Our Trip to the Smoky Mountains

The mountains were calling... and we answered!

We just got back from our latest trip and we are tired. This was not like our relaxing beach trip to Florida or our short monthly trips. This trip was a work out, a little stressful, and more adventurous. But we still had a fun time. We went to the Smoky Mountains for a week and here's the documented story :)

Day 1: Travel Day- Buffalo Trace

We decided to split the 8.5 hour trip up into two travel days. So the first day was our long leg to Lexington Kentucky. We stopped and stretched our legs at Culvers before heading to Buffalo Trace Distillery.

Michael enjoys a glass of whiskey every once in a while, so it was fun for him to stop at a favorite brand of his. They were so kid-friendly too with root beer tastings, chocolate, and a playground!

It started POURING rain, but we were happy with our drinks under the pavilion. 

Then it was off to the hotel for a night time swim!

Day 2: Pigeon Forge

After a really bad night of sleep, we were up and ready to drive the next 3 hours to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

I LOVED driving into Tennessee with the mountains ahead of us. 

Pigeon Forge is definitely touristy and kitschy and unreal. The monstrous buildings, expensive experiences, and all-around-Americanization of the place was a little much and it really confirmed we will NEVER be a Disney World family haha

We headed to the Island, which is a little shopping/dining/amusement area in Pigeon Forge. We shopped around, had a snack, and rode some rides.

Everyone was really grouchy and tired (probably from that bad hotel sleep and the extreme heat), so we decided on an early dinner at the Old Mill restaurant. I was really excited about this place as its a historic grist mill that has been turning since 1830! And the southern styled food was delicious!

Afterwards, we checked out our condo for the week. It was a cute little place set right in the mountains. 

And as we pulled up, we spotted our first and only bear for the trip. He was right outside the pool house and then our condo. The kids loved watching him, but we were definitely on alert the rest of the week. Bears are so prevalent in that area!

Day 3: Smoky Mountain National Park, Anakeesta, and Ripley's Aquarium 

Whenever we go on a trip, I do a lot of researching and preparing beforehand. I like knowing everything there is to do and not missing anything cool. However, what I've learned along the way is that leaving room for spontaneity and flexibility is also very important. And this day proved that even more.

We were already off to a rocky start when we discovered the park passes were only sold at certain locations and they didn't all open at the same time. So we finally got our national park pass and headed to the trail we wanted to hike. 

In order to get to the hike we wanted to do (Grotto Falls- the one I really wanted to do!), we had to drive on a one way street all the way through the park. And by the time we got to the trailhead, there was not a single parking spot to be had. We kept driving, hoping for a spot, but it seemed everyone had the same idea as us. And as luck would have it, there was no way to turn around on the one way road and the road lasted for MILES as it twisted and turned through the mountains. There was ZERO chance we were going to hike to Grotto Falls. But we stopped every so often along the way down, which lasted a couple hours, and did small hikes and exploring.

Throughout the mountains, there are preserved historical homes and sites to check out. We found a lot of little mountain homesteads and churches.

Spontaneity and flexibility did pay off because we found some really great places along the way that we might not have found otherwise. The kids loved doing some real rock climbing with their dad.

And hidden within our drive was a true mountain general store run by people who lived in the mountains and lived off the goods they made. The kids even purchased bracelets made by an Indigenous woman. It was such a fun find!

The one way road eventually dropped us in Gatlinburg. So we grabbed some lunch and shopped around.

Gatlinburg is such a cute city with unique shops and mountains in the back ground.

Because our plans changed with our hike, we decided to head to Anakeesta earlier than we intended. Anakeesta is a cool mountain top village with restaurants, shops, icecream, and out of this world views. We took the glass-bottomed gondolas up the mountain to start.

There were a lot of "mimi's such-and-such" shops around, which the kids loved since they have a Mimi of their own :)

Icecream with a view!

This was right when Isla hugged me and said "this is the best trip ever! Thank you!!" Sweet girl :)

There were some really unique playgrounds at Anakeesta. Isla especially loved the birdhouses you could play in.

I thought we were done for the day, but Michael convinced us all to check out the Ripley's Aquarium across the street since we had already paid for parking ;) So, tired and all, we carried on! Turns out, it was a really cool aquarium and I'm glad we went.

A favorite for all of us was the tunnel we walked through where sharks and all sorts of creatures swam all around us! 

Then we walked around Gatlinburg a little more until we got hungry for dinner.

We knew we needed donuts on this trip because that's our thing now. We even have a book to document each trip's donut with a rating. Unfortunately, zipping into town for donuts when your condo is on the top of a mountain is not so easy. So we got our donuts at night so we could have them the following morning. Eleanor was excited for her "vacation donuts"!

We had all day access to Anakeesta so we decided on one last ride up the mountain. We took the trolley truck up and rode the gondolas down.

Wow! Can you believe it's still day 3? We really packed a lot in! 

On the way back to the condo, we found our national park sign, so we stopped and grabbed a picture before heading to sunset off our back porch.

Day 4: Tuckaleechee Caverns and River Tubing

We all agreed day 4 was our favorite day! After our donuts, we drove an hour to Townsend, TN.

