Brad and I talked Friday night and decided that since we were so close to the Smoky Mountains we should go for a small hike. We thought we would get to the ranger station hike for 3 hours and head out of town. Well, that didn't happen at all. We got to the ranger station at the time we wanted to (giant surprise there!). Heard about some great places to hike, took a short hike to a waterfall, and then climbed into the RV and headed to the next hiking location. Some things we learned: The Smoky Mountains are busy, lots of people enjoy them. The parking lots are not big enough for all the cars, let alone the RV, despite what the ranger told us about there being plenty of parking. Brad is an amazing driver!
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| Me with Joel and Dean |
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| Funny faces |
We wanted to go check out a bigger waterfall. When we got there parking was at a minimum. As in people had driven over curbs to park in grass. Someone pulled out and Brad did a U turn (in a 35 ft RV) and then parallel parked. There were a ton of people watching and he did it flawlessly. I was so impressed! Dean stayed in the Ergo on my back for most of the hike, but anytime there were large rocks near the trail to climb he wanted out! The climb was mostly up hill at a decent incline. And there were no railings on the edges of the trail which made Brad and I nervous. The kids did a great job!
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| Anytime the older kids got close to the water Dean would get worried and try to pull them back onto shore. |
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| Brad and Dean |
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| Not pictured..Dean worried that they will fall into the water |
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| Vincent and Cecilia |
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| Vince taking some pictures for his 4-H project |
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| Parallel parking |
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| Cecilia took this photo |
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| Vincent took this one |
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| Family photo by Laurel Falls |
There was another trail that just opened up that day so Brad thought we should drive and find it. It was called Clingman's Dome. It was another very busy trail and this time a chance to park on the edge of a cliff because the parking lot was full. Brad, Vincent, and Cecilia went to climb it because Joel and Dean were sleeping. They came back from their hike and they were so excited about it and insisted that I climbed. Joel was awake and I bribed him into coming with me, Cecilia was ready to climb with me too, and so was Brad. We had to twist Vincent's arm to get him to climb again. We woke Dean up, put him on my back in the Ergo and climbed the short and extremely steep path to Clingman's Dome. Along the way we saw the Appalachian trail and hiked on it for a short bit just to say we did. The view at the top of the dome was beautiful and I am glad we did it all together.
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| Steep incline just outside our door |
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| Brad, Cecilia and Vincent |
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| She loves Vincent so very much. |
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| Cecilia and Brad |
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| Vincent and Brad |
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| Vincent and Cecilia |
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| Family photo at the top |
Joel was given a walking stick by someone and on the way down he and Cecilia walked and talked together. It was adorable! After our hike was over the kids climbed on the big boulders at the beginning of the trail. We had to peel them off the boulders to get back into the RV. We made the mistake of taking a drive through Gaitlinburg on our way out of the park. It was 7pm. It was a poor choice. It was bumper to bumper traffic and took 30 minutes to go 2 miles. It gave us a good chance to look at all the shops and restaurants as we slowly crept passed.
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| My athletic little beauty |
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| She is his protector |
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| Dean loved climbing rocks |
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| Joel and Cecilia climbing off the boulders |
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| Vincent wasn't too happy about taking a picture with me |
After 24 hours in the Smoky Mountains we left for home. Amazingly after a long day of hiking Brad was able to get us all the way to Louisville, KY for the night. Like I said, he is amazing!
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