Planning (and Enjoying) A Girls' Trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee

The Mushy Stuff

In 2005 I was introduced to 13 women who will always hold a special place in my heart. I am thankful for all of the laughter and love we have shared over the years as well as the difficult moments when we’ve endured hurt, pain and even loss. I remember the broke moments in college and how my 13 taught me how to hustle and make things happen. I remember fighting with my number 12 because we were both so damn ambitious and now I am thankful for her challenging me and for the special bond we share. As I began planning our 10 year anniversary trip, I was truly overwhelmed by how much all of my line sisters have supported me throughout my 20’s because as we all know, we learn so much in that decade. We’ve prayed together, we’ve celebrated together and although we left our trip feeling sleepy and emotionally drained, this trip changed us as individuals and as a unit.

We left time for a mini photoshoot :-)

Why Gatlinburg?

I started the planning by sending out a Google Form to get an idea of what everyone wanted. The result: a cabin/ski trip in May. LOL! Well since we can’t ski in May, I did some research some to learn about all of the fun summer things to do in the mountains. After seeing pictures of ziplining and white water rafting, I was sold. Next it was time to decide where to go. The consensus, according to the poll, was that they wanted the trip to be between $400-$700 so I looked up areas near Denver and Tennessee. I realized that flying into Denver would mean airline ticket prices would be high for everyone so I settled on Gatlinburg, Tennessee and gave everyone options to fly into Nashville, Charlotte and Atlanta. Each city had a “captain” and people could coordinate their flights with that person so that the pick-up and drop off times from the airport would be convenient. Crazy organized, but I LOVE doing this stuff. My trip planning services are for hire by the way (Wink! Wink!).

Welcome bags for my loves

Where to Stay

Gatlinburg is a little mountain town that has a busy strip, similar to what you would see in a beach town. I thought a cabin would be fun and I figured it would allow us to maximize our time together. Homeaway was an easy and convenient way to find a place. I read through the reviews and settled on a beautiful cabin that housed all of us comfortably. Yes, some of us were immature and did the whole run into the house and scream and claim beds thing…and yes I was one of them. 

One car of people went grocery shopping when we arrived and I told everyone to BYOB so that everyone could drink what they really wanted and we wouldn’t waste alcohol. I was turnt on my Pellegrino as usual!  The pros of the cabin outweighed the cons since we got to stay up in our pajamas all night and hang out as a group. The only downside was making sure everything was perfect and somewhat clean before we left.

Sleepover Time!

What to Do

We did a vote for activities so that everyone could do what they wanted, but we made sure we did at least one activity together. We all went ziplining and then half of the group left to go horseback riding while the other half went whitewater rafting. My personal highlight was rafting although I wish we could have taken a camera. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken a waterproof one. On the ziplining part, tell someone in your group to take one of those armbands to hold their camera so you can get fun action shots. We booked the ziplining and whitewater rafting through the same company, Rafting in the Smokies. It was awesome because they took care of everything and they have a great system for large groups.

Ready for Ziplining

There are TONS of restaurants but my favorite was Cherokee Grill. We actually went there twice and the second time we got a private room and we thought we were exclusive. Maybe it was because we were so loud the first time…LOL!

The scenery is GORGEOUS as you drive into Gatlinburg. The roads wrap around the mountains so the drive is slow, but there are a ton of lookout points with breathtaking views. We stopped a few times on our way to town for photoshoots J

I can’t wait until our next trip! We’ve decided to do one every two years from now on J

What it's REALLY like to live in New York City

I was never the girl who dreamed of one day living in a cozy Upper West Side apartment in New York City. Whenever my friends shared their dreams of ending up in the Big Apple, I told them they were nuts for wanting to go somewhere where they'd be living paycheck to paycheck in a tiny apartment. It seemed silly to give up a comfortable life with parking lots and central air conditioning to stand on crowded subways and carry heavy bags around all day. I guess the joke is on me now because it's been 6 years in NYC and I’m renewing my lease this month. If I told you what I pay to live in my Harlem apartment, with a roommate, you wouldn't believe it. 

