The Great Smoky Mountains

We left today at 4:36 a.m. on our way to The Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee!  We decided to leave early in the morning in the hopes that the girls, especially Julianna, would sleep most of the trip.  Ava and Claire were wide awake with excitement when we left, but Julianna quickly zonked back out.

On our way!

The ride was fairly uneventful.  The girls & I slept most of the morning and about 10ish, Julianna woke up.  We decided to stop and get a little breakfast and stretch our legs.  We made good time but once we entered Tennessee, we slowed down a little.  We all enjoyed looking at the scenery and once we entered The Great Smoky Mountains national park, we stopped many times at various overlooks to take pictures, walk around, and just look at the beautiful view!!  And it was beautiful!  I will post several pictures of the mountains, but pictures do not do the view justice!

After stopping at several overlooks, we decided we had seen enough and were eager to get to the cabin.  However, up the road a little way there were a crowd of cars parked over on one side.  We slowed down to see what the fuss was about.  There were trees everywhere that were frozen white.  It truly looked like a winter wonderland!  Fir trees on the sides of the mountains were as white as snow.  Ice that normally  runs down the mountain had frozen making icicles all over the side of the mountain.  We got out and walked around a little and just enjoyed seeing the sights.  We definitely do not get this in the South.

We finally made it to our cabin around 3ish and it was awesome!  We were about four miles up a mountain and almost at the top of the mountain.  Our cabin was in a private area and we were secluded enough that the we could only vaguely see two other cabins higher up on the mountain.  The road to our cabin was very narrow and very curvy.  The girls immediately ran around to check everything out.  It was two bedrooms, two bath, full kitchen, eating area, and living area.  Upstairs was a game loft complete with an air hockey table, pool table, shuffle board,  full couch, and high top table and chairs.  This is where the girls spent most of their time when we were at the cabin.

Look at the two cuties in the top
left hand corner :)

After unloading our luggage, we loaded up and headed back down the mountain to eat supper and check out Pigeon Forge.  To say the girls were excited is a huge understatement!  They could hardly contain themselves!  We finally headed back to the cabin and got some much needed rest.