Great Smoky Mountains National Park!
After driving for 13+ hours and over 800 miles, we arrived at Great Smoky Mountains National Park! Our campground was inside the Park on the Tennessee side, so we drove through the Park from the North Carolina side to get there. Was that the fastest way to go? I’m not sure, but it was fun (for the passengers) and beautiful! Plus, there were tunnels that our RV barely fit through… that ALWAYS makes for extra excitement (for the passengers).
We arrived with plenty of daylight to run around, stretch our legs, take the dog for a walk, and best of all, catch fireflies! Our Florida boys have never seen fireflies, so their enthusiasm was through the roof! They had no problems catching them, and the dog even got in on the game. Great way to end the night!
The next morning, we biked Cades Cove Scenic Loop, which is closed to traffic on Wednesday and Saturday mornings until 10am. It’s an 11 mile loop with amazing scenery and some fun hills. We all LOVED this ride!
Later in the day, we hiked, explored old cabins, played in a creek, and searched for wildlife. We saw a nice variety of animals – elk, deer, fox, pileated woodpecker (someone told us the name of these; I am definitely not that fancy), wild turkeys and more – but unfortunately, we didn’t see any bears. Not surprising, since we sound like a tribe of rambunctious elephants as we tromp along the trails, but hey, what can you do? Life with boys!
Great Smoky Mountains National Park was fabulous, and Dax keeps asking when we can go back and play in the cabins again. I’d call that a successful Stop #1! Where to next?!