When I was researching this trip, I thought Tuckaleechee sounded familiar. After some digging, I realized I had been to these caverns and Gatlinburg on my senior trip of high school. All this time I had thought I'd never been to the mountains and it turned out I had. 

The cavern tour was just as I remembered too. 

We waited in the little gift shop for our tour. You begin by going down some steps and you're in the caverns where you walk a little over a mile through some really cool spaces.

The caves were discovered in the 1950's by two 6 year old boys that accidentally found an opening to the caverns and then secretly explored the caves using homemade kerosene lamps. The boys kept the caverns a secret, saved up their money, and eventually bought the land. And the grandson of one of those boys is still operating the caverns today! 

The kids got a kick out of that story and imagined themselves stumbling across a secret cavern with their friends. All I could think was I bet their mothers actually did know the whole time, but didn't mind since it kept them busy and out of their hair ;)

We made it to the big room that had a 150 foot drop. The tour guide turned out the lights and we couldn't even see our hands in front of our faces.

Next up was the 200 foot underground waterfall. Super cool!

We came up for air, quite literally, and headed on to our next adventure- river tubing! We had a quick parking lot lunch before grabbing our tubes.

We LOVED tubing down the river with the mountains in front of us and the cold, spring water below us. There were little rapids throughout and also a little relaxing along the way. We even spotted goats on the side of the river eating their lunch!

As we rode the bus back from our drop off point, they announced on the radio that Dolly Parton had just passed away. It was sure weird to be on Dolly Parton's home turf when that happened. What are the odds?! 

******

We grabbed an afternoon-pick-me-up and drove through Cade's Cove, an 11 mile loop through the mountains with some of the best views. Don't be fooled though, 11 miles took us 2 hours to drive! Those mountain roads are NO JOKE, But we also stopped several times to get out and explore.

There were more historic homes to check out and we even spotted some wild turkeys right outside one of the homes.

Oh and a little deer right beside our car!

By this point, we were pretty hungry, so we went back into town and grabbed pizza at the cutest little restaurant with a playground and mountains in the background.

As we were leaving Townsend, we stopped off at the general store of my dreams. The old wood smell, the creaky floors, the mountain-made goodies, and homemade hand pies were everything my mountain dreams were made of! I even took a video of the sound the creaking floors made because I wanted to bottle it all up.

This trip was the trip of a million stops. Everywhere you looked, there was something to check out. It definitely tested the type A/planner adults on the trip. But when you see a raging river on the way to the condo, you have to stop and check it out!

Day 5: Hike and Pigeon Forge (again)

Since our big hike didn't work out earlier in the week, we found a smaller hike right off the visitor's center that we knew we could find parking for. And it included a waterfall that the kids wanted to see.

 

But first, we stopped into the visitor's center to turn our Junior Park Ranger booklet in. After a week of adventures in the national park, the kids swore the oath and earned their badge for this national park. That's 3 down, 60 to go!

Michael shared a Snickers with the kids at the end of the hike because that's his favorite mountain snack when he goes on his trips :)

I don't know if Cataract Falls can even count as a waterfall it's so small, but the kids liked it and they played at the bottom before we headed back to the car.

You can't head south without getting good barbecue, so that we did!

We had an appointment at 3:00 at the blacksmith forge, so we had to kill some time at some shops. Of course, we found a Christmas store for me :)

We made it to the blacksmith forge where the kids each got to make their own pocket knife from a nail. They had a great time hammering and twisting their knife into place. Then they watched the blacksmiths sharpen it into a dangerous weapon tool (yikes!).

The serious knife-making monitor :)

They were so proud of their work and by the end there was an entire audience watching them. Such a cool experience!

We walked around afterwards and found even more shops before heading back to the condo.

This was definitely one of our more exhausting trips, as seen here haha, but it was nothing a glass of wine overlooking the mountains couldn't help.

Day 6: Travel Day- Lexington Children's Museum

We finally reached the last day in the Smokies. Gatlinburg is kind of known for their breakfast places. So we had to make sure we stopped at Crockett's Breakfast Camp and it did not disappoint. It was one of the best breakfasts we've ever had... including a cinnamon roll the size of our heads and a griddle cake an inch thick!

Then it was off to Versailles, KY where we planned on staying for the night. We stopped a couple places on the way though, like the Lodge cast iron store where I got several pieces to add to my collection and a knife works store where Michael got pieces to add to his collection ;) Mom and dad need souvenirs too I think!

Oh and we all experienced Buc-ees together. What a chaotic nightmare that was!

Our Children's Museum pass has been the gift that keeps on giving. As part of the reciprocal program, we were able to go to the Lexington Children's Museum for a discounted rate. The kids could stretch their legs and play a little before heading to the hotel.

Then it was hotel dinner and swimming before we all tried again to sleep in one room. It went ok.

Day 7: Travel Day- Home

We literally sprinted the last 5 hours home. We barely stopped. We were soooo tired and ready to be home. 

Overall, we had a really great time. There were definitely some hiccups along the way. It was stressful not knowing the area and driving those mountain roads, it was disappointing not getting to do the hike we wanted, and there were some hot/tired/cranky attitudes throughout the week. HOWEVER, it was such a cool experience showing the kids their first mountains, exploring the area together, trying new experiences, and spending time together. I love this life and the life we are giving our kids. Memories were made and we are all the more richer for it.