Planes & Trains & Autos

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Our travel dates were June 26  July 6, 2024.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

Since we weren’t interested in the free continental breakfast at our hotel, we decided to head to one of the breakfast places that we had found online called the Farmhouse Cafe.

Click here for the best places to eat breakfast in Medora

We arrived around 8 am and there was already several people who were waiting outside to get a table.

After waiting about 20-30 mins, we were finally seated.

After looking over the menu, I decided on the farmhouse breakfast and the hubby ordered the breakfast sandwich.

The food was very good as well as the service!

Read reviews here

After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel to pack up and check out.

Tip: For more affordable lodging, look at staying in Dickinson, ND. It’s located 35 mins from Medora

Once we were checked out, we headed to our first stop of the day.

We would be doing the north unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park today.

Tip: The North Unit operates on Central time, while the South Unit operates on Mountain time.

On our drive, we passed lots of oil rigs.….they are all over the Dakotas!

In 2022, North Dakota produced on average more than 1 million barrels of oil per day, making it the number three oil producer in the U.S. behind only Texas and New Mexico.

Tip: It was only 53 degrees when we arrived to the park so always check the weather before heading out

The view as we were nearing the park

We arrived to the north unit entrance around 10:45 am and decided to make a quick stop at the visitor center that was located inside a small trailer.

They didn’t have much of anything so, we headed inside the park.

Tip: The entrance fee that you paid at the South unit will be good for the North Unit as well. Your entrance fee is good for 7 days.

After getting our map of the park at the entrance station, we started our drive.

The scenic byway that runs through the park is 14 miles long.

The first half of the road traces the bottom of the badlands.

We thought the views in this unit were much nicer than the south unit.

About 15 mins after starting our drive into the park, we came to our first stop of the day, the Cannonball Concretions.

Tip: You can also access the 11.4 mile Buckhorn trail at this pullout

This is a must stop!

These big, round rocks definitely don’t seem to fit into the surrounding landscape!

These “cannonballs” were formed within the sediment layers of the badlands. Now, erosion is slowly exposing these buried treasures.

Some of the cannonballs have completely eroded out of the butte while others are just being exposed.

We spent about an hour here exploring the crazy rock formations and walking some of the nearby trails.

The views at this stop were very cool!

It’s definitely the most popular stop in this unit!

Click here for trails in the park

There were lots of cacti blooming along the trails.

We’re not sure if this was an actual trail or just made by people walking through this area because several areas were overgrown.

Keep your eyes open as there are many different types of snakes in the park, including rattlesnakes.

I would however, recommend that you walk these trails as you will discover lots of cool rock formations!

As well as a few other oddities lol!

There are 100-300 bison in this area and we saw signs of that as we were walking around.

I think we took the majority of our pictures at this stop!

A few more pictures of this area

Tip: Near this stop is the Little Mo Nature Trail

After leaving here, we continued our drive.

There are only a few stops in this unit.

After about 10 mins of driving, we came to our next stop where we spotted our first bison!

It was right across the road from the parking lot so we were able to get some good pictures of it!

Bison are very unpredictable and can run really fast so keep your distance!

Full-grown bulls weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet or more at the shoulder. They can run up to 35 miles per hour and spin around faster than a horse!

After taking our pictures of the bison, we walked over to the trailhead that we wanted to hike called Caprock Coulee Nature Trail.

Tip: Also located at this stop is the popular Caprock Coulee Loop trail that is 4.5 miles

The nature trail is 1.6 miles round trip.

We did have an encounter with bison on this trail!

Shortly after starting the trail, you will come to a split…take the trail to the left.

If you take the trail to the right, it will take you to either the Prairie Dog Town, which is 2 miles round trip or to the Buckhorn Trail Junction.

At the start of the trail, you will be walking through open grasslands.

You will then come to a few rock formations.

There were a ton of cacti and other blooming flowers on the trail!

The views were nice at the start of the trail.

But the further you walked, it turned into a wooded area with not much to see.

At this point, we decided to turn around and head back to our car.

After getting back to our car, we continued our drive through the park.

We hadn’t been driving long before we had bison cross the road in front of us!

They were huge!

Bison have been known to charge and damage vehicles so keep your distance!

After being in the park for about 2.5 hrs, we pulled over at what would be our next stop and had lunch.

Guess what we ate? Our pancakes from  breakfast! Lol!

We didn’t eat them at breakfast so decided to take them with us since we felt they would be ok in the car.

There is no food in the park so make sure you bring your own food and water and have plenty of gas too!

After eating our pancakes, we got out of the car to check out the views.

This area is the River Bend Overlook.

This scenic overlook offers breathtaking views of the Badlands from a historic shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

We spotted some cool rock formations!

From this overlook, you had views of the Little Missouri River.

We saw more blooming flowers!

We made our way to the historic shelter for better views.

The views here are definitely worth the stop!

Before reaching the shelter, you will first come to a small wooden deck that has a couple of information plaques that describe the area and the views.

A lady offered to take our picture, so of course, we didn’t turn her down!

We then headed down to the shelter.

The views here are incredible!

We spent about 30 mins here taking pictures and enjoying the views.

After leaving this stop, we headed to our next stop.

We had a gorgeous day!

Our next stop was the Bentonitic Clay overlook.

At this stop, you will see blue-black popcorn like soil that caps the plateau 50 ft below the overlook which is called bentonitic clay.

The clay flows when it’s wet and can be traced for miles up and down the river.

There was another couple at this stop who offered to take our picture for us. 🙂

After this stop, we continued our drive to the next stop which would be the final stop and the end of the road at the Oxbow Overlook.

The road ends at a large parking area and turnaround. From here, you turn around and follow the same road out of the park.

A short 0.2 mile paved loop trail leads over a small hill to views of the Little Missouri River over 400 feet below.

Tip: Also located here is the Achenbach Trail

The views here are beautiful!

After leaving here, we headed back towards the entrance.

We saw tons of bison from a distance!

Other animals that can be seen in the park is mule deer, prairie dogs, pronghorns, coyotes, and golden eagles.

We spent about 4 hrs in the park.

Leaving the park

Tip: Approx. 1 hr 15 mins from the North Unit is the Enchanted Hwy where you will find all kinds of huge, quirky metal signs….we really wanted to do this but ran out of time.

On the way back to Medora, we pulled over when we spotted a white cross on top of a small hill with a sign nearby telling why it was there.

We arrived back to Medora around 4:30 pm so we decided to drive through the town for a while.

We saw the Perception building as we were driving.

In this area is where you will find Medora’s newest attraction called Point to Point Park where they have miniature golf, zip lining, a lazy river pool and more.

We passed the historic Von Hoffman House. The house was built in 1884. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

After driving around for a few minutes, we headed to dinner at the Pitchfork Steak Fondue dinner.

I had purchased tickets for the dinner prior to us leaving for our trip.

I had read mixed reviews about it but lots of people recommended doing it at least once so, I decided to go ahead it book it.

The dinner is held next to the building where the Medora Musical is held.

Lots of people will do the steak dinner and then walk over and see the musical. However, it didn’t work out for us do it that way.

When you purchase your tickets, you will have to choose what time you want to eat….the time slots begin at 5:15 are are in 15 minute increments with the last time slot being 6:15 pm.

We purchased tickets for the 5:30 dinner and showed up around 5:15.

There were already several people in line waiting for the dinner to start.

This is a buffet style meal where they cook 12 oz new york strip steaks on a pitchfork!

You can watch the cooks load the steaks onto pitchforks, then dunk them in barrels of oil!

Once they tell everyone how it works, you will line up and they will scan your ticket…after they scan your ticket, you will go through the buffet line.

They had baked beans, baked potatoes, garlic toast, coleslaw, vegetables, fresh fruit salad, brownies, cinnamon-sugar donuts, lemonade, and coffee.

After making your plate, you headed over to the steaks and  they would place a steak on your plate.

You would then find a seat at one of the many tables.

The steak was really good but the rest of the food was just average but we were glad we did it…it was a neat experience.

Read reviews here

After we ate, we walked around the grounds.

The views were beautiful!

We spotted the historic Chateau de Mores house.

Views of the Medora Musical amphitheater

After spending about 1.5 hrs here, we headed back to town to do a horse carriage ride.

You find the carriage rides parked near the Perception building or near the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

There are only two people in Medora that give carriage rides.

The rides last about 30 mins and you get to learn about the history of the town.

We were the only ones on the ride!

After the ride, we headed back to Bowman where we would be spending our 4th night as we made our way back to South Dakota.

Once we arrived to Bowman, we drove through the town.

It was a cute, historic area.

We passed the historic Bowman theater. This small town theater was originally opened in 1946 with seating for over 300.

We then headed to our hotel….we stayed back at the Bowman Lodge & Convention Center.

We arrived to the hotel around 8:30 pm. After getting checked in, we headed to our room.

Once again, we had a room with two queen beds.

Our bathroom in this room was bigger than the first room we had stayed in.

Read reviews here

After getting settled into our room, we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 5!

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Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming!

Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

We started our morning with coffee at our hotel in Bowman, ND.

The hotel offered a free continental breakfast but personally, I am not a fan of continental breakfasts at hotels. It kind of grosses me out!

The town of Bowman is small. It has a population of less than 2,000 people so there aren’t many food options here.

If you need snacks, water, etc, you can purchase those at the grocery store in Bowman called Bronson’s Marketplace

Click here & here for places to eat breakfast in Bowman & here for things to do …surprisingly, there are a few interesting things to see/do here…like the oldest theater in ND and lots of cool murals

After having our coffee, we packed up and checked out around 8:30 am.

Our first stop of the day would be the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The drive from Bowman to the park takes approx. 1 hr 10 mins.

Shortly after leaving our hotel, I spotted the Bowman sign.…I had seen pictures of this sign when I was researching our trip and was hoping we would find it!

It’s a quirky little roadside attraction but I love stuff like this lol!

It was a cowboy riding a missile that was propped up by an old fire truck!

Near the fire truck was a sign that had the town’s name on it!

There were all kinds of oddities here….from a bridge to planes!

After taking our pictures, we continued our drive.

For the next hour, our views were nothing but the flat prairie lands!

Tip: Make sure you have plenty of gas, water and snacks when you are driving in these states as there is nothing around for miles and download offline Google maps so your Google Maps app will continue to work even when you have no service!

About 1.5 hrs after leaving our hotel, we finally arrived to our first stop, the Painted Canyon area of the park.

Here you will find the Painted Canyon Visitors Center along with the National Park sign and a couple of trails that you can hike.

One of the trails located here is called the Painted Canyon Nature Trail and the other is called Painted Canyon Trail.

This area was very crowded!

Bison are often spotted in this area but sadly, we didn’t see any.

After taking our picture with the park sign, we headed inside the visitor center.

We decided to purchase a t-shirt at the visitor center in case we couldn’t find one somewhere else….got to have our t-shirts! 😉

After making our purchase, we walked outside behind the visitor center to check out the views.

We spotted the trailhead for the Painted Canyon Nature trail ...I had it on our itinerary but we decided not to hike it.

After spending about 30 mins here, we continued our drive.

It was really weird because the visitor’s center was the only thing off of this exit…to get to the main entrance of the park, you had to get back on the interstate and drive another 10 mins further!

From the Painted Canyon Visitor Center, just put in Maltese Cross Cabin or South Unit Visitor Center into your GPS and it will get you to the main entrance station off of exit 27.

As we neared the exit to the park, we spotted some horses….we weren’t sure if they were the wild horses that live in the park or not.

Tip: For horse back riding in this area, click here

After we exited off of the highway, our drive took us through the small town of Medora where we would be spending our third night.

Click here for things to see/do in Medora

As you enter the park, you will have another opportunity to take your picture in front of the national park sign.

At this entrance, you will pay the $30 entrance fee. It’s good for 7 days.

Tip: If you will be visiting more than 2 national parks and/or national monuments, you may want to purchase the America the Beautiful pass to save money. It’s $80 and is good for one year from date of purchase.

Always get your map at the entrance station so you can see where things are located in the park.

Shortly after entering the park, we stopped at an overlook that had views of the small town of Medora.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park  was established in 1947 as a national memorial park to honor President Roosevelt.

Tip: The South Unit‘s scenic drive is a 48 mile scenic drive beginning and ending in Medora, ND. Driving alone takes 2 hours. Allow additional time for whatever activities you do or stops you make along the way. However, there is currently construction going on and part of the loop drive is closed so it will be an in/out drive instead of a loop until construction is complete.

After this stop, we came to an area where there were lots of prairie dogs.

There are five species of prairie dogs in North America, but only the black-tailed prairie dog inhabits Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Named for their bark-like calls and black-tipped tail, black-tailed prairie dogs are small, short-tailed animals with eyes and small ears set far back on their heads.

Our next stop was the Skyline Vista Overlook.

The short walk is 0.2 miles round trip on a paved, flat trail.

The views here are similar to those you will see in the Badlands National Park.

From this overlook, you could see the Little Missouri River in the distance.

The views here were beautiful!

We had perfect weather too…..blue skies and cool temperatures!

After this stop, we continued our drive through the park.

The views along the loop drive are really cool!

The park wasn’t crowded at all! We were told by someone that it was the least visited park in the US but according to this list that I found online, that’s not the case.

