We wanted to find some way to get away safely over Fall Break - Hung was swamped with work and has limited vacation for the rest of the year, G's Fall Break didn't line up with ours, and KJ has volleyball and a busy week of work. I asked Cullen if he'd be interested in getting away with me and the kids and he was all about it. I booked us a cabin in the Smoky Mountains for 5 nights and off we went!
We had a smooth ride down - kids were awesome in the car! When we got to the cabin we were thrilled with the set up and the views. Tay was also SUPER excited to discover dominos and we spent a lot of time setting up domino mazes. We went into town to pick up pizza for dinner and ended the night trying out the hot tub and playing pool.
Our first full day we hiked to Laurel Falls (It was about 2.5 miles roundtrip). The views were amazing! We ventured down to the bottom of the falls and the kids splashed around a bit in the creek. They were troopers and did awesome on the trail. We played lots of 20 questions and looking for alphabet shapes in nature as we hiked. After that we headed to Gatlinburg where we found an outdoor spot to have some burgers and then took a trip up the Skylift and walked across the Skybridge. The kids were a little scared of the chair lift but had fun walking across the bridge and seeing the town below. Tay kept saying "are you sure we should be doing this?". We got to cross the skybridge and there was a part that was all glass which was cool. Avery was also super excited to find the initial HT for daddy. Masking is not as strict here as we would like it to be so we plan to avoid town the rest of the trip. We ended the night with ice cream, more hot tub time and the kids playing "pretend family" while Cullen and I relaxed. It was 70 and sunny and an awesome start to the vacation!
Day 1
Day 2
Day 2
We went horseback riding - Tay was REALLY nervous but ended up riding with Cullen and had an awesome time! Their horse was tethered to the guide so he was thrilled to be in 1st place and talked about it the whole ride! Avery loved being in her horse element! We went up 300 feet in the mountains and it was just gorgeous and peaceful. We also mined gems which Tay got really OCD about and we had to go through all of his gems and line them up to the name on the card we were provided. Avery was really bored by it so her and Cullen took some walks. We also fed some of the barn animals and then headed home for a bit. We headed back to our cabin for lunch and Tay decided to cover his face in Peanut Butter so we had a mid day bath which Avery really got into! We went to Pigeon Forge for the evening and had BBQ dinner and also got Putt-Putt. Tay basically played a hole or 2 ahead of us and would come tell us his score which ranged from 6-14 for each hole and then we spent tons of time before dinner adding up everyone's scores. Avery played with Uncle Cullen and me and had some successful putts! She also found a G carving. On our way our we saw a Trump car and Avery and I couldn't help ourselves :) WAY too much Trump happening in this part of the country.....Overall, this was Tay's vote for his favorite day!
Day 3
We spent the day on the top of the Mountain in Anakeesta. They had a mountain coaster which Tay LOVED and we did it twice. Avery and Uncle Cullen got to Zipline - Avery was really nervous but ended up having a blast. She liked the "cannonball position" so she could get maximum speed. They also had a tree top walk - One funny Tay thing, there was a picture of no jumping on the suspension bridges and Tay told us "Hey guys, no ballet dancing." They also had a cool kids area and Tay loved doing all obstacle courses. It was just a very cool setting and the kids had a blast - This was Avery's favorite day! After Anakeesta, we found an outdoor steakhouse and had a nice dinner on the patio. Wiki Sticks were part of the kids menu and Tay made me some awesome glasses - He couldn't find blue but used Yellow and Purple to make me Michigan Glasses :)
Day 4
Our last day was spent driving through the Cave's Cove National Forest loop. It was an 11 mile loop with stop offs to see some of the original buildings from the early 1800's including an old Flour and Corn Mill (It was "just a building with a wooden wheel with water" - Avery). The sights were truly breath taking!! We didn't see any Bears but did come across a huge black snake which was cool. We brought lunch and had a picnic and walked through a lot of the old buildings. For dinner we ordered country cookin' and hung out at the cabin (kids were really into playing pretend - It was called Missy and Zach who are best friends and both have jobs and call each other a lot. SO CUTE!) and packed up. It was a great way to end an amazing vacation!
