Blog 12: Grandparents & The Great Smokey Mountains

My Dad and Kay moved to Tennessee about one month before we moved to China and the timing just didn’t give us a chance to see their new place.  So, for Christmas we made a point to visit. 

What a treat.  My Dad has been talking about living in a log cabin as long as I can remember… and he finally got it.  They found a great place in the Smokey Mountains and it is just perfect.  The kids quickly declared it to be a “cool” place and really had a great time just hanging out at the house.  It’s away from main street, but still 30 minutes from a major airport.  It is on a nice piece of land with a decent view that you can explore without worrying about neighbors…

It’s pretty easy to get to (well actually, better than “pretty easy” – It is a massive improvement to Gillette WY) and it has tons of stuff nearby to explore.  We loved it.

Grandpa and Grandma were excited to see us and we were excited to see them as well.  This was our first stop so we were concerned about jet lag, but aside from a couple of early mornings, we all broke jet lab pretty quickly.  The kids didn’t mind the early mornings since they always found Grandpa drinking his coffee and watching Fox News in the basement. 

We only had 2 days there, but we used them pretty well.  We didn’t push ourselves the brink of exhaustion, but still experienced a lot of new stuff.  The first day we started a bit late and made our first stop at the worlds largest knive shop (one of Jacob’s favorites) and then followed it with a late lunch at Chick-Fil-A (Everyone’s favorite)… Oddly enough, they don’t have this Christian-based chain in China. 

We didn’t realize it, but Sevierville is a cross between a beach town (w/o a beach and ocean) and Branson.  There is an endless supply of go-cart tracks, arcades, mini-golf stops, and tourist trap shops just like any beach town… But, then they also have extremely unique “one of a kind” venues like the “upside down house”, mount rushmore for Hollywood, the titanic restaurant (yes, in the shape of the titanic), and many others. 

Grandpa and Grandma treated us to an evening at the Hatfield and the McCoys… A Christmas musical set with the typical H&M storyline.  It was fun, kids loved it, and the food was delicious. 

Day two was more about exploring Gatlinburg.  Grandma stayed at home for this one, but the rest of us visited the town.  We really didn’t have enough time to do the fun stuff here (i.e. cable car to the top of the mountain), but we did do some shopping and walking around.  I think Caroline’s highlight was eating the world’s largest marshmallow. 

In between our day trips, we just chilled at the house.  Played the iPAD a little, talked a lot, and shot Grandpa’s pellet rifle.  Jacob is turning into a crackshot… often calling his bullseye before they hit, and Caroline ended up with a black eye from the scope recoil… Win some, lose some.

It was tough to leave Dad’s… We really don’t get a lot of time together and this was a really nice trip.  We just have to keep this stop on the circuit for future trips… and make the most of them when they happen.  

Picture 1 - Relaxing with Grandpa:  These are a few of my favorite pictures.  Jacob really enjoyed spending time with Grandpa.  He just soaked up everything that he said.  Jacob especially enjoyed shooting the pellet gun... and he turning in a crack shot.


Picture 2 - Christmas pictures:  Every tourist trap has a Christmas store and Pigeon Forge TN is no different.  At least we left with a pile of good pictures.


Picture 3 - What is this place?  This was our first extended stop in the states and so we couldn't resist grabbing a Chick-fil-A sandwich for lunch... As for the rest of this place, go figure?  A titanic an upside down white house, and much much more.


Picture 4 - Glorious Arcade Victory:  I am a sucker for arcades, and so is my family.  But, at this stop, we crushed it.  We racked up a ton of tickets that we used to buy a ton of useless junk.  and, it only cost us 40 dollars.



Picture 5 - Random Stuff:  Pigeon Forge is just a fun place to hang out. 


Picture 6 - Go cart and Chik Fil A:  More fun days with Grandma and Grandpa. 


Picture 7 - A treat:  Grandma and Grandpa treated us to the Hatfield and McCoy dinner show.  It was totally slapstick, but also very entertaining.


Picture 8 - Junk food:  It really isn't hard to get pictures of Caroline eating marshmallows... I think this is her favorite.


Picture 9 - And then we leave:  Its hard to move around, but we have  a lot of people to see.  Everyone is getting more flexible through these experiences and I think these shots of Emily are just precious.  

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