According to the park’s statistics, there are about 600,000 people a year that visit the park.

However, that’s a far cry from the Great Smoky Mountain National park that gets over 13 million visitors a year!

We pulled over when we saw these crazy rock formations!

These are hard sandstone shields that are caused from rain erosion that sometimes form pillars with caprocks.

After this stop, we headed to our next stop, Wind Canyon Trail.

This trail is a short 0.7 miles round trip.

This trail will give you the best views of the Little Missouri River.

Tip: Keep your eyes open for the wild horses, bison and other animals that roam the park!

There were sheer drop offs in some locations on this hike so be careful!

The views from the overlook are really pretty!

You will get to see some cool rock formations here as well!

Tip: There are more than 185 different species of birds in the park …including eagles! So keep an eye out!

I spotted this bird but couldn’t figure out what it was.

Some shots of the Little Missouri River.

We saw a lot of cacti and flowers blooming in the park.

There’s a a set of stairs that’s carved out of the sand that you will have to climb in order to get the best views of the river.

A few more shots of this area

After this stop, we continued our drive….the park was so green!

We saw more rock formations as we were driving.

From the Scenic Loop Road, we turned onto Jones Creek Trail road and spotted the Upper Jones Creek Trailhead.

This trail is 13.4 miles round trip….no thanks!

Strangely, I couldn’t find anything online about this trail….only this one with a similar name but it’s 7 miles round trip.

From what I’ve found online, there is an upper and a lower Jones Creek Trail.

For a complete list of hikes in the park, click here & to see a map of the park, including the 6 mile section that is closed, click here

Driving Jones Creek Trail road

After this short stop, we headed back to the Scenic Loop Rd and made another stop at the Boicourt Overlook.

From this overlook, the Little Missouri Badlands seem to go on forever!

Also located at this stop, is the Boicourt Overlook Scenic Loop Trail.

This trail offers two viewpoints.

One of the trails is approx. 0.2 miles round trip.

Pictures of the views

The other trail is 0.3 miles round trip and is a paved trail.

I think you can continue the trail past the paved section but we turned around at the end of the pavement.

The views here are nice but not Wow worthy in my honest opinion.

Honestly, there were a few times that I wondered to myself why this was even a national park.

Shortly after leaving this stop and continuing along the scenic loop road, we spotted the wild horses!

Thankfully, I had brought my Cannon 50x zoom lens camera with me because they were way too far from the road to get a good picture with our cellphones!

This is a picture I took with my cellphone.

And these are pictures I took with my Cannon camera.

I’ve had this camera for years….I only take it on trips when I know there’s a possibility of seeing wildlife.

It was really cool seeing the horses….thankfully, the park system allowed them to stay!

They had recently discussed removing the roughly 200 wild horses from the park but due to lots of people advocating for their stay, they decided to keep them in the park but could reduce their numbers down to 35-60 just because they aren’t native to the park!

After taking way too many pictures of the horses, we continued our drive.

We made a quick stop when we say an informational plaque that was describing landscape.

As we continued our drive, we had a pronghorn cross the road right in front of us!

Pronghorns are the fastest land animal in North America, and are often seen in the park!

Right after seeing the pronghorn, we arrived to the section of the loop road that was closed.

This road has been closed since May 2019 due to sinkholes…it is expected to be finished by fall 2024.

At this point, we turned around and headed back the way we had come.

After we got turned around, we spotted a gravel road so decided to drive it.

I had read that you should try to drive the gravel roads throughout the park because they offer scenic views and are usually only 1 mile long.

The views on this drive were beautiful!

We saw lots of cacti blooming!

Later on our drive, we came to Buck Hill.

This was after we had finished driving the gravel road.

Buck Hill trail is 0.4 miles round trip and is the highest point in the South unit of the park.

This is a short but steep walk to the top!

The views were really nice but it was so windy at the top!! We almost got blown away!! 😉

After spending a few minutes here, we continued our drive.

We spotted another group of wild horses!

We even saw one eating near a bison!!

Some of the views in the park were really beautiful while some were just ok!

We saw a lone bison standing on top of a hill!

The south unit is home to approx. 300 bison!

We came up on another gravel road and decided to drive it as well since it was only one mile long.

The views on this drive were really pretty.

We saw some really unique rock formations on this drive.

We spotted another bison while driving this road!

Once we arrived back to the entrance, we decided to stop at the visitor center so we could see the Maltese Cross Cabin.

Tip: Just to give you an idea, we spent 4 hrs in the park

After getting parked, we headed inside the visitor center.

At the visitor center, you can watch a 17-minute park film that will help you get acquainted with the park and its history. The museum and Theodore Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Cabin are open during visitor center operating hours.

The museum inside the visitor center was really interesting!

It told all about the life of Teddy Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest president at the time…he was only 42 yrs old. He only became president when President William McKinley was assassinated.

In 1884, his first wife Alice Lee Roosevelt and his mother Martha died on the same day and only two days after the birth of his daughter, Alice. Roosevelt spent much of the next two years on his properties in the Dakota Badlands.

He lived an interesting life for sure!

I had no idea he had survived an assassination attempt!

After walking through the museum, we headed outside to see the cabin.

The cabin is located directly behind the visitor center.

It was originally located about 7 miles south of Medora in the wooded bottomlands of the Little Missouri river.

During Roosevelt’s presidency, the cabin was acquired for the 1904 World’s Fair, hosted in St. Louis, MO.

The cabin traveled from Missouri to Portland, OR for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. It would spend time in Fargo, ND before settling on the grounds of the state capital in Bismarck, ND.

The Daughters of the American Revolution eventually took over the care of the cabin, and acquired many of the items you can see today. In 1959, twelve years after the park was established, the Maltese Cross Cabin came to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The cabin was constructed in 1883 and was a temporary home for the president.

It had wooden floors and contained a living room, kitchen and a bedroom.

Several items that are displayed in the cabin belonged to Teddy Roosevelt.

This white hutch was used by Roosevelt as a bookcase and a writing desk.

The traveling trunk inscribed with Roosevelt’s initials sits in the bedroom.

A few more pictures of the inside

After leaving the cabin, we headed to the nearby remains of an old slaughterhouse and meat packing plant that was built in 1883.

It was built by the wealthy Marquis family who also had a home in NYC.

You can also tour the 26 room home of the Marquis family in Medora…it’s called the Chateau de Mores.

The ruins of the Marquis’ meat-packing plant, situated on the west edge of Medora, are called Chimney Park.

The plant closed in November 1886, a failure due to fierce competition from major Chicago-based packers, the effects of bad weather and drought, and the Marquis’s inexperience in business.

When the Marquis left Medora in 1886, the plant was abandoned. The building burned in 1907.

All that remains intact is the tall, brick chimney.

There are few other remains scattered throughout the grounds of the park.

Tip: They were holding their annual car show while we were here but we missed it. They hold it in this park.

After leaving the park, we headed to our hotel to check in.

We stayed at the Americinn by Wyndham Medora.

I used the Booking app to book most all of my hotels and this was the only option I saw in Medora!

Click here for hotels in Medora

The hotel was nice but it was one of the most expensive hotels we stayed in during our 11 day trip!

It was definitely overpriced!

The hotel had a lodge feel to it with all of the animal heads hanging around.

They had a pool and offered a free continental breakfast.

Our room had two queen beds and a small bathroom.

Read reviews here

After getting settled into our room, we headed out to dinner.

Click here to see a list of restaurants

Walking through the town of Medora

It was a cute, western themed town!

We decided on a restaurant that I had on my list called Boots Bar & Grill.

We were starving as all we had eaten all day were some snacks that we had in the car!

The place was really crowded but we got seated as soon as we arrived.

After getting seated, we looked over the menu.

We both decided on the 12 oz grilled ribeye that came with a side of sauteed bleu cheese spinach and a loaded baked potato.

The food was delicious!!

Read reviews here

After dinner, we walked through the town.

Once my hubby spotted this map with push pins, he just had to place a pin on the map! 😉

There are a lot of historical buildings scattered throughout the small town.

On a mission to find a Medora tshirt!

We loved all of the cute, colorful buildings!

On our walk, we came up on a statue of Teddy Roosevelt so my hubby just had to have his picture taken with him! 😉

Ok, ok,..I know he’s reading this…I suggested he stand by Teddy so I could take his picture! But look at him….he was thrilled about it!! lol!!

Near the statue was the historic Old Town Hall Theater that was built in 1924.

As president, Teddy Roosevelt returned to Medora in 1903. A public reception was held in the old Medora Town Hall.

Pictures of more buildings we saw in town.

After exploring the town, we headed to the Medora Musical.

I had purchased tickets for this in advance after reading about it during my research.

The musical started at 7:30 but the doors opened at 6:45… we wanted to get there a few minutes early so we could take some pictures and find our seats.

On our drive there, we spotted a rainbow!

Arriving to the musical

This place is up a steep hill in Medora with some beautiful views!

Tip: There are stairs, an escalator and an elevator located here

We took the escalator down to get to our seats

Have your tickets ready because they will scan them before you go down the escalator.

I purchased tickets for 3 Lower/R/ seats 19 & 20 and here’s the view we had of the stage from our seats.

I don’t think any seat is bad but just in case you want to be closer to the restrooms or snack bar, you will want to sit closer to the top.

Here’s a view of the seating

It was really cool the night we went so we ended up purchasing a blanket at the musical for $25!

We noticed several people had brought their own…must have been locals lol!

I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had read some mixed reviews about it but we were so happy that we decided to go….it was so good!

It was very patriotic and it brought me to tears when they started singing Amazing Grace!

During that song, look what happened! We got to witness one of the most amazing rainbows with old glory flying right in front of it!

If you look closely, it was actually a double rainbow!

I HIGHLY recommend you see this musical!!

Read reviews here

The amphitheater was carved into the hillside in 1958. “Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again” was the title of the show when it opened in 1965. It eventually evolved into the Medora Musical.

Over one hundred costumes are designed and constructed for the show each year.

One of the actors, Day-Vawn Miller, is from Nashville! This was his 3rd summer doing the musical.

Have your camera ready near the end of the show so you don’t miss taking pictures of the fireworks!

Another shot of the amphitheater

Tip: They are in the middle of building the Theodore Roosevelt National Library in the same location as the musical. It will open in 2026.

After leaving here, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night!

We had a full 13-14 hour day!!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 4!

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here and click here to see links to all of my blog posts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our 11 day trip through the Dakotas, Nebraska and  Wyoming!

Read Day 1 here & see links to all of my blog posts here

Our dates of travel were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

As I mentioned in my first post, our first night was spent at the Cedar Pass Lodge inside the Badlands National Park.

This is the only lodging for the Badlands.

We started our morning with coffee on our small front porch.

The cabins provided a coffee pot and coffee so that’s always a plus!

Coffee is always better with views like this! 😉

A picture of the lodge

A picture of some of the cabins….I loved all of the trees surrounding the cabins!

At around 8 am, we headed to the lodge for breakfast.

They offered a very limited menu but it was enough to meet our needs. You’re not picky when you’re hungry. 😉

We sat at a table that gave us amazing views of the park!

My hubby ordered the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon and I ordered the breakfast sandwich that came with fried potatoes.

The food was pretty good.

After breakfast, we headed back to our cabin to pack up and head out.

There were lots of magpies flying around….my hubby loves these birds lol!

After getting packed up, we checked out of the lodge and headed to our next stop.

As we were driving through the Badlands, we came to an overlook that gave us cool views of the Cedar Pass Lodge.

Driving through the park

We spotted another overlook that we hadn’t been to yet as we had not driven the entire loop. So, we made another quick stop.

This overlook was called the Big Badlands Overlook.

Tip: Click here for a list of the overlooks in the park

This overlook provides the opportunity to view the eastern portion of the Badlands wall, and erosional feature that expands from near the town of Kadoka to the town of Wall.

The “wall” is an intricately carved cliff that divides the upper from the lower prairie.

It is more than 60 miles long and is the geological feature in which the park boundaries were drawn. The loop road follows the “wall”.

The views here are incredible so make sure not to miss it!

We had a sweet couple offer to take our picture….we never turn down a “couples” picture since we don’t get that many! 😉

Tip: Make sure you wear good hiking shoes and stay away from the edges as they are very fragile and slick!

Our national parks are beautiful but can be very dangerous if you’re not careful. In 2022, a 21 yr old collapsed and died on a trail in the Badlands after he ran out of water.

Click here to read about the 10 deadliest national parks

Shortly after leaving this overlook, we exited out of the Northeast Entrance Station.

There are 3 entrances to the Badlands National Park.

Hey Guys!

We just returned home from a whirlwind trip to the Dakotas, Nebraska & Wyoming!

We drove 2k miles in 11 days!

I had always heard that the only thing to see in South Dakota was Mt Rushmore but obviously that is being said by people who don’t do their research!

As you all know, I am a big time researcher!

I spend countless hours putting together itineraries for our trips and it always pays off!

We get to see and do so much because of the time I invest!

We usually have very little down time but that’s the way we like it!

So, let’s get started.

Our trip dates were June 26th – July 6th, 2024.

Since we were flying out at 5 am on June 26th, we decided to stay in the newly opened Hilton hotel inside the Nashville airport.

The hotel has only been opened for four months so everything still smelled and looked new!

