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Traveling is such a great way to get out and see so many great things! I love long trips, short trips, and everything in between! Last year we went skiing with a friend in Beech Mountain, NC and decided to go back again this year but to make it a full family excursion. It’s about 6 hours from Savannah and makes a great long weekend get-a-way!

Where to Stay

We stayed at a VRBO which was labeled ski in/ski out. It was a great place and the location was nice, the drive down to the resort was less than 5 minutes. The ski in/ski out concept is amazing BUT…the easiest access was to walk a bit uphill and go down a more difficult blue slope (which I personally have no business on) or to walk down the road and access a smaller blue that connects with a green (more my speed). The walk wasn’t long or terrible but when you’ve got to carry all the gear associated with skiing and kids it’s a bit much. If Ada was a confident skier this would have been a better place but for us in this season it wasn’t somewhere I would stay again for now.

Lift Passes and Equipment Rental

We skied at Beech Mountain Resort and rented our gear from a local place called Fred’s General Mercantile. If you are going over a holiday weekend, like we did, I would consider buying lift tickets online early. We bought everything about 3 weeks in advance and didn’t have any trouble with sell outs.

I would also advise getting your rental equipment the night before you plan to ski a full day so you can start the day skiing and not waiting in line for equipment. The line for renting wasn’t long and didn’t take forever but they were busy and if we’d stopped in the night before when we drove in we could have probably saved some time and been able to sleep in! Also, you have to be present to rent ski equipment so bring everyone who is planning to ski to the shop!

Skiing Friday Night

We drove up early so we purchased tickets for the night ski Friday. We got all our equipment and lift tickets before checking in to our VRBO, unpacked the car, then drove down to the ski resort for our first run. Since it was dark, we weren’t sure where the “ski-in/ski-out” access was at the house, and we had Ada we opted to drive down for our first go.

Ada did WAY better than we thought she would do. Honestly, I thought we would snap her in and she would immediately fall out and never get up, but she seemed to enjoy skiing as long as someone was right next to her. We spent some time on the bunny slopes getting reacquainted with skiing then we hit the lifts while my mom stayed with Ada to do more practicing. After we did a couple of run on the green slopes Christopher talked my dad and I into going up to the blue at the top and man was that a fun mistake. ????

We all either walked or slid down on our butts (on purpose). They had started blowing snow so it was icy and challenging and I’m not that great of a skier.  I looked like a Popsicle when we finally made it to the bottom.

Skiing on Saturday

I bought two day lift passes so they started when the lifts opened Saturday morning. We checked out the resort map and decided it would be smarter to walk down the road to go down the smaller blue that led to the green slopes. Everyone went down and my dad and sister helped Ada ski around some at the top. The rest of us went down, some better than others.

We spent the day in and out, skiing, sitting at the rental, and skiing agin. Everyone but Chris and Christopher, they skied ALL DAY!

After dinner we did another night ski as part of the two day pass. I would say we didn’t really need to go back out at night but it was SO PACKED during the day that it was nice to have the night pass to go back out and not have to wait in such long lines for the lift.

Skiing on Sunday

On Sunday we all skied more but honestly we were all tired! I think we all spent more time relaxing in the rental, even Christopher volunteered to go back inside and sit for a while. On the last ride up the lift he fell asleep.

What About the Food!?

We decided to get groceries and do meals at the rental. My mom is a rockstar and actually planned all the food AND packed coolers from home so we didn’t have to stop at the store for anything!

Heading Home

We stopped at Grandfather Mountain on the way home. It’s about 45 minutes down the mountain and not really on the way but also not really out of the way.

They have a few wildlife exhibits (the kids loved the otters) and a mile high swinging bridge. There is also lots of hiking. We didn’t spend very much time there since we were wanting to get home before dark but it’s defiantly a place to check out if you are in the area!

Looking for other trips from Savannah?

Check out my Cumberland Island Day Trip post, if you are looking for something a little closer to home that doesn’t require an overnight.

We also had a great time recently in Crystal River, Florida. Kayaking and seeing manatee makes a great weekend trip!