Moonshine & Memories: Tennessee Vacation 2025
Every year, I try to sneak away for a vacation. Usually, it’s with my mom and sister, and we head down to Florida. But this year was different; my dad, sister, and I packed up and traveled to Tennessee. It had been a while since we’d done a full week-long trip with Dad, and honestly, it was long overdue. I got to try new foods, see new places, and make some amazing memories with him. Let me share what we did on this trip, you’ll see why I think we had an absolute blast.
Sunday
We left my dad’s house around 11:30 Saturday night, and I immediately went into full motion-sickness prevention mode (spoiler alert: it didn’t really work, I was very nauseated). I had big plans for the drive—reading with my little flashlight, maybe finally opening my Kindle, but none of that happened. Instead, I spent most of the ride shifting around in the world’s most uncomfortable backseat (they say that the person in the backseat has it best, but I say that’s a load of bologna). I might’ve even napped? Hard to say, I don’t remember a couple of hours, so either I dozed off or I blacked out from boredom.
Our first stop of the trip (once we were finally in Tennessee) was breakfast at Reagan’s. We went for the buffet, and the staff were super friendly. The food was solid, but since I was still feeling a little road sick, I couldn’t eat as much as I would’ve liked. And trust me, I would of ate more, it was super good.
Because it was raining and our hotel room wasn’t ready yet, we wandered around the Three Bears Gift Shop for a while. Lots of cute stuff to look at, but at the same time, there was so much to look at that I wasn’t sure where to begin and end.
At 10, we tried Beyond the Lens. Not gonna lie… it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world. I think it could have been better if more people were there, but in the end it was kinda boring. We did take photos though, cause what else are you supposed to do?
Next up was the Christmas Store, which was actually really fun to walk through. SO many decorations. And while it is getting close to decorating season, I definitely didn’t budget for Christmas shopping this trip.
Finally, the hotel room was ready (thank goodness!). We got checked in, unpacked, and relaxed for a bit. My sister even grabbed a nap.
Dinner that night was at Paula Deen’s Family Kitchen on The Island. The food was decent—the mac n’ cheese and corn on the cob were the highlights. Fried Chicken wasn’t what I thought it would be, but it was good enough. I would eat there again.
After dinner, we stopped by a winery for a tasting. I’m not much of a wine person; I haven’t really tasted much in my life to know what I like and what I don’t like. But I thought, why not try a couple to see if I like any? Here is what I tried.
- Cotton Candy → way too sweet/tart. Which sucked, because I love cotton candy flavors.
- Watermelon → light, refreshing, my favorite (I even bought a bottle!).
- Cookies & Crème → interesting, but not my thing. It gave off fake vibes and that’s not what I wanted.
Then it was time for the real fun—the distillery. We sampled nine moonshines (plus a bonus). Quick ratings:
- Pineapple Pina Colada → meh, pineapple wasn’t bad but I’m not a coconut fan.
- Pickle → hard veto from me. Didn’t even try it, hate the taste and even the smell of pickles.
- Sour Watermelon → dangerously good, like a Jolly Rancher.
- Blackberry → tasted like communion juice, but in a good way.
- Brownie Crème → AMAZING, dessert in a glass.
- Peanut Butter Crème → Nutter Butter vibes, also amazing.
- Blue Flame → 178 proof. My mouth was on fire.
- Salted Caramel Whiskey → tasted like a candy at the bottom of your purse.
- Apple Pie → just okay. I like apple pie, but as a moonshine it didn’t hit.
- Bonus: Java → coffee-flavored heaven.
I walked out with Brownie Crème, Java, and Peanut Butter (though technically that one was my sister’s, but I’ll “help” her drink it). I regret not buying the Sour Watermelon or the Blackberry but I can live without those.
After that we just headed back to the hotel, where we all had an early night. We were all tired from the drive.
Monday
We woke up around 8 and headed downstairs for hotel breakfast—eggs, biscuits and gravy, and milk that hit the spot. And now, as I sit here writing this, I want to go and get more of this breakfast because it was so good.
After getting ready, our first stop was a tattoo shop to get quotes and book appointments (spoiler: the big reveal comes on Thursday). Coffee was calling, so we hit Dunkin’, then made the classic vacation trip to Walmart for drinks and snacks. Since Books-A-Million was nearby, we popped in. Resisting buying books was pure torture, but I left empty-handed. Which is something I always regret.
