It's no secret we love a spur of the moment getaway and that's exactly what our visit was when we stayed in a Geo Dome at Nine Pines Retreats and wow, were we impressed! This little gem is located in Western Kentucky and is a perfect weekend getaway for ...
It’s no secret we love a spur of the moment getaway and that’s exactly what our visit was when we stayed in a Geo Dome at Nine Pines Retreats and wow, were we impressed! This little gem is located in Western Kentucky and is a perfect weekend getaway for a family or as a couple.
We have visited this area of Kentucky a few times but this was our first visit in the Geo Domes at Nine Pines Retreats and we were first to stay in their domes, which just opened! What did we love most about this place and the dome?
Nine Pines sits on 100 acres, which means, theres a TON to do and lots of room to explore the great outdoors, including their very own trails on the property.
The Geo Dome comes fully equipped with everything you need — including a propane firepit area, a pizza oven, a Blackstone griddle, and a gas grill on the porch, as well as utensils and plates/cups, coffee maker, refrigerator, microwave, and more.
Whether you are looking for a place to accommodate just two people, or six (yes, I said 6!), the Geo Dome is a great family option as well as a getaway for a couple. It’s a great use of space with two double beds in the loft upstairs and a king bed downstairs. A two story dome? Yes, please!
The jacuzzi tub in the bathroom is lovely.
There are 3 AC/heating units in the dome to make sure the temperature is perfect inside.
S’mores on the deck, by the fire, just outside the dome is a must.
It’s located just 1.5 hours from Nashville, TN which makes it very convenient for a getaway.
Cadiz, KY offers alot to do including antique shops, farmers markets, great restaurants, and the Elk & Bison Prairie. You can also be on the lake for the day to swim, rent a boat, kayak, or fish.
The owners of Nine Pines Retreats are great! They were quick to meet us when we arrived, checked in by texting us to make sure we had everything we needed during our stay, and were so sweet as we left. They are around if you need anything but definitely do good at giving you space for your retreat.
Whether it’s a couple’s getaway, girl’s weekend, or a family trip, Nine Pines is the place to go. What would we rate Nine Pines? 5 stars!
Check out our tour of the Geo Dome over on Instagram + you’ll see a discount code there for you to use to book a stay in a Geo Dome at Nine Pines Retreats. I bet you’ll fall in love with it like we did.
Spring is almost here and we can hardly wait! We are ready for longer and warmer days and love to take our favorite Spring books and activities outside, don’t you? Today, I’m sharing some of our favorite Spring things with you.
Fall is officially here, the leaves are changing, and the temps are dropping which makes me (and you) wanting to indulge in all the cozy things for your home and closets. Here are your favorites (and mine) from last month. Amazon is my go-to place for fashion, home, laundry, and beauty deals.
A Mediterranean cruise is a great option for families wanting to get an overview of Europe and see where they’d like to come back to visit. We took this trip in July and while we had so much fun, made great memories, and have places we want to come back to visit, we’d suggest visiting when it’s cooler – in early summer or fall.
We sailed on Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas. The cruise left out of Barcelona, Spain and returned back to Barcelona. Spain has been on our bucket list of places to visit someday, so we wanted to take a few days before the cruise left to explore the city and wow, did we fall in love with Barcelona.
In Barcelona, we stayed in an adorable VRBO that had the best location! Located in the best area of Barcelona on the Rambla Catalunya, this little flat has lovely views from the terrace to the famous Gaudi’s Casa Batllo.
Things to do in Barcelona:
Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour : We do this in almost every major city we visit that has it. It’s a great way to get an overview of the city and some history thrown in as well. We also like it because you can go at your own pace. If you can and it’s not too crowded on your bus, sit on the top level.
Cap de Creus and Costa Brava
Eat Tapas
Tour the Sagrada Familia
The day that we boarded the Symphony of the Seas, we took an Uber to the port which was super easy to get to from our Airbnb in Barcelona. We boarded the cruise and got unpacked, and enjoyed an evening of exploring the ship.
Our first port of this Mediterranean Cruise was Palma de Mallorca. We didn’t know what to expect here or exactly what we wanted to do so we rented a car and explored the island ourselves. We drove out to a sea arch called Es Pontas. It was stunning! Just a short walk down a little trail led you to beautiful views of this arch and a bay that had the most beautiful water and swimming hole. We definitely will be back to this spot!