New York is so different. People are always shuffling and hustling. If it rains, men seemingly teleport to street corners with 5 dollar umbrellas. Young kids hop on trains to do flips and head stands to boom box beats and almost kick you in the face before they ask for donations. The MAC man walks around 125th street selling fake lipstick (I fell for it once, never again, WHO makes fake lipstick?!) When you're almost over all of the craziness, you'll find yourself on a boat eating a lobster roll at a restaurant that takes a free cruise every 30 minutes so you can admire the city from the Hudson. Or maybe you'll be running errands and you'll stumble upon a street festival and end up spending a fun day eating local food and shopping for jewelry before going home and  wondering if you should've bought all of that because you remember how much your rent costs.

Ran into this on a regular Sunday afternoon.

This is the cycle. New York tricks you. I still find myself wondering if it's worth it. I’m in education and as far as I know, I can do my type of work anywhere in the country. I will admit that New York has made me grow up. You cannot slack here or you will fail miserably. I’m more assertive and direct which has helped me in every aspect of my life, especially with my career and in relationships. I know how to take care of myself and I am certain that living here has given me a huge boost of confidence in my abilities. People in New York just keep going. Even the homeless have figured out how to build the most incredible sleeping conditions I have ever seen. The grind never stops.

People from New York are in a different category. I find that many of them stay here and have no desire to be anywhere else. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. I get it though. It’s like no other place in America. It you are not from New York and wondering if you’d like to live here, here is my biased list of the biggest pros and cons:

Pros

You will grow personally and professionally. Whether you learn from mistakes or learn amongst some of the best and brightest “you gon’ learn” something.

Dating isn’t too bad. The only complaint I hear is that men (and sometimes women) want to settle down later in life here because they’re focused on their careers. As far as ratios go, there have been plenty of times when there were way more guys than girls at a party (take that Atlanta!)

The summer is insanely awesome. There is so much to do and you will never, ever get bored. If you do, it’s your fault. Rooftops and parks are usually the move.

Summer fun in Central Park

You are forced to become more open-minded. Even if you live on the Upper East Side, you are exposed to so much that you can’t help but to think about other people’s circumstances. *Warning: One may get jaded and desensitized over time

Lots of restaurants for the foodies.

Root & Bone. Yummm!

People say NY is convenient because you can walk out of your door and eat, shop and go to restaurants without a car. Some (by “some” I mean me) would argue that they’d rather have a car, a trunk and parking. This pro also depends on your neighborhood.

Lots of healthy people. You walk a lot and it’s cool to be healthy here so there are lots of food options (like turkey bacon and chicken sausage) and gluten-free items. I really like this because every time I go down south I feel like I get gluttonous from all of the yummy, gluten goodness.

It’s cheap to travel to a lot of international destinations. Huge bonus for my fellow travelers!

Cons

Rent. I could own a really nice house down south for what I pay.

The Winter Comes (hehe). Every winter I find myself saying “This is SO much worse than last year!” I don’t know if it’s actually true. Also, since many people don’t have cars, there’s gross slush everywhere and mounds of dirty old snow. It is just icky and cold. Ugh! The same goes for a really hot summer day. You can’t escape because you are walking so you just sweat off all of your make up :-(

Before it gets ugly

I really do not like shopping or carrying my groceries in NYC. I’ve worked out a system where I just pick up a few things at a time on the way home during the week. As far as shopping, I shop online a lot because who is going to carry my Target purchases home for me? I need a car and a trunk except…

Parking is a beast. Whenever I rent a Zipcar, I ride around for 15-30 minutes looking for a spot. Also, you have to move your car every other day for “street cleaning” so you can’t simply keep your spot all week. If you’re driving to an event, you have to leave at least 30 minutes early so you can find parking, especially downtown. Therefore, most people, especially transplants, don’t have cars here.

It’s hard to relax. Even when I’m home I can sometimes hear loud music outside of my window or sirens and honks. I’ve become accustomed to it now so it’s not as bad. Also, as you’re walking down the street, you’re exposed to everything and everyone so a quiet stroll can easily become a catcalling session or you may step in poop. It’s the little things that add up and make it stressful.

Rats and mice. They are REAL and they own the streets y’all. You’ll see them in subway tracks, on the streets…it’s pretty horrifying. I still scream and run like a madwoman every time I see one. As for mice, SO many people have had at least one in their apartment or at work. Again, H-O-R-R-I-F-Y-I-N-G! Bed bugs also seem more common here. Thankfully this has not happened to me. I pray about it.

So there you have it. Feel free to comment and cosign or debate with me in the comment section.



XO