The kids had a nice long weekend off of school for Fall Break, so we took advantage of that and took a beautiful trip with my parents to Gatlinburg, TN.
They had a half day on Wednesday, so we headed right out from the school parking lot.
The drive went really good, we got to our cabin a little after 9pm
The kids couldn't wait to go in the hot tub!
We stayed in such a fun cabin, I took these screenshots from the website, we made ourselves right at home :)
Thursday was our first day in the Smoky Mountains!
Exploring Cade’s Cove (saw so many deer)
Picnic lunch at Metcalf Bottoms (kids loved playing in the river)
Laurel Falls Hike (beautiful scenery)
Treats from The Apple Barn (delicious donuts!)
Dolly Parton’s Stampede (a Pigeon Forge must do!)
We packed a lot into Day 2 so it was another early start.
We kicked the day off with a super fun breakfast at the Frizzle Chicken Farmhouse, the kids LOVED it here.
Next up we hit the Roaring Fork Motor Trail, where we were lucky enough to spot a bear cub!
Hiking to Grotto Falls.
Clingman's Dome (highest point in Tennessee)
Dinner at Bullfish Grill, we worked up a major appetite!
We ended the day at the Paula Dean Lumberjack Feud. All the kids got to participate which was so fun!
Saturday we had plans to drive into North Carolina and see if we could find some elk, and that's exactly what we did!
We stopped for breakfast in Cherokee. NC
and then headed back to the park to explore the Mountain Farm Museum and Mingus Mill.
We got back to our cabin in the early afternoon, the guys and kids hung out in the cabin while my mom and I did some shopping at the outlet mall.
In the evening we met up with our friends, The DeWeerdts, who were also visiting Gatlinburg, for dinner at Bennett's BBQ. They came back to our cabin to visit for awhile and that wrapped up our 3rd day!
Sunday morning we had a delicious and filling pancake breakfast in the cabin and the got packed up for home.
We had an amazing time, it was such a different kind of vacation for us and we loved exploring new things together as a family. We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to Tennessee and see more of God's beauty in the world!
