Okay, so it's getting a little late in the summer... but there's still some time to head out to the lake.

Our favorite way to pass the time on the water is to rent a pontoon boat!

Supposedly, wherever you are in Tennessee, there's a State Park within an hour's drive.

Hmmm... ok.

Well the good news to report is that all of Tennessee's state parks are now FREE!

Most used to charge anywhere $3 or so (per vehicle) just to enter the park and enjoy nature at its finest... plus a few cool amenities provided by the state.

So, if you haven't been to one of Tennessee's state parks in awhile, this might be something you want to add to your Summer "To Do" list.

Tennessee's state park system was recently ranked by the National Recreation and Parks Association as one of the top four state park systems in the country. Florida was No. 1, and Tennessee was tied with North Carolina and Missouri for second place. Source

We rented a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains for the first time last June.

After researching several different cabins online, we opted to rent through Cosby Creek Cabins in Cosby, Tennessee.

They offered the best view, the most amenities, and the lowest price -- AND they were just a hop, skip & a jump from Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge.

Here are the details of our Gatlinburg cabin rental experience...

We planned a spur-of-the-moment trip to Gatlinburg this past weekend. Mom joined us for her first camping trip in years. Last time she went camping was with dad when we were kids. (She reminded me that we used to camp in these "dad-made tents" - without floors in them!)