Smoky Mountain Vacation - Part 6 (The Final Part)

We spent our last day in Pigeon Forge doing whatever the kiddos wanted to do. Our first stop was Huck Finn's Catfish Place. Since it was a Friday and it's Lent, we knew we had to find a really good fish place, and since Scott LOVES catfish, we knew this was the place. Aaron tried catfish for the first time and I think it's safe to say that he loves it just as much as his father.

We also made one last stop at the Christmas Village. If you have time to check out this village, you need to, it's amazing. If I could I would buy everything in it. They have one large store with nothing but Christmas items, they have a model train, a boutique type shop and a bakery. The kiddos loved the train and spent almost the entire time looking at it.

Like I mentioned before, we let the kiddos pick out what we were doing that day. Aaron wanted to ride the go karts from the moment he saw them, so that was our first stop. Both kiddos rode on the two tracks with Scott and had a total blast.

Jillian wanted to ride the big ferris wheel at the Island. I was going to take her on this, but when we approached the wheel and the big gust of wind came through and rocked the gondola, I voluntold Daddy that he would be taking her. They went around 5 times. 5. 5 times. I would have hit the panic button before we even left the platform.

Our last night was pretty perfect. We toasted some marshmallows and made s'mores. I had us completely packed and ready to check out first thing in the morning.

We were up pretty early because we wanted to hit the Pancake Pantry one more time before we left town. After our yummy breakfast, we made one last visit to the Donut Friar and then hit the road.

Our trip out included a drive through the state park which, minus the fog, was pretty beautiful. We actually made it back in decent time and somehow avoided the nasty storm back home.

We cannot wait to go back! The kiddos even asked if we could go back next spring break. I think it's safe to say they loved it!

Smoky Mountain - Part 5

Thursday we spent our day in Gatlinburg. We rode the trolley into town and went to the Ripley's aquarium.

It was okay. I'm spoiled though, I grew up with the Shedd, so everything else pales in comparison. They did have really cool tubes that the kiddos could pop up in so it looked like they were in there with fish.

After our visit to the aquarium, we went back into town to check out some of the shops and maybe stop by my favorite place in the entire world...Pancake Pantry. This time we had lunch and I will tell you it's just as delicious as breakfast. 

Only one more day left in our vacation! Check back tomorrow for more :)

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!