Fall Vacation

For our fall trip this year, we packed up the Suburban and headed for Gatlinburg, TN. and the scenic Smoky Mountains. We packed a lot of activities into our extended weekend. We went for a Humvee ride, the kids loved that. We went for a gondola ride up a mountain, and took a ski lift even higher. We even saw some Smoky mountain black bears! They were in their enclosures at a preserve, so we didn't get attacked. We did see three wild bears on the gondola ride up. They were napping in a tree.

Friday we went hiking at the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. On our way up the mountain, we stopped at a flowing creek to check it out. We decided to try to cross the creek by stepping rock to rock. Tyler was the only one to stay dry as the rest of us slipped on the rocks and fell in. Later that day we went on a hike to the top of a mountain where they have an observation deck. It was a very foggy day and we could only see about 1/4 mile. At least they had pictures of what we could see on a clear day so we knew what we were missing.

That night we went to The Dixieland Stampede which is a Civil War era, horse riding competition, dinner show. The arena is divided between the North and the South. We sat on the side of the North. During the show they have audience participation. Megan and Tyler were picked to represent the North in the chicken chasing contest (see video). They had to get two chickens across the arena before the kids from the south got their chickens across the finish line. Needless to say, the South must have had ringers lined up for the event as Megan and Tyler finished 2nd. But each got a nice medal and a book from Dolly Parton. (She was not there, but she authorized the giving of the books. The kids even got a letter from Dolly and Tyler wants to write back.)

After the show we decided to go putt-putt golfing. We went to Old McDonald's Adventure Golf. Megan and Tyler had a lot of fun. Both Megan and Tyler got holes in one. Tyler won a free round of golf for his hole-in-one. He was very excited.

On Saturday we went back to the National Park and saw Laurel Falls. We had to hike one mile in and one mile back. The kids complained about the hike in, but had a lot of fun once we got to the falls. They got to do a little rock climbing and exploring. I think they could have spent the entire day there, as they just had a lot of fun climbing around.