Next was Target, and holy cow—this Target was massive, like two Targets put together. I wanted to explore, but we were just in and out for a bathroom break and tattoo patches.
We even stopped at a weed shop. First time going with my parent, which was… an experience.
The afternoon highlight was Old Time Photo, where we did a gangster shoot. We always say that our grandpa looks like he belonged to the mafia, so it was hilarious and fitting. The outfits were insanely hot, but the pictures were worth it.
After that, we headed back to the hotel to rest and change before the night’s activities: Titanic Museum and Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show.
The Titanic, by far, was my favorite thing we did this trip, but that’s because I’m obsessed with the Titanic. When you go in, they give you a card which tells you about a certain person on board the ship, and at the end, you get to find out if they survived or not. My sister and I both had 3rd class passengers, who lived. My dad, on the other hand, had a 1st class passenger who died, which is kinda funny but also sucks because they were real people. I could have spent hours there, reading every letter and looking at every little thing, but I didn’t want to be that person holding up the whole thing. I did take a lot of pictures, and I will be going back. When? I am not sure, but I know I will.
Our next and last thing for the day was dinner at the Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show. It was a lot of fun, a great show, and good food. It was an all-you-can-eat type of meal, which I enjoy, but this was my second night eating Fried Chicken, so I was already a bit tired of it. The sweet tea, though, was amazing. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the chocolate pudding; I’ve had better.
Then it was back to the hotel to crash.
Tuesday
Tuesday was a slow start—we kept delaying leaving the hotel, and delaying getting up, we were a little tired.
We finally left and took the trolley to the Gatlinburg Welcome Center, then another trolley to the aquarium.
I think my favorite thing about the aquarium was seeing the sharks, they were so cool. Not sure when I got into them, but man, those scary fish that could bite off my arm in a matter of seconds look so cute.
After exploring there, we walked over to Anakeesta, where we would take the sky lift to the top. I was scared getting on the sky lift but I think I was more scared getting off, they told you when to stand and then to walk away fast. Like what if I fell or something, that would be embrassing.
.
I would have taken more pictures and videos on the sky lift, but I was nervous about dropping my phone. I actually dropped the cap to my water, so I really didn’t want to risk dropping my phone.
When we got to the top, we took a quick break and had some ice cream, which was really good. Then we headed over to the tall building?? Not sure what it was called, but you climb these stairs to the top so you can take pictures. We made it to the half way point and called it quits. The first part was just ramps, but the second part was all stairs, and there is no way my fat butt could do all those without dying. So we came back down and headed for the Tree Sky walk. You cross over a lot of wooden bridges that are really high up. I’m not afraid of heights, but I was afraid of those bridges. I did everything in my power to get over them quickly, but there were a couple where these kids (because I swear kids have no fear) came running behind me, making the bridge shake, and let me say I was so close to either having a panic attack, yelling at those kids, or both. When we were finally out of there we all had to take a long break, because we were all out of breath. We decided then that we would head back to the sky lift and head back to the hotel.
After getting back to our car from riding the trolleys we ended up going to this cute diner for dinner. It was really good and the menus were so cute, they looked like little newspapers.
We went back to the hotel after and rested for a little while. We thought about going back to Gatlinburgs but after taking the trollys again and everything it would be pointless. So we decided to go mini golfing at Jurassic Mini Golf, where I lost.
Later we headed back to The Island for another round of moonshine tasting (same as before, but with extras). New flavors tried:
- Southern Bourbon → way too hot.
- Pumpkin Spice → surprisingly not bad, kinda makes me wanna try a pumkin spice latte.
- Mandarin Orange → really good, didn’t taste strong.
We ended the night with Starbucks (which was needed) and went back to the hotel.
Wednesday
We slept in until 10 (which I would of been fine if we slept in longer, as I was tired) and had breakfast at a pancake place (the name I am not sure of, but it was really good).
Then it was a lazy morning, we got back and went swimming for a few hours. It was a little chilly so the water was kinda cold. But the pool was basically empty so we got to enjoy having it all to ourselves.
That evening was the Pirates Voyage Dinner Show—super fun and entertaining. Personally, I liked it better than the Hatfield show. I would have loved more food, but it’s ok. The dessert was the best part, the apple turnover was the best thing I think I have ever had in my life, so good. The show was amazing, I loved the mermaids, anything to do with the water, and the main narrator was pretty cute.
