Gatlinburg

This was our first time visiting Gatlinburg, the tourist town right at the door of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Gatlinburg is famous for its heavy traffic and crowds, but we visited in the off season so it wasn't too bad.  We enjoyed scooting around town every once in a while between visits to the park (Peter, Dad, GrandDad, Niki, and NanaB) and throwing rocks into rivers (Charlie).

Gatlinburg from the tram.  You can't see it from here, but Gatlinburg is full of restaurants, t-shirt shops, and tourist traps.

Well, I insisted on taking Niki and Peter to Cooter's Place, a tourist trap run by the fellow who played "Cooter" on the Dukes of Hazzard, my favorite TV show when I was a kid.  Niki figured out that there is a "Cooter's Place" in Nashville, but oh well . . .  Cooter's Place had a little "museum," filled with old toys.  I still have, and Charlie and Peter now play with, the big "Dixie" jeep here.

Peter found a go-cart Hazzard County Sheriff's car, and fell in love with it.

The nice guy behind the counter took the tape off and let Peter sit in it.  He was DELIGHTED!

He would sit down, then stand up, then sit down, then stand up, and jabbered the entire time.

Dad - can we keep it?

We found a few restaurants that we liked, including Howard's Steak House.

Here's another tourist trap - the "Cars of the Stars" museum.  Here's Herbie!

A Gatlinburg block at night.

Niki found a little shopping center with a bluegrass band playing.  Charlie and Peter twirled and danced.

Mountain Momma.

What's more East Tennessee than resting in an orange and white rocking chair after dancing to bluegrass?

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Aside from seeing GrandDad and NanaB, the Smoky Mountains was the highlight of the trip.  This park is gorgeous!  Niki and I are sure that we will be spending much more time in this park in the years to come.

Charlie and Peter explore the Chimneys picnic area.

Tall trees.

In Cades Cove.  This is why they call it the Smoky Mountains.

Foundation of stone.

A mill and mill chase in Cades Cove.  This mill still runs - they were grinding wheat when we were there.

See the black dot back by the woods?  That's a bear.  Yeah, it's far away, but how close have YOU gotten to a bear in the wild?  (Click on the photo to make it larger.)

Ready for the hike up to Laurel Falls!

Um, it turns out they weren't kidding.  Even though the trail was paved, it did have steep drop-offs.  We watched the kids like a hawk.

The laurel giving Laurel Falls its name.

Peter  explains it.

At the top - Laurel Falls!

CJ and PJ at the top.

Wow.  Look at that drop-off.  Like I said, we kept a hand on the kids.

Grandkids and Grandparents.

The view from the trail.

GrandDad on the way down.  He's got a hiking backpack, an adventure hat, and a pink sippy cup.  That's  just how he rolls.

You can reach the Appalachian Trail off the trail up to Clingman's Dome.

Dad and the observation deck at Clingman's Dome - the highest point in Tennessee.

Dad and me at the top.

A portrait of Grandma JoJo

Charlotte drew this lovely picture of her Grandma JoJo the other day.  I'm not sure why JoJo has all the pink spots on her, but otherwise it's a pretty accurate likeness, right?

More fun from Gatlinburg

Here are some photos Corey didn't post from our trip to Gatlinburg with NanaB & GrandDad.

The swing at our resort was a big hit with everyone.

But Charlie Jo liked the slide better.

They look so small in front of all those huge boulders up in the national park!

What a landscape!

Peter's new favorite game is for Daddy and GrandDad to bounce a beach ball off of his head while he floats in the pool.  No, really.

Charlotte loves to jump "into the water", which really means being safely in Daddy's arms by the time much of her actually gets wet.

Charlotte was telling NanaB and Daddy something very dramatic.

Our little mountain resort suited us perfectly!  There was a cool creek that ran through it which gave us an interesting outside diversion in case we had to split the group to do something like, oh, take three of us to the doctor to check for pinkeye.

Charlotte liked throwing rocks into the creek.

More later!

Peter and Charlotte

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

This week, Niki, Peter, Charlotte, and I went to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with NanaB and GrandDad.We saw black bears (both in a wildlife exhibit and in real life)!

We toured tacky downtown Gatlinburg . . .

We danced to bluegrass music after dinner (the band is behind the bush) . . .

We sat on rocks in the river . . .

We walked around Cades Cove . . .

We drove and hiked to the highest point in Tennessee - Clingman's Dome . . .

We saw sharks!

We rode around beautiful Park roads in Big Red Van . . .

We went swimming . . .

We looked at fish at the Aquarium . . .

We visited Cooter's Dukes of Hazzard museum and gift shop.

We visited the Methodist Church in Cades Cove.

We sat around and chatted . . .

And had a ball! More later . . .