See reviews here

After being dropped off at the airport by our daughter, we headed inside the hotel to check in.

Our room was very nice!

After getting settled into our room, we headed to the rooftop where they had a pool, restaurant and outdoor seating where you could sit and watch the planes land!

It was so nice!

We sat up here for a while and watched the sunset!

Later we called it a night since we had to be up so early!

The next morning, we were up bright and early at 2:30 am!

I am a stickler about being at our gate way before our flight departs.

After getting ready and packed up, we headed downstairs to the lobby and checked out and then walked the short distance across the sky bridge to the inside of the airport.

It was so convenient staying at the hotel as it usually takes us a good hour from our house to drive to offsite parking and be shuttled to the airport!

Flying over the Badlands National Park

We had a short layover in Dallas and then later landed in Rapid City, SD where we picked up our Jeep Grand Cherokee that we had rented directly through Avis.

Tip: Another good option is Alamo...they had really good reviews. Whatever you do, rent early for the cheapest option because it’s expensive to rent here due to it being a regional airport!

Tip: My advice, you will want to look into getting full coverage insurance for your rental car because this area has a lot of hail storms! The extra insurance costs us around $350 but it gave us peace of mind!

At around 10 am, we were headed to our first stop of the day, Wall Drug Store.

Wall Drug is located approximately 1 hr from the airport.

You will see lots of signs advertising the drug store on your drive!

Wall Drug opened in 1931 by Ted and Dorothy Hustead.

The drug store struggled to stay in business for many years especially through the Great Depression until the Husteads came up with the idea of giving away free ice water to weary travelers.

Soon travelers would make a point to stop at Wall Drug to enjoy a refreshing break and they haven’t stopped coming to Wall Drug since.

The town of Wall is really cute! It’s like an old western town!

Wall has become a hub for tourism and is often referred to as the “Window to the West” or the “Gateway to the Badlands.”

Established as a railroad town for the Chicago/Northwestern Railroad system in 1907, Wall was barely more than a pit stop. By the 1930s, Wall housed a whopping 300 citizens, a hospital, hardware store, “community hut” and two banks.

Today, the population has nearly tripled in size to 876 residents.

They had a cool little post office

The drug store is more like an old shopping mall with lots of different shops and a restaurant.

This place is really crowded! They get up to 20k visitors a day during the summer months!

Tip: Click here for 10 interesting things about Wall Drug Store

We headed to the restaurant to have lunch as we had heard that the hot beef sandwiches were really good!

I ordered that while the hubby opted for a buffalo burger and of course, the free ice water that they still serve today!

The restaurant was really cool with lots of western memorabilia.

My hot beef sandwich was really good but I didn’t care for the buffalo burger…it was too dry!

We had also read all about the famous donuts that the drugstore served so we obviously had to try those too!

The donuts are made fresh daily. There are viewing windows where you can watch the employees making them but we missed that! 🙁

They have been using the same family recipe for generations!

After my lunch, I went back to the counter and purchased two of the donuts and a cup of the 5 cent coffee to go with my yummy dessert!

My hubby opted for a slice of homemade cherry pie instead….it was really good but would have been better had it been warmed up.

The donut was just ok to me….it would have been much better warmed up and it was more of a dense cake like consistency. Not bad but not what I was expecting.

The 5 cent coffee was good though! 🙂

The drug store has a map of the things you can see here and the one thing I had on the list to see was the huge statue of the jackalope!

They had a bunch of them hanging on the wall but we wanted a picture with the big one!

However, once we found it, we were so disappointed because they had it closed off because they were repainting it!!

We were so wanting a picture sitting on top of it!

And then we missed this too.….we can’t believe we missed the huge 40 ft wooden jackalope!

It even had stairs on the inside where you could walk up to the top of it!

I think we missed a lot of stuff here because we were in such a hurry to get to our next stop, the Badlands!

We did spot a buffalo though! 😉

The drug store also has a small store where you can buy some food items, health and beauty items and more but it was really expensive so we asked the employees where the nearest grocery store was so we could buy some water and snacks.

They told us the only grocery store, called Wall Food Center, was just a few minutes walk from the drug store.

We decided to go ahead and drive there so we could be on our way after picking up our groceries.

The store was small but had everything we needed but it was not cheap!

After making our purchases, we headed 10 mins down the road to the Badlands National Park.

Tip: Like many places we visited, you will have no cell service so, I highly recommend that you download offline google maps of all of the places you will be visiting….it was a lifesaver for us! Also, have plenty of gas and water….gas stations can be few and far between!

You will enter the park through the Pinnacles Entrance station and there is a $30 entrance fee for vehicles and it’s good for 7 days.

See a map of the park here

Our first stop was taking a picture in front of the national park sign!

The park was established as a national monument in 1939 and designated a national park in 1978.

We were given a map of the park at the entrance station and a warning that the prairie dogs inside the park had tested positive for the bubonic plague!!

Click here for 15 amazing things to do inside the park

Tip: You can download the Guide Along app for the Badlands and it will guide you through the park and tell you when to pull over….we have used it for many trips and it’s a great app!

After you enter the park, there will be a road to your right I believe, that’s called Sage Creek Rim Road.

This dirt road is only about 6.5 miles long but can take several hours to traverse, simply because there are so many scenic overlooks along the way.

The road conditions do vary, especially after a rain storm, so it is best to check the status when making plans.

There are 3 overlooks offering views of the Badlands Wilderness Area on this drive: Hay Butte Overlook, Wilderness Overlook, and Sage Creek Basin Overlook.

Roberts Prairie Dog Town is another stop along Sage Creek Rim Road where you can see those plaque infested prairie dogs!

The road is rough in some spots but this road gives you the best chance of seeing bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and more.

We ended up seeing bison, prairie dogs, burrowing owls and pronghorn on this drive!

Tip: At the end of the road is a primitive campground. There is no water here, but they have picnic tables and shelter from the sun. Sites are free and are reserved on a first come first serve basis.

After driving all the way to Roberts Prairie Dog town, we turned around and headed back the way we came. However, you can continue along this road for another 18-19 miles and it will connect you to hwy 44 in Scenic.

You can also take 44 from Rapid City to the Badlands but it’s a gravel road. However, there is an old “ghost town” that you can see along the way and an old dinosaur statue. The ghost town is the town I just mentioned called, Scenic.

In 2010, 58 people lived in Scenic. The town was purchased in 2011 and is now abandoned.

Read more here about the route on 44

Tip: Most people will just drive the 39 mile loop road through the park and this is what I would recommend if you are short on time as I wasn’t overly impressed with Sage Creek Rd.

Our next stop was the Pinnacles Overlook.

This overlook is 0.2 miles from the parking lot. You will walk down a flight of steps to get to the overlook.

There are many viewpoints from this overlook so take your time to take in the views!

The views are beautiful but be very careful as the rocks here are very slick!! Make sure you are wearing good shoes!

Tip: There are rattlesnakes in this park so be on the lookout as we heard one rattling under a boardwalk!!

I purchased this hat before our trip and it was a lifesaver!!

After leaving this overlook, we continued our drive through the park.

It was incredible!

We pulled over along the road to take some pictures because the views were so beautiful!!

This was definitely one of our favorite stops!

My husband trying to be cool! 😉

We couldn’t get over how green it was in the bottom of the canyon because it was so hot and dry in the park!

Our rental car in the park.

Just look at these views!

Don’t waste your time with Sage Creek Rd when you could be seeing these views instead!

After this stop along the road, we continued our drive and arrived to my favorite area of the park called the Yellow Mounds!!

Click here for a list of all the overlooks in the park

We couldn’t believe all of the colors in the rocks! Yellows, purples, reds, etc!! It was incredible!

And there were wildflowers blooming all over the park which added to the park’s beauty!

I took so many pics in this area!!

Actually, on our first day, I took almost 11oo pics!! Yikes!

My hubby and I climbed a nearby hill and it made for some cool pics!!

Make sure not to miss this area or you will regret it!

After leaving here, we continued our drive through the park.

We stopped at another pullover where you could see the yellow mounds in the distance.

We stopped at the next overlook but I can’t remember the name of it.

Driving through the park

The next stop was the White River Valley Overlook.

This overlook provided an expansive view of the Badlands close to a set of tall formations, known as the Castle.

Continuing our drive through the park

Such incredible views!

After driving 22 miles of the loop, we came to our next stop which was the Cedar Pass Lodge where we would be spending our first of many nights in South Dakota.

We arrived approx. 30 mins past the check in time of 4.

We stayed in one of the cabins at the lodge and it was so nice!

We really enjoyed our stay here!

After getting settled into our room, we headed back out to drive more of the loop road.

The lodge was within walking distance of the Ben Reifel Visitor Center.

Driving to our next stop, the Notch Trail.

Tip: There are three trailheads located here: Notch, Window and Door ….Click here for hiking trails in the park

The window and door trails are less than a mile round trip and the notch trail is 1.5 miles round trip.

The notch trail is the most popular trail in the park.

The hike starts out on a wooden boardwalk.

Tip: Make sure to have on really sturdy shoes for this hike and watch out for rattlesnakes!

The boardwalk ends and you will be walking in the sand

After a short walk, you will come to a wooden ladder that you have to climb!

Tip: If you don’t want to climb the ladder, click here to read about an alternate route

Since this is such a popular hike, you will most likely have to wait for others to either climb down the ladder or climb up the ladder.

There was a family that was coming down the ladder when we arrived so we had to wait a few minutes before we could climb up.

Once they were down, we headed up!

Ok, it was a bit terrifying because I didn’t have the best shoes on!

After reaching the top of the ladder, we continued the trail.

However, it was short lived because this trail has very steep drop offs and it’s very slick!

For our own safety, we felt it was best to turn around and head back down the ladder!

Going down was much harder and scarier than going up!

My legs were sore for two days after climbing up and down the ladder!

The views were awesome so if you want to continue the trail, be very careful and have on good hiking shoes!

On the way back to the parking lot, we spotted some cliff swallow nests!

In summer, the insect-eating cliff swallows return from their wintering grounds in South America and make their mud nests in sheltered areas on the formations.

We spotted a small arch in the rocks on the way back.

After getting back to our car, we headed back to the lodge to have dinner.

This is the only place in the park to eat and the only lodging in the park.

The restaurant has a limited menu so if you want something else to eat, you can either bring in your own food or go back to Wall and eat.

Wall is 35 mins from the lodge.

We both decided to order the popular Indian tacos because I had read you just had to try them when visiting South Dakota!

The restaurant had amazing views of the Badlands!

The tacos were good but not as good as we thought they would be but when you’re hungry, a lot of things taste better than they are!

It was basically a taco salad on top of a piece of bread that had been fried.

After we ate, we headed into the gift shop that was attached to the restaurant to find a tshirt.

We then headed back to our cabin to relax for a while.

A bit later, we decided to go watch the sunset at one of the overlooks.

Click here for the best places to watch the sunset and sunrise

Driving through the park headed to an overlook

We stopped at the Bigfoot Pass Overlook as this looked like the best place to watch the sunset.

This marks Chief Spotted Elk’s (also known as Bigfoot) journey leading a group of Lakota through the Badlands. This journey would end with the Wounded Knee Massacre.

There was a boardwalk here that led to a bench so we headed to the end of the boardwalk to sit and watch the sunset.

Note: This is the boardwalk that had the rattlesnake under it!

The views here were spectacular!

At one point, we were the only ones here!

There was cacti blooming all over the park!

I snapped a picture of the sun lighting up the clouds!

The sunset was incredible!

I was so glad that we had decided to drive the 20 mins from the lodge to this lookout in hopes to catch the sunset!

My hubby watching the sunset.

And us enjoying the sunset together.

I think I took 100 pics of just the sunset!

Later, we headed back to the car.

Driving back to the lodge

We had hoped for clear skies since the park is a dark sky park but sadly, it was too cloudy to see anything! 🙁

Tip: We had this overlook on our list too but didn’t make it

Tip: Badlands National Park offers stargazing events called Night Sky Viewings every night in the spring, summer, and fall. At these viewings, park rangers and volunteers use powerful laser pointers to show and describe different constellations, planets, and other objects in the night sky.

After arriving back to our cabin, we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

For those who don’t like to read Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see a very short version of my itinerary 

Stay tuned for Day 2! – Update: Read Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here, Day 7 here, Day 8 here , Day 9 here, Day 10 here & Day 11 here

South Dakota – Badlands, Keystone, Hill City & Sturgis – Day 2 – June 2024

North Dakota – Theodore Roosevelt National Park & Medora – Day 3 – June 2024

North Dakota – Theodore Roosevelt National Park & Medora – Day 4 – June 2024

South Dakota – Deadwood – Day 5 – June 2024

South Dakota – Devils Tower & Spearfish Canyon – Day 6 – July 2024

South Dakota – Custer State Park & Mt Rushmore – Day 7 – July 2024

South Dakota – Custer State Park, Crazy Horse & Custer – Day 8 – July 2024

Nebraska – Carhenge, Scotts Bluff & Chimney Rock – Day 9 – July 2024

South Dakota – Hot Springs, Wind Cave Ntl Park, Keystone & Rapid City – Day 10 – July 2024

South Dakota – Rapid City – Day 11 – July 2024

Click here to see links to all of my blog posts & Click here to follow my YouTube Channel

Please Note: I have recently been notified that if someone subscribes to my blog, the email confirmation will be sent to your spam box with a warning that reads, “this message seems dangerous, It contains a suspicious link that was used to steal people’s personal information”. I have no idea why this is happening and have reached out to WordPress regarding this. In order to click on the link, you will need to mark the email as not spam and it will then move the email to your inbox. At that point, you will be able to click the confirmation email link!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time at the Wildwood Resort & Marina.

