My family and I spent all last week (and a couple of extra days) on vacation with my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend on Hilton Head Island. We rented a three bedroom and three bathroom condo from Shorewood Villas, just a few buildings down from Coligny Circle. It is an excellent location to leave your car sitting idle for your trip, especially if you rent bikes for the week.

Shorewood Villas

Shorewood is an oceanfront property with a private walkway to the beach. There is a keypad locked gate at both the oceanfront entrance and at the South Forest Beach Drive entrance. Our unit was well-appointed and maintained, though I think the cleaning crew could use a full day to really scrub out some of the closets. However a little bit of dust wouldn’t stop me from staying at Shorewood again.

Zero Entry Pool

One of our favorite features at Shorewood was the zero entry pool, which our young children absolutely loved. There was also a decent sized kiddie pool and a hot tub. Private restrooms are also located poolside, which was a nice feature to have on long days spent between the beach and the pool.

Family Shot

We had an excellent trip and I will definitely have more posts coming in the near future about some of our dining and entertainment experiences.

Shorewood on Dwellable

A few weeks back my family and I stayed a couple of nights inside the Maumee Bay State Park at the Lodge. Maumee Bay is located in the northwest corner of Ohio near Toledo. The park features fishing, bicycling, wildlife viewing, and plenty of swimming.

Lake Erie Beach

It seems that the Lake Erie beach often has high bacteria levels, so swimming is not advised here. The only time we entered the water of Lake Erie was to go on the banana boat or jet ski rentals. Instead there is the Inland Lake, which has a wide swimming beach, plus another area for canoeing and fishing.

Inland Lake Swimming Beach

We brought along a couple of bikes to enjoy on the numerous paved and unpaved biking and hiking trails. Biking is not allowed on the boardwalk around the wetlands surrounding the nature center, but it is well worth checking out on foot.

Big Hill

The Lodge was a great place to stay with both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, multiple dining options, every sport court imaginable, and tons for the kids to do.

Very Old Lighthouse

In addition to rooms in the Lodge, cottages and cabins are also available for rent. We are already talking about going back up for another visit in November for Thanksgiving with my in-laws. They came along on this trip as well, and everyone seemed to love our stay. Maumee Bay has easily become my favorite state park resort.

Before leaving the Smoky Mountain area a few weeks ago, we parked the car for one last hike. Kim’s brother Chris and his girlfriend Kirbi joined us for our last night in our cabin and came along for the hike to Laurel Falls.

On The Hike

This is one of a few paved trails in the park, so we were able to push our stroller up the trail and we saw many others doing the same. Parts of the trail have a steep drop on one side, so you’ll want to be careful with your little ones.

At The Falls

It takes about an hour and a half to cover the 2.5 mile round-trip hike to see the cascading waterfalls. The falls are 80 feet tall and a bridge crosses over the water stream about half way down. You have a great view of the upper falls from the bridge and shallow pool on the other side. The bottom half of the falls are hard to see, though you can walk right up to this edge and peak your head over.

Laurel Falls

The parking lot at the trailhead was very crowded, so it’s best to get an early start if you want to beat the crowds, otherwise you may find yourself having to hike extra just to get to the trailhead. Better yet, I’ve read that there are more scenic and less visited waterfalls in other ares of the park.

Gatlinburg City on Dwellable

During our vacation a couple of weeks ago my wife and I made sure to balance things that we wanted to do with things that we knew the kids would enjoy. Fortunately we found something that all of us could easily enjoy, Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg.

Trey

The aquarium has numerous exhibits from tropical rain forests, to ocean reefs, a massive shark lagoon, and an interactive penguin playhouse. The underwater tunnel for the shark lagoon features a 340-foot long glidepath, that allows you to move through the exhibit without moving your feet. Our three-year-old liked this so much we had to do it twice!

Paige

The kids also really enjoyed the discovery center with puzzles, touch tanks, and other interactive displays. We spent the better part of three hours here and we even rushed through some of the exhibits. For those with longer attention spans, you could easily spend the better part of a day at the aquarium, and you will likely want to as tickets can be a little on the high side, $27 for adults. Also the crowd seemed to build as our visit went on, so arrive early to avoid the rush.

