It has been a new little tradition for the kids and I to head to Bryson City for Valentines. Bryson City is such a cute little historic town that borders the national park, and people often forget about the North Carolina side. When people want to visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, they tend to go more to the Tennessee side where Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge is, but don't sleep on these little North Carolina towns. They need our business now after the hurricane.
Last year we rented a small little cabin and we ran into a few minor inconveniences-my daughter got sick with the flu and was sick the whole time, the hot tub broke on us, then the power went out and was out for almost the entire day. This year, things were a bit better, but once again, we ran into a few inconveniences. The hot tub at our cabin required us to have the jets on to heat it up, which meant I had to run back and forth, over and over and over for a full day. I woke up one morning of our stay with my whole face swollen and the worst tooth pain and ended up having to visit the local hospital (they were amazing by the way). But besides all that, we had a good time and got to explore a bit more than last year.
The actual town of Bryson City is very small and you can park and just walk. There are so many little shops that you can browse and pop in, with things from souvenirs and t shirts, antiques, jewelry, fudge and so much more. There are also a few little restaurants you can walk to also. A lot of the buildings are super old and you can still see the history of when they used to be old general stores, barber shops and pharmacies.
On day 2, we traveled over to Sylva. It was only about a 20 minute drive from Bryson City, so not bad. It's a bit larger than Bryson City but it still has that main street, get out and walk through shops setting to it. We are not city people and we love small towns, and these little towns give us somewhat the taste of city life without actually going into the city and dealing with the traffic. We wanted to stop at the park first and have a picnic, but the local park was closed. We parked up on the main strip and walked the streets and went into stores. Just like in Bryson City, there were all kinds of shops with souvenirs, antiques, music, art, etc.. One thing I loved so much is that all throughout the streets were little stands where you could get pamphlets about Sylva with maps and history about some of the buildings. They have a history walk where there are pictures on the old buildings showing what they used to look like. You can also pick up a pamphlet that shows you where they are all located as well as a brief history.
One thing we did this year that we did not get to do last year was visit the Tunnel to Nowhere. Last year, our cabin was located about 20 minutes out of Bryson City, but this year we got one that was only about 5 minutes out of town but was also right next to the road to the tunnel. Pictures of the tunnel make it look like it's not that long, only a few hundred feet. But when you get there, it goes on and on and on. It felt like we were in Scooby Doo or some scary cartoon where you walk and walk down a hallway but never get there. Also it got COLD when we got inside. There was so much graffiti, and my kids had a fun time looking for Spongebob characters. I do wish this road had been completed as promised and that you could drive up to the old town of Proctor. I have wanted to visit it so bad but it's not very accessible.
We booked a different cabin this year through Bryson City Rentals. The cabin was small and cute with one of the most amazing views. The view from the porch was well worth the money. I took so many pictures and videos of it and watching the sunset from the couch and porch was just breathtaking. The cabin was two bedrooms-one downstairs and a loft upstairs and one bathroom. It was easy to check in, no visiting the office, and although the drive to get to it was a bit rough, it was pretty close to town and easy to find. It did have a hot tub, but as mentioned, it required the jets to be on to heat it up, but jets only stay on about 20 minutes. To heat it 10 degrees took me the entire day of running back and forth over and over turning them back on. If we had only stayed the weekend, I would have been mad because you pay extra for cabins with a hot tub, so you should be able to use it your entire stay because you're paying for it for your entire stay. We also tried to run a bath and the tub was full of yellow water, so we couldn't seem to get in a relaxing hot bath for the life of us hahah. But it was okay. There was also a gas fireplace which made it so cozy and the cabin was stocked with books, magazines, games, and DVDs, so it would be hard to be bored there. Sunday was a very rainy day and despite that being the day I had to go to the hospital and was feeling so rough, the kids and I gathered all of the blankets and pillows, cuddled up on the couch, turned the fireplace on and just relaxed together-them watching TV, me reading books and taking naps. It was perfect.
