The Great Smoky Mountains...

It took awhile, but I sorted through our vacation photos yesterday and picked out several to share with you.  My husband is a MAJOR shutterbug ~ he had THOUSANDS of photos on his memory card & it took forever to upload just the photos of this trip.  I really need to remind him to back up and empty his memory card every now and then ~ whew!

We started our trip from Indiana and drove down through Ohio to West Virginia.  At about 2am, we stopped and spent the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot.  Oh the beauty of RV travel!  The next day, we drove through North Carolina to the border of North/South Carolina.  There is a Cedar Fair park there called Carowinds where we spent Saturday evening and a good part of the day on Sunday. 

The state line goes right through the park!

On our way to Asheville, NC, we stopped at Chimney Rock State Park in North Carolina.  We hiked the trails and it was great because we could take the dogs with us on the hike!

 

That night we stayed in a nice campground in Pigeon Forge, TN.  The next morning we drove though Gatlinburg, TN on our way to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I have to say, I thought it would be nice, but it was much prettier than I expected.  It didn't hurt that the day was absolutely GORGEOUS!

Later that day, we drove up to Clingmans Dome (6,643 ft altitude).  Once we were up there, we hiked UP the 1/2 mile trail to the observation tower.  That 1/2 mile hike felt like 10 miles & it was COLD!

This ice had formed on the side of the mountain and you could see the water running under it.

Someone built a little snowman on one of the park benches.

We finally made it to the observation deck ~ our climb wasn't done yet!

On the way back down, we found the Appalachian Trail & made sure to get a family photo.  The Appalachian Trail is a 2,175-mile long public footpath. Conceived in 1921 and completed in 1937, private citizens built the trail and thousands like you each year volunteer to maintain its footprint. From Maine’s Mount Katahdin and Georgia’s Springer Mountain, this footpath traverses scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild and culturally resonant lands through 14 of the eastern United States.

Then... we hit the road again.  The next day we landed in....

NASHVILLE, TN & spent some time at the Grand Ole Opry!

I do confess that I am NOT a big fan of country music; HOWEVER,

I LOVED the Grand Ole Opry tour ~ what a blast!

We saw tons on the tour and even had the honor of singing on the big stage of the Opry!

After we went on the tour, we walked over to the amazing Gaylord Opryland Hotel ~ WOW!

On our last day of vacation, we spent the day in Horse Cave, KY at a little place called Kentucky Down Under.  We were there years ago when Matt was only 3 months old and Megan was almost 3 years.  Of course, they didn't remember a thing, so it was fun to show them this place again. 

Megan wasn't too sure about the Lorikeet Cage!  LOL! 

But Matt loved both the parakeet & lorikeet cages!

Other favorites were the sheep herding demonstration, the kangaroo and the caves.

11 month old joey

So as you can see, we had a great time exploring the Smoky Mountains and some of the surrounding areas over Spring Break.  The states we hit ~ Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North & South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and back home again in Indiana!