Feeling ready for a vacay!! I will be honest, part of me kind of wishes we were just jetting off somewhere REALLY WARM where I could sink into a lounge chair with one foot hanging off and toes in the sand and do not much else for the rest of the time.
I’m just a little….tired.
BUT, that’s not what we’re doing. We’re going to Smoky Mountain National Park and Asheville, North Carolina, and I’m excited and we will have a blast. 🙂 (I mean, I chose this trip, so it’s not like this is a surprise! And I really want to do this trip. I just also would like to then maybe follow up with a few days of “pure nothing warmness”. lol!)
We are not really the best “do nothing-ers” on vacation, anyway, though. Ivan is especially bad at it, though he has his moments.
Confession: I’m mildly anxious about traveling over Easter week.
We have been spoiled in that our past spring breaks have not typically coincided with Easter. Which in my book is a REALLY GOOD THING, because I feel like everyone worldwide is off over Easter week and everything is peak crowded. In fact, I don’t think we’ve ever traveled during Easter week! Maybe once to Mexico, but not a regular vacation.
In Costa Rica last spring we were there in mid-March, which was several weeks before Easter. The locals kept saying how the crowds were so low at the moment, but that they were about to get slammed. One beach umbrella guy told us, “This nice open beach will be all full of people in another 2 weeks!”
It was so delightfully not crowded for us overall and I was sooooo thrilled. This is one reason we also haven’t been shy about pulling the kids out of school sometimes, too. (Which gets harder as they get older, though.)
I have a feeling the Smokies will not be not crowded. I mean, maybe since the weather isn’t peak season yet in Tennessee, perhaps it will be slightly less crowded than in the summertime. But I’ve just heard the Smokies are like, always crowded. Apparently it’s the #1 most visited national park! (Maybe in part due to its nice central location?)
I have read reports of difficulty getting parking spots and all the travel blogs say “get to the trailheads by 7 a.m!”. Um. We don’t usually get anywhere by 7 a.m. on vacation, unless it’s a hot tub with tea or a balcony looking at something pretty. LOL. So we’ll see. (The skeptic in me says, ok, well if everyone follows this advice, than by 9-10 a.m. all those 7 a.m.ers should be clearing out, no?? 😆)
It is also possible that I may tend to be a little oversensitive/ over concerned about crowds and their impact on my vacation. (That and weather report checking. hahaha.)
It’s not that I’m actually phobic of “crowds” from like a, germ standpoint, I just find them annoying and I don’t like other people in my way.
But, I mean, the reality is that if a place is popular, it’s usually because it has desirable things about it! That’s why the crowds are there…. So, while it’s nice to attempt to avoid them if you can, it’s probably one of those things where it’s best to just sort of accept it as a reality of life, along with death and taxes, and carry on.
(It’s a little bit like complaining about rush hour traffic on your way to work…. if you are also needing to travel at peak times, you are an equal part of the problem! Hahaha.)
Note: The Smokies won’t look like that photo above at this time of year. I debated about if I really wanted to do this particular trip in late March, when the trees aren’t fully leafed out yet and weather could be questionable, and ultimately decided that we’re running out of travel windows here.
I knew we wanted 2 full weeks for Hawaii, so that made more sense to push to the summer when kids are out of school. Also, Hawaii is going to be $$$, so to balance that, we wanted a lower cost trip now. (Road tripping helps! Although- eek the prices for the Biltmore Estate and Dollywood, etc are… not cheap?! Was not expecting almost Disney World level prices for those? 😳 Seriously, is anything economical anymore? 😫)
From what I can tell, the views are still lovely in the Smokies during all seasons, so I’m sure it will be fine. And if not….ah well, can’t have everything!
Are you crowd-phobic on vacations or do you just not worry about it?
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for living in a centrally located part of the country that makes different road trips pretty feasible! We can travel a reasonable distance in any direction and get to many cool places. I often think it would be really hard/frustrating if you lived in a far corner of the country.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I am crowd phobic always, lol. This sounds like a fun trip, though! I hope you get lucky with the crowd situation.
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Have a great time at the Smokys!! I highly recommend getting to the park at 7-8am, the morning views are the best to see the “Smoky” effect! We went in August and were at the park by 7ish each day, spent nearly 10+hours each day hiking etc.. at least pick one day to do that and head to clingmans dome, there are lots of spots along the way to stop and look, then for cades cove- take your time, traffic may determine how fast you get through the one way road! Can’t wait to see pics/read about your adventure. Look forward to your blog posts regularly!! Faith
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We are going to Costa Rica on Sunday … I was heavily influenced by your trip, and I’m definitely nervous about the crowds! I started to get really nervous when we procrastinated on booking a hotel and there was basically nothing left (we got a couple of Airbnb’s that I’m excited about, but the pickings were slim). We booked everything in advance so I’m not THAT nervous about the crowds, but I am hoping the beaches won’t be too packed when we’re there, because I also despise crowds. Have a fun trip … maybe I’ll copy off that one next year!