Afterward, we went mini golfing again (Lost Treasure) before heading back to the hotel to play Go Fish (which I think my dad must of been cheating at the amount of times he won but I have no proof). Simple but a realxing day which is needed.
Thursday
Another sleep-in morning (but then again I could sleep in every morning if I was allowed). We went and got Dunkin as we needed coffee to start our day. Then we headed over to Cades Cove to drive through and see if we can see any wildlife. (Spolier, we didn’t. Which sucked, I would of loved to have seen a bear but it was still really pretty scenery.)
We grabbed lunch at CiCi’s Pizza, which I don’t think we have anymore here in Ohio, so I was pretty excited to eat there again. Since we had more time to kill before our tattoos, we headed into another bear-themed gift shop, which was fine, a little crowded, but that’s all good. Then we went to a store called ‘Gift and Books’, I was excited, I saw books and wanted to go in. But it was kind of a let down, it had a lot of books, but it was mainly an animal theme and a Christian theme bookstore. Which is fine, it’s what you want, but that’s not what I want. I did see a couple of books I wanted, but the price was so much higher than Books a Million or Amazon, so I decided to leave empty-handed.
Then came the tattoos, which I know I was excited for. I originally was only going to get 2 tattoos and that’s it, but I saw that the nose piercing was only 55 dollars and decided I wanted it done again. The only issue I had was that my nose wouldn’t stop bleeding after she pierced it, and of course, I was embarrassed, especially because everyone was staring at me. Not sure if you know this, but I don’t really like being the center of attention, so that was scary. But all in all, getting the piercing and tattoos was no issue at all. My sister got the same bear tattoo I did, and my dad got one similar.
Precision Ink Tattoo and Tattoo artist Carissa did an amazing job on our tattoos. Hands down might of been my greatest tattoo experience I have had. Fully recommend going there and to her.
Before the newest tattoo’s
After my 2 new Tattoo and a nose piercing – Harry Styles writing ‘We’ll be alright’ and a bear with a ’25 in it for 2025 Vaca
Our new tattoos, my 2 then my dads, then my sisters.
Dinner was at Cheddar’s, it was ok, pretty expensive, but you get a free croissant with honey butter on it that was really good. Then we wandered The Island again, dad bought some moonshine, got Starbucks (of course), candy shop (where I spent 60 dollars on candy I probably won’t even finish), and sat and watched the Jurassic Park light show. Then we headed back to the hotel to make sure we were all finished packing.
Friday
We woke up around 8:30, packed up, and ate breakfast before checking out. There was so much we had to take to the car, I think thats the worst part about leaving, packing everything up and reloading the car, and it never really fits the same way as it did coming down.
The last adventure of the trip was a waterpark stop, it was a lot of fun but I think next time we’ll go before we get tattoo’s and a fresh nose piercing. Before anyone asks we covered our tattoos and were very careful not to let the sun or any water hit them. (Plus this isn’t my first tattoo, I know how to handle them) The wave pool is always a blast, but my legs were so sore from all the walking in the week that it wasn’t as fun. The lazy river was kinda scary, it seems all normal and then at a random place a wave comes and pushs you. My dad got the worst of it, he was flipped out of his floatie. It makes me glad I didn’t sit the regualr way as I would of hated to be flipped like that. I’m not the biggest fan of water slides, I think rollar coaster are safer, as a water slide you are all wet and all you have to keep yourself in the tube is the handle bar, but your wet and so it that bar so it kinda makes to way more difficult. So we only did those 2 things, and after I think 2 hours we left.
Then a must-visit at Buc-ee’s before officially heading home. Which I got a little over stimulated there, so many things, people, smells, it all was a little chatoic for me. But one nice thing about them is there bathrooms, oh my gosh are they amazing.
And just like that, the Smoky Mountain trip was over—five days full of food, family, tattoos, laughs, and moonshine.
By the end of the week, my suitcase was a little heavier, my stomach was definitely fuller, and my heart felt lighter. This trip with my dad and sister gave me so many memories I’ll hold onto—some hilarious, some sweet, and all unforgettable. Tennessee gave us good food, wild adventures, and even better company. Until the next trip, I’ll be replaying these moments and smiling every time.
Have you ever been to Tennessee? What was your favorite thing to do there? Or if you haven’t, where’s your favorite place you’ve ever traveled? I’d love to hear your suggestions for what to do (or eat!) next time we head back!
