Vacationing with my brother and his family was exactly the way we wanted to start this summer season. Planned for the week after school let out, we wanted a trip within driving distance and some place we both felt comfortable going to. We’ve independently vacationed in the Smoky Mountains before and thought it would be really fitting to share this serene and entertaining area of Tennessee with our kids together. We really wanted to make the trip a special adventure, so we booked a beautiful treehouse-like Airbnb with its own indoor pool and made no small plans for a memorable week together.

It’s been years since Eric and I drove to Tennessee from Illinois. And while many things are the same, we noticed that a Ferris wheel and fireworks shop were eerily abandoned on the side of Interstate 75. Just an odd fact I found interesting to note. It’s weird how much you remember seeing on drives. Buc-ees was completely new to us. Be sure to make that a gas station stop on any trip south. Terrific beef brisket tacos!

We made a stop in Kentucky to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. The novelty never wears off when you stand beside the giant 120-foot-tall baseball bat. And everyone leaves the tour with a new appreciation for wooden baseball bats and a mini version of their own.

On the way back home, we made a pit stop at the Mammoth Cave National Park for the Domes and Dripstones Tour. We explored the world’s largest known cave system deep under the earth. Cave crickets and spiders are everywhere. The walking didn’t stop my youngest nephew from taking a snooze. Similar to the Grand Canyon, photos don’t do the mammoth size of these caves justice.

Dreamy Getaway Cabin

The house we rented was everything we needed it to be. Located in Wears Valley, we occupied three stories of rustic space sequestered up the mountain, but close enough to hear a running river rustling after a week of rain that fell before we arrived. So soothing.

The lower floor had a perfectly sized swimming pool that the boys frequented daily. Turn off the lights, and it became a disco pool party! Bonus: We got them to bathe after each dip in the pool. There was also a giant sofa and ping pong/foosball table down there.

The top floor featured three bedrooms, including one with queen-sized bunk beds for the boys. They quickly tapped into Netflix so they could chill snuggled up in their beds. We tucked into bed late at night after exhausting ourselves all day. It felt like a vacation lived to its fullest.

Every parent’s dilemma: Do you go to bed after the kids are asleep or stay awake to adult for a bit without the kids around? This was the hardest decision we had to make every night. We did find the energy to share a few drinks and converse like adults about nothing and everything.

The middle floor had a large kitchen with lots of cooking space for us to move around, a fridge that annoyingly beeped every time we left the door open and a long table where everyone could sit together for meals. But in reality, we’d eat on and off all day. The boys would eat before we did. We’d take our meals outside on the deck while the youngest tried his best to lock us out as he smiled menacingly through the windows. Pasta night, taco night, steak night – it was all so good.

And each floor had its own deck high up in the trees. You could barely see signs of any other houses from where we were. This place had great outdoor furniture. A bed swing!? Yes, please. My sister-in-law and I started reading Emily Henry’s summer hit, Great Big Beautiful Life, the perfect reason to escape for some quiet outdoors.

Things I didn’t know I needed: This house had heated toilet seats. It took a bit to get used to, but not fearing a cold seat when you sit down to go to the bathroom is nice. Yeah, I mean, the indoor pool was fun, but not functional. I’m not coming home and putting in a pool, but I am considering how to run electricity behind our toilets. It’s summer now, but in winter, I might be upgrading.

We had a surprise visitor stop by the house. After hearing a rumble in the trees, a 250 lb black bear was spotted searching along the forest floor for food. The fuzzy guy sniffed around, said hi with his eyes and disappeared into the brush. They’re known for being lumbering giants. It is always safe to assume a bear is nearby, so we never leave any food in the car and lock up the trash. Did you know it’s illegal to feed black bears in Tennessee? I reminded the boys that we are in the bear’s backyard, so we need to be careful around them and leave them alone.

Morning was my favorite time to be together. Zach made roll-up pancakes in his cast-iron pan. Our mom made us these crepes growing up, smothered in melted butter and covered with sugar, then rolled up. No syrup. That’s all that syrup is anyway, right? We’re a bit weird. But that’s how our boys like eating them, too. So I guess we’re all weird. He’d ask the boys, “Who wants another one?” And sure enough, he’d have another taker. As Zach cooked pancake after pancake, I’d paint. I don’t carve enough time at home to paint every day, and being in the Smoky Mountains was extra inspiring to explore with watercolors.

Breakfast is my brother’s favorite meal, so we made sure he got a taste of a good southern breakfast a couple of times that week. The first morning after driving all day, we tucked into a big breakfast at Crockett’s Breakfast Camp. The restaurants in Gatlinburg are well-versed in seating large family parties, but it was still an hour before we found a giant table early on a Monday morning. Worth the wait. And such good food at amazingly inexpensive prices. Order a giant cinnamon roll to go for later!

We also ate at the famous Pancake Pantry. They opened in 1960 and claim to be Tennessee’s first pancake specialty restaurant. The key to avoiding the long line that wraps around the building is to get there before it starts. We arrived before 9am and were promptly seated. The sweet potato pancakes came with special cinnamon syrup and tasted like autumn. Try them!

