Well today was another amazing day. Grant and I got up around 7 and went down and
had coffee and breakfast and I wrote our blog post for yesterday. We had a nice time. There was a very nice lady who gave Grant
some crayons and coloring pages while we ate.
After Ryan and Nick had breakfast, we went into the park
again. This time we got the obligatory
picture in front of the national park sign then went to the Visitors Center and
got hat pins, magnets and ponchos – light rain.
Grant got some decent binoculars, Ryan got a small black bear (stuffed)
and I got a picture frame for the picture a lady took of us in front of the
falls the day before. Then we drove west
down the main road (River Road? Laurel
Falls Road?), stopped briefly to take in the true "Smoky" mountains,
and came to the Laurel Falls hike.
This is apparently the most popular hike in the park. It’s a 2.6 mile round trip hike and quite
steep starting out. We got up it quickly
– honestly it felt like a walk in the park compared to yesterday’s hike. The cool thing was the hike takes you to the
middle of the falls so you could see up and down. Also, it was a cloudy day but great
visibility.
Grant kept talking about how this 2.6 mile hike was one of
the easiest things he’d ever done.
After
taking some great pictures at the falls and drinking a little water from them,
we walked back down. Ryan talked about
wanting to learn how to sew and wanting to take photography lessons. About an hour after our departure, we
returned to the van and drove west towards the Cade Cove visitor center. The drive was gorgeous, following the river
the entire way. Lots of water falls, fly
fishermen and kayakers along the way. We
played the alphabet game a bit but there weren’t a lot of signs to help us
out. We arrived at a picnic area just
west of Cades Cove and had a lunch of PB&Js (PB&Hs), Pringles, Goldfish
and apple sauce. Our picnic table was
right in front of a babbling brook – it was gorgeous. The benches and table were wet but we were
prepared with contractor bags, tarps and ponchos.
We then drove over to the bathrooms, just in time to see a
buck crossing over the creek (which was really more of a river at this spot) and
coming towards us. It was truly
beautiful. I’ve never seen a deer
crossing water before.
We then drove the scenic loop around Cades Cove and it was
an utter waste of time. Despite the
20mph signs and the additional signs that read “Be courteous – don’t stop - use
pull offs” a bunch of fools drove 5mph
or just flippin’ stopped in the middle of the road because they thought there
was a slight chance that they may have seen a deer. A single lane, one way, 11 mile road, took
entirely too long to get around and really wasn’t even interesting.
Once that agony came to an end, it was kids’ choice so we
drove back through Gatlinburg up to Pigeon Forge and had SO MUCH FUN. But before the kids’ activities, I made the
family drive by Dollywood and I sang my best version of ‘9 to 5’ for them. They were appalled. The place was kind of shut down so we drove
this strange round-a-bout way just to catch a glimpse of it. It was actually a complete bust so we joked
that it was the best part of the day.
From now on, if something’s fun, “but was it as fun as Dolly wood????”
After that we went to the Big Top Arcade and it was honestly the best, most fun
arcade experience of my adult life – the place was clean, the games were fun
and Joey (the Manager?) gave the kids free teddy bears – not little bitty ones
– really fun ones.
We played Doodle
Jump, Connect Four, Fruit Ninja, ski ball, etc., etc. and the kids won lots of
tickets. Then it was time for go karts,
Grant’s choice. At first Ryan didn’t
want to do it so Grant, due to his age, had to drive the kiddy karts by himself
on a tiny little track.
We headed back into Gatlinburg around 5:15, parked the van
at the motel and crossed the street and went to a very cool outdoor gear
store. We all got hiking poles and the
kids got water bladders for their new backpacks. We crossed back across the street and have a
lovely dinner of pizza and pasta at Luigi’s Pizza and Pasta, almost immediately
next door to our hotel.
Around 7 we walked home and I took a bath and am now
blogging while Grant is playing Doodle Jump on Nick’s phone and Ryan has gone
downstairs to the lobby to get some hot chocolate.
What a fun day. We’ve
had so much fun hiking that we’ve revised our plans for tomorrow to include a
5.4 mile hike to Rainbow Falls, most of which will be in the rain!!!
I love this town and the people here are so, so
friendly. I will certainly miss this
park.
P.S. After Ryan came
back from getting hot chocolate, the kids went down to the vending machine and
apparently the machine took their money.
So they went to the front desk and got a dollar from the attendant. The machine ate that dollar too so they came
back upstairs and Ryan had a complete meltdown.
She was really hysterical and was crying and going on and on about
wasting someone’s dollar. It was
crazy! I’m sure we’ll tease her
endlessly in the near future.
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