Smoky Mountain Adventure

Last Monday the 11th we packed up and headed south to Gatlinburg, TN.  Our daughter, Heather and her family (Rob, Justis and Logan) met us there and we shared a cabin.  At least the leasing company called it a cabin.... It was a 2 bedroom house with 3 bathrooms, pool table, a Jacuzzi and a whirlpool tub!



that's me on the balcony.

 



View from the deck in the upstairs bedroom!

 

All of us enjoyed the cabin.  There was enough space to spread out.  The boys got a kick out of playing pool in the lower level and everyone enjoyed the hot tub.  Getting to our abode was an adventure in itself.  Only a couple miles outside of Gatlinburg the property is built on the side of the mountain.  The roads up to it were narrow and very steep.  Not for the faint of heart, but fun to drive.

 

Tuesday we headed into Gatlinburg.  Heather had read about the Ripley's Aquarium.  Big thumbs up for this aquarium.  Kid friendly, yet interesting for adults.  We spent several hours here.  The tunnel under the shark reef was especially breathtaking.

 

That's a real shark in the tank behind Justis.

Picture op next to the ray tank.

In the tunnel.

After the aquarium we decided to walk the streets of Gatlinburg.  Which is an experience all in itself.  This city is one big tourist attraction.  We chose this time of year to go since the summer would be winding down and not so crowded.  It was pretty warm that day and the boys needed to find somewhere to cool off.  So Grandma and Grandpa offered to take them to the Treasure Quest indoor miniature golf.  (Air Conditioned and all)

 

What kid doesn't love a big dragon.

And pirates!

 

and of course some dinosaurs to run from.  It was a good way to spend an hour in the nice cool air.

 

 

We headed back to our cabin and enjoyed our evening admiring the views from our deck...

 



and playing some card games to finish off the day.

 

Wednesday we drove up to Clingman's Dome the highest point in the Smoky Mts, 6,644 ft to be exact.  It is actually in North Carolina. We stopped where TN and NC come together, got some gorgeous pictures here.

 

We've been photo bombed!

Smiles all around.

 

Not sure what the guys are doing here, either setting up their next picture or checking their email or...

 

On up we drove.  Once you get to the top you park and hike up the last .5 mile trail.  Which is paved, but pretty steep.  We hoped the boys could handle it.

 

Why did we ever doubt...

 

 

On the top of the lookout tower.  Very windy and we were in a cloud.  So no cool pics from up here.

This is the observation tower

Rog and Heather on the walkway.

Once we came down out of the clouds the view was amazing.

 

Later that evening, the boys were getting antsy so Rog volunteered, actually, I think I volunteered him, to take them to yet another miniature golf place..

 

This one was outside and I believe called Hillbilly Golf.  Had some animated friends.

Things to climb over

 

What form!

 

They had a great time!



 

 I think everyone slept real well that night!

 

Thursday we wanted to hike to Laurel Falls.  There are several falls in the National Park.  Laurel Falls has the shortest hike of 3 miles round trip through the forest.

 

 

 

 

small snake where the walking stick is pointing.

 

 

 

It was really worth it, Laurel is a 90 ft waterfall.

 



Justis and Rob climbed down to the bottom of it.

 

Another great day, our last day in the Smokys.  That evening Heather and family visited Wonderworks. Which is a cross between an adventure park/museum. They really enjoyed it.  Rog and I stayed home and vegged out.

 

Our 3 days were up and it was time to head home on Friday.  We had a great time with our family and have memories that will last a lifetime.

 

 





Fun times in the summertime...

Just got back from Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky. If you haven't been, add it to your list of places to check out. It is the largest inland peninsula in the US, after the Cumberland River was impounded in the 1960's and a canal was constructed between Kentucky lake and Barkley lake. The area is a National Recreation Area run by the US Forest Service.  We stayed in Hillman Ferry Campground right off of Interstate 24 about 20 miles from Paducah, Kentucky.

We were surrounded by all these beautiful pine trees.

 

It was hot the 5 days we were there, in the 90's sunny and humid.  Which I hear was pretty much what you had in Indiana too.  We were determined to get out and enjoy what this area had to offer.  We hiked and rode our bikes.  First day we decided to get to a place where we could see Kentucky Lake. So off we went, bottled water in hand.  The trails were supposed to be well marked and mowed, not so, most were waist high in grass.  That wasn't the worst part, we had to watch for ticks. Needless to say, every time something brushed our legs we did the dance and checked for ticks.

 

 

 

Here is a picture of one of the very large house boats that you see on the lake.

 

 

 

It was so hazy that day it was hard to get a good picture of the lake itself.  It was beautiful though.  We also came across a very old cemetery.

 

These two headstones were on the top of one of the ridges.  There are over a dozen family cemeteries in the recreation area.  That's because this land was originally occupied by several small communities before the government took control and built canals and the damn.

 

After this hike we headed back to our trailer and decided we needed to cool off with a swim in the lake.

 

This is the campground beach area.

The next day we took a 5 mile bike ride on a paved path that followed "The Trace" which is the main road that travels from north to south through the park.  It was a lot more strenuous then we had imagined, but we made it.  It was good to sweat :)

 

A very nice lady at the welcome center told us about Fort Donelson and the Iron Furnace.  We took a drive and were very glad we did.  Fort Donelson was the site of a very important battle toward the end of the Civil War.  General Ulysses Grant took control of the Confederate Fort in 1862.  It is located on the banks of the Cumberland River.

 

 

The gunner's point of view.

 The Union army attacked from the water with what was called an iron clad ship and from the ground with Grant's troops.  These pictures are of the original cannon batteries.

The Union soldiers were buried at the National Cemetery in Dover.  The Confederates were not, this monument was erected in their memory.

 

We drove into Dover and went to the National Cemetery.

 

 

We also visited the site of the official surrender. The Dover Hotel.

This is it, doesn't look that old does it?

On the way back we stopped at the Iron Furnace.  These were built to make iron, that's a surprise, isn't it...

Slaves loaded the pig iron in from the top

 

Never saw anything like it, very interesting.

 

Also located on The Trace is the Nature Center, operated by the park. We stopped here and enjoyed their wildlife refuge.  All the animals had been injured or abandoned and now live at the center.

 

American Eagle

No, I wasn't injured or abandoned :) The tree canopy provided shelter from the rain.

The butterflies and hummingbirds were amazing, but I couldn't get a picture of them.

Coyote.

 

Back at the campground...



 

We did try out our dutch oven for the first time. (thanks to Heather and Rob)

 

The Sausage 5 bean bake was nummy! We were tired, sweaty and very hungry.

 

We did head over to Paducah, Kentucky one day.  Walked the river walk and visited a small distillery.

The are murals painted on the walls by the river.

                    This is a functioning still..

 

Land Between the Lakes is a very natural, beautiful untouched area.  If you really want to get away from it all this is the place for you. No Wi-fi, no cell coverage,  no tv signal, unless you have satellite.  You are isolated and nature is in control.  We will go back someday.  This area has an abundance of campsites, everything from primitive to the full hook up pull throughs like we had.

 

Next we are headed to Prophetstown State Park in Lafayette, Indiana to enjoy some time with family.

 

Until next time, Keep Grabnlife!