Gatlinburg on Dwellable

While in the Great Smoky Mountains area last week we rented a cabin from Timber Tops. They offer everything from small one bedroom cabins to massive fifteen bedroom lodges, most of them hot tubs and amazing views. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on a standard one bedroom cabin but took one last look through the offerings and found a cabin called Bearly Wet.

Indoor Pool

The biggest selling point with Bearly Wet is the indoor pool on the lower level of the cabin! It also has one private bedroom and a loft space with two additional queen beds. Including a pullout sofa, the cabin sleeps eight.

Enjoying The Pool

For most of our stay it was just my wife and two young kids in the cabin, though her brother and his girlfriend did stop by on our last night. We still had plenty of space, though it should be noted that the loft does not have a bathroom, the main level bathroom is inside the bedroom, and the only other bathroom is downstairs adjacent to the pool. This isn’t an issue for one family, though it could be problematic for a couple of families trying to share the cabin.

Hot Tub With A View

We had an excellent stay in the Bearly Wet cabin and Timber Tops was very easy to work with. In fact we were offered a discount special when calling them which was not offered online. I would be sure to give them a call before booking to see what they can do for you. Also I would not hesitate to rent from them again, and this particular cabin comes highly recommended.

Pigeon Forge on Dwellable

My family and I spent a few days last week exploring the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and surrounding areas. Our first full day in the area was completely dedicated to the park. We first made the hour or so drive from our cabin to Cades Cove.

Black Bear

Within the first fifteen minutes we had our first wildlife spotting along the eleven mile Cades Cove motor trail, a black bear. The bear was a little tough to see in the fairly thick wooded area, but take my word that the black spot in the center of my picture is indeed a bear. We also saw a few turkeys and white-tailed deer.

Methodist Church

In addition to the chance of seeing various wildlife in Cades Cove, there are a number of historic buildings dating through the 1800’s and very early 1900’s. The kids seemed to enjoy exploring the Cable Mill area the most.

Cades Cove

Cades Cove is one of the most popular areas of the park, and traffic can move very slowly at times. We spent between two and three hours in the area and only made a couple of stops along the way.

Newfound Gap

All of my passengers in the car fell asleep pretty quickly after leaving the Cades Cove area. I decided to keep exploring the park and drove along the Little River Road to the Newfound Gap Road. I followed Newfound Gap all the way up to Clingmans Dome, at which time everyone was up and ready for a little more exploring.

Mount Le Conte

The hike to the top of Clingman’s Dome is only a half mile, and it is paved, but it is really steep and provided a pretty good workout as I pushed our double jogging stroller all the way up the trail and to the top of the observation tower. At the top we had 360 degree views of the entire area, including Mount Le Conte, the third highest peak in the park.

Clingmans Dome

Clingmans Dome is actually the highest point in the park, and it is really cool that it is so accessible for all to see. I wish the sky would have been a little clearer, but I could still make out the cities of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge with my naked eyes.

Appalachian Trail

The Appalachian Trail also crosses the area at the top of Clingmans Dome. As we were leaving the observation tower, we saw a group of four backpackers making their way along the trail, which was cool to see. Having visited the two most popular areas on the park on our first day, we spent the following day exploring Gatlinburg before returning again to the park the following day for a quick hike, which I will write about in the coming days.

Clingmans Dome Family Shot

Sevierville on Dwellable

Recently we’ve had a few events downtown where we relied on a cab to get home. A couple of weeks ago I signed up for the new to Cincinnati service called Uber. We have now taken two rides home in their UberBLACK line of cars and have had such a wonderful experience both times. This services uses high-end sedans so that you arrive in style at your destination.

Gone are the days of standing on the curb trying to flag down a cab. With Uber you use an app on your smart phone when you are ready for a ride. The app will tell you approximately how long it will be before you can get a ride, and when you tell the app where you are going you get a price quote for the trip. The app also stores your credit card number in it, so when you arrive at your destination you can just get out of the car. The driver’s tip is already included in the fare, so there is no need to exchange any money.

If you’d like to give Uber a try for yourself, you can earn a $20 credit by using my code, vpoxe, when signing up.  Or just simply click my link and start the sign up process today. I think you will like it.

With less than ideal snow conditions at the Heavenly Resort a few weeks back, we decided to replace one of our snowboarding days with a snowmobile tour. My brother-in-law had never ridden a snowmobile before, so this was the perfect opportunity.

