gatlinburg.

Last week we spent 5 lovely days in the Smoky Mountains with the Gentinos — minus the Vargases, who we missed!

This was our family’s first trip to Gatlinburg, and we had mixed feelings about the town itself, which was packed with people and a plethora of touristy shops that boggled the mind (it’s not called The Myrtle Beach of the Mountains for nothing).

But the mountains were magical.

We loved staying in cabins right outside the entrance to Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and drove into the park every day. There was a great mix of shorter trails, lookouts,  and drives and then some bigger hikes.

We hiked or explored every day, played games, did a puzzle, swam in the river, soaked in the hot tub. Here are some of our pictures….

Grandpa was a hero and took this crew on the trolley into town for candy and slushies on a 95-degree afternoon.

 

 

Each of the three cabins had a hot tub on the porch and an arcade game upstairs. What more could you ask for?

 

 

 

A highlight of the week was seeing a big black bear lumbering along behind our row of cabins one morning.

 

 

Amie made a watercolor of it!

 

 

In addition to puzzles and games, we held a cabin-wide Wordle competition for the 5-days. Judah proved to be the victor.

 

 

In order to keep things simple, everyone was on their own for meals. But each cabin took turns hosting a 5:00 happy hour with appetizers, which was one of our favorite memories. While the rest of us opted for cheese and charcuterie plates, Joe and Linds showed everyone up by making BBQ pork sliders. Yum!

 

 

We all took a short hike in the rain to the highest point in the park, Clingman’s Dome. It was in the 80’s and 90’s all week, but on that hike it was a drizzly, windy 62-degrees. The only people prepared for it were the Seattle-ites!

 

 

 

The kids constantly begged to find creeks and the river to explore, so we picnicked near one.

 

 

 

 

 

David, Joe, and Judah hiked the strenuous, 8-mile Ramsey Cascades Trail one day in the old-growth part of the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of us took a drive through the Roaring Fork area and explored early settlers’ log cabins.

 

 

 

And then needed to make a stop in town at Ben and Jerry’s!

 

 

 

 

The weather was hotter than we hoped for in Tennessee, but we had a little rain most days which usually made the evenings pleasant.

 

 

And the creeks and river cooled everyone off

 

 

 

Mum Mum’s idea of a good day is to be outside somewhere pretty, surrounded by her family and reading a book

 

 

A rousing game of Cranium was played on our last night, with guys beating girls

 

 

 

“Julie, I can help you with your laundry!”

 

 

The younger cousins had a sleepover on the last night … Doritoes, movies, and staying up ’til midnight

 

 

 

A wonderful time was had by all!