Gatlinburg, TN vacation

Before this trip gets too far away I want to make sure I post on our trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We drove down and stayed in Gatlinburg, TN which is right outside of the park.

As I mentioned in Izzy's 10 month post, she had a lot of firsts on this trip. This was her first time going to an aquarium and despite the fact that this aquarium was in TN it was actually a great one for her. There was a moving walkway where fish, sharks, manta rays, etc. could all swim around us and above us. Izzy thought this was fascinating and did a lot of pointing!

There's a shark above me!

Ohhh jellyfish

We did a number of hikes and Izzy saw her first few waterfalls. She was so comfortable in the hiking backpack that she fell asleep on one of the hikes!

Halfway up the Mt Laurel Falls hike

Mt Laurel falls

Behind Grotto Falls

View from Clingman's Dome parking lot

The final few steps up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Park. We picked a great day and had fantastic views!

It was a little windy at the top of Clingman's Dome!

Beginning Andrew's Bald hike which led into a meadow with views of the mountains.

This was our first time in a cave. It was a little hard for the toddlers to listen to the guide and Izzy freaked out when the lights were turned out and the cave turned pitch black, but she calmed down quickly.

In the cave

Sleeping bat

Colorful lights in the cave

We took a trip up to Ober Gatlinburg which is essentially the local ski area. All of us having gone to school in CO laughed at the "extreme terrain" shirts they sold at the gift shop because, come on. This trip was mainly for the toddler set as they got to go on a few of the rides but the adults had fun on the alpine slide. Izzy enjoyed the playground and went down a playground slide for the first time (on my lap).

She enjoyed whatever this thing is called.

We made her wear funny hats and pose for silly pictures.

Izzy's first carousel! She held onto me with a death grip.

Otherwise, we did a whole lot of swimming, we took a group (14 people!) Old Tyme photo which is hilarious because one toddler refused to put on a costume and in the picture we selected, Izzy is trying to eat her foot. A keeper for sure. :-)