Pass the Jar

Close to our cabin, Pigeon Forge is like a Las Vegas strip for Midwest family vacations. It’s a busy destination with oversized shark mouths hovering around doorfronts, $9.99 souvenir shops and an abundance of old-time photo places. It’s one of two primary towns surrounding Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains. In a prior season of life, I avoided this area, but when you are entertaining three kids, that Dolly Parton Stampede dinner attraction looks pretty good. We’d have gone if the boys would eat some of that $60 ticketed dinner. Alas, we did fill our time go-karting at a new place called Speed Zone Fun Park. Always wear sunglasses when you go-kart because rubber debris flies up at your face, and you smell like gas. The boys had too much fun at this place. They could have driven around for hours.

The Island in Pigeon Forge is a relatively new addition to the tourist strip of this part of town. Our family enjoyed a trip around the 200-foot-tall Great Smoky Mountain Wheel, and all seven of us fit inside one gondola. Our kids didn’t exactly allow us ample time to stand around and sample moonshine, but we did pick up three jars to mix with lemonade and sweet tea back at the house.

Time In Nature

We needed a simple hike for the boys to master, so after exploring Sugarlands Visitor Center, we strolled around to Cataract Falls. A bit more than one mile long, we enjoyed the natural, flat path to a refreshing waterfall. We spotted a snake curled up in fallen tree branches hanging over a stream, thanks to a park ranger who pointed it out. Thankfully, no bears on this hike.

Loaded up in my brother’s SUV, we drove the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. This is the spot where we’ve seen black bears before and this drive didn’t disappoint. As we started the trail, we discovered a 100lb black bear walking along the road. She was snacking on a lunch of greens. This docile being minded her own business, giving us the nature show she must have known we’d been looking for.

We also took a drive down part of Foothills Parkway, a long, winding road with many scenic pull-offs to stop and take photos while enjoying amazing views. The scenic drive started just south of where our house was in Wears Valley. In our younger days, we used to make an annual trip to the Smokies with a car club and many groups still go together to drive these roads.

Local attractions

Minigolf is one of those things you just have to do on vacation. And this area is loaded with options. Hillbilly Golf is simply the best choice. After riding a 300-foot incline, work your way 18 holes down the mountain. Their website says it’s “more fun than socks on a chicken.” While age 4 is kinda young to understand the objective of mini golf, we still had a blast taking shots through different obstacles, including a tractor.

After passing by many times, we pulled off the side of the road to stop at Red Jasper Gemstone Mining and Beer Garden for a fun activity for the boys. For $15 or $25, you can get a small or large bucket of sand with special rocks and “gems,” waiting to be mined through sifters in the running water benches right next to Cove River. Leigh discovered amethysts, even fool’s gold. What a hidden gem!

Ziplines are out, and mountain coasters are in. It appears these gravity-driven alpine rides have popped up everywhere since we last visited. My scaredy-cat son committed to going on one at Annekesta with me, and he liked it so much that we went back on the ride a second time. We rode super fast down The Hellbender – named after a salamander found in the Smokies, making Leigh an extra big fan.

Speaking of Anakeesta, this adventure park is like Disneyland in the mountains (complete with $35 bubble wand bear). Anakeesta is a Cherokee word for “the place of high ground,” fitting for this mountaintop hot spot. We enjoyed climbing the treetop skywalk and playing in the BirdVenture playground suspended high above the trees. We rode both the Chondola chairlift and Ridge Rambler truck up 600 feet to the summit of a space they call Firefly Village. We even saw another bear climbing up the mountain on our drive up. Lots of food, live music and rocking chairs with the best views high above Gatlinburg.

At night, Anakeesta turns into this magical Astra Lumina experience. The enchanted night walk was lit up by cosmic storytelling with lights and sounds. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.

Get Real

Let’s be honest, not every moment of our family vacation with four adults and three boys (9, 6, 4) was filled with smiles and happiness. Most of the drama was experienced in the car as we all fought over which music we would listen to. I’d never guessed that this trip’s most popular songs were Phil Collins’ Tarzan soundtrack, mixed with Gangnam Style and Who Are You by The Who. Who? Who? Who-Who! My favorite option: silence. It’s golden.

And if you need to vent your frustrations after listening to Tarzan for the twentieth time, I highly recommend rolling down the windows and screaming loudly while driving through a tunnel. The whole family can do it. It helps.

I wasn’t sure how we’d all get on during this week. Turns out I had nothing to worry about. While it has been a bit since we vacationed with Zach and his wife, Nicole, and now we have these three very different boys, we found a way to give each other the love and space we all needed. I can still hear my sweet nephew saying his favorite refrain on the trip: “I love you, Auntie Lindsey.” I’ll never get tired of that.

It’s not news that my brother and I are different people in many ways. But during this trip, I was reminded of all the things we shared growing up. In a divorced family, Zach was always my constant as we shuffled between parents, spending every weekend in alternating homes. And he’s still the same funny, younger brother I’ll always have. Bonus: We still eat pancakes the same way. Love you, Zach. And I love your family and the way our families meld together.