Hand-carved cave house… Scam??

FRIDAY - DECEMBER 3

The idea of spending a few days relaxing inside a hand carved cave house sounded pretty intriguing to me. So after Amanda told me she had found this place only about 2.5 hours away and it had over 100 great reviews, I was in!

A hectic day with photoshoots all morning and a bunch of last minute errands pushed our departure time from Decatur well after lunch. We ended up in Madison AL around 3:30 and grabbed a bite to eat at the new Jon Smith Subs shop off County Line Road before getting going. It was well after dark (around 6:30 PM) by the time we arrived at the Air BnB. I didn’t get any photos because it was a little rainy and very dark when we got there. Here’s one from early morning.

For the past couple years (once or twice a year) we’ve tried to stay at some kind of unique Air BnB location not to far from our home because we can usually only get away for shorter periods of time. Amanda had gone searching and found this neatly described place that claimed to be a hand carved cave. It had tons of great reviews and the photos looked pretty good so we figured we’d give it a shot. Based on the location information it was close to Chattanooga and not terribly far from Atlanta. We both wanted to go to Ikea and get some things since we’re doing a lot of remodeling at home.

The tiny red circle shows the area we were in, just outside Trenton, GA and less than 20 minutes from Chattanooga. In order to get to the residence, we had to drive down a sketchy road through the woods and past a bunch of run down looking places. Coming through that, there was a big clearing and hillside. The first night we just relaxed and did some grocery shopping.

SCAM? or just a misleading description. I failed as a photographer and didn’t really get any inside shots. You can view the listing here. The inside was quaint and had a loft where we set up Amelia’s bed. The kitchen was one of the smallest I’d ever seen. The toaster wouldn’t eject bread and you couldn’t fit bacon in the microwave. Two of my most important food groups! We then realized we had had been slightly misled by the Air BnB description. Upon close inspection we saw that the “cave” was really just sprayed foam insulation that had been painted gray to look like rock. Bummer! But one thing that did work well was the hot tub! It was relaxing to sit out in the wilderness at night and hear nothing but the occasional random wildlife. We were greeted by the on-site dog and she was very friendly, and of course the cat…. the cat was friendly and hung around a lot. All in all, the location was very quiet and isolated for sure. Probably a tad more than we had preferred. As I joked, this is how horror movies begin - a couple with their kid alone in this isolated place with really no cell phone service or internet. The stay wasn’t bad or anything, just not quite what we had built up in our minds I guess you’d say.

SATURDAY - DECEMBER 4

We woke up to a rainy day and decided to head down to Ikea in Atlanta since it was only an hour and a half away. Amelia had fun being an Ikea influencer. Haha. Lunch at the onsite restaurant was pretty tasty and affordable and that kept us going for the 3 hours we were in there. After that we headed to the local mall and it was packed out with Christmas shoppers. We headed back out around 5:30 and stopped by Del Taco in Marietta to grab some dinner. It was tasty!

On the way back, Amanda was looking for something fun to do and came across this free Christmas light exhibit as this house in Marietta. It has 1,000,000 lights and was pretty spectacular. It’s called the “Lights of Joy” and was just about 5 minutes off I-75. Highly recommend if you need something fun and free!

Arriving back at the house around 9PM, we were greeted by several deer hanging out in the field. It was pitch black out there.

SUNDAY - DECEMBER 5

Woke up to a foggy morning and a visitor came to see Amelia. Decided to spend the day driving around exploring Headed to Cloudland Cavern State Park. Amelia was asleep so we took turns going on a short hike to see the overlooks.

We then made our way to Chattanooga where we ate at Puckett’s and visited the Bluff View Art District to get some baked treats. We also did a little shopping at a couple stores before trying to get dinner. Ended up by Hamilton Place mall at Hana Steak and Sushi.

When we got back, the deer were back again.

Monday - December 6

The deer were back again and we got ready to head home. This included letting Amelia eat one of those little debbie Christmas cake things. She didn’t like it. All in all it was a fun vacation and we had some neat experiences. However, I doubt we’d ever come back to this particular Air BnB as it was a bit too isolated for our tastes.. I really did enjoy seeing all the deer and other animals though. To date my favorite Air BnB place is still the Deer Lick Tiny Home Community in Monteagle, TN.

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WHERE SHOULD WE GO NEXT?

We are always on the lookout for new and neat things to see within a 4 hour drive of Decatur, AL. If you’ve got some good spots to visit over a weekend, let me know!

WHAT’S IN MY BAG

When it comes to travelling there are a few things I bring with me on every trip besides just clothes. You can see my full set up in the list below. I encourage everyone to travel with these items as it can save you a lot of headaches and hassle at times!

1. LUGGAGE - Travel Pro is my go-to brand. I have multiple Travel Pro bags, but the small ones are most useful for me since we take a lot of trips that are 4 days or less. Once you experience the quality of these bags, you’ll never want anything else.

2. BACKPACK - LowePro Fastpack 250 - I love this pack because it’s a 50/50 camera and everything else combo. Plus it can hold a laptop or tablet too and it’s all very compact. There’s a newer modified version that looks awesome, is cheaper, and would be better if you don’t travel with telephoto lenses - check it out (Lowepro Truckee BP 250 LX Outdoor Camera Backpack). I may even pick one up for testing!

3. MULTI TOOL - Leatherman Wave - My multitool goes everywhere because you never know when you’ll need it. And it turns out, a lot!

4. FIRST AID KIT - Coleman Mini Kit - This is the perfect size for keeping in your bag and car in case of the minor boo boo, which happens a lot with kids. It’s cheap and effective.

5. CHARGING CABLE - Anker 10’ cable for iphones - I like to have a lot of slack because I never know how far away from the outlet I’ll be. I use to use a 6’ , but found sometimes even that wasn’t long enough. The 10’ doesn’t take up much more space and works great.

6. CHARGING BRICK - Anker Dual Port Charger - This is my go-to travel charger. It’s awesome because you can tie in someone else if needed as well. It’s small and compact.

7. EARBUDS - Apple Airpods Gen 2 - I still prefer these and love them for listening to podcasts and Youtube on my morning walks/exercise stuff.

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Thanks again!
Kyle