Girlfriends Getaway in Sevierville, TN. – What to Do
Have you been so busy that you have become out of touch with your friends? Why not plan a “Girlfriends getaway where you can unplug and unwind and just enjoy each others company.Spending some me time is very important and most of us can admit we just don't take the time to do it.It seems the only time I get to hang out with my online buddies is at conferences and that usually is work related.A couple of weeks ago I was invited by Susan from 5 Minutes For Mom along with Jill from Baby Rabies and Zina from Lasso the Moon to go on a girlfriends getaway trip in Sevierville, TN.Now 2 of the 3 ladies I had never met so it was nice getting to bond and get to know each other.First of all I want to give a shout out to Amanda from the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce for putting all of this together for us. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn Five Oaks hotel which was located right on the strip and was conveniently located near just about everything and right across the street from Tanger Outlet Mall. The staff was very accommodating and the rooms were very clean and quiet! The hotel offered a continental breakfast every morning as well as free internet. Lodging runs about $100 a night. If you don't mind sharing a room you could even split that. Amanda had planned quite an adventure for us and I was excited to do some things on my bucket-list. Sevierville, TN is a great place to visit and with a short drive you can you pretty much get to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg in about 10-15mins (unless you have a lot of traffic). I'm a nature person at heart and I love traveling to places with great scenery. If you're thinking about planning a trip to Sevierville , I'd like to mention some of the things that I enjoyed during my stay.
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Rainforest Adventures -Rainforest Adventures is located near both Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge and it's open year round. It features over 600 live animals including a two-headed turtle. Rainforest Adventures rescues a lot of their animals from unwanted homes and unfriendly and unsafe environments and they work with a lot of the major zoo's. If your planning a visit make sure you check their site for a printable coupon. I think this is a great place to take smaller children if you're planning a family getaway. Below our a couple of pictures I thought I would share while practicng my animal photography. I took quite a few but these were some of my favorite shots. Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies -This is one cool aquarium. I saw creatures I had never seen before in any aquarium I had been to. You're going to plan to spend several hours in this aquarium because there is so much to see and do. Located in Gatlinburg, this aquarium was voted the #1 aquarium in the U.S. by Trip Advisor. You can walk through spectacular shark tunnels, get up close with some penguins and even feed some stingrays. One of my favorite things to see on display were the live shark eggs. You could actually see the baby sharks growing inside. Facebook | Twitter Price: $24.99 adults, child 6-11 $11.99, child 2-5 $5.99 Donna Rolland (Faithfully Fashionable)-If you are planning to do some shopping in the Great Smokey Mountains you may want to look up Donna Rolland with Faithfully Fashionable. Donna gave each of us a full color analysis well as a body type and style analysis.She helped us decided what color looks best on us and gave some fashion tips to help hide those unwanted areas , you know what I'm talking about girls. This perfect for a ladies church group and you can find all the details on what Donna offers on her site. Facebook Foxfire Mountain Adventures – Wether you're a thrill seeker or you're looking for some out of the ordinary fun, Foxfire Mountain Adventures has what you are looking for. I've been Zip-lining once before but it was a long time ago and so I was a little nervous about doing this again. Taking that first leap of faith is really the first big step in a breath taking adventure that you will forever remember. After a couple of try's I felt my courage building up so I decided to make myself do something that is out of my comfort zone. Zip-lining upside down. It was amazing! Definitely a rush and something I would do again. Afterwards I kept telling myself, I can't believe I just did that. I'm just so glad I got a picture of it to remember. Now I am sure there are many of you who are afraid of heights or thinking to yourselves but what if I get stuck out there? Well, let's just say that happened to me. On one of the longest run's I got almost all the way across to the other side and I swear it was like a scene from the Titanic. Both hands reaching out to grab each but just barely missing each other before whizzing backwards. I was terrified!,but once I realized what was happening and I stopped in the middle of the line I realized, I had the best seat in the house. I could see mountains of beautiful foliage for miles and it was GORGEOUS. Our tour guides were experts and they knew just what to do. My knight in shining armor was out there to rescue me within minutes and I couldn't believe how super easy it was. here are a few before and after shots that I thought I'd share with you. If you would like more tips on zip-lining check out this post by Lasso the Moon. Probably one of the most emotional parts of this trip was getting to sit down with the girls and really open up about the struggles I had been going through in my life about my husbands disease. We laughed, cried and gave each other hugs and we all understood even just a little bit of what each us were going through in our lives. While at Foxfire Mountain they have a swinging bridge that leads to a place called Prosperity Mountain. You write down your wish, take a stone, make a wish/prayer and drop the stone into the wishing well. Then you carry your wish on a slip of paper all the way across the swinging bridge where you can place your wish among other people's who have come to visit. It was fun looking around at everyone's wishes and it was quite encouraging to. You're probably wondering what my wish was? It was for someone to find a cure for my husband's disease. Pricing: $89.95 per person They also offer a Swinging Bridge Adventure & Bear Crawler ATV Tours. Facebook | YouTube Don't forget if you're planning a trip to TN, to stop by the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Especially if you are a nature nut like me. Here are a few photos taken while visiting the park. Tip: be adventures and don't be afraid to see whats down that winding path you might just find a beautiful stream such as the one below. Thanks Zina for being my adventures friend and giving me some photography tips even though there were some , um….. not so fun obstacles we had to go through? LOL Disclosure: I was invited to this trip by 5 Minutes for Mom and my travel, lodging, entertainment and food were all covered by the Sevierville Chamber of Commerce. All thoughts and opinions are my own. A special thanks to Jill from Baby Rabies for taking most the photos above.
I love this area. I am originally from Tennessee.