I’m squeezing in the last bit of summer to share with you our family vacation!
This was our first vacation since 2018 and our second ever vacation together! Our first one was back in 2018 in Fort Myers, Florida (that’s a story for another day, I never shared that one here!). This beautiful second vacation was at Douglas Lake in Dandridge, Tennessee and was extra special because we spent it with my in-laws. We all went in on a beautiful place that had two houses and we rented a boat for the week, too!
From southern Ohio, it was quite a drive to get to Tennessee. I think it was 5-ish hours, however, with my husband driving I think we may have made it a bit quicker! I would be lying if I said I wasn’t using my imaginary break, haha!
We were going to stop at the Buc-ee’s in Sevierville on the way, but the ramp was super backed up and by this time, we were just ready to grab some groceries and get to our Airbnb. Luckily, my dear friend Carrie from Curly Crafty Mom visited the nation’s largest Buc-ee’s so you can check out her post for that (and more fun TN stuff)! What’s super unlucky is that we were in Tennessee just a week apart, wish it would have worked out so we could have met!
So we stopped at the Walmart in Knoxville instead and grabbed a few snacks and all the ingredients for our dinner night. We agreed that each family would take a night to make dinner for everyone to sort of share the load, and we even did the same thing when it came to necessities, like cups, plates, toilet paper, etc.
I was a little nervous about making dinner for so many people (I get anxiety for Christmas dinner and it’s just us and my parents, haha!), but one of my SIL’s was so sweet to recommend baked spaghetti, garlic bread and salad and even offered to help me put it together! I appreciated that so much and I told her I’d help her too.
After our Walmart trip, we headed to Douglas Lake. There was a cute little area before we crossed the bridge to get to our vacation spot. We stopped to get Kyle’s fishing license at Food City and they had a Starbucks inside of it – YAY! I got a venti iced brown sugar oatmilk shaken espresso and it was the perfect pick-me-up after that long drive!
Our Airbnb For The Week
It was a really curvy, winding road to get to our house, but it was worth it. Such a beautiful property and view of the lake!
I loved the smaller house we stayed in (we split the houses by the people who have kids and those who don’t). It was just us, two of Kyle’s sisters, our BIL and their sweet fur baby! They were so kind to give us the master bedroom and bathroom, and were the best housemates for the week!
It was late afternoon when we arrived and we were all starving, so we agreed on pizza for dinner! Is that ever a bad idea? We also took a boat ride out on the lake that evening and it was so fun. I had never been on a boat before! I was very thankful I didn’t feel any motion-sickness. We curled up pretty early and crashed (but not our normal 7 pm early, haha!) after the long day.
First Full Day at Douglas Lake
The next morning Kyle tried to figure out the coffeepot and what we figured out was that it was super slow! 😛 So the rest of the week we learned to start it as soon as possible. We had a pretty porch that we had coffee and chatted on, and then we went over to the larger house to have breakfast. My MIL made breakfast every day for the week, which was so wonderful and here I was nervous about my one dinner night!
We went out on the boat that afternoon and somehow I was talked into tubing for the first time, haha! I’m definitely a one-and-done gal on that note, but it really was fun while we were out there. The bad part is that even though Kyle and I didn’t actually fall off, they made us jump off or they would have went on for forever! I fell backwards when I tried to jump off and did some sort of flop, I’m sure it was entertaining.
Later in the day, the men wasted no time in getting things together to start fishing, and most of us ladies sat by the little beach area and chatted and had fun with the kiddos. I may have ate my weight in my MIL’s chocolate chip cookies, they are the best!
Kyle caught a fish pretty quickly and he was excited, can you tell?! The kids were having fun with the fishy too and I advocated for the fish to be thrown back in the water, haha. That would have been a really good fish for the end of the week when Kyle’s brother and our SIL did a fish fry. Oops!
That’s a wrap on this post, friends! This is already pretty long and I have some more fun things to share, so I will break this up into another part and publish it this coming Monday (25th)!
- I’d love to hear if you’ve ever been to Douglas Lake or in the Dandridge area!
- Have you been to a Buc-ee’s? I do feel like I missed out a bit on just not stopping in, but that traffic was a mess!
What a stunning place! The houses look so beautiful and the lake is gorgeous. That is so wonderful you went away with your in-laws too. Have a lovely weekend xx
Janet
http://www.rediscoveringmystyle.com
Thanks so much Janet, it was a really great trip and I agree, just a gorgeous property!
It sounds like a wonderful family vacation! What a gorgeous area too!
Thanks Laura, it really was a great one!
Looks like a wonderful time!
Jennifer
Curated by Jennifer
It was really nice! Thanks so much Jennifer!
What a beautiful place to stay! So glad you went tubing. I loved doing that when I was a kid. What a wonderful way to spend time with family. I also want to visit a Buc-ee’s someday. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us my friend!
https://www.kathrineeldridge.com
Aww, thanks for being here with me my dear friend, I appreciate you! 🙂 It was so nice and I’m definitely glad I braved the tubing for the trip, haha. Hopefully both of us will see a Buc-ee’s sometime!
It looks like a lovely place to visit. I hope you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing.
Lauren – bournemouthgirl
Thanks so much, Lauren! It was so pretty and it was a great time! 🙂 Thanks for checking it out! 🙂
Ha, ha! I love the one and done on the tubing. I went tubing when I was 13 and loved it, but now I am sure I would injure something. Ha, ha! Oh, I wish we had been there at the same time, it would have been so fun to meet. I had to chuckle when you said you started the coffee pot early since it was slow… gotta have that coffee. What a beautiful place and your husband’s side of the family sounds so fun!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Haha, I definitely get that! I think I am just not very adventurous so it’s hard for me to do these things, as least more than once! Yes, that darn coffee pot was the slowest we had ever seen, and when there’s four people who need that coffee, you have to make provisions, haha! It was really a fun trip. Thanks so much, friend!
Sounds like a really fun trip! It’s great you were able to enjoy time with family, and that does sound like an easy meal! I always worry when I have to bring plates to share or to cook Christmas dinner – I’m really not the best cook, although I do try my hardest, I find it stressful!
Thanks so much, my friend! It really was a great trip and yes, my SIL picked the easiest thing truly for me to do even though I still worried, haha. I’m with you, it’s stressful to cook for others, but I hope someday maybe it won’t bother me as much. 🙂 Hope you’re having a wonderful day!
I’ve never been to Douglas Lake. It looks so beautiful and peaceful there! It sounds like you had the best trip! I’d like to stop at Buckee’s one day – I hadn’t heard of it until I read Carrie’s post.
Jill – Doused in Pink
It was gorgeous and you’re so close by to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, so there’s a lot to do if you like to venture out. It was so relaxing for us even at the Airbnb because we were right on the water and could just enjoy the scenery. Buc-ee’s has really taken off, I think they’re well known for just being so huge and they have all these yummy snacks people day. I’d be in it for the snacks, haha! Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, Jill!!
Family vacation by the lake that is great.
https://www.melodyjacob.com/2023/09/rosewe-purple-pleated-midi-dress.html
Thanks Melody! It really was beautiful there!
Douglas lake looks so beautiful and peaceful and the perfect spot for a family vacation!
Julia x
https://www.thevelvetrunway.com/
It really was a gorgeous location and yes, so peaceful! Thanks so much, my friend!