Marrying Your Passions

  Gatlinburg & Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Where to Hike, Eat, & Drink This post is the companion guide to Episode 23 of Marrying Your Passions: The DINK Travel and Adventure Podcast, where we cover Gatlinburg, the Smokies and more! Some destinations you visit once and check off a list. Gatlinburg is not one of those places for us. We have been coming back to this corner of Tennessee for 19 years, starting with our honeymoon and continuing through more return trips than we can accurately count. We have watched this town survive wildfires and rebuild itself. Our pup, Peppermint Patty now also has her own tradition here. After all these years, we still find something new every single time. This is our complete guide to it. Nathan and Alicia stopped on the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail for a selfie in front of the Smokies   Where It Started Our first trip to Gatlinburg was our honeymoon back in 2007. We didn't know then that it would become the place we kept re...

Hot Springs National Park and Bathhouse Row: Everything You Need to Know About Hot Springs, Arkansas Episode 22 of Marrying Your Passions: The DINK Travel and Adventure Podcast What if one of the best destinations for DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids) in the country was a place that probably never crossed your mind? Hot Springs, Arkansas and Hot Springs National Park surprised us at every turn, and we almost never put it on the itinerary. We are so glad we did. We spent three days there from June 25 through June 27, 2025, and came away convinced that Hot Springs is one of the perfect destinations for child-free couples, empty nesters, and anyone who loves history, nature, great food and drink, and experiences you genuinely cannot find anywhere else. At the Hot Springs National Park Sign. Peppermint Patty's first National Park hike! Hot Springs is approximately 3 hours from Memphis and pairs perfectly with a stop in Branson, Missouri, making it an ideal anchor for a broader mid-South r...