Love in the Lil Smokies

25 years...

Tim and I celebrated our Silver anniversary last week with a romantic getaway in Brown County, Indiana.  And what a beautiful setting it was...

Part of the fun of vacation for me is researching new places to visit and discovering stops in all the nooks and crannies along the way.  Having never been, but often recommended, Nashville, Indiana - or "The Little Smokies" as it is known seemed like the perfect place for two lovebirds.

We stayed in a cabin between Nashville and Bloomington, which gave us the best of both worlds.  Peace and quiet, rolling hills and windy roads where we slept; a picturesque drive to shopping in Nashville (comparable to downtown Gatlinburg), or big city choices in Bloomington.  

Stopping at a Farmers Market grocery store (one of the highlights for me!), we stocked up on healthy snacks and breakfast goodies for our cabin before checking in.  Truly, we'd have been content to stay there the entire time.  Between the hot tub in the back, deer and wildlife watching, and swinging on the porch in the summer rain, I was in my happy place.

But we did enjoy our ventures out too.  

The curves demanded you slow down and the hills all but made our phones useless, other than for occasional GPS and photo taking, so we were forced to spend time talking and window watching.  

Not that we needed the excuse.  

We were content doing so and some of our best memories on the trip come from our time just exploring the countryside.  

For our anniversary dinner, we drove out in the middle of nowhere to an abandoned town, named Story.  Just when we thought we were lost, a quaint storybook setting appeared.

Story Inn

I couldn't have written a better location to celebrate our 25th.  Full of history and ambiance, we lingered over our farm-to-table feast by candlelight.  After dinner, strolling the town felt like we stepped back in time.  The early 1900s is one of my favorite decades and I could envision what life might have been like then.

The next day we escaped to Bean Blossom in search of a covered bridge 

and had lunch on a flower and herb farm.  

Whisked upstairs in a tea house, we dined alone in a bedroom 

full of knick-knacks and antique memories.  

The weather was perfect nearly our entire trip.  

Raining only long enough to cool down the summer air.  

The soft drops played music on the wooden bridge and 

made our path exploring flowers even prettier.  

On our last morning, we stopped just outside of Bloomington for a lovely brunch overlooking the lake and hillside.  This was our warmest day but still pleasant enough to eat alfresco.  Truly, I would've sat through any temperature to take in this view...

How sweet it was.

I'm still smiling from the trip and moments shared.  

Blessed to have this husband of mine for 25 plus years and 

joyfully expectant for what the future holds.