Family time in the Mountains

"Gatlinburg, Tennessee at a Glance"

This blog is extremely late, but I guess better late than never! For a while I had been saying that I would love for us to go on vacation to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and soon came to find out that Jamie had never been except when he was very very small, and didn't actually remember it. So, for our 2 year anniversary we were able to take a trip to the Smokey Mountains!! Charlie and Gina had been talking about taking a trip also, so we all packed up the car and off we went! We had a great time and experienced many wonderful things, but did make a few mistakes along the way.

Mistake #1, check the weather before you go to another state.

Alabama, sunny and 50's, Gatlinburg, cloudy and 19 degrees!! High of 32 degrees! Needless to say my suitcase consisted of thin, silk long john shirt, no long john pants, no ear muffs, 1 pair of gloves, blue jeans, several thin sweaters, and a couple of thick sweaters, a pea coat, a north face jacket, no tennis shoes, one pair of wallabies, and 3 pairs of high heal boots. Are you serious.. my mother taught me better than that! My theory of sacrifice for the sake of fashion went right out the window!

Mistake#2 When you go out to Cades Cove in the mountains, remember to actually BRING your gloves, pea coat, and every pair of clothing you own!!

I thought to myself, how cold can it really be... I will be warm enough. NOT! I wore a sweater with a turtle neck, thank goodness, no gloves, light jacket, nothing but blue jeans, and one dose of hypothermia!!! Not really, but at one point I couldn't feel my extremities.

After we all got over the shock of not having enough clothing on, we had an incredible time at Cades Cove. It was truly breathtaking! My husband and father-in-law, who are both hunters, saw more deer to last them a life time! The amount

of beautiful wildlife we were able to encounter was amazing.

Charlie and Gina :) How sweet

Freezing was not the word! No gloves, and nothing to cover his ears... what were we thinking!Poor thing!

We encountered this deer eating pods off the side of the road... thinking I was going to scare her I was being very quiet. After a while I realized I am not going to scare her, and I got out of the car and walked up to the fence 3 feet from this deer to take some pictures. WOW! Quite an amazing site to be that close to a deer.

I stayed in the car for this coyote to pass, but again... amazing!

All we wanted to see was a big buck while we were there. As we were driving around we saw a crowd gathering and soon realized why. This buck was about10 feet from the fence we were standing beside. He never wanted to look up or get his picture taken, but just once he looked up so I could get a good picture of his beautiful horns. Jamie and Charlie were just in awe.

We then went up to Ober Gatlinburg just before sunset to get this picture of the Mountains.

While we were on top of the Mountains, we simply had to go ice skating. Needless to say, we are not 10 anymore and our bodies just do not hold up to the pain caused by trying to balance on a single blade on ice! Jamie appeased me and we had a great time anyway.

It's Christmas in Galtinburg with Blue lights!!! How fun!

Overall we had a wonderful time and would love to go back with some warmer weather, green grass, and leaves on the trees. Although it was cold, Christmas was in full swing- lights were everywhere, Santa was sited, trees decorated every way imaginable, warm hot chocolate to sip, and Christmas music to fill the air! We ate at the Apple Barn, (a must eat.), drove downtown at night with lights as far as the eyes could see. Loving a brisk cold walk all the while imagining a warm fire when we got back to the house. Great Memories, few mistakes we now laugh about, and time with family well spent! To view more pictures of our trip click here