Our Vacation

Last week, Ryan and I took a road trip to eastern Tennessee. In fact, we made it into North Carolina a few yards. We stayed in Pigeon Forge, visited the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and spent a lot of time in the car. I really enjoyed the week away.

Loving pictures as I do, I thoroughly documented the trip; beginning with getting a photo of the 'welcome to our state' sign for each state. Why Tennessee? We received a free 2-nights stay in a hotel with limited destinations and this was the closest place we could drive.

Pigeon Forge is similar to Branson, MO with lots of flashy, touristy attractions on a main strip, including shows, arcades and amusement rides. Since that really isn't our style, I planned a few other activities with half a day to meander around 'the strip'.

We spent one morning in Great Smoky Mountain National park. We took a short hike to Grotto Falls and then drove to a location for the spectacular views. At Grotto Falls the trail actually winds behind the falls through the neat-o rock formations. There are also tons of salamanders around.







We spent the afternoon making money by listening to a time share presentation. It was actually informational for us as we didn't really know that much about timeshares. Of course we didn't by one, but it was a free lunch, free 'entertainment' and a cash gift at the end. The other event I had planned didn't take much time, so it all worked out.



Late in the afternoon, we ZORBed.We both thought this was great! That giant inflatable ball is filled with about 10 gallons of water. We dove into a small opening in the ZORB, the wrangler zipped it up, opened the coral and off we went, down a zig zag path. It was somewhat like a water slide. I kept my feet in front of me while going down and had a lot of water splashed into my face. Ryan just went with the flow and ended up going down head first most of the time. Said it made the ride seem long because he couldn't see the end.


For dinner we took the recommendation of our hotel manager and timeshare sales person and went to the Old Mill Restaurant. I guess it is on the National Registry of Historic sites... and we ate a lot of good food. Southern style cooking with a full three courses with each order. I wasn't in the mood for fried food but was really impressed with my veggie quiche and selection of fresh fruit. (yep the food was so good it deserved photos.) If you are ever in Pigeon Forge, TN, don't miss the Old Mill.That evening and the next morning we walked around to some of the shops and then headed back after lunch. On the way home, we were driving through St. Louis at sunset and I caught this out the car window.


Sadly (to us) we missed some crazy Kansas storms while on vacation. But it was was a great trip. I loved spending that much time with Ryan and just getting away for a while.