Our Great Smoky Mountain Adventure

We have been talking all Summer about going on a vacation and just hadn't done it. Then we thought Ben was going to start school last week, but it was moved back yet another week (nice!), so we loaded up the car with all the crap you need when you leave the house with two children and mentally prepared ourselves for the 6 hour drive to Pigeon Forge, TN. And for the first time on record it actually only took us six hours! Usually we can add on a couple of hours for pit stops. The girls were great in the car for the first 5 hours, then Morgan lost her mind...

We stayed in the fabulous Moose Tracks cabin in Sevierville Tennessee which is just minutes from DollyWood! We didn't go to DollyWood, but it looked fun. (Sorry Miranda no souvenirs from there...) The cabin is definitely a wonderful way to travel with the kids! And the view was fantastic!!!

Nora was a little disappointed that there wasn't a pool, but she got over it when she saw that she could swim in the bath tub.

The first night we stayed in and had pizza from the closest place we could find. The next day we went into Pigeon Forge which happened to be hosting the Shades of the Past car show. This made traffic an absolute nightmare because everyone, including the man driving our car, was ogling every car in sight. Ben said...well I better not put that in here. So we got out and walked some with the girls to check out all the sweet rides.

After that we went to this cool looking Old Mill Restaurant for lunch and while it was cool looking the food could have been yummier. However, they did have a fun General Store and Candy Kitchen to make up for it. Who would have thought of pumpkin fudge???

That night we went to a Tennessee Smokies playoff baseball game! This was the inspiration for our trip since they are a AA affiliate of the, you guessed it...Chicago Cubs! They had a stellar come from behind win that did not disappoint the fans! The girls had a great time running in the outfield grass. Nora threw the fastest pitch of all the girls in the park and won herself a bookmark and a free meal at Shoney's!

The next day we went into Gatlinburg, TN on our way to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It is a very cute little town with expensive parking. We got out and decided to eat pancakes for lunch because there are probably more pancake houses in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area than anywhere else in the world. So we trek up the street lugging our gear in the 90 degree heat to the Flap Jack Cabin which as luck would have it closed at noon, current time 12:15. Keep in mind this is getting to be past lunch time for the girls. So the girl recommends a good place - The Log Cabin Pancake House which was down to the next stop light and straight up the hill three blocks....she obviously hasn't carried a 35 pound 2 year old before. Luckily they had air conditioning, fast service and yummy pancakes!

After lunch we decided to hit up the Ripley's Aquarium because we heard it was nice and that they had an awesome military discount. Both turned out to be correct! We all got into the aquarium and got a souvenir booklet for less than $10! Not bad considering the admission is usually $20/person! Nora sure loves her fish and Ben was like a kid at Christmas! They have this really cool tunnel (long tunnel) that goes under all the tanks, it was awesome!

So we finally make our way to the park and were driving to a stroller friendly hike when...

So we decided to make it a driving tour today.


We then headed back into town to check out the Smoky Mountain Brewery and completely by coincidence I'm sure...caught the second half of the Bears game.
The next morning we were sad to leave our cabin and head home...did I mention the view?



But we loaded up all the crap again and decided to give the park another try...yes they were sleeping again, so Ben found us a waterfall to go to and have a picnic lunch.




Then we drove back to I-26 via the Blue Ridge Parkway. What a beautiful drive! I would recommend spending time in this area of the country! It was an absolutely wonderful trip! It was so fun to hang out with the girls and watch them laugh and play and scream all weekend!