Chip

We had some difficulty finding a place that was open with the early season conditions, but eventually found Lake Tahoe Adventures.

Follow The Leader

The tour group for the day was very large, so they split us into three or four smaller groups of around ten riders. The experienced riders were placed at the back of the group, and since I had ridden a snowmobile before we were among the more experienced.

Hope Valley

Our tour was throughout the picturesque Hope Valley staring at 7,200 feet, just south of Lake Tahoe. The trail climbs rapidly, quickly heading deep into the back-country.

My Sled

Due to early season conditions, we didn’t veer from the trail and with some timid riders up front our speeds were fairly slow, especially at the start of the trip.

Chip

We took a ten minute break half way through the two-hour tour. After the break we were able to speed up and I think I may have hit 40 m.p.h. at one point. Since I was second from the rear, I could slow down a bit to let the group get ahead of me and then punch it to see how fast I could go.

Bright Lights!

Though the trip wasn’t as exciting as the other snowmobile tour that I took in the past, this was still a good time and I would definitely go back to Lake Tahoe Adventures in the future, but I’d make sure the more advanced tours were offered.

South Lake Tahoe on Dwellable

After discovering that the snow conditions at the Heavenly Resort weren’t the best, we decided to skip the slopes for a day and took a paddle-wheel boat tour of the Lake Tahoe.

Pier

The two-hour tour was on-board the M.S. Dixie II, the largest cruising vessel in South Lake Tahoe.

The M.S. Dixie II

The cruise left from Zephyr Cove Resort, which I’m sure is a very popular place in the warmer months. We took some time while we waiting for boarding to begin to take some photos on the beach.

Chip and Kim

My brother-in-law was brave enough to take off his boats and dip his feet into the chilly water.

Cold Water

Once on the boat we were treated to breathtaking views of the Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe

We cruised west toward Emerald Bay and the Heavenly Resort quickly came into view.

Heavenly Resort

The boat has a small glass bottom window that was very cool to watch as we entered the shallow waters of Emerald Bay, named after the greenish hue the water takes on with decreased depth.

Emerald Bay

The bay is about 1.7 miles in length, and about two-thirds of a mile wide at its widest point. It is almost completely surrounded by steep mountains.

Group Shot

Emerald Bay is one of Lake Tahoe’s most photographed and popular locations.

Fannette Island Tea House

The only island on the lake, Fannette Island, is found inside Emerald Bay. The stone structure on top that looks like a miniature castle is called the Tea House and was built during the same time that Vikingsholm was constructed, from 1928-29.

Vikingsholm Castle

Vikingsholm is one of the finest examples of Scandinavian architecture in the western hemisphere. This served as the summer home for Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight and was completed in 1929.

After enjoying the views in Emerald Bay, we cruised back to our starting point and enjoyed a couple of drinks from the bar. Food is also available for purchase and everything we had tasted very good. I would definitely recommend this cruise to anyone visiting South Lake Tahoe.

Zephyr Cove on Dwellable

Our first stop after landing in Sacramento, California a couple of weeks back was for lunch. Our friends who had recently moved to the area offered to meet us at a burger and brew place. When we arrived at the address they had given us the sign above the door said Burgers & Brew, which is exactly what we found inside.

Inside

After entering the front door, menus can be found in a nearby bucket. All orders are placed at the bar and the food is brought to your table when ready. Drinks are poured right away and can be picked up at the opposite end of the bar. I started with a fresh pour of Pliny the Elder, one of the highest rated beers around. The draft beer selection definitely does not disappoint!

Turkey Avocado Melt

For lunch I went with the turkey avocado melt on sourdough ($7.25) and upgraded my side to onion rings ($.75 more). This sandwich was packed full of avocado goodness and I really enjoyed it. The beer battered onion rings were fresh and tasted great. My plates came with two different sauces on the side. I’m not sure which was for what, but I really liked the spicy mayonnaise with the onion rings.

Turkey Burger

My wife ordered the 1/2 pound turkey burger with sweet potato fries ($7.75). I didn’t sample any of her sandwich, but I didn’t hear any complaints from her. She did comment that the roasted red pepper mayonnaise was tasty. I did sample the crinkle cut sweet potato fries, which were good, but I was really jealous of the garlic curly fries that I saw others order.

Burgers & Brew combines great food with an excellent selection of beer. It’s a win-win in my book!