After Glenn's conference on Thursday we headed west to the Smoky Mountains. Friends in our church have a cabin in Wear's Valley and they charge a very low fee for how large it is. We love stay there and it really is the best option because the kids each have their own bed room, and we have a HUGE cabin to relax in...when we're not out sight seeing and shopping. On our way in to the park we saw 3 elk in a field. This was a first for us because we've never seen any Elk in the park.
Since we were late leaving Charlotte and it was over a 4 hour drive we were late arriving into the park, but we still got to the top and to our cabin actually before the sun set. It was 58 degrees up on top and very chilly for us southerners who have been braving it in 90 degrees in GA. That cool air had us all a little excited and ready for our short trip in the mountains!!!
Friday morning we woke up with a pancake breakfast at the cabin and then decided to pack up a picnic and head for a hike and picnic. We decided on Laurel Falls trail a 1.3 mile to the top hike because the trail is paved (mostly) and we could push Joseph in the stroller. It was definitely a huge feat for us as we've never all hiked a trail together like this!!!
Bears are very active in this area, as you can see from below, but luckily we never came across any here.
Glenn and I took turns pushing the stroller!!! But I got all duty coming back b/c Joseph rode on Glenn's shoulders or side. The falls were beautiful and cool!
Joseph just loved touching the "COLD" water.
By the time we got to the trail head we'd hiked 3 miles all together. Pretty good for Emily because she walked the whole way and we only stopped once coming down. We didn't even have to stop going up, which was surprising because Laurel Falls is a semi difficult trail!
After all that hiking we enjoyed our picnic at Metcalf bottoms which was followed by some wading in the COLD water. Well, Joseph and I didn't really wade in it, but Glenn and Emily did.
Joseph was calling to sister telling her about all the bugs he was discovering outside the water!!!!
Joseph finally got braver and let Glenn hold him while he walked out. Emily was SOAKING wet in those ice cold waters, we still don't know how she got down in that water.
After our hike and picnic we headed back to the cabin and everyone took a
nap...afterall we were exhausted from all our driving the day before.
We told Emily if she napped then we could head to Pigeon Forge after
supper (we cooked chicken pie that night), for a treat. SO believe or
not she napped!
So we got to Pigeon Forge and had our dessert...ICE CREAM at the Ole Mill Creamery. I usually don't eat such a treat but I will say it was VERY good. I think everyone finished off their cones but me.
These pictures are all out of order. But these were made on our way home Sunday. It was raining and "smoky" but we still enjoyed the drive.
We had to get our photos at Morton Overlook and Newfound gap...and even though we were freezing with the temps in the mid 50's! It had the kids SO excited!!!!
I think these are my 2 favorite photos of the whole trip!!! SO glad for the tri-pod!
These pictures below were taken Saturday afternoon/evening. We took Emily to ride a few rides in Pigeon Forge after our Taco supper at the cabin!
Saturday morning we headed to Gatlinburg to the aquarium...I'm not sure where those pictures are, but they wouldn't upload. After the aquarium we decided to drive through Cades Cove while Joseph took him nap in the car!!! We saw more bucks that we can count, and even saw 1 bear!
The kids even got to drive a little through cades cove. They loved being in the front seat.
There's our bear in the photo above...not a good shot, but we did see him at least. We had a fast trip, but we took it ALL in for sure. Sunday on our way out we stopped and had lunch again in Gatlinburg.
No comments:
Post a Comment