Travel with a Toddler: infant edition :') We hiked Table Rock in South Carolina when my daughter was under a year old. We lived in SC shortly and this was the only major hike that we accomplished. Calling it "major" is an understatement, honestly. It was a very emotional experience for me. I was still struggling from postpartum depression, had severe anxiety, was extremely insecure of how my body looked, and overall just didn't feel good. This hike changed my outlook on myself and the world around me. Table Rock face as seen from the road. Even now it's insane putting into perspective how small and insignificant we all are, compared to natural beauties such as this. But this isn't meant to get that deep. BRB, I'm just getting emotional over how small and baby she is here. She was just barely sitting up on her own at this age. Bye. Whoever's cutting onions over here needs to give me a break. The start of the hike was pretty easy, as most are. A distra...
Last month, my husband came to me beaming about a mountain hike in the Smokies. The last mountain hike we had done - correction, the last hike we had done at all, period - was a year earlier. We planned an overnight trip, packed our bags, and drove five hours to Tennessee. Upon our arrival, we parked in a Walmart lot and set up "camp." It was handy having the store right there, because we quickly realized how unprepared we were. We had somehow managed to overpack things we didn't really need, and forget almost all the necessities. We improvised, and - spoiler alert - it all worked out just fine. After spending a night crammed in the back of our little SUV, we set off bright and early for... we didn't know. There are a ton of great hikes in Gatlinburg, and I suggested we tackle some shorter hikes, given the fact we hadn't hiked at all in a year. As we were driving to a short hike that neither of us was particularly excited about, we unexpectedly and unanimously d...