Our family took a trip up to the Smokey Mountains this summer. Well, to my surprise, I had no idea we were heading to the “Smokeys” when my husband brought it up. Dollywood? Sounds good. Who knew the location was in the Smokeys? I had zero idea indeed. I was just ok with the taking the kids on a little trip before the summer was over.
Our Trip to the Smokey Mountains Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
We got up there and my husband said something about going driving through the Smokey Mountains one day on our trip (insert surprise). Yes, I’ve always wanted to go to the Smokey Mountains and sort of wished we had built up some excitement about it.. and not just excitement for Dollywood.
Dollywood Amusement Park – Tuesday (then hotel small indoor waterpark at night)
We went to Dollywood Amusement Park! Smokey Mountains, Pigeon Forge, TN! Lots of Dolly Parton & country music to be heard throughout the park.
Rides at Dollywood
We all did a water ride together with a small drop buy at first I was a little skeptical. Once I went the first time, I had to go again to seal the deal. Ha! I also did a small roller coaster with them but why did they make it go around 3x?! (insert almost dizzy). We walked around some checking things to do at the park. My son rode that tall tower drop with dad. Eventually dad and two of the kids (eldest girl plus boy) went in one direction while my other daughter and I went hangout together. The kids with dad went on more roller coasters including a long one called the Big Bear or something and rode it about 5x. That’s the most they’ve ever been on any single roller coaster at one time. Wait time was about 5 minutes so that helped. They would have kept on going if dad didn’t stop them. I don’t have any photos of it though since I wasn’t close-by and dad didn’t take any because he too was on the coasters. My second daughter and I enjoyed a few more things including “crunchy” high-priced Funnel cake and against my better food choices, burgers with fries. We all meet up again at the end for more rides, sweet treats and souvenirs. Two giant snakes stuffies were among the souvenirs and my eldest now loves to get bracelets and cute little tees. What a fun time it was though!
Hotel Waterpark – Wednesday
Hotel outdoor waterpark – Free popsicles included. There’s also a small indoor waterpark there that we also did one evening. The hot tub included was fun!
Smokey Mountain – Thursday on our Checkout
We drove through the Smokey Mountains and while I expected to see where the actual smoke came from, we didn’t. We were at the top of the mountains and I guess couldn’t see the smoke until you were not in it, although at one point on our way from Dollywood, I did see an area of smoke rising from ground very close to is. So I don’t think this is an illusion formed by the clouds as Google says, it’s formed from “fog from the area’s vegetation”. Look at that lush vegetation for real!!
But the mountains were gorgeous guys – miles and miles full of tall trees and green forestry, rivers and rivers of clear water flowing with mini waterfalls along the way, wild life in their natural habitat and bits of history left behind of cabins and churches built in the 1800s. Oh my – What an awesome place to drive through. One of the kids said we need to do more stuff like this. Also, our son was in his habitat when we saw the streams of water – always wanting to catch some little river creatures, fish, salamanders, crayfish. Ah, we even stopped to let him enjoy some of it! You could walk the mountains but it’s a long drive through or maybe walk some if it and some of the trails. But most importantly on our trip we hoped to see a bear! And guess what… we saw one! Ahhh… screaming for joy! We were so excited to see one! They weren’t kidding when they said it was such a fun experience! I’m going to share some of what we saw next.
Old cabin (photos 1-7), then Methodist church built way back in the 1800s (church photos 8, 9, 10). There are a few cabins throughout the mountains and two churches that’s still standing. The cabin we visited had some low ceilings, two fire places, and a tiny room, not sure if it was a bedroom pr a washroom (it was so small). A guest house was even connected to the main living area. Between both there was a larger room with a fireplace, another tiny room, plus a small extra space for the main house and an another large room with a fireplace for the guest house. There was also a little Spring house on the outside where water was once collected, plus a few other tiny cabins on this same property. Pretty cool!
Wildlife in their natural habitat – um that bear! So cool to see one walking around!
Surprise!
And then, here are some of the rivers we saw along the way. My boy was in his element always trying to catch salamanders, tiny fish, crayfish… or just something in the water. That’s the one thing he always talks about missing in PA, our river fishing days in this one area. Here in SC we’re surrounded by ponds with s. But yes, lots of beautiful flowing rivers (just realized he called one of them a little island), small waterfalls, and gorgeous views both up and back down the other side of the “Smokies!” We were in awe of the beautify of nature!
To end of these beautiful trip, sharing photos if the other side of the mountain when we were driving back down to Gatlinburg direction. Lots of beautiful views and precipices. We didn’t stop and I didn’t take much photos but you could see the clouds and buildings at the bottom of the mountain. Everything so beautiful. We enjoyed our vacation there this summer.
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She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness (Proverbs 31:27).
