—a travelling necessity.
We also hit Dollywood, but I was a little underwhelmed. It was certainly nice but I’ve been to so many amusement parks that this small one paled in comparison to others. I won a cute donut pillow though, that’s going to look cute on my bed!
They also had RED VELVET FUNNEL CAKE. It was f’ing delicious. I miss it already. Although the rides and size of the park were so-so, the food in Dollywood was better than any amusement park I’ve been to.
I left a lot of bits out like how it rained for at least an hour every day, how there were SO MANY BUGS. I almost had a panic attack at one point when about a dozen moths were flying WAY TOO CLOSE TO ME. I also left out a few fun bits like The Escape Game (so fun!) and go karts. I don’t think anyone wants too many details—just thought I’d share some parts of my vacation especially since it’s in an unconventional place. A lot of people asked me why the hell I was going to Tennnesee!
We didn’t go to Nashville (it was a 3+ hour drive both ways to get there) and the drive was 11 hours both ways but the trip was definitely a really fun experience.
What’s your favorite place you’ve traveled to?
