A very busy week ended with our road trip down South. Quick warning – this recap post is very photo heavy!

MONDAY

My Monday went better than the previous Sunday which meant I had to get my head back on straight and start focusing on everything that was going on. I spent a huge chunk of the evening writing posts and scheduling out various social media. This late night snack of Frosted Flakes helped me stay up. Anyone else ever eat cereal out of mugs?

TUESDAY

I was mentally burnt out Tuesday night from all of the packing, planning and general managing of everything else going on. Basically Tuesday was a blur, much like my face in this photo.

WEDNESDAY

We had planned to leave for our road trip directly after work on Thursday so Jason and I made a few last minute stops before packing the car. We ate dinner at Edorrito – a new place near us that makes sushi burritos. I am still not sure how I feel about this.

THURSDAY

When the day of the road trip came around, we went into last minute panic mode. Checking the list a few more times, making sure we had those random items (Can opener? Check.) and running through all of the tasks we were potentially forgetting to do. The craziness aside, it was time to head out and we couldn’t be more excited. After a quick stop off for dinner, we headed down towards Eagle Rock, VA.

We knew we wouldn’t be doing much of anything Thursday night so we opted to stay in a cabin Airbnb. The particular place we stayed in was in the middle of 200 + acres of woods and had a high-end recording studio on the second floor. It was pretty rad.

There were also a few other tempting things around the house 🙂

FRIDAY

We woke up early the next day and had some coffee at the cabin before venturing on to our next destination.

Well, maybe a quick pit stop for treats thanks to Route 8 Donuts.

Eventually we arrived at our next destination which was located just outside of Asheville, NC. Since we were traveling during Memorial Day Weekend, we wanted to make sure that we were able to book all of our lodging and campsites in advance. We used a site called Hipcamp* which lets you book not only campgrounds in your area, but also unique private listings as well. This campsite we stayed at was on the top of a mountain on someone’s private land. It’s about a mile up but once you get there, you basically have the entire mountain top to yourself.

And the views aren’t too shabby…

After we set up our tent we headed over to Pisgah National Forest for a hike. We wound up on an easy little hike that led us to some pretty incredible vistas.

We took more of the Blue Ridge Parkway home. Driving down the road turned out to be one of our favorite aspects of the trip.

Back at camp, we lit up the fire, roasted some hot dogs and hunkered down in the tent to prepare of an early start the next morning.

SATURDAY

We woke up just after sunrise, ready to get started but not before spending a moment enjoying our camp one last time.

I won’t be forgetting these views anytime soon.

Time for our morning coffee. Thankfully we packed our Stumptown Cold Brews.

We decided to get breakfast in town because we were so close to Asheville. We ate some amazing takeout breakfast sandwiches and avocado toast from Sunny Point Cafe. This might sounds strange but my sandwich had the best tomato I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.

Obviously, we couldn’t resist grabbing a donut while we were in the city so we stopped by Hole to try out some of their handmade-in-front-of-you delightful creations.

Now that we were well fed, we were back on the road and on to our next location.

There were plenty of stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway for photos ops.

Our hike for the day was at Crabtree Falls in North Carolina. The pleasant descent down led us to a beautiful 70-foot waterfall.

Ellie was more than stoked to cool off.

Definitely worth the outing.

A quick Clif bar snack in the car before we made it to our final destination for the evening.

Ellie decided to catch a few Z’s before we arrived.

Our cabin for the night was a cute little tiny home in East Tennessee.

We had a few beers and settled in before the huge storm made it’s way to the cabin.

We were so thankful to have a roof over us because it rained all night long!

SUNDAY

By the time we ate our oatmeal and re-packed our stuff, the rain had all but disappeared and sunshine made its way onto the road.

Some Sanpellegrino courtesy of our Airbnb 🙂

Ellie was ready to go again!

One more mid-way donut stop just to keep up with tradition. A special thanks to Olykoek Shoppe sent directly from my taste buds.

Don’t mind if I do…

Finally we arrived at out tent site for the night – another total Hipcamp gem featuring great views and total solitude located in Greenbrier State Forest.

After setting up, we went for a brief hike down/up the mountain. Jason prepped for the journey with a beer.

The sun was setting so it was time for dinner.

Ellie was really enjoying her time kicking back.

Jason made my absolute favorite – campfire burgers.

Afterwards, it was time for our first s’more of the trip.

Hell. Yes.

It was getting darker so we set up our lights and headed into the tent for the night to kick back.

That was last week but our trip wasn’t over so…TO BE CONTINUED…