I love having a weekend getaway to look forward to during the work week. It somehow makes the entire week feel special, like every day is a part of the trip in some small way. You spend part of the time planning, part of it doing laundry for the trip, and part of it packing everything you’ll need, and it all culminates at that moment when you finally lock the door of your home, get into your car, and take off. Some of our favorite weekend getaways are to the mountains. We love renting a cabin or staying in a bed and breakfast for a couple nights and hunkering down with some cozy meals and our favorite books. And we always reserve some time to get outside and hike or explore a small mountain town together.

On this particular trip we stayed for one night in an adorable little B&B called The Yellow House (https://www.theyellowhouse.com) in Waynesville, NC, followed by two nights in a cabin in the national park. Now I love staying in a nice cabin in the mountains but this B&B made me wish we’d booked all three nights away with them. We stayed in the beautiful Vineyard Suite whose wood-beamed ceilings, tiled floors, and double-sided fireplace made us feel more like we’d escaped to the Italian countryside. Although my favorite feature was definitely the tub. After spending a cold day walking and shopping around downtown Waynesville, soaking in that tub was the perfect way to end the day.

For dinner we ate at a restaurant called The Chef’s Table in downtown Waynesville which has been mentioned in Southern Living and received several awards for its unique wine list, and it was very deserving of its great reputation. The chef uses seasonal produce to create his ever-changing menu, though I would recommend starting with an order of the signature goat cheese risotto balls, which always have a spot on the appetizer list.

The next morning we followed one delicious meal with another with breakfast at The Yellow House in their charming dining room. The owners very graciously shared the recipe for their quiche with me which I’ll be sharing on the blog shortly so keep and eye out for that!

I mean, who doesn’t love a good quiche? It might be the most versatile food out there. Anyways, after breakfast we spent the morning relaxing and drinking coffee on the inn’s front porch before checking out and heading to our cabin in The Smoky Mountain National Park.

We spent our first day in the cabin relaxing, watching movies, playing board games, and wrapped up in a blanket while sitting on the balcony taking in those views. The second day we headed out to Cade’s Cove, an 11 mile loop road with remnants of homes and churches belonging to settlers from the 1800s and some amazing scenery. There are several places where you can pull over and hike to some of the old cabins or just stop to take pictures of the wildlife.

I’m sure it would be nice to visit this area during the warmer months too, but in my opinion the wintry grey skies and snowcapped mountains made the perfect backdrop for hiking to rustic, old cabins. I’m already looking forward to our next trip back to the mountains, but I was excited to get back home to Charleston too because it’s finally time to decorate for Christmas! And I think I’ll be using some of those cozy mountain cabin feels on our own place this year.