Our next stop the following day was in Marseille, France. This wasn’t on our top list of ports for this trip but it was an interesting morning. We took a ferry to Chateau d’If (the prison in the book, The Count of Monte Cristo – which is one of our oldest sons favorite books) and spent an hour there. It’s not a huge place, so you don’t need more than an hour or hour and a half to tour the entire place. After we took the ferry back to Marseille, we had lunch at a great Italian restaurant in town.
Day 3 of our cruise, we stopped in La Spezia, Italy. At this port, you can either go into Florence (which is an hour and a half or so away) or visit the smaller Italian cities. While Florence is on our bucket list, after much research, we decided we would save Florence for when we can spend more time there (than what a cruise stop allows) and when we don’t have small kids with us since it’s very crowded and lots of walking. We made plans a month or so in advance and hired a driver from Limo Service in Italy who met us at the port when we arrived and drove us to Lucca, Italy (the sweetest medieval town) where we shopped and walked the cobblestone streets and had a great Italian lunch. We then spent a short time at the Tower of Pisa. It was a very hot day and we were exhausted by the time we made it to the tower, so we didn’t spend much time there but did manage to take a photo and buy a few souvenirs. The service we hired to drive us is fantastic to work with and we cannot recommend them enough! They will make plans for calls and emails before your trip to create the most perfect day for you while you’re visiting and cater it to what your needs/wants are for the tour.
The next port we arrived at was Civitvecchia. Since Rome is inland, this is the port that you arrive at when cruising. We had another driver lined up for this day, but it was canceled last minute due of a train strike that was happening in Rome and also not enough drivers because it was peak tourism time. While this kind of threw a kink in our plans, the same company we hired to drive us around the day before made plans for us to join a group tour of Rome and was so helpful in arranging that for us. It was a very hot day, there was TONS of walking in this tour, and Rome was very crowded, but it was great to see the city, the Colosseum, the Vatican, and other places you see and read about in history books. If we ever return to Rome, we will probably visit during a cooler season and also when it’s not peak tourist season.
Day 5 of our cruise, we stopped in Naples. Again, we hired a driver from Limo Service in Italy who was fantastic and also lined up THE BEST tour guide to visit Pompeii. Before Pompeii, we drove through the quaint little towns on the side of mountains (the ones you see in photos when you imagine the coast of Italy) and ended up in Positano. We had lunch in Sorrento and fell in love with that town. We will definitely be back when we can spend more time there and also in Capri and the Amalfi Coast. We ended our day touring Pompeii and it was fantastic. I am not a huge history fan, but the tour guide we had, Sasha Bianco brought everything to life! He even kept our 6 year old’s attention. If you ever tour Pompeii, schedule a tour with Sasha. His knowledge was amazing and he made it all very interesting and educational, as well as being fun. He took us through various walkways and areas he knew all the shortcuts to. It was so much better than being part of a large group who seemed to need audio guides as there were so many of them. You can book a tour with Sasha through Tours Pompeii.
Day 6 of our cruise was spent at sea. It was a leisurely (and much needed after the busy week we had) day doing fun things around the ship and enjoying our last day.
Day 7 we arrived back in Barcelona, disembarked the ship, grabbed our luggage, and headed to the airport. We flew to London, England.
We immediately fell in love with London. It’s a place that is just so quaint and the people are so nice, it was such a treat. We stayed at this adorable AirBNB near the airport and took the train into London. We only had 1 full day here, so we had to make the most of it. We (again) did the hop on/hop off bus and saw a TON of places including Buckingham Palace. It took us to almost every attraction we could imagine seeing in London and allowed us to see what we wanted to and hop off at and stay on the bus and push on to the next beautiful attraction. Again, we cannot recommend the hop on/hop off bus tours when visiting a new city.
What a trip! It was definitely one of our favorites and we have a new list of places we want to visit longer in Spain, Italy, and England now. Check out more photos, videos, what we packed, and more over on Instagram (@meghantucker and @thewanderingtuckers).
What questions do you have? How can we help you plan your Mediterranean cruise or trip to Europe?
There are SO many different brands of bags and accessories out there. If you’re like me, you can easily get overwhelmed reading reviews and wondering which ones you should purchase and which ones you should stay clear of. I’m here to share with you one of my all time favorites, Stanley Street Shop has some pretty great finds – everything from weekender bags to everyday bags, wallets, clutches, and crossbody’s.
Have you heard about the Stanley Misfits? These are bags that are absolutely stunning but have very small imperfections making it where they can’t sell them at regular price. So you the customer, get a deal on these gorgeous bags that have very little imperfections to them. You can read more about how Misfits work HERE.
Don’t forget, use the code Meghan15 when you place your order for 15% off. Which bags are your favorite?
