Two More Days in Gatlinburg

Chelsea found another fun family amusement park to visit on August 3, 2022.  Ober Gatlinburg offered a variety of exciting indoor and outdoor activities which we all enjoyed. Indoors, the Bosen's enjoyed the bumper cars and ice skating.

There were lots of outdoor activities such as rock climbing, rides, a maze, mini-golf and a ski lift to the alpine slide. (We even saw a black bear wondering around.)  It was a hot day, and the water slides were the big hit because you did get soaked!

There was even a small zoo, where we had a good time watching the bears and otters at play.

For our last day in Gatlinburg, we started the day with a hike to Grotto Falls. The cool thing about these falls is that you can actually walk behind them! Thomas was the only one brave enough to swim in the frigid mountain pools beneath the falls. We even discovered some small salamanders in the rocks!

On our way back to town, we stopped and ate lunch at a local dive, and popped in to a shop where we found a wood carving for our mask collection wall. And we had to sample a creme soda! We meandered among the cute alley's and shops of Gatlinburg. 

 

And that wrapped up our Tennessee vacation. Gatlinburg really is a great place for a family vacation!  So glad the Bosen's invited us along for all these fun adventures!

Good Times in Gatlinburg

Gatlinburg is a tourist town full of family amusements and activities near the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles Tennessee and North Carolina. Bob and I met Chelsea, Thomas and their 4 children there the evening of July, 29, 2022. We reserved some condos at the same resort for us to stay at for the week. A family hike was the first thing on our agenda the following morning, and included a stop at the visitor's center.

That afternoon, we hopped on the local trolley for a look around the crafter's shops in the mountains just out of town.

Thomas took the kids swimming that evening to finish off the day. And the icing on the cake was for the Bosen's to catch a glimpse of a black bear meandering around our condos.

On July 31, we drove the 11-mile Cade's Cove Loop through the Great Smokies. For hundreds of years, Cherokee Indians hunted in Cades Cove and Europeans first settled in the cove sometime between 1818 and 1821. Cades Cove offers the widest variety of historic buildings of any area in the national park. Scattered along the loop are three churches, a working gristmill, barns, log houses, and many other restored structures.

We visited three little churches and even had the opportunity to join a worship service and hear some sweet Christian melodies being sung.

A picnic with a view of the meadows and mountains provided a mid-afternoon break.

Knox, Holly, Jude and Brooke were great explorers and had fun climbing in, on, around and through all the quaint cabins and barns.

We were all excited to see the deer . . . but not so much when we discovered snakes!

The gristmill and small surrounding village were so cute. We loved the odd shaped cabins.

Life in the Smokies doesn't get much sweeter than this!