‘Staycations’ Can Help You Stay Within a Tight Budget
If you are a parent or a busy family sometimes spending time together or even taking a vacation can be hard. Summer is meant to be spent outdoors making memories, however, that isn’t always possible. If you are looking for a quick solution that might be a long weekend or even just a day trip there is plenty of exciting things to do around the area without feeling like you are missing out.
Staycations are a fairly common idea, but they allow you to experience the best of your area through fresh eyes. Maybe you are looking to stay inside the area but want to do something a little bit out of the norm. There are plenty of new things happening in well-loved areas for you to explore.
In Pigeon Forge you can experience winter all year around in their new Pigeon Forge Snow area. It offers wintery fun all year around with 15 snow tubing lanes for those thirty eight inches or taller. Also they have areas for snow man building and areas to have snowball fights. It’s open 7 days a week from 10 am to 10 pm and all ages are welcome. An hour of tubing is $21.99 and 30 minutes of snow play is $7.99. This could be a great solution to beat the heat and still enjoy a little bit of winter.
How about hanging around Knoxville for the day? They have a new exhibit this year called Tiger Forest in which visitors can view a multi-acre habitat for endangered Malayan Tigers and white capped cranes. You can get the kids up close while the tigers are undergoing behavior training. The zoo is open from 9am to 5pm daily and parking is $5.
How about trying somewhere that you have never been before? Take a trip to Bay’s Mountain Park in Kingsport. This park is a 3500 acre nature preserve and the largest city owned park in the state of Tennessee. There is a 44 acre lake as well as a nature center with a state of the art planetarium theatre and animal habitats. The habitats feature wolves, bobcats, and reptiles. The park also features an Adventures Rope course with a 300 foot zip line. If that wasn’t enough there are 38 miles of trails for hiking, running, sightseeing, exploration and biking.
What about trying something new? Tuckaleechee Caverns are located just a short drive from Sevierville, Knoxville and Chattanooga. These caverns were discovered in the mid nineteenth century. Take a tour and discover the “Big Room” which is the largest cave/cavern room that is open to the public in the Eastern United States. Tuckaleechee also has the tallest underground water fall called “Silver Falls” which is 210 feet tall. Located in Dry Valley in Townsend, these caverns are open from March 15 to November 15th. Tours are available daily ending at 5:30 pm.
Take these ideas and more and make the most that you can out of your summer staycation. The kids will definitely thank you for it as you make memories together. Have a happy and safe summer from all of us at the Jefferson County Post.
