Our Smoky Mountains Vacation

We had a great trip! The kids were very surprised and excited when we told them we were going on vacation. Ron was able to take the dogs to the kennel and completely load the van without them noticing Friday morning. We went out for breakfast and then told them what we were up to. Tyler's reaction could not have been more perfect! The kids were surprisingly well-behaved on the entire trip, including all the time spent driving.

Our goal for this trip was to spend time walking on paths through the woods, explore the creeks, maybe see some wildlife, and just enjoy being together. We did all that. Here are some pictures from our trip. I know there are a lot, but that's the nice thing about looking at them on here. I'll never know if you get bored and stop looking!



On Saturday we stopped at some of the overlooks, played in the creek, and visited Clingman's Dome. We did NOT climb to the top, but we did walk a short way on another path.

Saturday night we made S'mores. It was quite a messy experience: notice the marshmallow on Tyler's sleeve & the chocolate on Danielle's face. I think I had some on the seat of my pants before we were through!

On Sunday we walked on some trails, saw the gap, and drove to Cherokee NC.

We did the touristy thing and visited the live bears while in Cherokee. Ron and I always feel bad for the bears, who are degraded into performing for their food and are quite plump; however, we always pay the money to see & feed them. The kids enjoyed it.

Tyler & Ron explored this working mill in the rain. I can't remember the name of it, but it's powered by a turbine, which Tyler can fully explain.

We ate dinner at Huck Finn's Catfish House. We ate there the last time we visited, too, but Danielle didn't enjoy it as much.

Souvenirs - Tyler picked a cork gun. He LOVED it and only got in trouble with it once.