Have You Heard of Cherokee, North Carolina?

If you have, I'll be surprised. This is a little town located on a Cherokee Indian reservation by the Smoky Mountains. We went during, what is considered to be the off season, but it was still absolutely beautiful and full of life. More natural life, than people though, I think we lucked out missing all the tourists.

We arrived around 2 on a Sunday, the parking lot of our hotel was almost totally empty, come to find out, at most our hotel probably had about 4 other guests throughout our entire stay. Speaking of hotels, out of all the places I looked, you'll want to stay here. The rooms were clean, it had a pool and hot tub! Plus it was one of the few places to stay that was set up like a hotel instead of a motel. Unless you would like to stay in the casino, the rooms there also looked nice, me and my boyfriend just preferred a little more solitude.

As we explored the town, we realized one of the downsides to visiting during the "off-season" was that some of the attractions were closed. Most of these are tourist traps, so we didn't mind too much. We spent most of our time afternoon around the quaint little town! It had started to cool down and the shops downtown were closing so we decided to go for a drive. My boyfriend loves cars, he loves to drive them, he loves to look at them, he loves to talk about them, so I always try and incorporate something car or driving oriented for him!

We climbed higher and higher, on many of the trees there were signs hanigng, some said apples, some said pottery, etc. We decided to follow the signs, and man we were glad they did. They brought us to a beautiful shop up in the mountains, Bearmeats Indian Den. The owner was lively, and very enthusiastic about his products, I seriously recommend this shop if you feel like going for a little drive. I got an apple there and it was sooo delicious and of course I had to buy some local soap made with Grapefruit. ( Major Vitamin C)

I had had my fill of local culture so we asked the owner how to get to the blue ridge park way so my boyfriend could do some driving and we could watch the sun go down. Winding around corners at about 80 mph, good thing my boyfriend used to be a professional driver, we made it just in time for the sunset. Forewarning: The Smoky Mountains are called smoky for a reason, it was a little difficult to see the sunset, but the colors still looked beautiful behind the smoke.

We made our way back to the main route and decided to stop at the casino. Out of all the dining options in Cherokee, the casino offers the most high-end experience. We walked around for a little less than an hour, it is a very small casino, and then decided upon a Italian restaurant, Brio. We were seriously surprised at just how good it was. My boyfriend is actually Italian, like straight from Milan, accent and all Italian and he thought his flatbread was delicious! I enjoyed some nice cauliflower bites, Carpaccio, and a lobster tail.

Our meal ended and we hurried back off to the hotel to enjoy the indoor pool and hot tub! We were hoping to have the area all to ourselves, there was nobody staying there, but when we arrived the hot tub was full of people. So, we dragged our feet to the pool and jumped in... nope too cold can't do it. We made our way over to the hot tub, only to be greeted by 5, we'd soon find out, very sweet strangers.

The eldest woman of the group made us feel welcome right away. Joking about how she seen us in the elevator at the casino. We soon got a convo flowing and had a great night. One of the women was actually the wife of the hotel manager.. Yay locals I thought. She gave us great tips on where to buy the most authentic Cherokee goods, locations of the best waterfall hikes ( click here to read about the hiking!) and directions to the nearest grocery store, we needed waters. Gotta stay hydrated people.

We had hoped to sneak into the pool late and just stay there all night but with the wife of the manager around we had to go back to our room once the clock struck 11. We cuddled up into bed and like most people after a long car ride, passed right out.

Carry on to day two ( we spend a decent amount of time in another small town called Bryson City)

As Always, Travel Well, Be Well

Bri

#travel #SmokyMountains #indianreservation #TravelGuide