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We are doing a similar spring break trip this year (the week after Easter), to Shenandoah National Park. We’re doing our “big” summer trip in early June (to the five national parks in southern Utah!) so this was meant to be more of a budget trip–we live about a six-hour drive away from Shenandoah so it’s ideal, and we found cheap accommodations. Shenandoah is not as crowded as the Smokys, but similarly I think it can get really packed in the summer and that’s why people say to get to trailheads early, etc. I really don’t think in late March/early April we will have this problem, or you will either. Given the weather (the extended forecast says highs in the 50s in Shenandoah when we’re there) I also really do NOT want to go hiking at 7am because it will be warmer/sunnier during the middle of the day and probably still in the 30s in the morning. So we will not be rushing off in the mornings.
P.S. I think one of the reasons the Smokys is always the #1 visited national park (by a lot!) is that it’s free, so you can just drive through the park easily without having to pay a fee, and so lots of people are just kind of driving through and not necessarily on a big vacation or whatever. That, plus what you mentioned re: its central location–it’s really easy to get to from lots of populated areas in the East.
Have a great trip! We are excited for Shenandoah and also hoping to do the Smokys on a future spring break trip, since it’s a similar driving distance for us. TBH the only reason we picked Shenandoah over the Smokys this time is that Shenandoah is very pet friendly and the Smokys are not. We love hiking with our dog 🙂
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OMG ARE YOU GOING TO DOLLYWOOD????
We do try to travel a bit off-time, but until recently we were restricted to the boys’ school schedules, so there were always more crowds than we wanted. Now we can really travel off-peak though which I definitely prefer. That said, we are early birds, so getting someplace at 7 would not be a deterrent to me personally. But fighting crowds to go hiking doesn’t sound appealing.
I hope you have a great time!
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I’m not “crowd-phobic”…I just hate people. I’m joking (kinda). I definitely prefer to visit places when they’re not busy but I’m also an introvert, so this makes sense! I also like to be efficient and crowds just make things…not efficient.
I think you’re going to have an amazing time, but I understand not wanting to travel over a holiday (which you just did over Christmas!!)
I hope you have a great trip. Text me pictures along the way, deal?!
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Um yes getting to the trailheads by 7AM is a no. I don’t mind crowds that much!
But yes, there is such a thing as being so crowded that vacation isn’t really enjoyable. I love going to an island in Lake Erie called Put in Bay, but it gets so crowded in the summer that you can’t really do anything.
Enjoy vacay! And also yay for cheap vacays so that you get to enjoy spring break and then having the more expensive vacations as well;-)
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Yes, I prefer 100% less crowd place for vacations, mainly nature/outdoor. But sometimes it’s okay to visit with the crowd, like our upcoming trip to Paris.
It seems that pre-trip anxiety is real. I haven’t finished planning yet, maybe I’ll get the anxiety closer to the trip. Since my main goal was to run the marathon, and it will be my 4th time in Paris, I think we will be okay doing leisurely things with the girls.
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Maybe I am naïve but I don’t think you’ll see mobs of people on this trip. It doesn’t strike me as a place that will be SWAMPED with people. It will be busy at certain places, I’m sure, but overall I don’t think it will significantly impact your experience. Spring breaks vary so much across the US. They could be any week in March or the first week of April. So it might not be as bad as you think! I hope you have the best time but I know you will. And when you started off by talking about wanting this quiet, relaxing spring break I was thinking – you never have quiet, relaxing trips! 😉
I am not keen to go to places that always seem to have crowds – like Disney World. I know you are trying to convince me that we should go but the mobs of people are so unappealing to me! But other than avoiding places that are known for crowds, like theme parts, we don’t really factor crowds into our planning. We are going to FL past the peek of spring break since we couldn’t go during Paul’s spring break so we’ll maybe miss the crowds? But we aren’t doing much on the trip so crowds won’t matter much as we’ll mostly be hanging on the beach.
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I think I was spoiled by Covid not being in crowds and now I hate it more than before. We went to Joshua Tree National Park in early March and it wasn’t bad crowd-wise. I think all parks advertise being super busy and be there by 7am or not have parking but that hasn’t been my experience; especially in non-summer times so I bet you’ll be fine. Can’t wait to hear details!
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OOOOOHHHH! Yes, yes yes. I mean- yes, I’m crowd phobic. It’s not like I’m afraid of germs or anything, I just like things to be a little more peaceful and not super crowded. On the other hand, your vacation sounds like a dream trip. I’ve never been to Asheville but I’ve heard it’s amazing, and Smoky Mountain National Park is incredible. You’ll have to give us every last detail, including how crowded it is, what time of day you did certain things, and if it was still enjoyable in spite of all the people.
Being crowd phobic is one of the reasons I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon, by the way, which is completely ridiculous. I just want to be there with no one around, but I know that’s not possible, so I just never go. So… it’s probably better to go, take your chances, and enjoy it no matter what.
I’m sure you guys will have fun!!!
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I was just in that area at the end of the year, but we didn’t see too much of the Smokys because it was COLD and a lot of stuff was off-limits at that time of the year. I hope you have a fab time! It will be crowded, most likely, but I find that as long as I am prepared for crowds, I try to be patient about it. And sometimes, it’s less crowded than you might expect! If you have time, highly recommend going into Gatlinburg – it’s a great little spot!
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oh I want to see the Smokies, too! I am very averse to crowds. I do my best to avoid them if we can help it. We will be in Paris for Easter Sunday and may swing by saint germaine or just walk the streets 🙂
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