Rockwood, Tennessee

So it's been a minute since I've written a blog post... But in my defense, there's been a lot going on in my life. I recently graduated college, and three days later started taking classes again (yay). Between my mom coming into town, searching for a new job and apartment and taking classes, my life has been a little crazy. But you better believe this girl has still been exploring and going on adventures; so watch out for some super fun blog posts (wink wink).

Now this adventure kind of has a funny (or just coincidental) story behind it. As you may know, I am from Texas and have lived in Tennessee for the past 4 years. Pretty much the entire drive from Knoxville until Memphis is along interstate I-40. For years I have driven along the highway passing through this gorgeous town where you could see for miles. I always told myself that one day, I was going to pull over to the side of the road and stop and see it (instead of just quickly seeing it through the trees). But I never did. Instead, I typed the name of the city into the "notes" app on my iphone and added it to my list of places to go. Now here's the funny thing, when I started dating my boyfriend, I discovered he just so happened to be from this small town. Of all the places that he could be from, it just so happened to be the one town where I wanted to see this overlook from (coincidental right?). So naturally he told me about the overlook, and of course, I begged until he finally took me a few weeks ago on his day off. You know me, I'm a sucker for any place that has a good view, I just can't help myself.

Rockwood, Tennessee is a fairly small town tucked away at the base of the eastern part of the Cumberland Plateau. The Tennessee River runs along the southern boundary of the city, with access to Watts Bar Lake. With a population of no more than 5500 people (according to google anyway), this overlook is the highlight of the city. Driving through the main street, you instantly get the small, southern, hometown vibe. I was born in a town with 6k people in the middle of Mississippi so this felt normal to me and I loved it. According to my boyfriend, during the holidays, there is a giant "star" that is lit at the top of this overlook so that the city can see it, so it's no shock that this place is nicknamed "The Star".

I MEAN YOU JUST CAN'T BEAT A VIEW LIKE THIS AM I RIGHT? (okay maybe you can but I still appreciate this view). But wait, it gets better, driving down the mountain we pulled over into what looked like a logging road and the view got cooler.

*insert heart eyes emoji here*

I think growing up in Texas where it's pretty much all flat land has made me appreciate even the smallest of mountains (once again Texas is FLAT. As a pancake). So I just freaking love mountains. Small ones, large ones, snowy ones, ones that are turning green after winter, all of the mountains!!

And my boyfriend is pretty cute too<3