Day Ten

Once upon a time there was a little girl who wasn't afraid of anything and one time her family went on a Red-Neck RV trip.
Day Ten - The Great Smoky Mountains
Today we spent the day in the Mountains. It took us a while to get things moving (even though the kids were in bed with us before 7am). We rented a car so we wouldn't have to put the miles on the RV (or try to navigate crazy turns in this rig). That took longer than expected. We were finally on the road by 10am. We drove through Gatlinburg (instead of taking a bypass) to buy batteries for Daddy's camera. We entered the park and went to the Sugarlands Vistor Center to plan our day.
First stop - Clingman's Dome. We drove most of the way up the highest peak in the Smokies (2nd highest East of the Mississippi), and walked the last .5 mile. It felt like it was mostly uphill. And since Josh had fallen asleep on the drive up, he wasn't too inclined to do too much of the walking himself. So, Mommy and Daddy took turns carrying him (OYE!) We got to the top and were rewarded with a picturesque 360 view of the Smoky Mountains and surrounding area. We took lots of pictures, but it surely will not do it justice. It took a lot less time to come back down, but personally, my knees were killing me!! We had "lunch" in the car before heading back down the mountain.
We came to the Visitor's Center again and stopped to buy a Coke for a quick caffine fix :-) Then we drove another 24 miles to Cades Cove - a very picturesque (again) drive. The loop at the actual cove was 11 miles long. SO glad we did it in "off peak" season. Even then, people were driving me crazy with their stopping to take pictures in the middle of the road! We started the loop around 3 pm. We were half way by 4:30 and the deer were out by then. So, of course, everyone was stopping to take pictures of ALL the deer. Oye. We saw lots of historic buildings and could probably have spent much more time there than we did. We'll go back!
24 miles back to the Visitor's Center and then we picked up the bypass around Gatlinburg (though we did get to drive up above it and see it all lit up - quite a sight!) We decided to splurge and eat out tonight, so while Daddy was taking pictures, Mommy googled restaurants in Pigeon Forge. We found the "Smoky Mountain Brewery and Restaurant" and stopped looking!! Driving through downtown Pigeon Forge, we got to see the Christmas lights all lit up - tonight was the first night they were lit. The center medien displayed the 12 Days of Christmas as you drive down the road.
Finally we arrived at the Brew House. We were seated quickly and the food and drink were also quick to arrive. A good thing, since the kids were tired and hungry (and so were Mom and Dad!) A quick stop to refill the rental and it was back to the RV park. The kids were quick to go to bed (Abby kept saying, "Mommy, I need to get into my bed, I'm so tired!") Mom and Dad checked their email and then went to bed. It had been a LONG day!!!