FAMILY SUMMER TRIP #5
North Carolina
Gatlinberg and Pigeon Forge
The kids in front of the border sign. They did not want to get out of the car so I am surprised I got them to half-smile. =)
The Smokey Mountains are very beautiful, not quite the height and rocky feeling as the Rockies out west but Green, and thick with foliage of all kinds and did I mention GREEN! The "smoke" that you see in the background never seems to go away and they are truly a sight to see!
If you squint, you can see an Elk in the background of this picture. Below Daddy got a little closer for a better picture, soon after a ranger came buy and kept everyone far back. Um- Alta Smith and a broken shoulder anyone?
As close as I dared to get- Very impressive!
We also saw a Black Bear cross our path about 50 feet away, all except for Mia who did not see him before he ran into the trees. She was very sad for about 5 minutes.
The Smokies are truly beautiful!
On the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee.
The Appalachian Trail covers 14 states and goes from Georgia to Maine. As you can see, Maine is almost 2000 miles from where we were. We talked with someone who had hiked the whole thing and it took him more than six months! We hiked about 20 minutes of it!?!?
The kids and "Water".
Mia loved the "Fuzzy Moss" that seemed to cover just about everything.
In Gatlinburg and the indoor water park, the kids loved it!
In Pigeon Forge and go-cart time!
The speed racers- Mommy and Mia!
Brenner and Cayden pushing the gas!
Mommy and Mia on the elevated tight turn.
Get your tongue back in your mouth!
Brenner and Cayden on the bumper boats. Mia was too short by an inch and a half.
Does that make our six year old "small" still?
In one of Daddy's favorite spots- the Christmas Store! It was huge and went on and on. Think Modern Display on Steroids! As big as it was, I did not find Our Ornament here. As ornaments go, I find that I am getting very picky, they have to be just right in every way. In a latter shop I did find a very cute wooden bear that will be perfect once I add a little tag of where and when and I even found the perfect blown glass hot air balloon for our Alabama trip that I was missing! Yeah!
That night we caught a show at the "lumberjack Feud". It was allot of fun and Cayden even got one of the "cookies" which were the ends of the wood that the lumberjacks cut during the competition. He also got it signed by the lumberjacks at the end. The kids favorite part of the whole show- the dogs! Go figure!
Pigeon forge and Gatlinburg are very similar to Jackson Hole but much much bigger. There must have been eight or ten playhouses, someone said 17 Pancake Houses, all kinds of shopping and all kinds of things to do and spend all your "Extra" money on. Dolly Wood is also there and as we have been to Disney several times and all three kids have passes this year to Six Flags over Georgia, no one wanted to go. Cayden also asked if it was only for girls- Dolly Wood.
The Smokey Mountains are truly beautiful and a place I would for sure go back to see again.
