The Great Smoky Mountains

Instead of driving straight back to Macon, we decided to drive west to the mountains and down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Great Smoky National Park. Here are some of our favorite pictures.

We finally found cool air, as it got down to the mid-70's on a misty afternoon on the spine of the Appalachians. We also drove through 21 tunnels in one day!!!

Great Smoky Mountain National Park was super neat. We went on a short hike the afternoon we arrived, and dipped our toes in a mountain stream (it was cold enough to make our feet ache after a few minutes . . . just what we were hoping for).


We weren't sure where to spend the night in Gatlinburg, but finally found a place on the river. It was kind of shabby, but Evan (in defense of his father's choice) insisted "river view . . . pretty awesome!" Much better than the hotel was the discoery of Davy Crockett Mini Golf. Alex's reaction was "I want to GO there." We did, and played 36 holes. Ani made the boys sing the Davy Crockett theme at the pro shop until they gave us something free (two golf balls--score!).

We also had fun in Pigeon Forge, finding a great restaurant as well as the place where Bapa and Gramie honeymooned.
We took a long hike to Laurel Falls on Friday morning (after Alex--wearing a Bear mask--tried to scare everyone at the visiter center). It was a beautiful hike, though a little too steep and hot for comfort.
All in all, we covered 1578 miles on this trip and collected over a dozen national park stamps along the way. The boys had a blast, and learned a lot about our county's history and natural beauty. They are really great travelers.