Spring Break: Lunch at Local Goat and Relaxing at the Cabin

After the hike, we went into Pigeon Forge for a late lunch at the Local Goat. All local sourced food and delicious.

We relaxed in the afternoon with some hot tub time!

Then Morgan helped Dad grill out some burgers and hot dogs for dinner.

A few panoramas of the view from our back deck.

Oh, and while we were relaxing, the Wilkens went to Paula Deen's Lumberjack park. Here is Erin on one of the attractions - yikes!

Spring Break: Laurel Falls Hike

On Tuesday morning, we went to the Smoky Mountains for a hike. We chose Laurel Falls because you end at a waterfall. The weather was chilly and rained a bit on us while on the hike. We saw some great views and the waterfall was awesome!

We stopped a couple of times on our drive to the trail for some pictures.

We noticed a lot of people stopped at one spot, and realized they were all watching some bears! So, of course, we stopped to watch the bears, too!

 

I didn't hike down to the bottom of the waterfall, just Matt and the girls did. I went to the top and took some pictures of them. You can barely see them here, but they are down there!

It started raining on us at this point. And it was getting slippery!

The way back down was much easier - ha!

Funny story: Do you like Matt's back-pack (purple with butterflies)? Well, another family was hiking near us and the Dad says to Matt, "hey, I like your backpack!" Then, he passed us and was wearing a purple sparkly backpack! Matt said "hey, I think I need some more bling on mine!"

We had to park quite a ways from the trailhead. This was a popular trail!

Spring Break: Dolly's Stampede Dinner

On Monday night, we met up with everyone at Dolly's Stampede Dinner show. This has the same feel as Medieval Times, but with a North vs South theme. They had horses, pigs, bison, longhorns and birds in the show. There was a little bit of everything in this show. It was a fun time!

They take a pic of your whole group at the beginning... here we are!

The kids all got slushies in these plastic boots.

We were on the "South" side.

Avery was not thrilled with the food provided. A whole roasted chicken. She doesn't eat a lot of meat, so this was a bit much for her. She did eventually try it and actually liked it!

Of course, Morgan loved the food!

The show ended with some patriotic-ness and the Star Spangled Banner. Oh, and the "South" won the competition - yay!

After the show, the performers and their horses sat around the theater and let the kids come around and pet the horses. They also signed their cups. So, the kids ran around to all of the performers for autographs.

This was the emcee of the show... he was great!

This guy was the comedy of the show... Skeeter!

Here they are with their signed boots!

Spring Break: Ober Mountain

On Monday morning, we had breakfast with a view at the cabin! 

We drove to Gatlinburg and had lunch at the Smoky Mountain Brewery. Matt got a beer sampler and Morgan thought it was so much beer! Ha!

Then, we met up with the Wilken crew, my parents and Ross' parents at Ober Mountain. We took the tram up from Gatlinburg.

Here's the cheesy pic they take of you before the tram ride with a super-imposed picture behind you!

The girls did the rock climbing wall... all the practice at Funtopia paid off! They made it to the top easily!

There was a small zoo at the top with local animals. We watched the otters play and saw the bears relaxing in the sun.

Then, the girls ice skated. They had these cute dolphins kids could use to help them skate. They also doubled as a ride!

Morgan and Matt went to ride on the ski mountain coaster, which had about an hour long wait to do. So, Avery and I took the ski lift up and rode the alpine slide down the mountain.

Morgan waiting to ride the coaster.

Morgan and Matt on the coaster... ready to go!

Here's a video of Morgan and Matt riding the coaster:

Here's the pic of them on the ride.