Camping in Tennessee

This week we decided we needed a break. On Sunday night after I finished work we drove to the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee. On the day we arrived we went through Gatlinburg. I'd never been there and didn't realize how touristy it was. It's like a mini version of Orlando. In case you're wondering what that means it's like downtown Jackson Hole but bigger and with theme parks. After finding our campground we decided to take a nice little hike. We chose something not too long because we had the dogs with us and Vasco is getting old and Tibo is not much of a hiking type of dog. We ended up going on a 6.5 mile loop of old growth forest. Vasco was exhausted by the end and Tibo was limping from a raw spot from his harness (I discovered the scab a couple days later, oops.) But not bad for an 11 year old German Shepherd and a little dog who had back surgery.

Monday night it rained so we decided that was enough sleeping in the tent. Did I mention it's a 2 person tent and we had all 4 of us in there? After packing up that morning we decided to head down into the national forests in Georgia. We ended up taking a road in the middle of nowhere that led to a lake in the Chattahoochee National Forest. There was only 4 other groups of people there and it was just beautiful. It was a great chance to relax. That night we drove down to Macon, Georgia and stayed in a hotel there.

On Wednesday we continued driving through Georgia and decided to go see the coast. We stopped for lunch and a park break in Savannah. We took a drive down the streets with the old houses on them. The houses were every type of fancy architecture there is and were so neat. The streets had a median with trees as well as the sides of the street so it was a corridor of oak trees with moss hanging from them. It was really nice.

As we continued down the coast we stopped at St Mary's, Georgia. It's the second oldest town in the US (keep reading for the first). It was very small but pleasant with a nice oceanside park that we took a stroll in. We were to late in the day but they had a ferry that goes to Cumberland Island where they have wild horses.

After St Mary's we got on to A1A in Jacksonville, Florida. A1A goes along the coast and is the last road next to all the beaches. The beach houses were really fun to look at. The was no one else on the road (it had been raining and it was dusk) so we took a leaisurely drive enjoying all the types and colors of houses. When we reached St Augustine, Florida (the oldest town in the US) we stopped at a hotel and found dinner.

Early Thursday morning we went to Castillo de San Marcos which is the old Spanish fort at St Augustine. The fort was constructed in 1672. It was really interesting and had a lot of thought and detail that went into each piece of it. This fort was never taken and only switched hands with treaties. For that length of history I think that is just amazing! St Augustine was first colonized by the Spanish in 1565. They built city walls and gates and a lot of the old structures still exist. It was interesting to drive down the narrow streets and think how long ago that was. I still think the Spanish had a very sneaky plan. They sold Spanish Florida to the US with the plan to just take it over again later for free :) Anyone that doesn't think this is true can just visit for a couple days :) After seeing St Augustine we drove back home and collapsed into our own comfortable bed. You never appreciate your own bed as much as after a vacation.