Family Vacation - Smoky Mountains

 We decided kinda last minute (early June) that we needed to get away somewhere, somehow! With the uncertainty around flying, we decided it had to be somewhere that we could drive to! We ended up finding a cabin on VRBO with stunning views and all the amenities (and more) we would need in Sevierville, TN!

We ended up leaving our house super early (4 a.m.) Sunday morning! Poor Jemma ended up getting car-sick about 3 hours into the drive, so we made our first stop a little sooner than we had planned! :)

We have never dealt with one of our kids getting car-sick, so we were all a little on edge the rest of the way there. All our troubles were soon forgotten however, when we finally arrived at our cabin! The views looking out from our cabin were stunning!

Here is a little cabin tour! Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

After getting settled, Nate made a quick run to the store for milk and bottled water and then picked up pizza from a local shop for dinner. The girls ended up sleeping in the bedroom on the main floor, and we slept upstairs! We woke up the first morning to a beautiful sunrise out our window!

DAY 1: Our first activity for the day was in the National Park. We hiked up to Laurel Falls. Round trip to the waterfall is about 2.6 miles, and the hike is considered moderate in difficulty. Both of the girls did great! Jemma claims that this was her favorite activity of the whole trip!

 We had planned on having a picnic lunch afterward, but we forgot the cooler at the cabin, so we just ended up eating it when we got back! Nate and the girls enjoyed some much anticipated time in our hot tub!

We wrapped up the day with a visit to Gatlinburg. The girls panned for gems and then we had dinner at Bennett's BBQ (our first time in a restaurant since March)! Jemma ended up loosing her tooth at some point during dinner! We're not sure if it ended up in her plate of food (or her stomach)! 

Afterward we took a ski-lift up to the Gatlinburg Sky Bridge! It's approximately 150 ft in the air, and has a glass-panel floor in the middle! It was definitely a little scarier walking across it than I thought it would be!

We wrapped up the day with s'mores for dessert!

Day 2: We woke up to another beautiful sunrise, and then headed out early to Cades Cove. Cades cove is an isolated valley within the National Park, which was home to numerous settlers before the formation of the park. The area now consists of an 11 mile loop (one way traffic) with various historic sites, trails and wildlife to see along the way!

We saw a bear! This was definitely a highlight for the girls! We even got out of the car to get a closer look at him!

We stopped at the picnic area for lunch, and then headed back to the cabin to go swimming in the pool!

We wrapped up the evening with some time in Pigeon Forge. On our way out we saw a bear right by the pool area! He didn't look the friendliest, so we definitely didn't get out of the car this time. :)

We had dinner at Blue Moose and then checked out the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster. The Coaster is the longest downhill ride in the US with over 1 mile of track. You can control your speed going down. Nate and Jade rode together and went full speed the whole way down. Jemma and I rode together at almost full speed. She was pretty nervous the first time, but we all enjoyed it so much, we paid to ride it again! 

Day 3: We started out the morning with a tour of Tuckaleechee Caverns. Some highlights of the Caverns were the "BigRoom" which is almost the size of a football stadium and the crystal-clear stream that flows throughout. You could even taste the water if you wanted to. We had a picnic lunch on the grounds and then headed out to do some souvenir shopping at the local gift shops!

(This is the "BigRoom")

(This is the drinkable water)

(There was even a little waterfall inside)

We stopped for some ice cream on our way back to the cabin, then it was back to the pool. Since our pools have been closed this summer, swimming had been pretty high on the girls' bucket list. They were even more thrilled when we found out we had the pool to ourselves and they could use the raft I had bought them before the trip! (It was a little bigger than I anticipated and probably not the best idea to use while others are in the pool) ;)

We cooked dinner at the cabin and relaxed the rest of the evening playing games and making s'mores!

Day 4: Our last full day was spent at Dollywood! We had gone back and forth as to whether or not this was something we were comfortable doing, but since we didn't know if or when we would ever be back, we decided to go for it. We did have to wear masks however (unless eating/drinking or while in a mask free break zone) but it actually wasn't too bad, the girls did great! We were overly impressed by their sanitation procedures. We were given hand sanitizer by the employee before being allowed to get on the rides. Low crowds and minimal wait times made for a really enjoyable day! We really didn't have to wait more than 10 minutes for any rides.

We stayed at the park until just about dinner time. We had planned on trying a new restaurant for dinner, but being that it was 6:00 pm it had a significant wait, so we went back to Blue Moose since everyone enjoyed it the first time! Everyone was completely wiped out by the end of the day and we all crashed when we got back to the cabin.

The next morning, the girls got in one more "swim" in the hot tub before checkout. We had the best time! A change of scenery and a bit of normalcy were just what we all needed to refresh!