Tag Archives: tennessee

Family and Friends, On the Road, Pictures of the Adventure, The Adventure

So Much Fun – Part One

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Another three weeks have gone by since my last post – and let me tell you, they have been Very.Full.Weeks!
It started off with the
Absolutely Amazing Adventure with Alex
Alex
We’ve been doing the Take-the-grand-when-they’re-ten adventure for 12 years now. And each adventure has been unique and fun!! We’ve done Baltimore,  Washington, DC, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Williamsburg, Galveston, TX, all things Delaware, and Lake George (NY) in past years. This time we decided on Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN. It was a great choice since if you can’t find something fun to do in that area  you must be in a sorry state indeed!
There is one thing about these adventures, though – the kids still have all the energy of a 10 year old. But the grandparents keep getting older. So this year we opted not to go to Dollywood (though I’ve heard it’s amazing), and instead focused on other low-impact fun! Like a grand dinner theater,
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some time in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park,

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a foray into the Cherokee culture,
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exploring the deep blue sea at the aquarium
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and finding challenges at Wonderworks!
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A true highlight was the trip to English Mountain Fish Farm for some fishin’ and catchin’ fun!
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You were pretty much guaranteed a catch – and then they cooked ’em up just fine!
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(OK – if you’re a serious fisherman this is not the spot for you. But if you’re a 10 year old girl who loves fishing, but hasn’t done much catching, this was the place to be!).

Whether we were out exploring the town, playing miniature golf, or eating at  fun restaurants, we always ended the day in the pool! (After Grams and Pops took a power nap!).
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This was our first adventure without Lizzie (the RV), but we had a sweet cabin (ok, it was a single wide!) in a nice campground close to the action, so we think it was a great success. While we missed having all our stuff with us (and a familiar kitchen), we still managed just fine! Games were played,
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good food was eaten,
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and naps were taken (no documentation, but trust me – they happened!).
It was a grand week, filled with memories and we’re so thankful we had the time to spend with Alex!
It was a pretty quiet ride home to Columbus
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which brings us to Part Two of this post.
Check back soon!
Thanks for coming along to Pigeon Forge with us! If you’d like to see more pictures of the trip, you can check them out HERE!

Steph

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, SOWER Projects 2020

Lovely last day

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Today was a travel day

And it was a good day-we certainly got where we needed to go with minimal stress. Ok, driving through Cincinnati in the late afternoon was a bit stressful, and I may have been gripping my seat cushion a little tighter than usual, but all in all it was an ok travel day.
But yesterday, now that was a lovely last day at Doe River Gorge! It wasn’t an especially pretty day – cool and rainy in the morning (perfect for laundry and pre-trip tidying) and warming with just a hint of sun in the afternoon- perfect for a sweet visit from family!
My niece Chris and three great nieces came over after lunch for a little camp exploring.

I’ll be honest, I saw more of the camp with those sweeties than I had in the weeks we’d been at the camp. (This was totally my fault – I just hadn’t taken the time or made the effort!)
For the first time I made it across the river



And checked out the cabins along the river’s edge


It was a great little hike but we had to cut it short. We had a train ride through the gorge on the docket!

Such fun!

We could only go so far until some results from last week’s strong winds sent us back the other way!

The older girls switched sides and back we went!


Uncle Gary even came along on this train ride!

It was, all in all, a lovely way to wrap up our time in the beautiful mountains of East Tennessee! We were so thankful to see some of our NC family before we left the area and also fun to show off this beautiful camp!