"Let us go on and take the adventures that shall fall to us." ~C.S. Lewis
The last few months, I've been taking international students hiking through some of the state parks in the area. We braved the heat of summer for a couple of the hikes and though the views of the park were beautifully green, the pictures of all of us showed us all too sweaty and hot to [...]
After spending a day seeing some of the lesser known historic sites of the area, we were ready for a day outdoors so we could soak up all of the New England in the fall that we could. We went up towards northern New Hampshire to Franconia Notch State Park where it seemed the fall [...]
This last weekend took us along the Tennessee part of the Natchez Trace Parkway. This parkway is a 444 mile stretch that begins up around Nashville and continues down through Mississippi. The Natchez Trace is a parkway built to follow an old trail that has been used for centuries by first the Native Americans and [...]
Our last morning in Asheville and we were getting ready to leave for home. We had experienced the lively downtown area of Asheville but felt we couldn't leave without seeing some of the beautiful natural areas outside the city. Brad's aunt suggested a visit to Chimney Rock State Park which is a local favorite for [...]
We had big plans for our long weekend, but sadly none of them panned out. So instead we decided on a visit to our favorite state park for some fresh air and a snowy hike. Winter is such a different experience here in Tennessee than it is in Utah. Tennessee is less prepared to deal [...]
We decided to enjoy the last few colors of fall at another state park, this time going further afield to South Cumberland State Park. This state park is a little different because there are actually three separate areas, a ways apart from each other, that make up the park. One of our first Tennessee discoveries [...]
Fall seemed to take forever to get here to Tennessee! Family back in Utah kept posting their beautiful pictures of the colored leaves in the mountains and it was making me so jealous. The days have been warm and the leaves have stayed put in the green colors. But now, it is my turn to [...]
After spending the morning at Rock City Garden, we decided to end our visit to the Lookout Mountain area with a visit to Cloudland Canyon State Park. This is a state park that I have wanted to visit for almost a year and I seem to constantly offer it as a suggestion for our weekend [...]
We spent our last evening walking along the old rail trail of Hawks Nest State Park. West Virginia use to be one of the country's leading coal mining areas and trains would criss cross throughout the state transporting that coal. But with the end of coal mining the trains fell to the wayside. But the [...]
On an impromptu adventure we made our way to West Virginia for a taste of what makes this the 'wild and wonderful' state. And we discovered the tagline perfectly fits the state. It is a wonderland of wild, natural beauty that is largely untouched by cities and industry. And true to form, our first stop [...]