Smoky Mountains 2016

Okay so finally time for the recap I promised of the family vacay to North Carolina! We left the day after Christmas bright and early because it pretty much takes an entire day to drive to my Grandpa's house in Bakersville, NC aka the middle of nowhere... but middle of nowhere in a good way!

It was a pretty laid back trip and we spent most days just enjoying the warmer than usual weather and spending time with our sweet Nyla. I really think the trip was more of a vacation for Nyla than anyone else in the family! Since we didn't have a super organized itinerary aka we woke up every morning and decided what we wanted to do that day, this post is just going to be a bunch of photos which I'll try to explain. Warning: basically every one is of my sissy Toria or my beautiful Nyla #sorrynotsorry

Most days we spent just exploring around the mountain at my Grandpa's cabin with Nyla either on foot or by atv. Nyla loved it so much because we were able to let her off her leash... well at least until she got a little too adventurous and we found her half way up the mountain after looking away for about 2 minutes! 

Besides hanging around the house, we also went to a few parks for hiking. These photos are from the day we ventured to Linville Falls, which I highly recommend! The trails are very short and lead right to view points of some really awesome water falls. I will say though, it was super wet and muddy and I made the mistake of wearing sneakers. Waterproof shoes are a must for this one.

Escandell's take Blue Ridge Parkway with my new selfie stick, haha! I'm sure we looked pretty funny from the side of the road. The Blue Ridge Parkway is super iconic and so beautiful! I remember driving down the Parkway with the family as a kid when it was snowy, stopping at random points just to play in the snow or look at crazy icicles. We used to get so excited over icicles lol #floridakidprobs... Sadly no snow this time!

When we were feeling a bit squirrely in the house, the girls of the fam decided to make a day trip to Johnson City and Elizabethton, TN. We had an awesome southern breakfast at a little diner on the way and did some antiquing and shopping in downtown Elizabethton. My mom and I both bought a few vintage blue canning jars but those were our only purchases. We really could have bought them in an antique store anywhere, but I think getting them on vacation makes them special! Bruh, those coffee shop wood floors *heart eyes*

I think this is my only picture from New Years Eve or New Years Day, honestly can't remember, but it cracks me up! I was so so freezing, I could have sworn it was like 15 degrees!

Another great park we visited was Roan Mountain, which I believe is one of the tallest mountains in Appalachia. It was really cold that day so we didn't do much hiking, but enjoyed the top. It amazes me how different the trees are the higher in elevation you go on the same mountain.

The last two days were the coldest of the trip and we were really praying for snow but no luck. We had originally planned to try skiing or snowboarding on the trip, but none of the slopes were open. Beech Mountain is our favorite and I have such fond memories sledding there for hours on end as a kid while our big brother snowboarded. Those two last days in NC, we drove to Banner Elk and Beech Mountain anyway because they were making snow to open the slopes later that weekend. At least Nyla got to see snow for the first time and we got to eat our favorite brick oven pizza on Beech Mountain!

The first photo is too funny and I just had to include it, Nyla looks like a meme!


Overall, the trip was a lot of fun even though we had no snow. I hope you enjoyed my terrible quality photos and awful recollection of our adventures!