I love exploring new places, so in between house showings, cups of coffee on the porch, and gallons of lattes at Wolf Hills, I’ve tried to get out and see some of the things in and near our new digs.

Rocks Wood Fired Pizza & Grill was one of the first restaurants I tried in Johnson City, TN and it was delicious. My mom and I shared a small pizza and each got a side salad, which were really big for a side salad. It was a rainy day when we visited, but they have a really nice patio for nicer weather.

There are so many legit trails around for walking, hiking, and biking, but I love how sweet this little walkway to the Abingdon Farmer’s Market is. It makes me feel like I’m being outdoorsy without having to actually be outdoorsy.

Not surprisingly, I have already been to a handful of greenhouses and added a few new plants to my already barely manageable collection. But, how do you not when the greenhouses are so beautiful and so much can grow here. I bought grow bags to start some veggie and herb container gardens, but we keep leaving town so maybe that needs to wait. We’ll see.

Right now the Abingdon Farmer’s Market takes place on Saturday mornings and Tuesday evenings. Tuesday market days pause during the late fall and winter, but it has been really nice to be able to get fresh produce and eggs from the Farmer’s Market two days a week. That way you don’t have to decide between sleeping in and brunch or going to the market. You can sleep in and brunch on Saturday and then go to the Tuesday evening market. For people like me who don’t enjoy morning, an evening market is ideal.

After looking at a couple of houses in Kingsport, TN we had dinner at Riverfront Seafood Co. And they had a fun waiting area with a lobster tank and a lobster statue perfect for posing with.

On a second trip to Johnson City, we tried the cupcakes from Cakebuds Bakery and Ice Cream. It was in a cute downtown area with other restaurants, coffee shops, and pretty murals. The cupcakes were alright. Nothing like homemade and I’ll always miss the Bluebird Bakery cupcakes from back in the day in Orlando.

We were lucky to make it to town in time for the County Fair and thank god. My favorite part, other than funnel cake, was petting all the cute animals. Here I am with my hair twin.

Deer are everywhere in town. We see them almost everyday and not just like one deer, families of deer. So far t he largest group we’ve seen up close was six or seven at a time, they were in the yard across the street from my parent’s house. But seeing a group of two to four deer is almost a daily thing, and I love it so much.

The views are stunning in this area. Just driving down the interstate and this is the view. Like how? What magic is this?

This is the view from the Walmart order pick up parking lot. The Walmart I picked up from in Florida was just like the dumpsters and stacks of used pallets. But now I get to look at hills? Mountains? I don’t know, ground lumps covered in trees while I wait for my orders of random stuff.

We drove about 45 minutes East to Rural Retreat, VA to get sandwiches and ice cream at Dutch Pantry. They have made to order sandwiches, all kinds of jams, baking flours and supplies, bulk beans, small containers of candies, fresh produce, and of course an ice cream counter with had dipped Hersey’s ice cream and weekly soft serve flavor specials. For lunch we had sandwiches, I got roast beef, swiss, and assorted toppings on sourdough bread and for dessert I got dreamsicle soft serve and Christopher got hand dipped chocolate ice cream. It was so good and we’ll definitely go back.

Is it even fall if you don’t go to an apple festival? We spent an afternoon at the Chilhowie Apple Festival. They had live music, a pageant, a marching band competition, fair like entries for art, food, and produce. There were food trucks, lemonade stands, and craft fair vendors. It was a cute festival.

It’s been a hard transition, but exploring new places and seeing these views all while being able to go outside without sweating to death has definitely helped.

If you are familiar with the Southwest Virginia/Eastern Tennessee area (Tri-Cities: Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City) and have any favorites we should check out, let us know in the comments.