Read Day 1 here – Click here to see all of my blog posts – Click here to follow me on YouTube

Most anytime we go on a short weekend trip, we will take plenty of food with us in case we don’t feel like going out anywhere.

I had actually brought more food than usual on this trip because my hubby had rented a pontoon boat for all day today but unfortunately, the area was expecting  severe weather so we had to cancel.

Since our boat rental was cancelled, we stayed inside and had breakfast while watching the weather channel.

After breakfast, we headed to the front porch to sit outside for a while since it wasn’t raining yet.

We spotted some crazy cloud formations on the lake!

A while later, we decided to head to the nearby town of Gainsboro.

The small town is located approx. 20 mins from the marina.

The entire downtown district of Gainsboro is listed on the National Registry of Historical Places.

It is one of the oldest towns in the state and was named for General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, who fought with Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans.

The town is located in Jackson County which was named in honor of Andrew Jackson. The county was created by the Tennessee legislature in November 1801. It is the second oldest of the twenty-three counties named for Jackson in the United States; only Jackson County in Georgia is older.

Click here to see all of the buildings in this area that are listed on the National Registry & Click here to read all about the history of this small town

We actually came here for the frozen custard not the history but I do enjoy learning about the history too. 😉

We headed straight for Honest John’s Frozen Custard.

I had found about this place by following Wildwood Resort’s Facebook page.

After arriving, we headed to the window where you order.

They had so many options that it was hard to decide!

We both finally decided on a concrete.

They were so good!

I had wanted to check out the organic food store across the street but unfortunately they were closed the day we were there.

Tip: If you’re ever in this area, we hear the Bull & Thistle is a great place to eat…Click here for more places to eat in this tiny town

After our frozen custard, we decided to drive around the town for a while.

We spotted the historic Gaines House.

In January, 1862, after the Battle of Mill Springs, KY, most of the homes in Gainesboro were used as field hospitals for Confederate soldiers.

The Gaines House is the oldest house in Gainesboro and is the only house still standing that was used as a hospital. It has also been known as the Vanhooser House.

There have been several people who have made YouTube videos of this house claiming it’s haunted….I don’t believe in that kind of stuff but you can watch one of the videos here.

It was really sad to see the condition of this historic house.

I read online that an association was formed to save it but now the association’s website no longer exists….Sadly, I think it proved to be way more difficult and expensive than they thought.

We passed this vintage painted wall ad on the side of the W.T. Reed Grocery Store.

W.T. (Tom) Reed’s Grocery was a fixture “on the square” for over 40 years. Mr. and Mrs. Reed operated this store from the early 1920’s through the early 1960s.

Click here for more things to see & do in this town

After leaving Gainsboro, we headed back to the Wildwood Resort to relax on our front porch for a while.

Thankfully, the weather wasn’t bad but the lake was really muddy where they had gotten a lot of rain the last few days.

A while later, we headed to the lakeside restaurant to have dinner.

Once again, we were seated by the water.

We took a few minutes to look over the menu.

I decided on the salmon over grits and a side of brussel sprouts and the hubby decided on the BLT with a side of potato salad.

As usual, the food was delicious! We’ve never had a bad meal here!

After dinner, we decided to take a walk on the boardwalk.

This is a great way to walk off some of those calories! 😉

After the boardwalk, we decided to walk up to “the woods” area that consists of the airstreams, the tiny cabins, the saltbox homes and the new spa.

We then headed back to our cabin.

On the way, we passed the lodge rooms.

This is one of the original buildings at the resort.  The lodge offers 5 lakeside rooms.

Later, we watched the beautiful sunset from the front porch of our cabin.

We then headed back to the boardwalk to see the thick fog that had settled on top of the lake.

It was so cool but eerie looking!

On the way back to our cabin, I took a few pictures of the beautiful wildflowers that grow along the water’s edge.

Later that evening, we called it a night!

The next morning, we enjoyed our coffee and breakfast on the front porch.

After a night of really bad storms, we were thankful to wake up to beautiful blue skies!

We decided to walk the boardwalk once more before we had to check out.

A bit later, we headed to the front office to check out.

Before leaving the resort & heading home, we decided to have lunch at the lakeside restaurant.

After looking over the menu, I decided to order one of my favorite things, the blackberry chicken salad and the hubby decided on the hot honey chicken sliders.

So good!

After lunch, we headed to the Holston Cabin Cafe to purchase some ice cream.

Sadly, they had stopped serving soft serve ice cream but replaced it with Honest John’s Frozen Custard from Gainsboro.

After our ice cream, we headed home!

Thanks for reading!

For things to do in this area click here & here

Click here for the Wildwood Resort’s event calendar….they have live music every Fri & Sat night

Click here to check out their murder mystery dinners

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

For Mother’s Day, my sweet hubby surprised me with a weekend getaway to Wildwood Resort & Marina.

He had booked the trip for the weekend of Memorial Day.

We have stayed at the Wildwood Resort & Marina several times before as we only live 1.5 hrs away from the resort.

We started coming here in 2018 before they did all of the renovations and when it was more of a hidden gem but now it’s not so “hidden” anymore.

You can read my previous posts about this place  here, here, here & here

We started our morning with breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants called Milo’s.

We have eaten here many times before and it is always very good!

After looking over the menu, I decided on the pineapple pancakes with a side of bacon and the hubby ordered the pancakes & bacon with a side of potatoes.

As usual, the food was delicious!

We also love their coffee…we both ordered the honey lavender lattes and they were so good!

After breakfast, we headed to the small town of Granville.

Granville is located one mile from the Wildwood Resort.

They were holding their annual “Heritage Day’ event so we wanted to go check it out.

Tip: The town holds many events throughout the year….click here and then click on events at the top of the page to see their event calendar

It was crazy busy but they had plenty of places to park….some places were charging $5 to park or you could park and take the shuttle for free.

After getting parked, we headed to the antique car show.

The antique car show is part of their Heritage Day event.

They had all kinds of cool old cars at the event.

Sadly, due to the chance of severe weather, they only had around 100 cars show up versus 300 at last year’s show.

My hubby loves antique vehicles so he really enjoyed this part of the festival.

After checking out the cars, we walked across the street to look at the old tractors.

We then headed towards the historic main street to check out all of the vendors that were set up.

Granville is known as the “Mayberry Town” because it’s a very small town that takes you back in time.

Read about the history of Granville here

Like I mentioned before, we have been here several times but we had never checked out the I Love Lucy Museum.

Tip: You will need to purchase a ticket before entering into the museums…they are $7 pp and the cost covers all of the museums and attractions.

The museum is located in an old historic building that houses other “museums” as well as a gift shop…so, depending on what door you enter, will determine what you will see first.

We entered through a door that led us to the gift shop. The gift shop was full of home decor and souvenirs.

All of the “museums” are connected so you can enter through one door and see them all.

After checking out the gift shop, we continued through the building to the Andy Griffith Show museum.

They have rooms that are set up that feature the different characters of the show.

There is also tons of memorabilia from the show!

Last year, during the I Love Lucy Days event, Andy Griffith’s daughter showed up and donated one of his guitars to the museum!

Don Knott’s daughter was also a guest at the event as well as Dennis Rush, who played Howie Pruitt on The Andy Griffith Show, and Keith Thibodeaux, who played Johnny Paul Jason on Andy Griffith and also played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy.

I believe Keith and Andy Griffith’s daughter shows up every year to the I Love Lucy festival!

A recreation of Otis in jail

The museum has several autographed pictures of the actors hanging on the walls.

I loved this painting of Andy and Opie fishing by artist Thad Cox.

A few more shots of the Andy Griffith show museum.

We then entered into the I Love Lucy museum.

The museum has tons of autographed pictures, character dolls, plates, paper dolls, TV Guides,  trading cards, stamps and more.

After the Lucy Museum, we checked out the whiskey decanter museum…it’s in the same building as the other museums.

There are approximately 5000 decanters showcased in this museum.

They were donated by two different families…one being from Cookeville and the other from Watertown.

Jim Beam Distillery began filling their whiskey into ornamental bottles in 1955 with the creation of a bowling pin and a porcelain ash tray.

They became so popular that Jim Beam decided to produce more decanters in 15 categories that included Wheels, Clubs and Conventions, Casino, Centennial, Organizations Customer, Executive, Foreign, People, Opera, Political, Regal China, Sports, States, Trophy, Glass and the Collectors’ Edition.

In this museum all categories are represented.

They are so unique it’s hard to believe that some of them are decanters!

Believe it or not, this is the “World’s Largest Limited Edition” decanter museum in the US!!

After this museum, we headed outside to continue our walk through the historic little town.

They had this cool mural painted on the side of one of the buildings.

From about 1831 until 1920, Granville was a thriving riverboat town. After riverboat travel ceased, the community was a successful farming area.

They have lots of “Mayberry” inspired decorations scattered throughout the town.

We headed to the food vendors to see what all they had.

There were several food trucks set up

Since we had eaten a big breakfast, we settled on a small cup of pineapple dole whip.

I just love this place…it really does take you back in time.

One of the main attractions here is the T.B. Sutton’s General Store.

Built-in 1800’s, this country store has continuously served the families in this area.  

In 2017, Country Living Magazine listed this store as one of the thirteen most charming country stores.  Southern Living Magazine recommended T.B. Sutton General Store as the number one store to visit during the summer of 2018.

The original building has many of the same interior fixtures it had at the turn of the 20th century.  The store is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The store serves ice cream, hamburgers, hotdogs and sodas…..country cooking is served Wed – Sat.

They also have live music every Sat night….tickets are $5 pp for the show and $25 pp for the dinner and the show.

Tip: The store is closed Sun – Tues

We didn’t go into the store this time as we’ve been several times before but I definitely recommend you check it out if you’ve never visited Granville before!

There are several historic buildings that have been turned into museums.

As we were walking around, we spotted several vendors set up along the sidewalks so we decided to check them out.

We came across a vendor called Royal Monarch Farm that was selling organic, homemade sourdough bread so we decided to buy a loaf.

Note: We ate this after we got home and it was delicious!

We walked over to the Antique Car Museum to check out the old cars that were on display.

The automobiles exhibited will range from the 1920’s through the 1970’s with vehicles on display changing constantly. The three automobiles owned by Ben Sutton during his life in Granville are featured in the display.
We then walked over to the Pioneer Village where they feature an old log cabin and booths that feature blacksmiths, basket weavers, quilting and more.

Pioneer Village offers other rare historical items for viewing,  such as a John Deere corn stalk cutter, a horse-powered hay baler, a tobacco setter, and more.

We stood and watched this gentleman making pottery….so neat!

There’s just so much to see here!!

We spotted this cool motorized carriage that you could ride!

After spending several hours here, we decided to head to the resort to check into our room.

As we were walking to our car, we passed Aunt Bee’s Farmhouse  but decided not to go in….we didn’t want to be tempted by the baked goods!

Tip: Click here for accommodations in/near Granville

After arriving to the marina and checking in, we headed to our cabin.

There are many different types of accommodations to choose from here….my hubby had chosen one of the lakeside cabins.

There are only two cabins at the marina that you can rent….the rest of the accommodations consist of a lodge, an Inn, air streams, tiny homes, and houseboats.

The last time we stayed in the cabins was back in 2018 and they were nice but a bit dated.

This time, we were pleasantly surprised to find that they had renovated the cabin!

They had more of a modern feel to them….very nice!

The cabin had 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, full bathroom and a nice size living room.

Views from the front porch

The cabin had a Keurig and they provided coffee, creamer, sweetener and tea bags.

They also provided two free cans of water.

They also provide super nice, plush bathrobes!

After getting settled into our room, we walked around the property.

The marina has a lot to offer such as boat rentals, boat excursions,  canoe, kayak and paddleboard rentals, a hiking trail, a spa, a restaurant, a general store, and more!

They also have several fire pits scattered throughout the property and provide each guest with a smore’s package.

We decided to take a walk on the boardwalk.

The wooden walkway stretches out into the lake for over a quarter of a mile. It is Tennessee’s longest waterfront boardwalk.

This is one of our favorite things to do at the marina…..it’s so peaceful!

Unfortunately, this area had gotten a lot of rain lately so the water was really muddy looking!

After relaxing on the boardwalk for a while, we decided to head to the lakeside restaurant to have dinner.

After being seated outside by the water, we spent a few minutes looking over the menu.

We decided on the pretzel bites for an appetizer.

For my main course, I ordered the hot honey chicken sliders with potato salad and the hubby ordered the fish and chips.

The food was delicious as usual!

After dinner, we headed back to our cabin to watch the sunset from our front porch.

We have seen some incredible sunsets here!

After watching from our front porch, we decided to head back to the boardwalk in hopes of better views.

However, by the time we got there, the sun had already set behind the trees but it was still beautiful!

After watching the sunset, we headed back to our room and relaxed on the front porch.

