The Shoos haven’t done a proper road trip vacation in a while. Sarah and I have been on many trips to our favorite state of Colorado, but have never ventured further than Nashville in a car with Grayson. With all electronic devices charged we set course to the Smoky Mountains.

We booked a modestly equipped KOA single room cabin with a queen bed, bunk beds, shower, toilet, sink, fridge and sporadic wifi (it wasn’t bad not being able to connect every single minute). All cooking was to be done on a fire-pit outside the cabin — which just mean everything was delicious.

We loosely planned our trip around doing white-water rafting, hiking, driving, and hanging out as a family.

The previous photos are from Mt Mitchell on the Blue Ridge Parkway .

We got Grayson to do two different hikes for about 6-7 miles of travel over four hours. We did Grotto Falls and Laurel Falls. He was a trooper!

On our last day we drove the Cades Cove nature loop. We saw two bears!!