The same week that students in some parts of the country were just starting back to school, we were enjoying Fall Break. It is the one-week break we get off of school after the first six weeks of the school year (we get at least a one week break every six weeks). During the break, we took a short trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I think this may be our first ever family vacation during which we didn't have a plan to meet up with anyone else. Just us, traveling, for the purpose of enjoyment. I'm using that "first" as an excuse to not really cull down the pictures very much!
 |
| Headed to the tram that would take us up the hill to Ober Gatlinburg, winter (mini) ski resort, summer amusement park. |
 |
| A rare picture of the parentals together (thanks, C). |
 |
| John actually did NOT like the ball pit, so this was a pretty lucky photo! |
 |
| John's first chairlift ride. Terrifying. For us. It was a lot more terrifying when we were up higher, but I was too nervous to take pictures at that point. didn't want to turn around to take a photo, for fear that John would get excited and leap out of T's arms... |
 |
| Baby on skates! I got him all the way around the rink once by anchoring his skates between my feet and using my arms to pull us around the rink! (he was done after that). |
 |
| Headed back down the mountain on the tram. John called it a "boat", so we declared it a "sky boat". |
 |
| Pancake breakfast. We were cursed with terrible service for almost the entire trip. |
 |
| The bad service drove us to the free moonshine tasting. You can now taste some moonshine at our house. |
 |
| Incline train to the top of Hillbilly Golf, in which you play mini golf down the hill. |
 |
| At Ripley's Aquarium |
 |
| The last restaurant meal of the trip (also the first good service of the trip). Thank you, local brewery, for your decent service, tasty beer, trivia game and food that does not pretend to be fancier than it is. Plus, look closely. That's SANTA at the bar. Yes, Santa. He came over and talked to the boys. Carter has been talking about it for days. |
 |
| Nature. |
 |
| At the top of Clingman's Dome. Highest point in TN. Third highest east of the Mississippi. We have now been to the top of the highest point in TN and GA. Time to start counting, I think... |
 |
| Notes: 1) I have carried John up to the top of the highest points in both GA and TN. 2) John and I are wearing the same ugly facial expression in this picture. 3) Thomas doesn't feel the need to take multiple shots of a picture in order to reduce the likelihood of ugly face. 4) The background here somehow looks totally fake, but I can promise you that it is real, and it was high up! 5) John is pretty much at the weight limit for this backpack, so he's on his own next time. |
