Tennessee Road Trip - Tennessee

Driving through Kentucky, the green rolling hills turned more rocky, and the mountains began to appear.  Every time we would see a mountain, Austin would exclaim "Is that a smoky mountain?!"

Wednesday afternoon, we arrived in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  Wow. We had not anticipated how the tourists overtake the town and how much traffic there would be!  We were a little skeptical as we drove down a crowded strip with more carnivals, arcades, and cheap motels than I've ever seen. 

Thankfully, we pulled into Riverstone Resort, which was like a diamond in the rough.  

We had booked a 2 bedroom condo, but were upgraded to a three bedroom. The place was great - clean, updated, and huge! After being cooped up in a car for hours, it was perfect!

 The kids happily checked out the lazy river. The resort also had an indoor pool, and a river running through the property.

 

 It was not surprising that my kids LOVED playing in the river.

Thursday morning, we drove to Hartford, TN for our ropes course and white water rafting adventure. 

 The ropes course. It was way more challenging than it looked!

 Anthony got us all harnessed up.

Two out of three kids were excited. Can you tell which one was not?

 There were 9 "stations" to do, each one getting progressively more difficult.  Mid way through station 1, Austin definitively determined that he was DONE.  The rest of us continued to varying degrees. It was way more nerve-wracking than I expected, but everyone did a good job trying all (or most) of the stations!

After the ropes course, we did the family float - white water rafting.  The kids were troopers, as shortly after these photos were taken, it poured rain for the rest of the trip.  Everyone made the best of it and we had a great time!

 

After being soaked to the skin for hours and with the forecast calling for pouring rain and severe storms for the rest of the day/night, we had to cancel our hike. We headed back to the resort and instead the kids soaked in the huge tub! We made it to Gatlinburg for dinner and the skies cleared shortly after dinner so we could walk the strip. 

 Musicians playing bluegrass on the sidewalk

 Kilwins - because who doesn't need ice cream at 10:00 at night?

The streets of Gatlinburg - packed with people!

 Cozy in bed.

 Friday morning - more fun enjoying the Riverstone grounds.

 

 Friday morning - finally, we got to hike the Smoky Mountains!

The drive into the national park was gorgeous. 

We hiked the cataract falls hike first. 

 

 Next, we hiked the popular Laurel Falls hike. You definitely had to be on your toes as a parent as there were several drop offs right along the trail.
Beautiful scenery on our way up.

 We made it to the waterfall!