THE COLORS OF FALL....Our 2020 Trip to Michigan

Traveling in 2020 is a rarity for many. But when you can take a road trip, be in the fresh air and travel somewhere with way less Covid cases than your area, it’s even sweeter.

We were not going to take our annual Fall trip north this year and in an odd twist of fate, not only did we do it, but we did it during the middle of the week with much-needed time off for Mr. Nine!

The last few years our Fall trip has almost been completely rained out. Remember the gale force winds from Last Year??

 

Well, the forecast did not look good again and while half of the trip was rained out, we got lucky with a glorious drive up and 6 hours on Thursday for hiking and outdoorsy shenanigans! And let me tell you, the INCREDIBLE Fall colors made it all worth it.

We were so enticed by the color of the leaves and a beautiful day on our drive up that I didn’t even get any pictures on the drive. When we got there we were so hungry and many places up there are closed for dinner on Wednesdays but a good ole standby in the adjoining town called the Cabbage Shed was open and I think it’s the best meal we had ever had there! Great view for dinner too! My cocktail was called the Headless Horseman which was a mix of cinnamon bourbon and ginger beer and cinnamon/sugar rim. We shared the white cheddar Wisconsin cheese curds and I had the fish and chips which was voted best in the county!

We looked at the weather forecast and saw that the rain wouldn’t start coming in until about 2 PM the next day so despite loving to sleep in on vacation, we were up at 6:30 AM and ready to roll! After some coffee and a little bit of peanut butter toast for protein for our hikes, we started the drive North to the town of Empire to hike the Empire Bluff Trail.

 On our way we stopped at the Platte River that runs out into Lake Michigan. We have kayaked it but after seeing the beauty of it in the Fall, we’re bringing our kayaks next year for sure.

The Empire Bluff Trail and hike was just perfect. Very few people and incredible views.

When we are in the town of Empire, we always drive to the park on Lake Michigan that we have frequented before. On our way there is a little tavern we’d have lunch at once called Joe’s Friendly Tavern. During these times of Covid, hours of operation have changed, and some restaurants are not open every day. When we walked up to the restaurant, we saw that the Fall special was Honeycrisp apples and Havarti cheese on grilled oat bread with a cup of soup. We were so IN, plus I knew I could get my beloved Bailey’s and coffee there. So here we were at 10:45 AM splitting a lunch and having adult beverages! It’s a pretty big place and there was only one other couple in there. We actually felt kind of special, LOL!

Then, when your man stops in the middle of a seasonal road so you can get out the trip pod instead of doing a selfie= Happy wife!!

MY HIKING OUTFIT WAS PERFECT 

(pants and shoes gift from Mr. Nine)

Outfit Deets:

HIKING PANTS HERE // SWEATSHIRT HERE // VEST HERE // HIKING SNEAKERS HERE // EARRINGS HERE

We were determined to find another hike and found ourselves at Otter Creek. Then onto Bass Lake for the best serenity.

 

Pouring down rain meant Cozy time.

Then dinner in town at the Stormcloud Brewery where of course I had to pose with the annual giant pumpkin. (see 2016 trip here). Since the Fall Festival was canceled, someone chiseled a face right in it.

Friday was sleeping in and listening to the rain. A late morning breakfast At Birch and Maple splitting a yummy omelet and indulging in a Mimosa of course. 

Then it was one last drive through town.

And back south on M22 highway where we found beloved old trunk and pumpkin displays, LOL! Quick trip but much needed to re-energize and refresh and relish in my beloved FALL!

LOVE THIS JACKET

Outfit Deets:

JACKET HERE // SHIRT HERE // BOOTS HERE // SOCKS HERE // TANK HERE

And Check out the 2018 Trip HERE

Hope you've been getting your Fall on. Now, excuse me while I go dust off my Christmas Trees, lol!

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xoxo 

 

GATLINBURG GETAWAY

What a fun time in Gatlinburg Tennessee over the holidays! This is the first time we’ve gone on an away vacation with Mr. Nine’s sister and family and we had a ball! It was so wonderful to spend some quality time with them and for the cousins to enjoy each other’s company! 

Bro snd Sis look so much alike

We did want crisp air and snow but it was a balmy 65-70, so while nice, a big nada on the white stuff.