Later, we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 2!

Click here to see links to all of my blog posts since 2018 and Click here to follow me on YouTube

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time at Patti’s 1880 Settlement located in Grand Rivers, KY.

Read Day 1 here & Click here to find links to all of my blog posts & Click here to follow my YouTube Channel

We stayed one night at the Rose of the Lake bed and breakfast and like other bed and breakfast places, they provided breakfast each morning.

So, we headed over to the main house to grab a cup of coffee and then go sit outside by the pool until breakfast was served.

The one thing I didn’t like about this place is that you had to wait until 9:30 to eat breakfast, so if you had to check out before then, you would need to find breakfast somewhere else.

I had read about the delicious breakfasts that they served here so we didn’t want to miss out! 😉

While we were waiting, we walked around and checked out the property.

There were tons of beautiful plants and flowers.

You could tell the owner had a bit of an eclectic taste in decor.

There were lots of interesting pieces sitting around.

Near the house was a small koi pond

At 9:30 on the dot, they rang the bell to let everyone know that breakfast was ready.

There were several people waiting but we were some of the first ones in line! 😉

We couldn’t believe the amount of food they offered!

After making our plates, we headed back to our seats by the pool and enjoyed our delicious breakfast!

Once we were finished with breakfast, we packed up and headed to the nearby Mantle Rock Nature Preserve.

The preserve was located 45 mins from the bed and breakfast.

I just recently discovered this place after writing my blog post on Red River Gorge, KY.

If you read my post about Red River Gorge, you will know that the state of Kentucky has the second most natural sand stone arches in the US, second only to Utah!

At the end of 2023, there were 2,771 documented arches in Kentucky!

Tip: Click here for the top 10 longest span arches in KY & click here to see a list of some of the most popular ones

Once we arrived, we pulled into the small gravel parking lot.

Just a word of caution, this place is very remote with nothing around. I highly recommend that you have plenty of water, gas and wear good hiking shoes.

With that being said, there were 4 motorcycles parked in the parking lot when we arrived but they were getting ready to leave and no one else showed up while we were there.

The trail starts out gravel and has several signs along the path telling about the Native Americans who traveled along this path that is now known as the Trail of Tears.

It’s called this because so many of them died when they were forced out of their land and had to travel to other parts of the country.

See a map of the Trail of Tears here

Once you enter the woods, the gravel turns into a dirt and, often times, muddy path.

Along the path, you will find more historical signs.

You will walk a couple hundred feet and come to a split in the trail.

Ok, here’s where you want to take notes…if you go to the right where the wooden bridge is, you will walk approximately 2.5 miles before you come to the arch.

However, if you take the path to the left, you will walk approx. 8 minutes before you arrive to the arch.

So, it really depends on how you want to hike this trail….it’s a 2.75 mile loop trail.

Read reviews for this trail here

We decided to take the shorter hike to the arch.

More historical signs along the way

In 2004, the National Park Service recognized the nature preserve as a certified site on the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail and worthy of representation in the National Register of Historic Places.

The trail is completely shaded so you will have no exposure to the sun but always take plenty of water with you on any hike that you do.

Once you arrive to the arch, there’s a sign that gives you information about it.

We were amazed at the size!

Mantle Rock is the largest freestanding arch east of the Mississippi River. It is 188 feet long and 30 feet high!

The sandstone glade on top of the arch is one of the highest quality glades in the state. It has been estimated that less than one percent of these habitats remain, but here they are protected.

Glades are open ecosystems where bedrock exposure and extreme soil conditions keep trees away.

However, there is a tree that is growing in the middle of the arch.

The rocks were covered in green moss.

You can also find honeycomb formations on the rocks along with fluorite deposits.

There is a rocky stream near the arch….watch out for snakes! I’ve read there have been copperheads spotted in this area!

Kentucky’s only known occurrence of June grass thrives here along with other glade species such as prickly pear cactus, rush foil, hairy lipfern, little bluestem, pinweed and poverty grass.

We walked from one end to the other taking pictures!

We tried to figure out if we could walk across the top of it but never found a way to access it from either end.

Of course, we couldn’t leave without taking our pictures under the arch!

After taking too many pictures, we headed back to our car.

Be on the lookout for some of the rare plants that are found here.

Tip: 50 mins from this arch is another arch called Fishtrap Bridge arch…it’s the 4th longest span arch in KY …also, 25 mins from here is the historic Gower House that was erected in 1780…the house used to be an Inn and accommodated many famous travelers including Presidents James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Charles Dickens, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay.

See lots more historical sites here

After leaving here, we decided to drive 1 hr to Garden of the Gods in the Shawnee National Forest in Illinois.

Tip: Click here to watch a YouTube video about 5 natural sand stone arches in Illinois (some of these aren’t too far from the Garden of the Gods) & click here to see a visual list of arches in this area

Ok, another word of caution here, you need to make sure that you have a full tank of gas, plenty of water and snacks because on this drive, there is nothing around you…and I mean nothing!

After driving 30 mins past the Mantle Rock Preserve, we arrived to the Cave in Rock car ferry!

We had to take this ferry to get across the Ohio River….there was no other way to get across that we knew of and this is the way our GPS took us!

While writing this blog post, I have discovered that commuters use the ferry to avoid the approximately 35-mile detour to the nearest bridge in Shawneetown.

There are over 500 cars that use this ferry every day. It will hold about 10-12 cars.

The ferry runs daily from 6 am to 10 pm.

It was a really neat experience! It only took about 5 mins to cross the river.

The employees on the ferry had to manually steer the ferry into the boat ramp!

After exiting the ferry, you will now be in the tiny town of Cave in Rock, IL. and 30 mins from Garden of the Gods.

Located in this small town, is the Cave in Rock State Park that was named for the 55-foot-wide cave that was carved out of the limestone rock by water thousands of years ago.

Do not miss this stop like we did! There have been a few movies filmed here like How the West was Won.

You will also find the Cave-In-Rock Restaurant and Lodge that features fine southern-style cooking.

You can also take the Shawnee Queen River taxi with stops in Golconda, Rosiclare, Eizabethtown and Cave In Rock, and by request to Carrsville, KY.

The ferry runs Tuesday to Saturday from the second Tuesday in May to Nov. 1.

Click here for restaurants in this area

Tip: You can drive 15 mins to Elizabethtown, IL and see the oldest hotel in the state called the Rose Hotel...it was built in 1812 and you can still stay there! This is also where you will find the closest gas station.

As you are driving through the very tiny town of Cave in Rock, you will notice lots of brightly painted bicycles randomly placed throughout the town.

These were the idea of John & Ramona Davis who live in Cave in Rock.

There are approximately 20+ painted bicycles that represent different diseases. The Davis’s wanted to not only beautify their small town, they also wanted to bring awareness to the different types of diseases or cancers.

Passing the “Welcome to Illinois” sign

After driving approx. 30 mins past Cave in Rock, we arrived to Garden of the Gods.

Tip: For unique properties to stay at in this area, click here

There is plenty of parking and the walk to Observation Point takes about 5 mins from the parking lot.

This trail is said to be the most Instagram’d area of the Shawnee National Forest.

Note: This area is very dangerous…there are deaths here just about every year from falls. There are steep drop offs so be extremely careful and watch your children! Wear good shoes too!

I would also like to mention, that even though this is only a 1/4 mile loop trail, you will be walking out on big rocks that are fully exposed to the sun…it gets hot!! Have plenty of water!

Click here to read about more hikes in this area

At the beginning of the trail, there are signs that tell you about the area along with a map of the trail.

It’s a very easy walk but make sure you see all of the viewpoints…there are several.

Thankfully, the trail is shaded until you get to the big rock formations.

You will see lots of unique rock formations along the trail.

One of the first observation points that we came to had views of the famous camel rock.

This rock appears on the back of the Illinois state quarter when the America the Beautiful Quarter series was released.

You could see for miles!

Walking out on some of the rock formations

The rocks were so cool looking….the sign said that a sea covered this area many years ago and that rivers deposited layers of sand and mud along the seashore as the region was slowly sinking and as these materials built up, the heat and pressure of burial turned the sand and mud into stone.

No wonder people fall around here…we saw a lot of people who obviously had no sense!

As we were walking the trail, we spotted the Devil’s Smokestack.

Devil’s Smokestack is a huge pillar that was formed when softer sandstone around it washed away. The rock is 30 ft tall.

You could walk down to it but we decided to pass.

As we continued our walk, we saw a sign talking about the “bizzare bands” in the rocks.

The bands were caused when the rocks were buried under the sand and saturated with groundwater that was mixed with iron.

The rocks in this area have crazy looking designs on them!

The rocks here look like toadstool rocks.

Look at the designs in the rocks!

We followed the path and it took us to these stairs that were carved out of the stone.

The path was really narrow and it didn’t really lead to anything of interest.

More crazy formations in the rocks!

The Garden of Gods encompass 3300 acres of wilderness and you can see for miles along the path.

Walking out on camel rock

The views were awesome but it was a bit terrifying!

The camel’s “head”.

A few more shots of the rocks.

After leaving here, we decided to head home.

When we plugged our address into our GPS, it was once again taking us to the Cave in Rock ferry.

We knew there was nothing around and we were getting hungry….we had only eaten breakfast and that was 6 hrs earlier!

Thankfully, 7 mins from the Garden of the Gods, was the Garden of the Gods Outpost.

There was a phone booth in the parking lot so of course, my hubby had to have his picture taken with this rare sighting.

The only food they served was hotdogs, nachos and chili and they had all kinds of ice cream desserts.

My hubby and I both decided we would just order a concrete mixer.

A concrete is basically a shake that is served so thick you can turn it upside down without it spilling.

I had mine made with vanilla ice cream and peanut butter cups and the hubby had his made with chocolate ice cream and cookie dough bites.

While we were waiting for them to be made, we walked around the store.

It was a really cute store…they had all kinds of souvenirs, candy, sodas, and more.

You could purchase one of the Illinois state quarters that had the picture of camel rock on the back of it.

After getting our ice cream, we headed back to the car…..so good!

Even Bigfoot and his family get ice cream here 😉

Arriving back to the ferry.

The ferry was about to leave when we arrived but thankfully, they let us on!

As we were crossing the river, I got out of the car and took a few pictures.

This ferry company has been in operation since 1994.

However, the first ferry service started in 1892.

As we were about to exit the ferry, my hubby spotted a bald eagle sitting on a rock next to the water.

This is the best picture I could get with my Iphone…look to the far right side of the picture.

I overheard one of the employees say that he had watched the Eagle catch 6 fish that day!

After exiting the ferry, we headed home.

Thanks for reading!

Read Day 1 here & click here to see all of my blog posts

Click here to follow my YouTube Channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

My husband and I recently visited Patti’s 1880 Settlement for the first time back in November.

Every year Patti’s goes all out with beautiful Christmas decorations so, we went and checked it out and I have to say, it was incredible!

It’s all free too so, I highly recommend if you live nearby that you go see it.

The Festival of Lights event dates are the first Friday in November through the first week of January.

Check out their website here to keep up with more events.

The main attraction at Patti’s is the restaurant. When we visited back in Nov, we wanted to try it out but you can’t get in during that time of year without having a reservation.

You can read about our first visit to Patti’s here

So, recently I decided that I would book a room at their bed and breakfast and make a reservation at the restaurant so we could see what all the hype was about.

Patti’s offers a few different types of accommodations. They have the bed and breakfast, a hotel that’s located about 5 mins from the restaurant and a house that you can rent that was the original home of the founders of Patti’s.

Patti’s 1880 Settlement is located in Grand Rivers, KY just 2 hrs from where we live.

So, we left our house around 9 am on a Saturday morning and headed that way.

We timed it so we could have lunch at T Lawsons in Grand Rivers. We had tried eating at this restaurant last year too but again, you can’t get in during the holidays unless you have a reservation.

We arrived to Grand Rivers around 11 am and the restaurant didn’t open until 12 so, we had to kill an hour.

There’s plenty here to keep you busy.

Click here to see all of the shops, restaurants, hotels, etc in this area & if you enjoy massages, check out Jade & Earth Spa at the Green Turtle Bay Resort & Marina located across the road from Patti’s

There are 8 different shops at Patti’s that you can check out.

However, we decided to kill some time at the Kentucky Lake that is located directly across the road from Patti’s.

There’s a nice jetty that you can walk out on and a “lighthouse” that sits nearby that you can check out.

The lighthouse is part of the Lighthouse Landing Resort & Marina. Here you can rent a pontoon or a sailboat, kayaks, jet skis, bikes, take sailboat lessons, take a boat cruise, eat at the Wake Club or stay in one of their lakeside cottages.

While at the lake, my hubby decided to wow me with his musical skills. 😏

After spending a few minutes at the lake, we drove across the street to Patti’s 1880 Settlement.

We still had some time to kill before our reservation so, we decided to check out the Grand Rivers Antique Mall.

As we were walking to the antique store, we passed the Badgett Playhouse.

The playhouse puts on all kinds of shows throughout the year and they have really good reviews!

They were putting on a 70’s show that I wanted to see but the first performance started the Sat after we were there.

The Grand Rivers Antique Mall is located right next to Patti’s and across the street from T Lawson’s restaurant.

The store had tons of  antique glass and ceramic dining sets along with guns, knives and more.

