Onward to the Great Smokies

After a couple of days in Knoxville, we continued on to Sevierville, in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, where we met Gramma, Grampa, and Patty (who'd driven separately), and family who'd traveled from New York and Minneapolis-- my aunt, cousin, his wife, and their kids. We all stayed in a gigantic cabin on the side of a hill with a beautiful view of the mountains.

We spent a lot of the quality time in that long weekend relaxing around the cabin and doing a lot of catching up.. but we got out and did a few things in the area as well.

We took the kids to Splash Country one day, and then Dollywood the next. Another day, a group of us went into nearby Gatlinburg and visited the local aquarium-- Aidan and Bryce got a real kick out of that! Meanwhile, another group of us did some hiking up in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Word is there was a bear siting along the path. You'll have to contact my cousin Robert to verify that.

[Just one note-- Dollywood and Splash Country are both, we think, really great theme parks. We had a group of kids ranging in age from 12 to 4 and the parks were each organized in such a way that we were able to split off and do some fun things for each of the kids and then meet back in a central place without too much difficulty. We werent' sure what to expect before we got there, but we were really impressed with both parks.]

setting up for dinner in the cabin

the kids immediately found the hottub!

generations

the boys at Dollywood with the Veggie Tales

touring around Dollywood

Bryce and Megan on the carousel

Once Bryce was sure that the giant scarecrow wouldn't eat him, he gave him a big hug!

Jennifer took the younger kids on the mini Roller Coaster

Dad and Eileen at the Aquarium

Amanda and the kids @ the aquarium

watching the Manta Rays

Want more pictures? Check out these and a few other pictures from our trip on our Flickr page. The flickr page also has the HUGE full size versions of each of these pictures.