A little orange lizard by the pool
Daddy and Fairy Girl at the Pool
Fairy Girl Hugging Smoky Bear
The view from our breakfast table at the Apple Orchard
Muscle Car Museum, Newport, TN
(one of the few times J grabbed the camera:)
(one of the few times J grabbed the camera:)
The Smokies
Smoky Mountain National Park
Smoky Mountain National Park
Smoky Bear Campground
Apple Barn Orchard and Cider Mill
Sunday, our first full day was rainy and drizzly in the low 70's. We decided it wouldn't be a whole lot of fun with a 3.5 and a 5 year old to hang out in the camper---so we hit the road to do some exploring. (As an aside, we found out it rained quite a bit all day at the campground, but it barely rained and was mostly sunny where we went:) The GPS is a nice tool for exploring, though we learned, it can easily get confused on those small mountain roads--but we sure hit some beautiful scenery as a result of its so called "short cuts:)"
We started off with having breakfast at an apple orchard restaurant. After breakfast we went into the shop to look around and pick up a few of those gourmet items you find in orchards--we picked up some apples (though my guess was since apples aren't really in season, they must have been last year's stock--and according to J, they were dry). We also picked up a jar of apple butter and vidalia onion relish. Outside we saw a beautiful cabin; then I sneaked into another cute building--in it was a candy shop and craft shop (I didn't want to tempt the girls in the candy store, I'm bad enough--though I honestly didn't buy anything:) It was very cute and rustic in there.
From there we headed to a town called Newport and another called Sieverville--I'm not sure what we were looking for, but the campground owners recommended those towns. Because we were following the GPS directions, we wound up on some backroads we normally wouldn't have chosen, and found a giant Bush's baked bean plant, with a giant can of baked beans. Given our previous day's gas issues, we got a kick out of the theme continued:) We enjoyed some more pretty scenery and decided to ask the Garmin for ideas on local attractions---and up came the Muscle Car Museum----boy did J's eyes light up (more than mine in the candy store, really:). So we headed over there---J and the girls went in. Since it's not my cup of tea I decided to take advantage of the quiet time, and stayed outside to read a book (I'm still working on the first book of the Mayfair Witch series, called The Witching Hour--it's an excellent book with wonderful details, though not as addicting as the Twilight series, so I'm taking my time and have no problem putting it down:)
Apparently J had bribed the girls to be really good in the museum with ice cream, so we found yet another beautiful and very popular apple orchard near Pigeon Forge called The Apple Barn. The girls had icecream and I chose hot apple cobbler (cobbler is one of my favorite words, it just sounds so yummy:)---with some icecream melted on top--and I even let J have a few bites:)
At this point we decided the weather looked decent, so we headed back to the campground. As a note, it was Memorial Weekend--though we were in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge (which has a ton to do)--the campground owners recommended not going there until at least Monday, or we'd spend our time fighting traffic--that's why we didn't hit those towns. Too bad, the aquarium in Gatlingburg, would have been an excellent choice--I'm sure it's not as great as Chicago's Shed Aqarium --but we heard it's really supposed to be very nice. Next time we're in the area, we will go there. http://www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com/
It was now after 5:00 (somewhere, tee hee:) and the girls were begging to go swimming. It was slightly misty out, yet the sun was shining--it was actually a really fun time to be in the pool. J and the girls played in the pool, and I took my book to the hottub--the view was spectacular- I was sitting in the hottub and looked up to very tall trees and the beautiful Smoky Mountains--breathtaking!--I enjoyed talking at length with the campground owner (Chong O'Leary--I wasn't sure what to expect when I first saw the name--like a red-headed oriental guy:) It turns out she's a very nice Korean women, married to an Irishman. They used to own a resort in Myrtle Beach, but decided to retire. They got bored traveling and took over the campground, http://smokybearcampground.com/gallery.shtml .
That about sums up our second day.
Wildlife Report: the only report today is a small orange lizard in the pool area, pictured above.
We started off with having breakfast at an apple orchard restaurant. After breakfast we went into the shop to look around and pick up a few of those gourmet items you find in orchards--we picked up some apples (though my guess was since apples aren't really in season, they must have been last year's stock--and according to J, they were dry). We also picked up a jar of apple butter and vidalia onion relish. Outside we saw a beautiful cabin; then I sneaked into another cute building--in it was a candy shop and craft shop (I didn't want to tempt the girls in the candy store, I'm bad enough--though I honestly didn't buy anything:) It was very cute and rustic in there.
From there we headed to a town called Newport and another called Sieverville--I'm not sure what we were looking for, but the campground owners recommended those towns. Because we were following the GPS directions, we wound up on some backroads we normally wouldn't have chosen, and found a giant Bush's baked bean plant, with a giant can of baked beans. Given our previous day's gas issues, we got a kick out of the theme continued:) We enjoyed some more pretty scenery and decided to ask the Garmin for ideas on local attractions---and up came the Muscle Car Museum----boy did J's eyes light up (more than mine in the candy store, really:). So we headed over there---J and the girls went in. Since it's not my cup of tea I decided to take advantage of the quiet time, and stayed outside to read a book (I'm still working on the first book of the Mayfair Witch series, called The Witching Hour--it's an excellent book with wonderful details, though not as addicting as the Twilight series, so I'm taking my time and have no problem putting it down:)
Apparently J had bribed the girls to be really good in the museum with ice cream, so we found yet another beautiful and very popular apple orchard near Pigeon Forge called The Apple Barn. The girls had icecream and I chose hot apple cobbler (cobbler is one of my favorite words, it just sounds so yummy:)---with some icecream melted on top--and I even let J have a few bites:)
At this point we decided the weather looked decent, so we headed back to the campground. As a note, it was Memorial Weekend--though we were in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge (which has a ton to do)--the campground owners recommended not going there until at least Monday, or we'd spend our time fighting traffic--that's why we didn't hit those towns. Too bad, the aquarium in Gatlingburg, would have been an excellent choice--I'm sure it's not as great as Chicago's Shed Aqarium --but we heard it's really supposed to be very nice. Next time we're in the area, we will go there. http://www.ripleysaquariumofthesmokies.com/
It was now after 5:00 (somewhere, tee hee:) and the girls were begging to go swimming. It was slightly misty out, yet the sun was shining--it was actually a really fun time to be in the pool. J and the girls played in the pool, and I took my book to the hottub--the view was spectacular- I was sitting in the hottub and looked up to very tall trees and the beautiful Smoky Mountains--breathtaking!--I enjoyed talking at length with the campground owner (Chong O'Leary--I wasn't sure what to expect when I first saw the name--like a red-headed oriental guy:) It turns out she's a very nice Korean women, married to an Irishman. They used to own a resort in Myrtle Beach, but decided to retire. They got bored traveling and took over the campground, http://smokybearcampground.com/gallery.shtml .
That about sums up our second day.
Wildlife Report: the only report today is a small orange lizard in the pool area, pictured above.
1 comment:
I like the wildlife report. You're funny. :)
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