This year’s first road trip was visiting the Great Smoky Mountains National park! It was about a 9 hour trip with a single overnight stay in Lexington, KY.
Coat Check Coffee
On the way, we stopped in Indianapolis for a coffee boost – Coat Check Coffee .
Needless to say, it was delicious and a much needed pick me up!
Lexington, KY
Lexington was honestly great. We had a great time even though we were only there for an afternoon. We stayed at the Elmwood Hotel, which was very pleasant.
James E. Pepper Distillery
We had a reservation at the James E. Pepper distillery, which we ended up making JUST IN TIME – we literally checked into our hotel, dropped some luggage, and hurriedly made our way over to the distillery.
There are A TON of distilleries in the area (in fact, there is a whole trail to do), but this time around, we chose James E. Pepper – which we loved!
We got to try plenty of bourbon/whiskey at different stages of its distilling process along with some yummy bourbon chocolate balls!
Smoky Mountains
The day after, we arrived at our final destination – the Great Smoky Mountains! We camped out for a few days at Cosby Campground.
Like any national park…it was beautiful. We did a few trails, both on foot and on car, made some great food at camp, and got some see some wildlife – including some bears!
There were no showers at camp (although there were flush toilets, which was great! But after a couple of days of camping and hiking…we needed to figure something out. We ended up finding a little spot in the nearby town, about 7 minutes away that were offering hot showers for $6!
Some of the trails we did: