Anniversary #4

As I said in my last post, Matt and I went on a trip to Gatlinburg, TN, a few weeks back in order to celebrate our 4 year anniversary! Yes, it's the same place we went to for our 1 year anniversary, but we fell in love with it. When deciding where we wanted to go, we decided it would be best given all of the change that was happening this past year. I'm so glad we did because we had an amazing time! 

We stayed at the same B&B this time, too- The Buckhorn Inn. We loved it just as much if not more than we did the first time! I was a little worried that we had built it up in our minds to be better than it actually was, but as soon as we stepped into our room, all those thoughts were gone. I could not recommend this place more, especially if you like beautiful mountain views and delicious breakfasts! 

We did do a few new things this trip. The first was going on some longer hikes. Our first hike was up to Ramsey Cascades. Due to our inexperience at finding trailheads, we ended up hiking a little under 12 miles as opposed to the posted 8, but we had a great time! I think we will be looking into getting our own hiking gear (my brother lent us his backpack) and do some more hiking locally.

We had conquered 10 miles, still had another 2 to go.

Our second hike was to Rainbow Falls. This was a shorter hike (about 5.5 miles roundtrip) but we got to see tons of chipmunks! As it hadn't rained in the mountains for a while, the falls weren't quite as impressive as I heard they could be, but we still enjoyed our hike.

Matt finally found a salamandar! 

The other new thing we did this trip was go visit the Biltmore Estates. This was certainly a splurge ($60/person including the audio guide) but it was worth it to see the nation's largest home. If you go, be sure to get the audio guide as otherwise you won't find out much about the history of the estate. Though we didn't get to see everything, we did enjoy what we did do. For us, it was one of those 'good to see it once, but don't necessarily need to do it again' kind of things. 

You couldn't take pictures inside the home, but this was one of the views outside of the house!

The estates included several beautiful gardens and greenhouses

Overall we had an amazing trip! It was great to get away and just be the two of us after all the work/graduation chaos of the prior few weeks. 

Apparently Matt is super serious when he meets hiking-black bears!

Take me back to this view, please!