The feeling of excitement and possibility that comes with visiting a place for the first time is one of my favorite things in life. And the South has no shortage of cities and small towns to explore, which is why I love covering travel in our region. From hotels to restaurants to state parks, there’s always something new to check out here.

That said, there’s also a comforting familiarity in returning somewhere you love and know well. When I was growing up in Florida, my family never had a favorite destination that we would revisit, aside from traveling to see relatives. Now that I have a family and a child of my own, I wanted to start this tradition, but I couldn’t just point at a map and decide. Figuring out a special place is more complicated—you need to enjoy being there so much that you actually want to revisit. And when you do revisit, it should still have the same appeal, or more.

Falling For Scenic City

After a few visits, it was clear that Chattanooga is our place. Specifically, Wauhatchie Woodlands, a charming campground-of-sorts filled with tiny cabins. Located just outside of downtown, we have stayed here for the past six or seven years, sometimes multiple times in a year. Owned by Timberroot Rustic Retreats, which has similar vacation sites in other places in the South, the 14-acre wooded property is right off of the highway but it feels tucked away. A main road snakes through the Wauhatchie (which has fire pits, hiking trails, a playground, and other summer camp-like amenities), while cabins are grouped together along side streets. My favorite time of year to come here is in the fall, but we’ve visited during every season, and each time has been lovely.

Wauhatchie Woodlands

Chattanooga is an easy two-hour drive from Birmingham, where we live, and the city has enough to do (or re-do) over a weekend. We’ve played vintage arcade games at the Chattanooga Pinball Museum. We’ve marveled at the epic views from Rock City and the city’s riverfront. We’ve eaten many, many pancake breakfasts at the incomparable Aretha Frankensteins, and we have gladly waited in long lines for glorious baked goods at Niedlov’s Bakery. For us, Chattanooga is just the right mix of nature and city, and is small enough that we’ve really gotten to know it over the years.

The Comfort Of A Cabin

Even though the city is filled with activities, the cabins are what keep us returning again and again. They are compact, simple, and smell like cedar. Each one has everything that you need and nothing more: a front porch and hot tub, towels and bath products, kitchens you could cook a meal in (although we never have), and comfortable beds. Each cabin is named for a person, and we like returning to the same ones (“Ernie” is a favorite) even though they are more or less all alike.

Wauhatchie Woodlands

Entering the cabin, smelling its familiar smell, seeing all of the familiar things, and watching my son race up the stairs to the loft bed as he always does, makes my heart happy. Each year, the scenery stays the same, but he grows up a little bit more. I hope we’ll keep returning here, and I hope he’ll bring his college friends, or maybe even his own family here someday. The world will keep changing, but we can hold on to the simple feeling of some things being the way they always have been.

Read the original article on Southern Living