Great Smoky Mountain Vacation

Last week, the Evenhouse side of the family went on vacation together to the Great Smoky Mountains.  My parents and my older sister both have timeshare in Gatlinburg, TN, and both reserved 3 bedroom condos for the same week at MountainLoft Resort.  I have about a million pictures, and will post more in an album on Facebook.  But, here are highlights and a day by day report of our vacation.

Saturday, March 9

We decided to drive down with my sister Carrier, her husband, and their two children.  We rented a minivan for the trip, and had 4 adults, 3 kids in carseats, 2 strollers, and all our stuff...it was cozy!  We decided to leave at 2am so that we could have significant drive time while the kids were asleep.  We had tentatively planned to overnight in the Louisville area so that we could have dinner with Scott's family members who live there, but had second thoughts when we realized that we would be there by 2pm (losing an hour as we went into the Eastern time zone).  We decided to stop anyway, as we were tired, and got rooms for a great price at the Galt House Hotel in downtown Louisville.  

Laurel and Kendall posing in the window of our hotel.  Nice views of downtown and the Ohio River.

Laurel loves her baby cousin Oren!

Scott and I met with Dorothy and the kids at a Cracker Barrel for supper.  Lance was at the Big 10 wrestling championships and was not able to come...I think Scott would rather have been with Lance!  We had a great meal with them and are happy that we could visit for a while as we were "passing through."

Scott wanted to play with the camera when we got back to the room, so we turned off all the lights and set up the tripod so he could take pictures of the river and downtown.  He is having fun learning all the different settings on the camera...I like having a nice camera, but have not put forth the effort to learn it in depth, so it's good that Scott can figure out how to take great night time shots!

the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville

Nice shot of the bridges and the river

Sunday, March 11

We slept in a little bit on Sunday, and headed out around 9am.  Of course, it was Daylight Savings that night, so we lost yet ANOTHER hour of sleep!  We stopped for breakfast in the car just out of downtown, then took off for Gatlinburg.  It should have taken 4 hours, but between stopping for nursing, stopping to eat, and stopping for gas and breaks, it took us closer to 6 or 7 hours.  By the time we drove through Sevierville and Pigeon Forge, we were getting loopy and though everything was hilarious...except the traffic.  Pigeon Forge reminds me of Branson or the Wisconsin Dells--fun stuff and lots of hotels, but waaaaaay too many people and cars for me to enjoy vacationing there.  Gatlinburg is also tourist oriented, but less busy and our resort was off the main drag, so much better!  We finally got to the resort around 3:30pm.

The view from the deck of our bedroom.  It was 72 degrees when we arrived! 

Scott once again got out the tripod and took some night pictures of the sunset and the lights on the mountains.

Monday, March 12

On Monday the whole group went to the Sugarlands Visitor Center at Smoky Mountain National Park.  I got three new stamps for my National Park Passport--hooray!  After looking at the gift shop and buy patches, we took a couple short hikes right outside the visitor center--Fighting Creek Nature Trail, and Cataract Falls.

Laurel loved hiking, being in her stroller, and being outside!

Jim and nieces

a nice family shot over the creek...but where is Scott?  He is leaning over the water taking the picture!

Garion and Olivia by Cataract Falls

Scott, Laurel, and I by the falls.  The weather was nice this day--around 60 degrees, so comfy in pants.  We managed to get the whole hike in before it started raining.

The whole family by Cataract Falls.

Fighting Creek

There is an old cabin along the nature trail.  On one hand, I think it would be great to live somewhere this beautiful, and just be out there in God's beautiful creation.  On the other hand, it would be hard, hard work.  Also, my sister's and I all discussed the fact that if we'd been settlers, we all would have died in childbirth, since all 3 of us had c-sections.  So I guess I'm also thankful for modern living and modern medicine.

Laurel at the log cabin

 In the evenings we took turns cooking supper for everyone, then played games or watched movies.  No going out at night for us!

Tuesday, March 13

On Tuesday morning, Scott and I persuaded Dad to get up early with us for another hike.  I really wanted to visit Laurel Falls while we were there, but didn't think everyone would want to go...not to mention that the trail is on a drop-off, and a certain one of my nephews might have just run right off the cliff!  We left at 6:30am and were the only people on the trail.  Incidentally, when we drove by a couple days later there were probably 50 cars parked at the Laurel Falls trailhead, so I'm thankful we went when we did!  It was about 35 degrees and slightly raining when we started the hike, and we got to watch the sun rise and the clouds clear on the mountain.  The Laurel Falls trail is paved, so we bundled Laurel up and pushed her in the stroller.

fog on the trail

Laurel and I in front of the top part of the falls.  Laurel Falls is about  a 75 foot drop, in two sections.  The trail goes right across the middle.

Dad and Laurel sitting by the falls.  At this point she was getting a little cranky.  I think she was a little cold, and very tired.

