Pigeon Forge 2012 {Day 4}

We checked out of the cabin and ate breakfast at one of the many Pancake Restaurants in Pigeon Forge. Then, we introduced Rachel & Nate to the world of "Geocaching".

If you are not familiar with Geocaching, it's basically a treasure hunt that uses GPS technology.


At our first Geocache of the day.

The kids wrote their names on the log book.

Then they put the cache back in its place.

The happy kids at the site of their first Pigeon Forge Geocache.

Our next cache was at a cemetery.

Signing the log book.

Back in its hiding spot.

Another geocache, this time in a park area.

The kids with the found geocache.

Our final geocache was behind a restaurant.

It was the largest of the geocaches that we found. In this one, you could take a little memento and leave one behind.

After our treasure hunting, the kids wanted some real treasure! We went to a gem mining location where the kids sifted through buckets of sand to find some rocks, minerals, fossils, and more.

Then before we left for home, we stopped at a candy shop.

Thank you, Pigeon Forge, for some great memories!

Pigeon Forge 2012 {Day 3}

We spent our 3rd day at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Last year we hiked Clingman's Dome and Laurel Falls. This year we went the other direction to Cade's Cove.


On our drive to Cade's Cove, we pulled over to check out some scenery. Everyone had been on the lookout for black bears as we were driving.

The kids weren't content to just pose, they needed to explore, too. They were given the instruction "to stay dry" which they did.

We stopped for a picnic lunch.

We were also hoping to see some elk. We had heard that you can often find them in the big open fields.

The kids used binoculars to try and find some interesting wildlife.

For our hike, we chose Abrams Falls.

It was a 2 1/2 mile hike to the Falls, then another 2  1/2 miles back. We completed it in about 3 hours. We started just before 2pm and we were motivated to be back before it got dark, around 6pm.

We made very few stops along the way to ensure that we made good timing.

There were 3 or 4 of these partial bridges for us to cross.

 

After a little over an hour, we made it to the falls. 

We rested for a bit, then hiked back to the car. It took a little longer to get back. We did let the kids stop a little more this time.

The road at Cade's Cove is only 1 lane, so it made for some slow driving. There were signs saying that if you wanted to stop your car, do so only at the pull over sights, but many people just stopped anyway. But we did finally get to see some wild life!

And look at this little guy! We finally saw a black bear! The kids were super excited to see him.

We made it back to the cabin eventually. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Pigeon Forge 2012 {Day 2}

On our first full day in Pigeon Forge, we decided to go to Dollywood. During the off season,  Dollywood doesn't open until 2pm, so we had some free time at the cabin.

Hannah & Rachel played around outside.

James & Nate opted for more pool.

After lunch, we drove the 1 1/2 miles to Dollywood.


Dollywood was all decorated for Christmas. Hannah & Rachel posed with nutcracker.

Coffin poses

We decided to make our way straight to the back of the park. When we were there last year, we never made it back there, so we thought we should start with what we missed. We did make one little stop at the Lumberjack Ride.

Little birdies

The Wild Eagle ride was new for 2012. There was hardly any line at all. The girls went on first.

Then the boys

Then Chris & me. It was a super smooth coaster. In my old age, I have not been quite as fond of roller coasters as I was in my younger years, but this one was not too bad.

The girls looking at the Eagles in the rehabilitation program.

Hannah & Rachel enjoyed this dizzy ride.

 And this one, too. The boys chose not do either ride.

Hannah was a little hungry.

We all went on this challenge course. It was a lot of fun! James & I didn't do the one at Wonder Works. James says he is afraid of heights. He appreciated that there were several options at each cross point, so he didn't always have to take the tight rope across.

Here is one of the only pictures of me on this trip. A few days before the trip, I woke up with a broken blood vessel in my right eye. The white around one side of my pupil was completely red. I looked like a vampire or something. It was awful! I stayed behind the camera more than usual and wore my sunglasses when possible.

We ate dinner at Aunt Granny's, a buffet restaurant inside Dollywood.

Once the sun went down, the temperatures went down too, but that didn't stop the kids from wanting to play. Somehow we missed this ride completely last year.

We saw the 4-D Polar Express movie - here the boys are trying to look cool with their special glasses.

On our way out, Rachel & Hannah posed in front of this.

That was it for Dollywood. We didn't see any shows this time, but rode several coasters and rides.