Clingmans Dome

This was my 3rd trip to the smokies in the past 7 months. I definitely didn't plan it to happen that way it just did. The first time we went for our anniversary and just hung out in the top of the mountains all weekend. The second time with my side of the family which didn't go so well because baby June was sick and this last time was with Justin's side of the family. We didn't have any cell phone service at the cabin which was nice because I was forced to disconnect for the digital world. Something that I need from time to time.

Every time we go to the smokies we do the same thing. Relax, go out to eat, and then go to the strip and that always drives me crazy because it gets really old! This time I wanted to make sure that we did something different and my sister Nicky told me to check out clingmans dome. She's been on a hiking spree with her boyfriend so they have been checking out a lot of cool spots and pushing themselves to do some serious hiking! It inspired me to push myself to go even with a baby up to the tallest point in Tennessee which is only a steep  half mile hike.

I planned it out to go at sunset and I have to say it was absolutely breathtaking. It didn't happen so perfectly though because the lengthy drive up the mountain made June miserable.... I am thinking that her ears were popping because the pressure of heading up so high. Poor thing screamed the whole way up around 45 mins of driving. Besides that we just kept watching the temperature drop from almost 80 degree weather to a little less than 50 degrees once we reached the top. So it was a bit chilly but the hike up made up for that.

The views all the way up were awesome and once we barely made it to the top of clingmans dome we were surrounded by 30 or more people taking videos and pictures of the sunset. Either way it was pretty magical and even though I was out of breath and worn out all of it was forgotten in that moment.

The other cool thing is that clingmans dome has an entry way to the Appalachian trail which if you don't know what that is I highly suggest checking it out... there are several documentaries about it and lots of information on the web.

Even though it seems like a big pain in the bottom to try and take Juniper with us on these kinds of adventures I always see that I get more out of it with her. I have a lot going on in my head these days and a lot of new goals to get excited about but the one goal I want to remember is to keep pushing me and my family to do things that seem hard.