It always takes me back in time when I visit an antique store…..I never buy anything but I love to look…I find it so interesting to see how people lived years ago and how products have changed over time.

Click here for more antique shops in this area

After spending a few minutes at the antique store, it was finally time for our 12 pm reservations at T Lawsons!

There were already people lined up at the door waiting to get in as soon as they opened the doors!

It didn’t appear that reservations were needed but I would rather have them and be guaranteed a table then not have them….you just never know!

Once they opened the doors, we were seated right away.

The restaurant isn’t very big on the inside so, I do recommend that you make reservations.

You can follow their Facebook page for updates on their hours, menu, etc

After being seated, we took a few minutes to look over the menu.

I decided on the chipotle chicken tacos and the hubby ordered the mushroom smash burger.

The food was delicious and the service was great!

I would definitely recommend this restaurant!

Read their reviews here

After lunch, we had a couple of hours to kill before we could check in at the bed and breakfast.

So, we just drove around the area for a while.

During our drive, we passed the Whitehaven Welcome Center in Paducah, KY.

The welcome center is a restored 1860s Southern mansion that features period furnishings and memorabilia of Paducah native Alben Barkley, who served as Vice President under Harry Truman.

The house is one of the finest Classical Revival residential structures in Kentucky and is the only historic home serving as an interstate Welcome Center.

Tip: 5 mins from Patti’s is the Kentucky Lake Scenic Drive & don’t miss the Land Between the Lakes

We then headed to check in at our bed and breakfast called Rose of the Lake.

The Rose of the Lake offers 4-5 cottages that all face the pool and approx 7 rooms in the main house.

We booked the Lakehouse cottage which is their newest and largest cottage.

Once you arrive, you had to go inside the main house to check in.

After getting checked in, we were walked over to our cottage.

On the way, you will pass the beautiful pool area!

It was surrounded by tons of plants and flowers!

Our cottage had two beds (1 king & 1 queen), a fullsize kitchen, a large sofa, 2 chairs, and a large bathroom with a washer and dryer.

On their website, the description states that the cottage has a fireplace but there was no fireplace.

From the windows, you have views of the pool.

After getting settled into our room, we used one of their golf carts to drive down to Patti’s to walk around until our 5:30 dinner reservation.

It was nice being able to use their golf carts instead of having to drive and find a parking space!

You could spend hours just walking around Patti’s ….they have so much more than just the restaurant….there are shops, cafes, miniature golf, gardens and more!

So, there’s plenty to do to keep you busy!

Tip: Don’t miss the historic home of Thomas Lawson when in Grand Rivers…see more historical places here

We walked around the beautiful grounds.

Unbeknownst to us, they keep a lot of the lights up year round.

I love their little chapel….you can get married here too!

They had just recently installed this artwork near the chapel.

You could sit and play chess in these cool looking chairs!

Or play a round of miniature golf on their 19 hole golf course!

They had this map of the grounds hanging on the wall.

We spotted this old washing machine sitting alongside the sidewalk.

And this cool replica of the chapel!

After walking the grounds for a while, we decided to check out some of the shops.

They offer all kinds of things from souvenirs to home decor to shoes and clothing.

It was finally time for our dinner reservation, so we headed to the main entrance to check in.

Thankfully, we only had to wait about 10 mins past our reservation time….we were hungry!

Headed to our table

We were seated at a large table in the corner that was big enough for 4 people.

The restaurant is really big on the inside…there are lots of different dining rooms scattered throughout the restaurant.

They have a lot to choose from on their menu….they have steak, chicken, burgers, sandwiches, salads, seafood and more!

After looking over the menu, I decided on the chicken oscar which was chicken topped with four jumbo grilled shrimp, grilled asparagus, sautéed mushrooms, and drizzled with a rich & creamy béarnaise sauce…yum!

My husband decided on the very popular Patti’s House Specialty 2′ pork chop which is a 16 oz. center cut pork, charbroiled and seasoned with Patti’s House Seasoning and Sauce and grilled over an open flame.

Our meals came with a salad, one side and the famous flour pot bread and strawberry butter!

Oh.My.Gosh…..it was delicious!

You can get as much bread as you want ….for free!

Tip: Ask for bread and butter to go!

After finishing our salads, they brought out our food and it was sooooo good!!

We could only eat about half our food …not only because we were stuffed but we had to save a little room for dessert!

You can’t come here and not order one of their famous desserts!

We decided to share one of the boatsinker pies….it’s a rich, dark double fudge brownie pie topped with coffee ice cream, piled high with whipped cream, covered with chocolate syrup & topped with a cherry!

It was incredible!

I’m so glad calories don’t count on vacation don’t you?! 😏

I felt like I needed my stomach pumped after eating all of this food!

The service was excellent as well!

See their menu here & read reviews here

After dinner, we wobbled back to the golf cart to drive across the road to watch the sunset.

On the way to the golf cart, we spotted this cute little set up and my hubby just had to have his picture taken with the bear waitress! 😉

We then headed to Lighthouse Landing across the road.

The marina is full of sailboats….like I mentioned earlier, you can rent these or take lessons.

After getting parked, we walked down the boardwalk to the lighthouse.

The views were beautiful!

At the end of the boardwalk, was a small bench so, we sat there and watched the sunset.

It was so peaceful.

The sunset was incredible!

After watching the sunset, we headed back to our room.

Once we arrived, we changed into our swimsuits and I headed to the hot tub while the hubby headed to the pool.

Later we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 2! Update: Read Day 2 here

Click here to see links to all of my blog posts and click here to follow my YouTube channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post will conclude our time in the Red River Gorge area.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

Click here to see my YouTube channel

I just loved waking up to these views!

If you’ve never stayed in a treehouse, I highly recommend you try one out!

After getting out of bed and making our coffee, we headed straight to the hot tub!

When I made my reservation for the treehouse, they had an option where you could pay $50 for a late check out so, I chose to do that so we wouldn’t have to rush around trying to get packed up and leave by 11 am.

Instead of checking out at 11, you got to check out at 12:30 pm.

It was $50 well spent in my opinion!

And it meant we could spend more time in the hot tub! 😉

After our time in the hot tub, we headed to the kitchen to make our breakfast.

I had leftover steak from our dinner the night before so, I had that with some eggs, bacon and fruit.

My hubby hates eggs so he made himself a ham and cheese croissant.

After breakfast, we started packing up so we would have plenty of time to relax before we had to leave.

Once we were all packed, we took a few last pictures of the property.

We really enjoyed our time here and I would definitely book this property again!

The treehouse can accommodate up to 8 people but personally, I would never stay here with that many people since there’s only one bathroom…. and not to mention, there’s only one comfortable bed!

After leaving the treehouse, we drove down to the bottom of the hill and parked across the street so we could hike to another arch before we left.

It was called Grays Arch.

There is another trail located here called Martins Fork. This is a 7-8 mile loop trail that includes Grays Arch and one other arch.

Click here for the top 10 hikes in the Red River Gorge

The trailhead to Grays Arch starts across the road from the parking lot.

The hike is about 2 miles round trip.

At the beginning of the trail, you will cross a small bridge that crosses a stream.

This is another very pretty hike!

You will be walking along a scenic and winding trail through the forest that passes by spectacular rock formations and a small stream.

You will also cross a few of these small “bridges” along the way.

After walking for about 10-15 mins, we decided to turn back because the trail was very muddy and I didn’t have on my hiking shoes!!

Hiking back 🙁

I highly recommend you always wear good hiking boots or shoes when on any of these trails…not only were most of them muddy, but they had a lot of exposed rocks and roots!

Tip: After getting home and researching this hike, you definitely will want to add this one to your list! I am so disappointed that we didn’t do it…the arch looks amazing!

As we were walking back to our vehicle, I spotted these flowers blooming alongside the creek.

We saw lots of beautiful flowers blooming in this area.

After leaving here, we decided to go get some ice cream.

There are a couple of places you can get ice cream in this area…one is called the Red River Gorge General Store and the other is called The Brick.

We decided to try out the Brick.

It’s located in an old historic building that was built in 1909 and used to be the general store for a “self-sustaining” orphanage.

Watch a YouTube video about it here & read more about the ice cream shop here

There were several flavors to choose from!

They also offered smoothies, milkshakes, banana splits, fresh baked pastries and coffee!

I ordered two scoops…one scoop of the brownie batter cookie dough and one scoop of the cookie dough.

Had I known they give you these enormous scoops, I would have only ordered one scoop!

The hubby ordered a scoop of the cherry and a scoop of the brownie batter cookie dough.

It was so good!

The also sell locally made pottery from the Turtle Farm Pottery.

After enjoying our ice cream, we stopped at a nearby souvenir shop.

They had this cool bear bench on the front porch so, I convinced my hubby to sit in so I could take his picture….he looks so excited doesn’t he? 😉

Tip: This area is huge for rock climbing…you can also zipline, take a kayak into a cave, swim, book an outdoor spa, book a massage here or here, take a UTV tour, take an off road jeep tour, visit a reptile zoo, play mini golf, or visit a petting zoo – Click here for more things to do

After leaving the gift shop, we decided to head home since we had a 3.5 hr drive ahead of us.

On the way home, we had to drive through Lexington, KY where Keeneland, the big horse race track is located.

We also passed the incredible Kentucky Castle!

You can book a stay here or book a spa treatment!

In June they hold their annual Lavender Festival.

Read reviews here

Later we passed a sign that said Lincoln Homestead so we got off the exit to check it out.

It was at least a 20 min detour.

When we finally arrived, we discovered it was Abraham Lincoln’s uncle’s house.

The house was built in 1797 by Mordecai Lincoln and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Mordecai Lincoln was the oldest son of Captain Abraham Lincoln and uncle of President Abraham Lincoln.  

The house is the only existing structure owned and occupied by a member of the Lincoln family in Kentucky that still stands on its original site. 

It’s located approximately one mile from the main visitor center at the Lincoln Homestead State Park.

You can tour the house but I’ve read that it’s temporarily closed.

The park features the original home of Lincoln’s mother, as well as replicas of the 1782 cabin and blacksmith shop where his father was reared and learned his trade.

You can watch a YouTube video about the park here

We only stopped at the Mordecai Lincoln House as we were unable to locate the other houses.

You can also golf here.

After leaving here, we continued our drive home.

A while later, we spotted another sign that said Lincoln’s boyhood home.

So, once again, we decided to get off the interstate and check it out.

This was another 20+ min detour and it was in the middle of nowhere!

The Abraham Lincoln Boyhood Home is the farm where the Lincoln family resided from 1811 to 1816.

It is one of the many places to visit along the Kentucky’s Lincoln Heritage Trail. 

The family left Knob Creek and Kentucky in December 1816 and moved to Spencer County, Indiana.

The park was closed when we arrived but we could still walk around and check out the house and read the information plaques.

The Lincoln family lived on 30 acres of the 228 acre Knob Creek Farm from the time Abraham was two and a half until he was almost eight years old.

This log cabin was reconstructed in 1931-33 from logs that dated back to the 1800’s…this cabin is a replica of Lincoln’s boyhood home as the original structure no longer exists.

The larger log cabin is a one-and-a-half story log building, constructed in 1933. The tavern was built to serve motorists stopping by the site and to exhibit Lincoln memorabilia.

This is the creek where Abraham Lincoln almost drowned when he was 7 yrs old.

You can read here about the story told by the friend who saved him

After leaving here, our GPS took us through the small town of Hodgenville, KY where you will find a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln in the middle of town.

There is also a museum honoring our 16th president of the United States.

After these stops, we headed home.

Thanks for reading!

For more things to do along this route,  read my other blog post here and scroll down to the bottom of the page

Click here to see my YouTube channel

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in Red River Gorge.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here & Click here for links to all of my posts

We started our morning with breakfast at Daniel Boone Coffee Shop.

The coffee shop was approximately 15 mins from the treehouse we were staying in called Tradewinds Treehouse.

The restaurant serves breakfast & lunch.

Once you enter the restaurant, you will order at the counter and then they bring it out to you.

There was a long line when we arrived but it moved fairly quickly.

They have a separate line if you are just wanting to order coffee….which, by the way is, organic fair trade…that’s my kind of coffee!

They also have all kinds of baked goods. My hubby really wanted a cinnamon roll but they were sold out!

He also wanted biscuits and gravy but the guy in front of us ordered the last one …..he was not a happy camper! 😉

I ended up ordering the breakfast platter that came with 3 eggs, a meat and toast and the hubby settled on a chocolate chip muffin and a sausage and cheese croissant.

We also ordered two coffees but those didn’t show up until after we had already eaten our breakfast.

The food was very average….we were not impressed but you don’t have many options for breakfast in this area.

Read reviews here

After breakfast, we headed back to the Red River Gorge to check out another area of the 33 mile scenic loop that we had not been able to get to the day before.

Our first stop was the 1.5 mile Rock Bridge Loop trail.

A sign at the beginning of the trailhead described the arch that you would find on this trail.

The trail is a fairly easy hike and leads you to a beautiful sandstone arch that spans across a creek.

Tip: When you park start the trail right behind the parking lot that way you go down the steepest part which is stairs

This was one of our favorite hikes. It felt as if you were walking through a rain forest!

It was so green and lush!

