Pigeon Forge {Day 6}

On Thanksgiving Day we decided we would do some hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Chris had suggested a hiking trip in the Smokies for our summer trip back in August, but when my parents were able to the condos for November, we decided that hiking in November would be much more pleasant in the cooler weather.


There are many different hikes to choose from. Our first one was Clingman's Dome. Here are the kids standing by the parking lot.

Here's a panoramic picture of a similar view.

Our hike was only one mile round trip and the trail was nicely paved, but it was quite steep. We had to stop and rest more times than we would care to admit.

Here's a view of the trail.

At the end of the trail, is the Clingman's Dome Observation Tower.

Here is a panoramic view from the top of the observation tower. 

From the top of the observation you could see Tennessee and North Carolina. This is the highest point in the Smoky Mountains and the highest point on the Appalachian Trail. It is 6,643 feet above sea level.

Here is where the Appalachian Trail passes through.

We trekked on the Appalachian Trail for a few moments just for the sake of being able to say that we were on it. It was a bit more rugged than the Clingman's Dome trail!

The hike back down to the parking lot was a lot easier. Hannah skipped down for most of the way.

We drove around for a bit after the hike, then decided to hike so more! This time we chose the Laurel Falls Trail. It was a 1.3 mile hike to the falls. This trail was considered easy, but the paved paths were a bit rough in many places.

Here's a close up of the bear sign.

And this sign was posted a couple of places along the trail.

Here's a picture of the trail.

And the beautiful Laurel Falls.

James & Hannah in front of the falls.

An incomplete family portrait.

We got back to our condo around 5pm. We rested a bit, then we went out for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. We ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant.

Pigeon Forge {Day 2}

We drove up to Gatlinburg on Sunday to check out things there. It was about a ten minute drive from Pigeon Forge.

We walked around and looked at some of the shops. Here are the kids with my parents.

James & Hannah in front of a Christmas display.

We told the kids that we might see some black bears. Not exactly what they had in mind.

We ate lunch at the Loco Burro. Hannah rode the mechanical burro afterwards.

Here the kids are posing with the burro.

After we were finished with downtown Gatlinburg, we decided to drive through the Smoky Mountain National Park. We were on a mission to see some real bears. While driving through the park, we saw a bridge and decided to park and explore. The grandparents chose to stay in the van and rest a bit.

Here is Hannah on the bridge.

Hannah and me

Chris and me

The kids (and Chris) decided to go climb around on the nearby rocks.

Hannah

I made them pose together for a picture.

Here's a view of the bridge and the stream. It was absolutely beautiful!

 We got back in the van and drove around some more. We found some wild turkeys.

While driving around we saw a bunch of cars pulled over to the side and people getting out to look at something across the road. So we decided to see what they were looking at and we got to see our black bear! 



This picture is a little better. 

I had really hoped that we would see a bear in the wild. I was very happy that we saw one so early in the trip! We went back to the Smoky Mountains for hiking later in the week and we didn't see any wildlife other than some squirrels.