Back to the Mountains - Tennessee August 2020

My trip to Tennessee with my best friend was definitely a huge highlight of 2020 for me.

We hit the road early Thursday morning to begin the 10 hour drive from Metro Detroit to Pigeon Forge Tennessee for Jeep Invasion!

If anyone knows how to stay occupied in the car.. it would be us. With many day trips up north, a 19 hour drive to Maine, and a 22 hour drive to Florida, 10 hours was a piece of cake. Coffee was essential in the morning but we were stopping for speedway Slurpee's before 11AM. The drive was full of laughs and screaming music ranging from Hannah Montana, Travis Scott, Hunter Hayes, Young Thug, Carrie Underwood, One Direction... definitely a little of everything.

We made it into Tennessee around 4:30, and were at the Pigeon River Inn by 6:30. Our room had a balcony overlooking a river and we could see every jeep that was coming in and out of Pigeon Forge! We unloaded and headed out to explore Gatlinburg.

Later that night we headed to one of the after parties at Quaker Shake to check out all the jeeps. I also got to meet one of my friends who I have followed for a really long time (ily Chey)!

The next day we wasted no time, we headed out that morning to Cades Cove to take in all the views! I had no idea I would be driving into what I pictured heaven looking like ...

HORSES!! In the mountains!

Look at this!

How is this real?

We ended up meeting up with a group of jeepers from Instagram at the end of the trail loop and they let us join their convoy out of the mountains through the woods. I would have never known to go that way without them so I’m super grateful for that! I have some GoPro videos from the trials that I need to get uploaded!

The next day we were up even earlier, leaving our hotel at 5AM to go to Newfound Gap to watch the sunrise!! I would do this every day if I could.

We picked up Jorge on our way out and took him on this adventure with us.

He brought his camera and took these really cute pictures of me and Mel!

We ended up continuing our journey up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in the mountains! We had googled this spot but didn’t know if we were going to make it there, and I’m so glad we did. We took our time going back down, stopping at multiple outlooks and enjoying the views.

Mel was ready for a nap by the time we went back to the hotel, but I went back out to meet another awesome group of people from Instagram and we grabbed lunch! I love how many people I have met since starting my jeep page.

The last night of Jeep Invasion we headed back to Quaker Shake and hung out there. I met more friends and took a picture with this giant gladiator.

The next morning we got on the road to head to our next destination of the trip!! We made one more stop on the way out next to the water.

Two things I learned while in the mountains was

1. Get gas even if you don’t need it

2. Print MapQuest directions as backup because T-Mobile never disappoints to leave me lost with no service.

On our way out I accidentally closed Maps and knew our next turn was 8-10 miles away and I was under a half tank with no idea where the nearest gas station was.

That was true fear let me tell you. LOL.

We found a gas station and got on I65 to head to Nashville! We were staying there for two nights and didn’t head home until Tuesday morning.

Right before coming up on really bad traffic I saw a jeep driving up behind me and it ended up being Tiffany who I met at Jeep Invasion and she let me follow her on some backroads to get me around the traffic!

Also fun fact I learned that Nashville is in a different time zone this trip. I was super confused when we started out drive it said it was way longer than I remembered when I googled it at home. I eventually saw my jeep and phone said two different times!

We split off from our convoy and made it to our next hotel a little before five. We stayed at the Holiday Inn & Suites right in downtown Nashville, it was absolutely gorgeous. We had a giant window looking out to downtown, the most beautiful bathroom I've ever used, and we were right by the airport so every hour we would see the airplanes coming in and taking off.

We put on some cute outfits and drove to the pedestrian bridge to watch the sunset. The bridge had an amazing view of the city on one side, and on the other was the bridge you take to enter into Nashville.

Our full day in Nashville consisted of a morning Target run and mural hunting, followed by lunch at Margaritaville, and later we rode scooters down to the Gulch to do some shopping. We finished the day off with another sunset at the pedestrian bridge.

We went on a late drive that night (I can't lie I just wanted to play Pokémon Go) and found Printers Alley. This was another place I googled I wanted to go but we had drove by it earlier and wasn't sure if you were supposed to drive through it. Someone was parked getting food so I pulled in behind them and grabbed some pictures.

We were packing the jeep up at 4:30AM that next morning, and by the time we got coffee and gas we were on the road by five and home by four.

Tennessee was such an amazing adventure, we ended up so many more places then we initially planned on going. We definitely made the most of it and I am dying to plan another trip into the mountains soon.

Thanks for reading ❤️