August 10, 2014

It was a long ride home... you have to entertain yourself somehow!

August 9, 2014

Our very last morning of vacation was just as busy as the rest of the week! We started with a short hike to Silver Run Falls and the boys played around in the water, then headed to White Water Falls to see an amazing waterfall that was way taller than even Niagra! It was super sad to say goodbye to everyone, especially since we don't know the next time we'll all be together again, but it was a great week full of fun and memories and family time. Yay for family vacations!

August 8, 2014

Friday was a rainy day. Like, torrential downpour for more than five hours. I'm not sure I've ever seen that much rain at one time in my whole life. It was intense! It was a great day for playing darts, LRC, legos and watching a movie. Elise, Kirk, Charlie, Viv and I headed out for a short hike around Iron Bridge just as it finished raining but we stayed surprisingly clean considering how much rain there was. 

August 7, 2014

Our big day in the actual Smoky Mountains has finally arrived! We woke up pretty early to get a jump start on the day and headed to the furthest away location, Juney Whank Falls hike. It was a short one (.3 each way) but it was very kid friendly and the waterfall was really pretty. Clingman's Dome was next - the highest point in the National Park. It was just over half a mile up to the top but it was steep and straight up. The observation tower was pretty crowded but it was really cool to see so far away. They pointed out the NC/TN border too. The mistake of the day was heading into Gatlinburg, but we had some ice cream to soften the blow a little ; ) The Englert's and Koslow's headed home after that but we went to Cherokee with Grammy, Pappy, Leah and Viv to eat dinner and play in the bubbling brook. That was the boys' highlight of the day!

August 6, 2014

Another busy and adventurous day! We started with a family hike to Dry Falls where you can walk behind the waterfall, went into Highlands to walk around the town and eat lunch, then just our family headed to Sunset Rock, the Botanical Gardens and Sliding Rock. We got scammed a little by the directions to Sunset Rock. It was a steep walk straight up hill and once we got up there we realized that we could have driven the whole way up the hill! It was supposed to be .6 miles roundtrip and ended up being 1.8 miles. Good thing it was a great view from the top! Sliding Rock was a really cool place even though the water was really really cold. The boys all went down the waterslide with Charlie and even Dylan loved playing in the water. It's places like these that make us wish we had much longer than a week on vacation!