After we started back down the trail, Laurel started crying and would not stop.  So I put her into the sling and wrapped my coat around her...and she promptly fell asleep!

Group picture after the hike.

 After we got back to the resort and got all cleaned up and showered, we went to the resort welcome center to watch a presentation about a Parrot and Bird Sanctuary nearby.  The best part was that they brought birds and allowed us to hold them!  A couple of my nieces were very nervous, but each one did hold a bird!

Has she even noticed the little blue one on her arm?

I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize there is one on her head!

Tuesday afternoon we each did our own thing, as some people weren't feeling well, and everyone wanted a bit of a break.  Plus, Tim and Carrie's double stroller had broken beyond repair on the Fighting Creek trail, so they wanted to drive to Asheville, NC, to visit REI and buy a new stroller.  Scott and I decided to visit the Tanger outlet center in Pigeon Forge and did some shopping.

Wednesday, March 14

We had initially planned to do another group hike on Wednesday, but the weather looked cold and wet.  Plus a couple people still weren't feeling well.  Instead, we got up and I cooked pancakes for everyone, then we all just hung out in our rooms for a couple hours.  Those of us who felt well decided we would drive up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smoky Mountains!  We packed a picnic lunch that we thought we would eat in a picnic area on the way.  We told everyone who was going to dress warmly...apparently not everyone brought their winter coat!

This outing turned into a bit of an adventure!  We had to stop part way up the mountain as one of my nieces was getting car sick and though she would throw up.  Then we got to the picnic area, and it was closed!  We drove for a while and got to the road to Clingman's Dome, only to discover that it is also closed for the winter season (that was not listed online!)!  So we drove back down a couple miles and got out at the New Found Gap area.  We were around 5,000 ft there, and it was cold, wet, and very very windy!  We bundled up as much as we could, took a few pictures, then got back in the car and headed back down to the Sugarlands Visitor Center for a late picnic lunch...in the van because it was too cold!

Carrie and Kendall at New Found Gap

I was on the Appalachian Trail!  This section is supposed to be one of the toughest and most secluded sections of the trail.  Maybe some day I will get to hike it.

Mom and Rhea trying to stay warm

Lynn planking on the NC/TN state line.

 On the way back down we stopped to take a few pictures of frozen waterfalls.

Rhea, Lynn, Abby, and Hannah

Hannah and Rhea in front of the frozen falls

Thursday, March 15

Thursday morning, Scott and I left Laurel at home, and went out for a breakfast date at the Little House of Pancakes.  Then we sat in the room while Carrie and Tim went to Tanger, and the other adults went out for lunch to use up the gift cards the resort gave them.  After lunch, everyone except Dad went out for one last hike.  We had initially planned to go to Grotto Falls, but then learned that road was also closed until March 31 for the winter.  Instead, we went to the Elkhart area.  There is a really nice campground there in the part, as well as a nature trail, and the Little River Trail.  First we hiked the 1 mile nature trail.

Garion was finally feeling better and got to work off some energy

I put Laurel in the sling, and she loved hiking!

Abby saying hello to Laurel...while Laurel pulls her hair.

After the nature trail, we went to the Little River trail and hiked there for a while.  This is the trailhead for a number of longer trails, and is also paved for a while where we were hiking, so Carrie and Tim got out their new Chariot stroller and Kendall and Garion rode in it.  The beginning part of this trail has a number of cabins along it that were used by wealthy families as vacation homes in the 1920's.  In the 1930's they were bought by the park, but the families were still able to lease the cabins and use them until the early 1990's.  Since then they have been sitting empty.  The park code says that there should not be any structures in the park, but at the same time, they are a historic part of the area, so I am not sure they should be torn down.

  We did walk down by some of the cabins and look inside...I swear, we didn't see the sign saying we weren't allowed to do that until we were done looking at them!  :)

Doug and Lynn by the river

The inside of one of the cabins.  I like the light fixture!  There was a big stone fireplace in the back room.

Laurel and I enjoying the hike.  

Lynn in front of a pretty island

 Hannah, Emily, Abby, and Scott had taken a side path toward the river, and were gone for quite a while, so the rest of us continued the hike.  We met up eventually, and Abby was happy to see us!

Scott took some nice photos of the river.  I like how you can see the individual droplets of water flying up by the rock.

Abby, Emily, and Hannah on a large rock

Hannah, Laurel, Emily, and I

Scott's favorite part of vacation was being able to take lots of cool pictures.  My favorite part was the hiking.  My nieces had not been sure prior to the trip if they would enjoy hiking in the mountains, but I think they did and may develop a love for the outdoors!  Although Rhea did say she would still rather swim; hiking is kinda boring because you just walk and look at stuff.  :)

Friday, March 15

On Friday we left at 3am and drove all the way home, arriving at 5pm.  That was a long day in the car!

Finally, a photo of the entire family by the park sign.  What a great vacation!