We camped here; yes, in a tent! And yes, we're hardcore! This was the view from our hammock:
The first day, we took a short hike to Laurel Falls, where Shiloh loved playing in the waterfall (after we woke her up, that is... she fell asleep just before we reached it!).
Oh, and did I mention that these guys hiked part of the way with us? First came Momma Bear...
... and Baby Bear wasn't far behind!
Pretty neat. Shiloh decided that Daddy Bear was "at wort" [work].
A couple times while we were down there, we ate at my FAVORITE.PANCAKE.PLACE.EVER: Pancake Pantry. Can you understand why it's so amazing by looking at these?
(Notice the little finger snatching an M&M in this shot? Someone just couldn't wait :)
We found a Shiloh-sized bridge:
We also went to Wacky Bear Factory in Gatlinburg. They have all kinds of cute teddy bears, bunnies, ducks, and other cutesy animals... so what did Shiloh choose to make, you ask? A green triceratops. (Nick was so proud! Something non-girly!) His name is Zack. I'll have to introduce you later!
We ate dinner, as customary, at The Old Mill. Very yummy, and also quite eventful, as Shiloh squeezed her styrofoam cup of milk a little too hard and it busted all over her. Boyhowdy, that was exciting!
As you know by now, Shiloh loves the water, and the freezing cold creek water in the mountains was no exception! My legs were numb after about 30 seconds, and it took my breath away to go all the way under water, but Shi seemed unfazed. She kept wanting Nick to dunk her into the water, "anin, anin!" [again] Crazy girl.
We did another hike to Grotto Falls, which is way up on top of one of the mountains, so it is quite a little drive to get there. Shi insisted on doing part of the "hite" [hike] herself, as you can see here:
We found ourselves at a beautiful waterfall:
You could even walk up underneath it without really getting wet!
All that "hite-ing" wore her out...
Late one evening, after Nick's dad had played Shiloh to sleep with his classical guitar skills, Nick and I trekked up to the old cabin area of the campground to see the synchronous fireflies. "What's that you say? Synchronized fireflies??" Oh yes, my friend, and it was way cool. The Elkmont campground is the only place in the United States these little guys have been found, and one of only 2 places in the world. You can see a photo (someone else's) here. It looks as though it is daytime, when really it is pitch black night!
So other than Shiloh trying out her hand at mini golf...
... that pretty much sums up our short vacation! The rest of the time we spent biking around the campground, lounging around the campfire or the creek, and trying to catch some precious R&R.
This little girl, however, did her best to keep us up and running at all times!
[More photos here.]
2 comments:
Looks like you guys had a great time. LOVE the pics, thanks for sharing. And yes, that one picture does look like it's 3D, way cool! ;)
too cool!! I can't believe how cute Shi looks on that mineature bridge- she's got quite a pose. It always amazes me how little these people are and how much personality they can show!
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