The trail was scattered with rhododendron and towering hemlock trees.

Not long after we started the trail, we arrived at the small but pretty Creation Falls.

Tip: This is a really popular trail so get here early or late afternoon or you may not find parking. Also, there are poisonous snakes in this area so be careful!

As you continue past the falls, you will come to an area where you get an unobstructed view of the falls.

We saw people walking down to the base of the falls but it appeared that you had to wade through the water to get there so, we passed on that.

Shortly after leaving the waterfall, we arrived to the beautiful Rock Bridge Arch.

This natural sandstone arch is the only “bridge” in the Red River Gorge as it’s the only arch that crosses water.

Pictures don’t do this arch justice…it was so cool!

You can walk over the arch but it looked too dangerous to me however, there were two guys on top of it when we arrived.

After finishing the loop trail, we decided to head to the nearby Natural Bridge State Park.

It was about a 20 min drive from the Rock Bridge loop trail.

After getting parked, we headed to the Sky Lift gift shop to purchase tickets for the sky lift.

We saw a Tesla Cybertruck in the parking lot! Who would drive this thing?!

Tip: Click here to read about things to do in this area

The cost to ride the sky lift is $17 for a round trip ticket or $11 for a one way ticket….the price is discounted for children, seniors and military.

There was no wait at the sky lift so we were able to get on as soon as we purchased our tickets.

Tip: The sky lift only operates April through Oct.

The sky lift has been in operation since 1967 and takes you on a mile journey through spectacular mountain scenery.

It was a beautiful ride but a bit scary considering you are dangling from a cable and it was really high up!

Taking the sky lift keeps you from having to hike to the Natural Bridge Arch.

Click here to read about the shortest trail to the Natural Bridge Arch….it’s less than a mile hike.

After you exit the sky lift, you only have to walk 600 ft to the Natural Bridge Arch.

You will be walking across the top of the arch!

The arch is 30 ft wide so you have plenty of room to safely walk across the arch.

Tip: If you take a right turn after exiting the sky lift, it will take you to a 1200 ft scenic footpath to Lookout Point, a magnificent viewing area and the best place to photograph Natural Bridge. Sadly, we missed this lookout!

Views from the arch

After you cross the arch, you can take the stairs to the right and this will lead you to the bottom of the arch.

However, you will have to walk through a narrow passageway called, Fat Man’s Misery, in order to get to the bottom.

Keep in mind that people do enter the passageway from both ends so you will have to wait for others to pass through before you can enter.

This can prove to be challenging during the busy months!

The passage is narrow but I was able to walk through without having to turn sideways.

Once you exit the passage, you will be at the bottom of the arch.

The arch is 78 feet long and 65 feet tall.

This is a spectacular arch and you will not want to miss it if you are in this area!

It is the main attraction in this area!

Tip: Click here for the 10 best hikes in the park – Click here for camping in the park – Click here for more camping in the area – Click here for camping in Red River Gorge

After spending a few minutes at the arch, we decided to hike back to our car instead of taking the sky lift.

There are a few trails that take you back to the sky lift parking lot however, the closest one would be the 1.25 mi trail that will take you back to the skylift parking lot.

We ended up taking a different trail that took us to the Hemlock Lodge.

We thought it would be closer but turns out, it was about the same or longer.

Tip: If you want to hike to the arch instead of taking the sky lift, I recommend parking at the Hemlock Lodge…that’s where the shortest trail to the arch is located. Once you arrive to the lodge, drive past the lodge and the trailhead will be on the right.

On the way to the lodge, we passed amazing rock formations!

The hike is really pretty….you are walking through the forest the with lots of cool rocks!

We spotted the Devil’s Gulch stairway and decided to climb the steep stairs to the top!

So many stairs!

The views were amazing!

However, after walking more than half way up, we decided to turn around because the wooden steps turned into really steep, slick steps that were carved out of the stone.

It had been raining in the area and a lot of the trails were really muddy and slick!

And, I really wasn’t in the mood to break a leg or foot so, we played it safe! 😉

Not to mention, there were several people in front of us and it was taking a while for people to reach the top.

After getting to the bottom of the stairs, we continued our hike.

There are several stairs you will have to climb on the way….thankfully, most of them are going down!

Once we made it to the lodge, we noticed a sign that said Original Trail – the shortest and easiest route to the Natural Bridge Arch.

We also saw a sign about black bears in the area. I think it’s rare to see a bear in this area though.

Once we arrived to the Hemlock Lodge, we had to walk at least another 1/2 mile to the sky lift parking lot…..and we had to walk on the road as there was no sidewalk or shoulder!

I would highly recommend that you don’t take this trail if you are parked at the sky lift!

After arriving back to the sky lift parking lot, we headed back to the gift shop to purchase a t-shirt.

We then headed to another trail called Hidden Arch.

We found this trail a bit confusing….each trailhead is numbered and once we figured out where to go, the trail split and we weren’t sure which trail to take.

You need to follow trailhead #208.

There is another arch you can hike to in this area called Silvermine Arch.…however, it was a bit further than we wanted to hike and it was getting late.

You can watch a YouTube Video about that hike here & click here to watch a YouTube video on the hike to Double Arch.

Oh, and speaking of YouTube, I’ve started a YouTube channel that features videos of the places we’ve visited! You can find it here.

So, the hike to Hidden Arch is only 3/4 mile and is a very easy hike through a thick forest.

Tip: Hidden Arch, Silvermine Arch and Cliff Trail are all located in the Koomer Ridge Campground

This arch wasn’t very impressive so, if you have time, I would hike the Silvermine arch instead.

For  a list of arches in the area, click here

After leaving this arch, we headed to eat at a restaurant called 145 Roadhouse.

The restaurant was located 10 mins from the Hidden Arch trail.

Once we arrived, we were seated right away.

After looking over the menu, we decided to start out with a half order of potato skins.

For our main course, we both ordered the Ribeye steak ..I got mine with the brussel sprouts and the hubby ordered the baked potato.

Our food was really good!

My hubby decided to order dessert….he settled on the triple layered double chocolate cake and said it was delish!

After dinner we headed back to the treehouse….it was a 20 min drive from the restaurant.

Once we were back at the treehouse, we decided to try out the tree net.

My hubby climbed to the top level and I stayed on the bottom level under him!

I was surprised how comfortable it was!

I decided to climb to the top level and my hubby and I  sat there and watched the sunset.

We then decided to check out the slide!

We felt like two kids again!

The property has a hammock too but we never tried that out.

A little bit later, we headed to the hot tub.

It was a beautiful night to stargaze!

After the hot tub, we called it a night.

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 4!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Red River Gorge area.

Read Day 1 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

We started our morning with these views!

I loved that we were surrounded by windows and all that we could see were trees!

After getting our coffee made, we headed straight for the hot tub.

It was pretty chilly the first two days we were there, so that made having a hot tub even better!

We felt as if we were all alone in the woods when sitting in the hot tub….it was so peaceful and relaxing!

Next, we headed  to the kitchen to prepare our breakfast.

I had packed quite a bit of food to take with us in case we didn’t want to go out and eat.

Tip: There are several restaurants within a 10-15 min drive of the treehouse

My hubby prepared himself a bacon and tomato croissant & I had eggs, bacon, fruit & cheese.

To save time in the kitchen, I had precooked the eggs and bacon before we left for our trip .

The treehouse did have a gas stove top so you can definitely prepare meals here if you wanted to.

After breakfast, we headed to the nearby Slade Welcome Center to get a map of the area.

We had planned on driving the 33 mile scenic loop through the Red River Gorge so we wanted a good map that showed the attractions that were located on the drive.

You can watch a YouTube video here about the drive & click here for another informative video from the Welcome Center.

Click here for things to do/see in the Gorge

Tip: The Kentucky Reptile Zoo is right across from the welcome center

The lady at the welcome center was very helpful and gave us tips on the best places to stop along the scenic drive.

Tip: Download a map of the area here

After leaving the welcome center, we had to backtrack as our treehouse was located in the Red River Gorge and that’s where our drive would start.

The first “attraction” we arrived to was an old steel bridge that welcomes you to the Red River Gorge Scenic River.

You will be driving alongside the Red River for part of your drive.

The water was really muddy where they had gotten so much rain!

Our first stop was the suspension bridge in the Sheltowee trace area.

However, after arriving, we noticed a sign stating that the bridge was closed.

From what I’ve read online, the bridge has been closed for a year now due to a tree falling on it.

So, we continued our drive along the gorge.

Shortly after leaving the suspension bridge area, we crossed over another bridge.

It was really unique looking as it had stone running along the sides of the bridge.

After crossing the bridge, we spotted an old wooden barn….this would be our next stop.

This area is where the Gladie Creek historic cabin is located.

The cabin was built around 1900 and is the oldest structure in the Red River Gorge.

This used to be a working farm and there are still remnants of old farm equipment scattered around the property.

The log cabin was locked & boarded up so you couldn’t see the inside.

I read online that it was once used as a post office but not sure how true that is.

There is a nearby visitor’s center where you can learn more about the area but it was closed when we were there and won’t open until June.

After checking out the log cabin, we walked over to check out the barn.

The barn is set up like a bit of a museum….all of the old equipment was labeled as to what it was and then there were information plaques inside the barn talking about the history of the area.

It was really neat to see all of the old equipment and it made you think of how hard it must of been to live back in those days….we have it so easy now….too easy really!

After the barn, we continued our drive.

Not long after leaving the barn, we came up on a roadside waterfall so we pulled over to take a few pictures.

The parking area was only big enough for about 2-3 vehicles.

Tip: Click here for an extensive list of waterfalls in the area

I’m not sure what the name of this falls was called but it was really pretty and you could walk right up to it.

However, we chose not to because it had been raining and was really muddy but there was a couple of people at the base of the falls when we arrived.

Shortly after leaving the falls, we crossed over another bridge where we spotted an old cabin in the woods.

The cabin isn’t marked and there is no parking or path to get to it.

So, my hubby pulled over in a small gravel area a short distance past the cabin and I had to walk on the main road to get back to it.

Again, there is no information about this cabin so I have no idea how old it is but there was a name carved out in the concrete with a date of 1939…I couldn’t find anything online about it.

Next, we stopped at the Devil’s Canyon Overlook.

This area is part of the same ridge from which Sky Bridge was formed and is just off the road on the way to Sky Bridge Recreation Area which I will talk about in just a few minutes.

The overlook is only about 1/4 mile hike and ends at a small wooden fence where you will have sweeping views of the Red River Gorge.

This area would be beautiful during the fall months!

Tip: This area does have black bears and poisonous snakes…I think it’s rare to see a bear but they are in this area

There is an area where you can walk past the fence to a rocky outcropping but be careful as it’s a sheer drop off!

It was raining the day we visited but we didn’t let that stop us…we had places to go and things to see! 😉

Our next stop was an overlook called the Swift Creek Ovelook.

This was a roadside overlook so there is no hiking involved.

You basically get the same views as the Devil’s Canyon Overlook.

I think you can see a couple of arches from this overlook.

Tip: Kentucky has the second most natural arches in the US, with the largest arch being Mantle Rock, which spans 188 feet and stands 30 feet high….#1 is Utah!

Again, you will want to be very careful because this area has another sheer drop off!

Our next stop along this scenic drive was the Sky Bridge trail.

This trail is only 1/4 mile long or you can choose to do the loop trail that is 3/4 mile long…the loop trail takes you over and under the Sky Bridge Arch.

This is a semi-blacktop trail that leaves the Sky Bridge parking area and extends along a high narrow ridge to Sky Bridge and scenic overlooks.

Shortly after starting the trail, you will end at the top or at the bottom of the arch….it just depends on which trail you take….we started with the top of the arch.

Once you arrive to the arch, you will have to walk across the top of it to make your way down to go under it.

This is a bit terrifying as you have sheer drop offs on both sides of you!

Just stay in the center of the arch and you will be fine!

The views were beautiful!

Once you have crossed the arch, you will continue walking along the path a short distance until you reach the bottom of the arch.

This arch is not to be missed! It’s very impressive!

This is one of the coolest arches we saw on our trip!

Click here to read about more arches in this area – the Red River Gorge area is home to more than 100 natural stone arches!

Sky Bridge is a double arch and it was the only double arch that we saw in this area.

The arch is 75 feet long and 23 feet high.

Tip: There is no cell service in most of the Red River Gorge area so I highly recommend that you download offline maps of all the areas you plan on visiting

Tip: If you have an iPhone, please read here on how to call 911 when your phone is in SOS mode or when you have no cell service

There was only four other people on this hike and they were all together so, that definitely made it much more peaceful.

One of the ladies in the group offered to take our picture under the arch….we don’t get many pictures together on our trips so we always take someone up on their offer to take our picture!

After taking way too many pictures of the arch, we continued the loop trail back to the parking lot.

Hiking along the trail

The rock formations are so cool!

My hubby checking out a small ‘cave”.

Look at these formations in the rocks! So interesting!

If you do the top of the arch first, you will have 75 wooden stairs to climb at the end of the trail!

After leaving this area, we headed to our next stop called Camera Point Overlook.

The trail is located down a short road from the Sky Bridge Trail parking area…you can walk here from the Sky Bridge parking lot if you wanted to.

The overlook was only 1/4 mile long and gives you views of the gorge and of the Sky Bridge Arch.

