Anniversary Trip Part 1: TN Rafting & Cabin

Matt and I recently celebrated our second anniversary (June 10th), and we love a good excuse to travel! For our first anniversary, we spent a few days in New Orleans. We love it there, so I'm sure there will be future trips/posts about NOLA. This year we wanted a more active adventure. Our full trip was 4 days/3 nights, but I'm going to break it up into two sections/posts.

Our first adventure took place in Benton, TN. We dropped Jax off with his sitter early on Friday and headed out. Nana was awesome enough to pick him up and wrangle him for our trip (Thanks Nana!). The drive takes just under 7 hours going straight through. We took advantage of the long drive to actually talk without having to stop and tell Jax to stop doing something or save him from falling off of something lol. We also enjoyed the quiet and scenery some too. We stopped for lunch and we lost an hour due to the time change, but it was perfect as we arrived at our cabin in Benton just after check-in. When coming into town, we could see the gorgeous mountains and streams and were really excited.

The cabin we stayed in is part of Welcome Valley Village. I got the recommendation from my co-worker who is from the area and had been there many times. The property was tucked off of a small country road in the middle of a hardwood forested area. They have six different cabins to choose from of different sizes and amenities. I chose their newest addition, the Cherokee Ridge cabin for a few reasons.

It's their most secluded and private cabin, smaller and had a jacuzzi tub. I knew we would need that after our adventure the next day! The cabins are owned and operated by a sweet couple, Kevin and Jenny. When we pulled up the hill to our cabin, there was a chalkboard sign by the door with our name and their welcome on it. There are lots of shrubs and beautiful flowers around the cabin. There's also a charcoal grill outside and a fire pit area back in the woods with chairs and a swing.

The cabin was perfect! You walk in to a small dining table and living room area with a futon. There's a fireplace (for use during winter), 2 person jacuzzi, and tv in this area. The small kitchen is off to your right and has a full refrigerator, stove/oven, dishwasher, coffee maker, microwave and a nice view out back from the window above the sink.

There's a bathroom with a standup shower and a double vanity sink, as well as a queen master bedroom off of the kitchen. There is a cute loft upstairs with another full bed and a twin bed as well. It has a nice view outside and a little desk-like area there too. I wish I had more inside photos, but they were on Matt's phone and it went swimming the next day :( Here's a link to Cherokee Ridge.

One of our favorite parts of the cabin was the front porch. We love sitting on the porch at home, so of course, we gravitated out here. There are four nice rocking chairs and some tables and a peaceful view. The fact that this cabin is secluded made sitting out here really nice.

Once we got checked in up the hill and got everything unloaded, we headed about 5 minutes down the road to the local IGA to stock up on food for the next two days. I also wanted to pick up a bottle of wine and found a local vineyard and winery online. We decided to take the 10 minute drive out to Morris Vineyard and Tennessee Mountain Winery.

Oh my gosh you guys, am I so glad we did?! This place was absolutely stunning! When we pulled on to the property, it was covered with grapevines and berries and the Appalachian mountain view literally took my breath away.

We drove through part of the vineyard and to the storefront. We spoke with the gentlemen there about what was in season and he let us sample a few of the wines for free. We ended up buying the Autumn Reserve Red & White Muscadine made from local grapes and the Raspberry Semi-Dry since we were told they were in season on the vineyard there. You can also pick your own fruit there too.

We drove back to the cabin, fired up the grill and poured a few glasses of the Autumn Reserve. It was fantastic. I am definitely a novice wine drinker and just know that I don't like anything too dry and seem to like a little sweeter wine. This was perfect. Matt raved about it too. We talked and enjoyed each others company until our steaks were done. It had been a long time since we had such a relaxing meal that we had in one sitting before it got cold! We decided to turn in before it got too late because we knew we had a big day coming up!

The next morning we got up and cooked eggs and bacon for breakfast and enjoyed our coffee on the porch in the rocking chairs.

We got suited up and headed literally 0.6 miles down the road to our adventure for the day, whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River! I had booked us with the company OAR (Outdoor Adventure Rafting) after checking reviews and seeing how close it was to our cabin. (I'm all about maximum sleep time).

We met our group rafting guides for the day, Dalton and Garrett, and went over basic commands and instructions. Then we got outfitted with helmets, life vests and paddles and loaded on the bus. Our trip was the full river option, (roughly 6 hours from check-in to leaving the post) and started at 9:00am. You can choose a shorter trip and just do the upper or the middle Ocoee. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and we unloaded the boats and sat inside for some 'test' commands from our guide. It is a little nerve-wracking as he talked about what to do if you get thrown out of the boat, but Dalton assured us it happens often and wasn't too dangerous, so it was also a little exciting! (You do have to sign a liability waiver of course though).

Our boat of six, (an older couple from Atlanta, Matt & I, and two younger guys who were part of a college reunion; the other guys were in Garrett's raft), plus Dalton loaded up and headed down the upper Ocoee. This section of the river starts off fairly calm and gives about 15 minutes to get familiar with paddling as a team. Then you dive right into some awesome Class III and Class IV rapids. This section was where the Olympic whitewater rafting course was held! These rapids and drops will get your adrenaline pumping and you are definitely going to get wet!

You continue on for about an hour and a half on this section and finish up by jumping off of the boat in a calmer area for a swim (if you choose) and hop out for an included shore lunch. We had croissant sandwiches, yummy pasta salad and veggies with chips, oatmeal pies and lemonade or tea. Everyone chatted, picnic style and we got back to it for the middle section of the river.

This section of the river isn't deemed quiet as risky, so the guides like to 'play around' a little more. We hit some more Class III and IV rapids, but this time Dalton had a volunteer (one of the college reunion guys), hop on the nose of the raft to brave a few 'Riding the Bull' style. Closer to the end he had him and his buddy do the 'Superman' by holding on to the front tubes to surf some. Here's a photo of the bull and you can see Dalton in the back playing the 'paddle' guitar). Matt and I are in the middle. He's holding on for dear life and I somehow, (and completely unaware), look like I'm a professional and posing for the camera lol!

 And another...

We stopped at an area and got to walk around a beautiful waterfall too.

On the last major rapid for the day (about another 1-1.5 hours), Dalton told us he was going to try and 'flip' the raft. His attempt threw everyone except me and the other lady out of the boat. We paddled over to pick up Matt and the others and then headed to the bus and back to the post. What a fun day! OAR is really cool and offers lodging, zip lining and other adventures too! They have a gift shop and offer photos of your trip (where we got ours).

We went back to the cabin, changed and took a breather. Even though we were exhausted, we ventured down the road to explore the Chilhowee area we'd heard about from a few people. We drove up the mountain in the Cherokee National Forest and pulled over for a few photos.

The goal was to hike to Benton Falls at the top, but it was so busy as this is a camping and recreation area, there were no parking spots (it was Saturday). Our feelings weren't to hurt so we went back to the cabin & cooked some chicken alfredo. We used more wine and the hot tub to ease our aches lol. We so enjoyed the first part of our trip! I'll be sharing Part 2 soon!

P.S. Here are a few throwbacks to our wedding in 2016. The official start of #ohmygodwins