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!

Birthday Trip to Dallas

Our two oldest grand children, Linley and Emma, officially became teenagers the summer of 2022. This was, of course, a cause for celebration! June 9, 2022, Linley flew to Dallas with her dad, who was headed there on business. Bob and I drove up with Emma and met Linley for 3 days of planned activities in the city. We purchased some POGO passes which gave us free entry to a good variety of activities in the Dallas area, and let Linley and Emma choose those things they were most interested in. Here was our suggested itinerary:

We met at a mall where our first activity was supposed to begin and snapped a few photos:

We were informed that Sea Quest was not opening until after noon due to a broken pipe. So we made a the decision to go to the Ft. Worth Zoo for a quick visit and come back afterwards. This might be a good time to mention that just a couple of days before this, Bob had his own wild animal encounter with an upset raccoon trapped in our backyard and released at a nearby park:

It seems we were only allowed admittance to the zoo until noon - so it was a quick look around.

We returned to Sea Quest and actually had a blast with the animals. Our most memorable experience was being in the parakeet room where we were "attacked" by the birds!

Emma and Linley decided against a swim activity and opted for a place called It'z where we played laser tag. Black light Monster Golf finished out the day for us - but not without a stop for stretchy Turkish ice cream at BigDash. Really! - it was stretchy, but in a good way.

On Friday, June 10, we started out the day with a walk around the sculpture park near our hotel. Then we took Linley and Emma on a trip back in time with a visit to the Video Game Museum. Let's just say, video games just were not nearly as fun back in our day. We made up for it by stopping for birthday cake - after all, it was Linley's actual birthday!

That afternoon we gave ice-skating a try at the Star Center, and Bob and I realized it was not like riding a bike - it did not come back to us naturally!  Emma and Linley did great on the ice, but Bob took a fall on his first attempt and decided he was done before I even had my skates on. I decided to practice in the "training area" with some buckets to steady myself before going a lap or two and calling it good for the day. Surprisingly, the girls didn't last long either, being cold and having sore feet.

The Fury Fun Center was the next thing on our agenda.  This would be the first time for all of us to try our hands at "Axe Throwing".  It was harder than it looks, with a definite learning curb, which I was never able to get past. But it was a really fun experience for all of us. The short videos will attest to our progress.

That evening we went to the observation deck at reunion tower to take in a view of Dallas. We were all pretty worn out and ready for bed that night.  We were staying in a sketchy Marriott downtown where we not only had to ask for a replacement mattress on the sofa bed that looked like a murder had taken place, but were awakened in the middle of the night by some drunk who was trying to get in the wrong room (ours)!  All makes for amusing memories in retrospect!

We met up with Bobby at the giant eyeball sculpture downtown on Saturday morning.

Linley and Emma wanted to return to It'z for more arcade activities and games where we all had a good time together.

We had time for one last activity before getting Bobby and Linley to the airport and Emma, Bob and I on the road back to Houston. Sky Zone is one of those trampoline, ninja course, places that requires much to much effort for Bob and I.  But we had a good time watching Emma, Linley and Bobby flex their muscles and show us their strength and endurance.  It was the perfect ending to a wonderful birthday celebration for our two teenage GRAND daughters!

Happy Birthday Linley and Emma! We can't think of any two teenagers that we love as much as you two! It is so rewarding to experience the friendship and love you share as cousins, despite the miles that separate your families. What an amazing trip filled with memories which we will forever cherish. Thanks for sharing yourselves with Poohpie/Gaga and Pa!