Mommy and Me Adventures

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Have you ever traveled with a small child? One who asked questions at every turn, wanted to play the letter game at any moment of silence, and one who thought for some strange reason that just perhaps they were smarter than you? Meet Z… my affectionate yet insanely brilliant daughter. Every year, I have started making a commitment to us going an adventure during her Spring Break. Each adventure has truly been different. For this experience, I wanted to take Z on a road trip and stress the point that there is so much that exists within the United States that goes unappreciated and unexplored. That said, we took a drive from the Washington DC area to New Orleans as NOLA was going to be my last stop for some time to channel the creative process and I would send her back home.

We started the drive off through the mountains of VA staying at a Yurt (Check the Yurt out here). I know, what the heck is a Yurt? It was my way of incorporating a camping experience that Z wanted to have without me having to be an actual tent outside. Accept for it was like being in an actual tent outside 🙄 It was windy and the Yurt had started blowing & flapping around. The child looks at me & says well if we blow, we’ll blow together. She says are you scared?… now my ego start kicking in & I say no, I’m just trying to be vigilante of my surroundings. Meanwhile, whole time I’m scared AF like real live ready to get in the car & go to a hotel scared. Even a budget one… I left all the lights on and I only sleep in pitch black. Meaning I left there tired.

From the Yurt, we go an have a hiking tour with a company called The Wondering Llamas. The owner was super nice and Z really enjoyed it, but personally on the low, I really enjoyed the llamas. They were super cute and friendly.

Then we went to Gatlinburg, TN for a few days and stayed in another airbnb. For those unfamiliar with the area, imagine Disney World for the mountains. Speaking of mountains, our condo was at the top of one of those mountains and all I kept thinking while I was having to avoid driving off cliffs was bright idea Sash.

As we go to different activities, there’s a traffic hold up cause what a Bear.. like real live Smokey the Bear roaming and I yell Z it’s a bear!! She is screaming where where looking all around whole time the bear is to the left & I’m pointing. I say well dang how u gon help me drive and u can’t see a big ass bear? The child starts crying. Like wailing… cause she wanted wanted to see smoky. I kept trying to hold my snickering and instead consoled her that we’d see another bear and can you believe it actually happened? We were checking out and a bear literally walked across the street so close we could touch it. If you’d like to see that video go to the Fearless Nfluence Instagram or click here.

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For our activities we did anakeesta where we get in a sky lift and Z is shaking looking at me like why would u do this? I’m looking at her like I don’t know why 😭 We ride a gondola back down which eased us both.

Z says something profound as we are in the air… “don’t look down until we on the ground only look forward.” I say hey remember that concept can be applied to life as well and tell her “don’t look back only forward and most times when you on the ground ain’t no reason to look down. Always keep your head up.”

From there, we went to Maryville, TN where we stayed in a WWII Train and from there drove to Birmingham Alabama and had the best pound cake from black owned business Emily’s and stayed in a hotel because Z really wanted to go swimming, but not before going to the black owned restaurant in Chattanooga, TN called Uncle Larry’s who has the best fried catfish in the country. We also stopped at Bully’s which is an infamous black owned restaurant in Jackson, MS who has peach cobbler that would disrespect your great-grandmother.

We finally reached the destination of NOLA where I took her on a kids ghost tour called French Quartour Kids and had her try some infamous Cajun food from what of course, another black owned restaurant called Neyows. If you haven’t gotten the gist, for every trip I take whether Domestic or International, I support Black Business.

Despite adventures at every turn, there’s truly only one word to describe it and that’s LOVE. I’d love to know about your traveling mommy adventures! As always, share your stories and pictures for features on the blog and social media.

Next stop here we come…

In Light, In Love, and In Laughter

Sasha Nicole