Next, we headed to the Whistling Arch trail which is also 1/4 mile long.

Tip: The Whistling Arch is only a 3 min drive from the Sky Bridge trail….near here is the Castle Arch. Unfortunately, we missed this arch….there’s just too many to see!

The Whistling Arch trail starts from the parking area and extends along a wooded ridge to Whistling Arch.

Always be aware of the rocks above your head!

This arch is a rather small arch and not that impressive compared to some of the other arches but it’s worth seeing since it’s such a short hike.

The arch is probably about 10 feet wide and 4 ft high.

Tip: The Whittleton Arch, which spans 44 feet across and 14 feet high, is recorded as the largest arch by mass in the Red River Gorge.

There is a small overlook near the arch that gives you beautiful views of the gorge.

As we were walking along the trail back to the parking lot, my hubby and I both found painted rocks that someone had left along the trail.

I had actually found a rock similar to these rocks on the green way near my house. I ended up taking the rock with me on our trip to Oregon last year and hid it in a tree in the Redwoods National Forest.

We will probably take these rocks on our upcoming trip to South Dakota and hide them. 🙂

Our next stop, Angels Windows Arch, was less than a mile from the Whistling Arch trail…it was only 1/4 mile walk to the arch.

The trail extends along a wooded ridge that leads under a high cliff to Angel Windows.

The trees and rocks were covered in moss…..so cool! It reminded me of when we visited Washington!

You will pass a number of overhangs and continue along the ledge.

Tip: Make sure you wear really good hiking shoes as the trails have lots of exposed roots and rocks!

The trail ends at Angel Windows Arch….these are two small arches clustered together.

There is a drop-off to the right as you go past Angel Windows so be sure to use caution when exploring the area.

There was another couple at the arch that pointed out that the arch looked like a horse’s head….it actually looked just like one!

The couple offered to take our picture with the “horse’s head arch” so, of course, we said yes!

On the way back, we spotted this small “cave like structure” in the rock so, of course, I had to have my hubby take a picture! 😉

We saw these red berries all along the path.

Our last stop of the day would be Chimney Rock.

Note: This isn’t the end of the scenic drive we just didn’t have time to finish all of it.

To get to Chimney Rock, you have to drive down a 4 mile gravel road.

The road is well maintained and wasn’t bad at all.

After arriving to the parking lot, the trail to the overlook is only 1/4 mile.

A sign warning you of the dangers in the area.

These miniature irises were blooming all along the trail!

There are several off shoot paths along this trail where you can walk out to a rocky outcropping for some amazing views….but be very careful as it’s a sheer drop off!

At the overlook, you get some amazing views of the gorge and the red river!

My pictures don’t do it justice as it was rainy and cloudy.

We spotted these baby pine cones on a nearby tree.

We headed back to the parking lot and walked over to the nearby Princess Arch trail.…it too, was only 1/4 mile long.

Tip: Click here for a Chimney Rock trail guide and map

At the start of the trail, we spotted this memorial for a 21 yr old guy who had fallen to his death at the Princess Arch. It’s a reminder of how dangerous this area can be if you’re not careful.

The trail passes through mixed pine/hardwood stands and rhododendron.

The trail takes you over the top of the 32 ft long arch….be very careful!

After you cross over the arch, you can then continue the path to go under the arch.

This is a nice size arch and I would definitely recommend you add it to your list if you are visiting this area!

More shots of the arch

As we were leaving the arch, we saw a small, round hole in the side of the rock….so, again, I had to have my picture taken in the hole!

After leaving this area, we headed 30 mins to have dinner at Miguel’s Pizza.

Once we arrived, we noticed a tree in the parking lot that was full of shoes!

Miguel’s opened in 1984 in the historic 1930’s old Jottem Down country store.

You had to order at the counter and “build your own pizza” from the options listed on their menu…..which are endless!

I ordered the cauliflower crust pizza with an oil base, mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken and pineapple and the hubby ordered half of a “meat lovers” pizza.

The pizza was very good!

They have a 4.6 rating out of 5400 google reviews.

Read more here about Miguel’s Pizza

After dinner, we headed to a place that I had found out about on the Slade Welcome Center’s website under the “things to do” link….it was called,  The Hive at High Rock, a thermal spa experience.

I had looked into this place before booking our appointment and was actually very hesitant about booking here because their reviews were limited and their social media wasn’t kept current but I went ahead and decided to book it anyways.

I didn’t know what to expect since there wasn’t much about it online.

The property was located approx. 20 mins from Miguel’s Pizza and 25 from our treehouse.

When we arrived to the property, we noticed that there was a cool looking A frame house and some dome tents that you could rent.

However, there were no cars around so, I was getting a bit nervous!

The email confirmation I received, stated that we needed to check in at the Peddler’s Bar behind the main cabin.

So, once we got parked, that’s where we headed.

At the bar, the owner Josh, was waiting for our arrival.

He politely greeted us with a hot cup of tea and chatted with us for a few minutes.

He then took us through an entrance behind the bar into the spa area.

Ok, ya’ll….this is where my anxiety and doubt ended about this place!!

I was literally speechless while I stood staring at this place with my mouth gaped open!

I truly couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I know that sounds a bit dramatic but I’m serious!!

Josh explained to us that he had built 95% of this all by himself!

He had moved here from Arizona and purchased this property sight unseen!

I’ve never met someone with so much artistic ability!

Not only was he creative and artistic, he made us feel so comfortable and welcome!

The outdoor spa had 3 claw foot tubs that are filled with water coming from the ceiling!

There is also an infrared sauna, an outdoor shower and an open air deck above the tubs that include yoga mats where you can unwind and relax.

You can also add on a massage table with oils, Indian Clay face masks and a Sweetgrass Sage Smudge stick.

A shot of the property from the deck

You are provided robes and towels during your 3 hour appointment.

Once Josh went over everything, we were left alone for the next 3 hours with 100% privacy.

Even the deck upstairs had curtains on every side.

Josh had built this water feature where water slowly ran off of the clear ceiling over your head to make it appear to be raining!

He had also built this small pond that had a fog machine along with a bullfrog croaking sound effects ….it was so cool!

He had used repurposed materials to build this incredible outdoor spa and we just couldn’t get over how awesome it was!

He told us about all of these cool ideas he had for more soaking tubs and I am definitely coming back to check those out once he opens them!

After getting changed into our robes, we enjoyed our delicious hot tea before getting into the soaking tubs.

One of the tubs had 45 degree water in it so you could alternate between hot and cold….we never used the cold bath as I’m not a fan of being cold! 😉

The bottoms of each tub are covered with smooth rocks.

Click here to read about the benefits of cold water baths

Note: The cold and hot water valves are within reaching distance of each of the tubs so you can adjust the water temperature for each tub separately

Josh provided plenty of water at each tub so you wouldn’t get dehydrated!

It was so relaxing soaking in the tubs while listening to the sound of the “rain” and the sound of the bullfrog croaking while watching the mist linger through the tree covered hill in front of us!

After spending several minutes soaking in the tub, my hubby got out to retrieve our face masks that I had included when I booked our appointment.

We had to mix apple cider vinegar in with the clay in order to make the mask.

We then applied it to our faces and were told to leave it on for 20 mins.

After applying our face masks, we could literally feel our face pulsating!

I have since read that it’s due to cutaneous vasodilation ….this occurs when a clay mask has dried and contracted your skin, causing blood to rush to the surface of your skin.

Tip: Read here as to why you shouldn’t leave this mask on for longer than 20 mins & read more here about this pulsating mask!

After leaving our masks on for 20 mins, we both got out of the tubs and headed over to the showers to wash the face masks off.

Josh had also provided shampoo and conditioner that had the best smell ever!!

After the shower, we got into the sauna for about 10-15 mins…this was so cool! I wish I had one at home!

We then headed upstairs to the massage table where I had convinced my hubby to give me a massage for my birthday!

He gives pretty good massages…even better than some massage therapists that I’ve paid!

After my massage, we headed back to the soaking tubs for a while.

Sadly, our three hours flew by!

Once we were dressed, we headed out of the spa area and back out to the bar where we had checked in with Josh.

We checked out the nearby bathroom to see what it looked like because he had built all of this from scratch and repurposed material.

He had also built a stage near the bar where they would have live music.

This place was super cool and I highly recommend you check this place out if you are ever in the area!!

We are already thinking of booking again in the fall!!

By the way, if you book the spa you have it completely to yourself….even if you book for one person! You get it for 3 hrs!

Here’s a link to his Facebook page

The reason he doesn’t have many reviews is because he hasn’t been opened very long….actually, he just opened the spa section back in Oct or Nov of last year.

After we left the spa, we headed back to our treehouse and called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

Read Day 1 here & Click here for links to all of my posts

Stay tuned for Day 3!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

It’s been a while since my last blog post but we typically don’t travel during the winter months.

I don’t know about you, but I hate cold weather! I go into hibernation mode during the months of Dec through March!

We typically book our first trip of the year in April…not only because the weather is a lot nicer by then, but it’s also my birthday month!

I usually try to book a getaway for my birthday every year and this year was no exception!

I chose an area that we hadn’t visited before and was only 4 hours from our house.

My sister had told me about this place after she and her husband had visited the area and they really enjoyed it.

She also shared a unique property with me that she had seen advertised on Facebook and I just had to book it! But more on that in just a bit! 😉

We headed out on a Thursday afternoon around noon and arrived around 5 pm.

This area is one hour ahead of our time in Tennessee.

Entering the Red River Gorge

Shortly before arriving to our rental in the Red River Gorge, we had to drive through the Nada Tunnel.

The Nada Tunnel, also known as the gateway to the Red River Gorge, was built originally for the Dana Lumber Company in the early 1900s and it was named for Nada, Kentucky, (a now-forgotten logging town 10 miles past the entrance of the tunnel).

The tunnel is 12 feet wide, 13 feet high and 900 feet long.

Fun Fact: The tunnel only used to be 12 feet by 12 feet, but there was once a train load of logs that tried to pass through and got stuck. In an effort to free the train, it created an extra foot of height at the top.

When you arrive to the tunnel, you will likely see other cars waiting as the tunnel is only wide enough for vehicles to enter from one end at a time.

Thankfully, you can see all the way through the tunnel making it easier to see when you can enter.

The construction of the tunnel began in 1910 and was finished in 1911 and was initially used for locomotives to transport timber to a nearby lumber company.

We were able to enter the tunnel as soon as we arrived as no one else was waiting.

Exiting the tunnel

After driving through the tunnel, we turned around and drove back through!

It had been raining so there was a small waterfall flowing over the top of the entrance of the tunnel.

It was so cool!

Some say the tunnel is haunted….I don’t believe in that kind of stuff but if you do, watch out for ghosts! 😉

It was a bit eerie driving through it!

Tip: Click here to read about the nearby Petroglyphs in the area

Shortly after driving through the tunnel, we arrived to our rental.

It was up a steep, winding and narrow road with lots of bumps along the way!

I recommend a 4WD if you stay here!

Thankfully, we drove our jeep so it worked out fine!

So, here’s a shot of what would be our home away from home for the next 3 nights!

Yes, another Tree house and it was so cool!

It was called the Tradewinds Treehouse and we rented it online from Red River Gorgeous.

They have lots of unique properties and cabins that you can rent.

Tip: There are lots of cabins and unique properties to rent in this area…you can also check out Red River Gorge Cabins.

The Tradewinds Treehouse are two twin treehouses perched side by side.

It features full electricity, running water, heat, a private bathhouse, a slide, and even a hot tub!

One treehouse is where the small kitchen and seating area is located.

Tip: There is no microwave or paper towels provided but there is a small 3 burner gas stove top as well as a charcoal grill outside but no charcoal or lighter fluid is provided.

The other treehouse has a queen size bed and a youth size mattress in the loft above.

The bedroom does have a small heater/air conditioner and the windows open.

There is also a private bath house nearby that has a loft with mattress, wood burning stove, a couch and a full size bathroom with a shower.

Tip: The bathroom does not have a blow dryer, mirror of any kind, bath soap, shampoo or conditioner.

There is also a hot tub that can accommodate up to 6 adults….ya’ll know we love having a hot tub and this one was the biggest we’ve had so far!

The property is really private so you don’t have someone right on top of you but there are other treehouses and cabins around.

There’s a huge gathering area that includes a firepit, hammock, grill & several chairs.

Another cool feature was the huge tree net that you could climb and lay in…it was two levels high and super sturdy!

After checking out the treehouses, we headed back to our car to unload.

There are lots of stone stairs that you have to climb to get to the treehouse so keep that in mind if you have any mobility issues.

The treehouse is surrounded by lots of trees and moss covered rocks…..you are completely surrounded by woods!

After getting settled in, I prepared a charcuterie board for our dinner since we didn’t want to leave and find somewhere to eat.

Tip: Click here for restaurants in the area & here for activities

We sat outside on the small deck and enjoyed our charcuterie board…..it was so peaceful!

After we ate, we headed to the hot tub!

It was drizzling rain but felt so refreshing!

After the hot tub, we called it a night!

A few more shots of the treehouse

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 2…you won’t want to miss it!! 😉

UPDATE: Read Day 2 here, Day 3 here & Day 4 here

Click here for links to all of my blog posts