The Great Smokey Mountains

Brent finished his 3^rd year of Optometry school this past week and he had a week off in between semesters. We decided to make the most of it and go spend a few days in the great Smokey Mountains. Mom E decided she wanted to join us and we were just fine with that. At first we thought about trying to save money and staying somewhere cheap then we thought, what the heck, let’s stay at a nice hotel. We stayed at the Inn at Christmas Place which is ranked #6 by Travelocity in the United States. I’ve stayed here once before and the experience is so worth it. We definitely plan to go back and stay again.

We drove in Friday and after checking in to our hotel we decided to go to the Lumbarjack show. I’ve been to one lumbarjack show before while in Alaska and it was awesome we thought we’d check it out. I thought it was “okay” but Brent really liked it. I’m sure if I had nothing to compare it to I would have loved it too. The next day was spent hiking and shopping. Mom stayed at the hotel with Elijah so Brent and I could go hiking. They were welcome to come but mom declined. The hike was only a little over a mile and a half up but it was all up mountain. It was like climbing 60 flights of stairs, going down was much easier. The waterfall was really pretty and we were able to enjoy a little time alone before other hikers joined us.

The next day we drove up the mountain with mom and Elijah. There are some really pretty places along the path. We walked around Gatlinburg and even went in to a Ripley’s world of Illusions. And we ended our day and our trip by going to the Dixie Stampede.

It was such an enjoyable trip! I would say it was our first family vacation but technically we went to California when Elijah was 3 weeks old. Oh how we love our boy! Being his mom is almost as fun as being Brent’s wife! I doubt there is a day that goes by that I don’t think, dang, I am one lucky girl.