The Smokies

For Dad's 60th Birthday (which was in July), we took family trip to Gatlinburg last weekend. Dad and I went down a day early to ease the burden of a weekend trip for Mr. Brian. Unfortunately I got quite the case of food poisoning Thursday night, so our early arrival was plagued with lots of yuck! It only lasted a few hours though, so Friday we headed out to the Arts and Crafts village.

We took it slow because I was still a bit unsteady and Brian didn't seem to be feeling great. He had slept in until 10 (that NEVER happens) and was still sleepy and whiny. After browsing through some of the shops, we found a great cafe where we had lunch and Brian actually fell alseep on my lap during lunch (also NEVER happens). We had already promised him a milkshake, so he woke up as we were leaving lunch and we headed over to the old fashioned soda fountain. I grew up going here, so I wanted a picture of Brian.

Brian did not want a picture taken....

Everyone else arrived Friday night and Saturday we headed into the park! We hiked to an old cabin and into the woods. Brian (sort of) enjoyed walking on the old fallen trees, playing in the leaves and watching sticks float under the old bridge. (He was still pretty whiny on Saturday, too.) Mom, Shawn, Teri and Jon hiked almost all the way to a water fall, while Brian, Pappy and I napped in the car. We saw some wild turkeys and some deer, but no bears. Boo! Brian pretended to site lots of giraffes, elephants, kangaroos and monkeys though.





It took FOREVER to get back to town, and we ended up ordering carryout from one of the local restaurants for dinner. This was probably to our advantage as Brian would not have lasted at a restaurant very long.

Sunday, we journeyed to the Apple Barn for breakfast and headed back home after. It was a quick trip, but a nice one!

Oh, and our cabin was amazing! It was called River's Edge and was literally on the edge of the river. Brian loved that!