We have been to Gatlinburg before and some of you know it’s where we eloped to, but we had not been back in years, so this was a treat! Except for one thing! The switchbacks were the death of me and I thought for sure we would go over the mountain on several occasions! Here are some of my favorite things we did in order of their occurrence.

Hiking

Luckily, both of our families love to hike, and we have an obsession with finding water on our hikes so the trails to waterfalls were inevitable. One of them, Mr. Nine and I had done before but the other one was new to us and they were both beautiful. Funny thing was the one called Abrams Falls noted on the sign that it took 3 to 4 hours, but it was getting close to dark and we were able to do it in just two, we are speedy like that! I don’t know if the kids loved as many miles as we put in but we sure were proud of ourselves!

The "Girl's" before the hikes..we're outnumbered.

Lil Fun around town before our hikes 

SkyBridge

OK, this is where I was scared blank less! The longest suspension bridge in the country opened in May 2019 in Gatlinburg. It is basically a swinging bridge with the glass bottom middle and metal across the mountain. Not only was I scared to death to go up the ski lift type thingy straight up but this bridge had me frightful. However, I was able to conquer my fear and it was actually so so cool. Talk about being proud of myself!

The other side! We DID IT!!

The glass portion..eek. it looks like the dirt is right under you in this pic but it's hundreds of feet down.

Beautiful pic my niece took

Ole Red

After our SkyBridge trek, we were starving, and we were excited to try Ole Red for lunch as it had been a two hour wait the night before. If you’re not familiar, Ole Red is an older song by Blake Shelton and he opened this restaurant in Gatlinburg along with one just like it in Nashville. It features scrumptious home cooking and awesome live entertainment. We just loved the band as they played all new and old-school country. 
The homemade tater tots were to die for!

They were fantastic!

Playing Games & Being with family

Both of our families also love to play games. We played everything from Yahtzee to Quiplash which is a fun interactive phone game with the TV screen, to heads up to rummy and of course some trivia.

Yahtzee was a fav

And Mini Golf was a blast even though we lost. 2 of our team got a hole in one and Mr. Nine got 2!

Meeting Nadine

Talk about a bonus! You know I love to meet my favorite bloggers in real life when I can. When Nadine from Life By Nadine Lynn and I found out we were both going to be in Gatlinburg at the same time, we knew we had to make a meet up happen. This girl is just as genuine and sweet in person as she is on her blog. And bonus, I got to meet her beautiful daughter Zoe, who is born on one of our sons’ birthdays and her cool husband Chris who I’m sure you all know from some of her blog posts. Nadine found the perfect area to meet called the Village and the best hot chocolate and donuts from the Donut Friar. Such a blessing to meet my wonderful blog friends like Nadine, who I have known since the beginning of my blog journey. I just love this girl!

The Island

After I left Nadine, it was time for lunch with my crew. Mr. Nine's sister and family were attending mass and doing lunch on their own. Ironically, Nadine mentioned a great place to go in Pigeon Forge called the Island where there were all kinds of shops, water displays rides and games. How funny is it that out of all those places, our family ended up seated by us at the same restaurant! We had a ball at the Island. After doing the skybridge, I was actually excited yet still a little fearful to do the big Ferris wheel. We also went to Ole Smoky and did the moonshine tasting with the boys that are over 21 and it was a blast!

Found some big balls, lol!

The cornbread and sweet butter and my salad was so good!

View from the Ferris Wheel

 JT...our moonshine taste master

Cheers with our mini moonshines

Just a pickin' and a grinin'!

Log Chapel

We knew long before we planned this trip that we wanted to show our boys where we eloped to. Luckily, our Log chapel was not destroyed by the Gatlinburg fires. It looked a little worn, but it had some new decking added on and we were able to get some pictures and walk around the property. So fun to reminisce on the lovely little chapel where we got married. We knew we wanted to spend some more time with family playing games, so it was another quiet night at home and wanting to get back to the cabin before dark because the switchbacks are even worse to drive on in the dark!

Another bonus, the road intersecting ours was called Daisy Lane with an additional homemade sign with daisies on it. It felt so comforting to think that Daisy was watching over us on the mountain. 

Here is a picture of our cabin which was perfect for our families and a link if you’re interested in renting it. RENT CABIN HERE 

One last morning view..

HAPPY WEEK FORWARD. MAY YOUR VIEW OF THE WEEK BE PEACEFUL!!

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xo