Smoky Mountain Vacation - Part 2

Our first real day in the mountains was definitely a busy (and cold!) one. We actually had a chance to look around our home away from home and do a little exploring. Our cabin was really amazing and truly had an astonishing view. (We rented through American Patriot Getaways, you should check them out, they are amazing!)

We started our day at the Pancake Pantry. I heard about this place from our info packet that we received about Gatlinburg. I was sold the second I looked at their menu and they didn't disappoint. Fair warning though, you will need to get there early. The line was around the building when we left (thankfully we beat the rush!).

Scott just had the eggs and bacon (which came with three pancakes), Aaron had chocolate chip pancakes, Jill had bears in the snow (bear shaped pancakes with powdered sugar) and I had the Austrian Apple Walnut Crepes.

O.M.G.

I know the photo I snapped is blurry, but for real, look at that amazing plate of deliciousness. And yes, that's real whipped cream on top!

After breakfast we explored the Village (and found the Donut Friar, more on that tomorrow!) and then headed out to get groceries for the week. The awesome thing about renting a cabin is that we had a full kitchen complete with dishes, pots and pans.

I knew we weren't going to eat in every night, but I wanted the option to eat some of our meals in (you know, for when we were totally spent and just needed to decompress).  I will say this about shopping, the Walmart outside of Pigeon Forge is everything you think a Walmart in Tennessee would be. More people randomly talked to me than I was comfortable with.

After shopping we headed out for a hike, I mean after all, did you see those crepes I had for breakfast? We found a great trail that was 1.7 miles for the kiddos to try. I wasn't sure how the kiddos would do hiking, but they did amazing and totally loved it! They each found a big stick and loved exploring everything around them.

After the 1.7 trail we headed over to see Rainbow Falls. This trail was 2.7 miles, which at first we were like, "Yeah! Let's do this!" After an hour of hiking we asked a family that was heading back down the mountain how much further, they laughed and told us another hour and a half. We turned around at that point. There was no way we were going to last another hour and a half.

The kiddos were asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot. I don't blame them.

For dinner we headed out to Bennett's BBQ, it was recommended to us by my friend Michelle's sister-in-law. It was a fantastic recommendation and the BBQ was SO good! We definitely want to eat there again.

Our first day was definitely a great one filled with lots of fresh mountain air. Stay tuned for more on our vacation!