It's been a long time since the last Travel Tuesday Link Up, but I figured it was time to bring it back. However, I am revitalizing it a little bit to hopefully help highlight more great travel bloggers, encourage travel as things begin to open back up or help us travel through the screen. Instead of having my own full travel post as part of the blog, three main categories will change out every month. I will share our favorite small-town travel find. Then a post entered from the month before will be highlighted in each of the other categories. I may slowly add more categories over time, so let me know below if you have any recommendations. The rules for engagement are below, but for now, let's get started with month number one!
Small Town Find of the Month
Bristol, VA/TN
Bristol sits on the border of Tennessee and Virginia. We stayed at Sugar Hollow Park, a wonderful city campground in Bristol, Va, that is only $20 a night. We headed in to explore the town and were amazed by how wonderful it was. Did you know Bristol is actually the birthplace of country music? I had no clue. There are tons of wonderful murals paying homage to country music greats. You pass places on the historic registry, including spots owned by the Carter family (as in June Carter and Johnny Cash). The buildings date back to the 1800s, and many have been beautifully restored. Definitely plan to visit Blackbird Bakery (get the cinnamon roll) and Lumac Rooftop Bar at the Bristol Hotel (Honey Vanilla Old Fashioned is dreams). The whole town is very walkable, but these two spots are just two blocks from each other. There are also great breweries to visit, shops to peek into, and race-themed restaurants to enjoy.
Here's a peek at what things are looking like around here recently...
{April Recap}
We spent the majority of April trying to fit in as much time as possible with all our favorite people in Florida! Between girl's nights, nieces and nephew hugs, games of Exploding Kittens in NSB, and spending the last two weeks touring Tampa with the bro-and-sis-in-law, it was a busy month. We hitched up and headed north on April 30th, only to get stuck on the side of the road after our axle and bearing broke in one of our camper tires. Thankfully, a roadside angel showed up with perfect timing, and his own sign from God that he should stop to help us, after the back doors on his truck flew open when he passed us. May tried to come in with a real bang, but we are hoping for smooth sailing from here on out as we slowly make our way to Maine.
Yellowstone is a stunningly beautiful national park! With last week being National Park Week, I finally got around to putting together our video from our time in Yellowstone National Park in 2018. Babe and I both agreed that it is, so far, the best national park we have visited. The scenery is out of this world, and it’s so easy to navigate, but there are other reasons to visit Yellowstone. Everyone has heard of Old Faithful, and the park definitely gets crowded with people coming to see it, but there are some easy ways to make sure your experience is a great one! Here are 7 tips and tricks for visiting Yellowstone National Park in June…
Tips and Tricks for Yellowstone National Park
First photo: Eagle Creek Campground View from hiking trail \\ Second Photo: Our Eagle Creek Campsite
Where to Stay: Gardiner, Montana (Yellowstone North Entrance)
We heard that the West Yellowstone entrance gets super crowded, especially the closer you get to summer. Make plans to stay just outside the North Entrance to Yellowstone. We stayed at Eagle Creek Campground. This beautiful campground is up on a hill, overlooking Gardiner, Montana, and the north entrance to the park. For only $7 a night we had a campsite all to ourselves. There are no hookups, but there are bathrooms to use if you are planning to tent camp. We had our RV and were able to secure a spot right near the front of the campground. Be sure to try to get there early in the day as Eagle Creek Campground can fill up quickly. The host is very accomodating and tried to make room for people without also overcrowding sites, but if you want to ensure you have a spot, it’s best to set up BEFORE you head into Yellowstone National Park. The town of Gardiner is super cute and offers options for dining and shopping, so you can grab a bite to eat to get set for a day of exploring.
I love having these monthly check-ins to look back on.
{arranging} Our stays for the next few weeks on the road. We have been in NSB for the past few weeks and going back-and-forth to Orlando catching up with family and friends. We are heading to Tampa for the last few weeks of April to spend time with Babe's dad and the bro and SIL. Then come April 30th we are New England bound and I am excited!
{craving} all the pasta and yum yum sauce lately! Not sure why, but even after Chinese food on Friday night (leftovers on Sunday) and Pad Thai on Monday night I am still wanting nothing but Asian noodles of any kind. Trying to keep myself in check though because I am supposed to be limiting gluten- haha.
{enjoying} as much time with friends and fam as we can fit in before hitting the road again. This next stretch will be the longest we've been away since our first time on the road back in 2018. We are planning to be gone for 3 months before we come back to Florida in July for our annual aunt and uncle trip. Being away from everyone is definitely the hardest part of road life (Exhibit A: a throwback video from our first time hitting the road).
{discussing} what we want our route to be from Florida to New England. Our ultimate destination is Maine, but we plan to take 2 months to get there. Trying to figure out the places we most want to stop along the way. Any good recommendations for stops from Florida to Maine?
{preparing} the camper for our next stint. We have somehow accumulated a lot more stuff than we originally had when we first hit the road. I have so many clothes that the closet finally broke. I need to purge and organize. We also have a few small things that need to be fixed, so we are planning to do that on Friday before heading to Tampa on Saturday.
That's it for April, not a whole lot going on other than trying to get set to leave.
This little monthly recap is going to be short and sweet, because I'm playing catch up on all things life/work after a week off, but I didn't want to miss my favorite Currently Link Up with Anne!
February Things: We kicked off February with one last week in Louisiana and a visit from my bestie! Spent the weekend in NOLA and meeting gators on a bayou tour. After a month in Louisiana, we have been staying at my mom's place in TN so that we had a place to store the camper while we flew to Colorado. It's been a month of lazy days, time with family (including a fun 50th celebration, a night in Knoxville celebrating the birth of my cousin with his grandpa and dad, and chats over drinks). We then closed out the month with a great week of skiing and snowmobiling (our first time and HIGHLY recommended) in Breckenridge with my sister and her bf.
