Unicoi State Park | Helen, Ga.

Y’all, we are GLAMPERS!!!! There is NO turning back now!! Trey and I have been praying about this for over a year now. We had our first opportunity to purchase a camper and hit the road last year when the pandemic started. We had just sold our home and had very few responsibilities tying us down. We chose to become home owners again and restored Two Chimneys on Cherokee. Which was also an answered prayer!! We just didn’t have it in our timeline to pan out that way! lol So, here we are, over a year later and God has answered our prayers as he always does in His beautiful timeline! Trey and I were in the market for a camper. We drove to the dealership and started checking them out for the first time. The options are incredible! We found a camper that worked the best for our family. We then called a family member who also has a camper. We wanted to make sure that my SUV had the power to pull a camper. We were concerned it would put too much strain on my car. Thankfully he was able to answer our questions and put us as ease. He also mentioned he was selling his. As we began questioning him about it’s featured we realized it was the exact layout we found at the dealership AND it was less expensive!!We purchased the camper on Thursday and by Friday we were pulling out of our driveway and hitting the road for Unicoi State Park in Helen, Ga.!! Our first night didn’t go so well. OH man! We didn’t arrive at the park until after quiet time and as we were backing our camper up a hill and trying to turn it into our site, the screeching and moaning of my car, the camper, the brakes - it was a horrible sound - we woke up a camper and she yelled some things I won’t repeat. LESSON LEARNED!! Respect quiet time!!! Unfortunately, after all that, we weren’t even able to back our camper in our site. We had to pull it in car-first. We tried to hook up the power so we could turn on the heat but the plug was now on the wrong side of the camper because we pulled in instead of backed in. We laughed so hard!! It was a mess and we felt like total dirt being so rude as we made a heck of an entrance!! Goodness!! We didn’t sleep so good that night. . .Rocco fell out of his bunk bad and hit the floor, it was SO quiet, I heard every sound, and, what the lady yelled at us upon our loud arrival, kept ringing in my head. The next morning I called the visitors center and asked if we could change locations because we were NEWBS! lol Thankfully, someone had just left and they had an opening for us. It was a much better site for us newbies! Once we got situated, we hoped out, set up and I made breakfast! Bacon, eggs and fruit. I started off cooking in the kitchen and quickly moved to the outdoor kitchen on the back side of the camper. Cooking bacon on the inside set off the smoke detector. I figured out, I could start the gas grill and set my frying pan on it. It worked but I will be bringing my griddle next trip to cook on. This will be much faster and we will save our propane gas. After breakfast, we drove to Mount Airy, Ga. to visit our niece and nephew, Haley and Brandan. Haley just graduated college and we were ready to celebrate her accomplishments! After her party, we made our way back to our site and went fishing. The kids LOVED this so much and so did we! The water was so clear we could see the fish! Although, we had ZERO luck the first fishing trip. lol The next night, Trey, Rocco and Olivia went fishing and caught two rainbow trout! We brought them home with us and cooked them on the grill - they were so delish! I had not ever eaten trout before.God’s creations are so incredible!! I loved hearing the kids going bananas over snails, woodpeckers, fish, trees, trails. . .the list goes on! This is what I have longed for - for years!!! Freedom to explore!Did we still have to take work phone calls and emails? Yes, but then we got right back to exploring with our family!Can’t wait for our next expedition!!!

Y’all, we are GLAMPERS!!!! There is NO turning back now!! Trey and I have been praying about this for over a year now. We had our first opportunity to purchase a camper and hit the road last year when the pandemic started. We had just sold our home and had very few responsibilities tying us down. We chose to become home owners again and restored Two Chimneys on Cherokee. Which was also an answered prayer!! We just didn’t have it in our timeline to pan out that way! lol

So, here we are, over a year later and God has answered our prayers as he always does in His beautiful timeline! Trey and I were in the market for a camper. We drove to the dealership and started checking them out for the first time. The options are incredible! We found a camper that worked the best for our family. We then called a family member who also has a camper. We wanted to make sure that my SUV had the power to pull a camper. We were concerned it would put too much strain on my car. Thankfully he was able to answer our questions and put us as ease. He also mentioned he was selling his. As we began questioning him about it’s featured we realized it was the exact layout we found at the dealership AND it was less expensive!!

We purchased the camper on Thursday and by Friday we were pulling out of our driveway and hitting the road for Unicoi State Park in Helen, Ga.!! Our first night didn’t go so well. OH man! We didn’t arrive at the park until after quiet time and as we were backing our camper up a hill and trying to turn it into our site, the screeching and moaning of my car, the camper, the brakes - it was a horrible sound - we woke up a camper and she yelled some things I won’t repeat. LESSON LEARNED!! Respect quiet time!!! Unfortunately, after all that, we weren’t even able to back our camper in our site. We had to pull it in car-first. We tried to hook up the power so we could turn on the heat but the plug was now on the wrong side of the camper because we pulled in instead of backed in. We laughed so hard!! It was a mess and we felt like total dirt being so rude as we made a heck of an entrance!! Goodness!! We didn’t sleep so good that night. . .

Rocco fell out of his bunk bad and hit the floor, it was SO quiet, I heard every sound, and, what the lady yelled at us upon our loud arrival, kept ringing in my head. The next morning I called the visitors center and asked if we could change locations because we were NEWBS! lol Thankfully, someone had just left and they had an opening for us. It was a much better site for us newbies! Once we got situated, we hoped out, set up and I made breakfast! Bacon, eggs and fruit. I started off cooking in the kitchen and quickly moved to the outdoor kitchen on the back side of the camper. Cooking bacon on the inside set off the smoke detector. I figured out, I could start the gas grill and set my frying pan on it. It worked but I will be bringing my griddle next trip to cook on. This will be much faster and we will save our propane gas.

After breakfast, we drove to Mount Airy, Ga. to visit our niece and nephew, Haley and Brandan. Haley just graduated college and we were ready to celebrate her accomplishments! After her party, we made our way back to our site and went fishing. The kids LOVED this so much and so did we! The water was so clear we could see the fish! Although, we had ZERO luck the first fishing trip. lol The next night, Trey, Rocco and Olivia went fishing and caught two rainbow trout! We brought them home with us and cooked them on the grill - they were so delish! I had not ever eaten trout before.

God’s creations are so incredible!! I loved hearing the kids going bananas over snails, woodpeckers, fish, trees, trails. . .the list goes on! This is what I have longed for - for years!!!

Freedom to explore!

Did we still have to take work phone calls and emails? Yes, but then we got right back to exploring with our family!

Can’t wait for our next expedition!!!

 
xoxo,h.jpg