On Tuesday morning we decided to "hike" to Laurel Falls. I use the word hike loosely because it's paved so it was more like a slightly challenging walk. But I guess to Andrew it was more of a hike since it's pretty steep going up. I think the whole thing was 2.3 miles round trip, and it was so worth it. Laurel Falls is beautiful, but if you ever go, go early. As we were coming down it was getting pretty crowded. And as a sidenote: Why don't people wear deodorant? I mean if I can smell you just in passing . . . why?!?
Tuesday afternoon we did Cades Cove. Cades Cove was a "community" in the park prior to it becoming a national park. I love history so I found it fascinating. The residents were bought out in the early 1900s, and most of them moved off relatively quickly. Cades Cove is super pretty and peaceful, and I would live there in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, they frown on people taking up residence in the park. We were lucky enough to see a couple bears (and a deer, but we see those everyday) while we were there.
Those views are to die for. Can you imagine waking every morning to such amazing views?
Oh my word! A real bear. Not in the zoo, but in the wild. And then the idiots behind us decided to try to approach it calling, "Here little bear." Really?!? It's a bear people. Not a puppy. It ran off.
The Methodist Church
The Methodist Cemetery . . . almost half the graves were those of infants and children. It really brings into focus how thankful we should be for modern medicine.
Wednesday morning when we woke up Andrew said, "Something's wrong with my bottom. It hurts!" Turns out he was sore. Hahaha! My dad said we literally walked his hind end off. Oops.
We went into Gatlinburg and ate breakfast at the Mountain Lodge Restaurant which is just a little cafe outside of all the hustle and bustle. It was amazing. They had these cinnamon rolls that were out of this world. Anyone else notice my obsession with baked goods?
After breakfast, Andrew requested that we "not go hiking", and the weather was pretty "iffy" so we ended up driving the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. It was a nice meandering drive.
An elderly gentlemen offered to take our picture, and well, he couldn't work my camera to save his life. And you'll notice that my child has no shoes on. Classy.
It stormed all Wednesday afternoon so we drove to Pigeon Forge. Not my choice. We ended up eating and leaving. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel. I sat on the back porch (veranda? deck?) and read. It was nice.
On Thursday morning we were up early and on the road. We planned to drive to Arkadelphia, and it was supposed to take ten and a half hours.
We swung through Nashville and saw the Parthenon replica.
Patrick also took a detour in Memphis so we could drive past Graceland. Maybe, I'm wrong, but it seemed to be in a somewhat questionable part of town. Like I said I could be completely wrong, but we don't have any pictures so just take my word for it.
We got stuck on I-40 outside of Little Rock. They were doing construction. There was a bad wreck. They closed the interstate. It took us three hours to go ten miles. Andrew kept bursting into tears. I felt like bursting into tears. There was no way to get off the interstate or turn around. Those exits seem really close together unless your stuck between two of them. Needless to say a ten and a half hour trip turned into fourteen hours.
Friday we made it home with no problems. And then it was time to do laundry and get back to normal life. I'm still in mourning, and I miss the mountains (and the "cooler" temps).
The End
And everyone says, "Hallelujah! She's done recapping their trip!"
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