Fall Camping in Tennessee

Sorry for my lazy blogging lately. I guess I have been busy having too much fun. So, today I am going to share a little bit about my experiences camping in Nashville and Panther Creek State Park in Tennessee back in November. Yes, it has been that long since I shared my camping experience stories. My first adventure in Tennessee was from October 30 - November 6. I stayed at the I-24 Campground in Smyrna, TN.  This campground is about 25-30 minutes south of Nashville and is also conveniently located for visiting my niece Annemarie. The campsites are very crowded in this RV park; so crowded that my bedroom slide-out almost touched my neighbor's living room slide-out. I would share the photo I took, but it is just too depressing. Sometimes, you just pick a campground for its location and this one was conveniently located near my beloved niece.

Instead, what I will share is a delightful photo of Annemarie and me in downtown Nashville. We spent the day together going to Mass, walking around the centennial park and then wandering around on Lower Broadway. We walked along the sidewalks in the middle of a crowd of tourists and locals listening to the country music that flows freely out the front windows and doors of every honky-tonk bar. The energy is contagious. I was so tempted to buy myself some cowboy boots and grab a microphone to sing some Karaoke. Thankfully, Annemarie saved me from me. Unfortunately, my visit with Annemarie was limited to one day because she has a job that makes her go to work and even sends her out to travel. (Say what!)

So, since my campground was really too ugly to spend much time hanging around in, I went exploring and found a really lovely neighborhood park with a paved hiking loop. The trees were starting to turn orange and red so I was able to enjoy the feeling of the fall season. I also got to record some miles on my Nike running app. As part of my new lifestyle, I am committed to working on my overall health and wellness. First, I switched out all my chemically toxic cleaners, beauty products, and air fresheners for plant-based, therapeutic, grade A quality Young Living essential oils. Next, I promised myself that I would walk at least 30 minutes daily and record this on my Nike app on my iPhone. I haven't made it daily yet but I am up to 3x week.

After my visit with Annemarie, I headed east toward Knoxville to Panther Creek State Park. What a difference! This park is beautiful and being off-season, one of the few that is still open anywhere near the Great Smoky Mountains. During the week, I pretty much had the place to myself with just 6 other campers. All of us must be introverts because we spread out. This meant there were no other campers around my site. Each night while I sat by my campfire, the deer would come out across the road from me and nibble on the grass. It was so peaceful and relaxing it made me realize that this is my preferred way of camping! Oh, and it had reliable WiFi access with boosters located all around the campground. Not sure how strong the signal will be in summer, but in the fall it was great.

Right near the campground, there are some incredible hiking trails with varying degrees of difficulty. I started with the easy ones and worked my way up to moderate. (I'm not in good enough shape yet to walk trails marked difficult or severe). Most of the easy trails wandered around in the woods, while the more difficult ones rewarded you with marvelous views of the nearby lake and valleys. Well worth the extra effort in my humble opinion. The entire park was a wonderful place and I could have stayed much longer but I was anxious to visit my sister and her family for Thanksgiving in South Carolina.


Hope you are enjoying the blog posts. If you want to see my adventures in "closer to real-time", check out my Instagram photos at:

https://www.instagram.com/caminoturtle2016/