I have been dreading the car ride for a year! I wasn't sure how our very active little one would handle riding in the car for 8 hours. But she did amazing! She never complained, no fits, barely even got restless. I couldn't have been more pleased. On the way there, we left at 2am. My hope was that we would get her out of bed and slip her into the car still asleep...HA! She woke up as soon as I picked her up (which never happens) and was too excited to go back to sleep! She did end up falling asleep somewhere along the way, but only slept about 1-2 hours! The rest of the time she colored, watched movies and played on the Ipad.
We stopped at Jamey's favorite place - Smoky Mtn. Knife Works - on the way into town. MG got her first souveniers there. Her granny bought her a stuffed black bear (which they names "Smoky") and she picked out a deer family of figurines. She pointed out the mama, baby and the daddy with the horns. Her daddy was so proud of her that he bought them! Ha!
The creek behind our cabin was a big hit. She spent a lot of time the first 2 days in there with her bucket and shovel finding rocks. We got a couple days of rain, though, and the water got too swift and high for her to play in.
We ate breakfast at our favorite place - Flapjacks - 3 or 4 times! She wanted "graby" the first morning, but after that she got a bear shaped waffle. She really enjoyed the big glob of butter they put on the plate! Yuck!
One morning we took a hike. The trail was .75 miles - straight up on way, straight down the other! This was the same trail that Jamey and I walked the last time and a bear crossed our paths. Thank the Good Lord we didn't meet up with any wildlife other than a few cute little chipmunks and several bugs! The path was pretty grown up, but MG LOVED it! She was the leader and made us follow her most of the way. She did get a piggy back ride for part of it which was a great workout to make up for those yummy breakfasts!
I think it's safe to say the MG's most favorite part of the entire trip (and I totally knew it would be!) was Fannie Farkles! I mean who doesn't love Fannie Farkles?! We spent tons of time (and money) there as kids and so did she! We went uptown several times and always had to go play games. We considered hopping in the car and crossing the line into NC to visit the casino after she hit "jackpot" on several of the games! We walked away at the end of the week with a lot less money, bigger bellies from the corn dogs/sausages/cheese steak sandwiches and lemonade, several prizes and lots of memories!
I had no idea what a love my child has for live music until our trip. They always have the Tunes and Tales downtown when we're there. There is live entertainment all over the strip. We hear a couple singing/playing some folk songs one night and she made us stay until they were done! She kept saying "let's hear one more song". We spent some time in the Whiskey outlet one afternoon because they had a bluegrass band and she wanted to hear them play! The smell was terrible, but the music was great!
Mom and Dad treated us all to a dinner show one night. We were all talking at breakfast one morning about how strange it is that we've been going all these years and never been to a single show other than Dixie Stampede. We had all seen signs and brochures for the "Hatfield and McCoys" dinner fued and decided it would be fun. I'm so glad we went, it was great! The outside of the building had all kinds of fun scenes, signs and animals. The show was amazing - so much talent. It was full of signing and dancing. MG spent most of the time sitting on her knees up on the table, eyes wide and giggling like crazy! She had the best time. She did get mad at one point because they sang "Amazing Grace" but they didn't go onto sing "my chains are gone"...she kept saying "why they didn't sing my chains are gone?"!
We planned all along on taking her to the aquarium while we were there. She was pumped up to see some fish and sharks! That was another great experience. She was in awe the entire time.
Mine and Jamey's favorite part of the Smokies is always Cade's Cove. We like to go early in the morning. There's just something about the mountains in the background, the quiet, cool morning air and history. I could spend every day out there and be happy! I'm fascinated with the history of the Smoky Mtns. I think I would have loved living back then...but that's a whole different story! MG wasn't too impressed with the old buildings. She did like the churches. She tried to steal a Bible from one! She spent a long time flipping through a Bible looking for "new stories"! Evidently she was tired of the old ones! The best part was that we saw about 4 bear! Two different times through the park we saw bears pretty close eating the berries. MG wanted to ride them and was pretty bummed when she found out we couldn't!
We really had a great trip and I'm so thankful that we were able to go and spend that time together as a family. She asked us tonight if "bacation" was closed! She's ready to go back...and so am I!
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