Laurel Falls, Newfound Gap, and Gatlinburg

 

Tuesday morning we ate breakfast at the cabin and headed out for another day outdoors.  We drove back into Smokey Mountains National Park for our hike to Laurel Falls.  Who knew everyone else was going to be there as well?  The parking lot was crowded with mini-vans and the trails were filled with Spring Break hikers.  It looks like we’re all alone by these falls but we had to elbow our way in for a picture.  Gorgeous falls.  This time the trail was narrow with a steep cliff off one side so getting Luke to ‘hold hands at all times’ was the tricky part.  By the time we got back to the van we were in desperate need for some water.

 

We found a picnic place and took our time making sandwiches and eating lunch.

This is Emily just minutes before Dad pulled out her super wiggly bottom side tooth.  (We kept her tooth safe in my camera bag until we got home and then lost it in the carpet of my room.  Luckily the tooth fairy is very understanding of this sort of thing.)

After lunch we headed up Newfound Gap Road… another road with windy turns and gorgeous scenery.  We stopped at Newfound Gap to take pictures of the North Carolina views.

 

 

We debated on the 1 mile hike or the 1972 mile hike but just thinking about it made us tired so in the end decided on no hike.  The Appalachian Trail is approximately 2,178 miles long and extends from Georgia to Maine going through North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire as well.   We saw plenty of real AT hikers with their big backpacks resting their feet before continuing on.  We also saw bikers who had just biked up from Gatlinburg…   UP and up and up from Gatlinburg.  I don’t know how they did it… Crazy people.

Again we were thirsty for drinks. We drove down the main touristy street of Gatlinburg and decided to eat an early dinner at Calhouns. Great food.  They even brought Megan a special bowl of ice cream and we sang to her for her birthday!  After eating we walked down the street, went into some shops, played by the fountain and picked out our favorite souvenir t-shirts… NOT to buy, just to look out.  Another fun day in Tennessee!

 

 

 

 

 

We’re adopting ‘There is No Someday’ as another Johnson family motto!

Foothills Parkway

After lunch/dinner at Miss Lily’s Cafe, we headed up the Foothills Parkway… a highway on the ridge of a mountain with gorgeous views on either side.  We stopped at Look Rock to check out the view and then take the hike that would take us to the very top of the ridge.  It was a pretty steep hike, we had already had a full day, we were all tired, (and my behind was sore from horseback riding), but the hike was TOTALLY worth it.

{grandpa has a picture of our family I will insert in here later…}

The views from the top of the lookout tower were absolutely spectacular.  We had about a 300 degree view. Everywhere we turned was just breathtaking.  I LOVE the Smokey Mountains!

 

I had no idea how much I’d love just driving around here in Tennessee.  Trees, barns, beautiful hillsides, and lots of farmland.  For the entire hour drive back to the cabin I had the passenger side window rolled down and my camera out and ready to take pictures.  Chris told me he’d stop anywhere I wanted to take a picture, but then our hour ride home would have been six hours since I wanted to take a picture of everything!!  Instead I invented a whole new genre of photography called DRIVE BY SHOOTING.  All these pictures were taken from our 60 mile an hour van.   What is it about a dilapidated barn that makes it so picturesque?   Ah, I just couldn’t get enough.

 

Horseback Riding at Cades Cove

Monday morning we were anxious to leave our cabin and head for the great outdoors.  We drove into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and made our way to Cades Cove hoping to hike to the Abrams Falls…  But the road led us to this gorgeous view and a ‘closed for winter’ sign.  Apparently spring break is still winter.  So instead we decided to spontaneously opt for horse back riding through the mountain.  Grandma J volunteered to watch the kids under 6 (thank you!!) and the rest of us ‘saddled up’ for a great ride.  The kids were SOOOOO excited.  Ryan, Katie and Emily took horseback riding lessons for six months last year and have been begging to ride horses ever since.

Emily’s horse was named ‘Yuk’.  Emily giggled when he got tied to the post, immediately pooped and everyone yelled, ‘Yuck, Yuk!’    Yuk was quite stubborn.  Emily kept trying to kick him to get him going faster but he just did whatever he wanted.  Look, you can just tell he has an attitude!

Katie just loves being on the back of a horse, and she just looks so good riding too.  An hour was definitely not long enough for Katie.  Ryan loved it too.

 

I don’t think I’ve ridden a horse since before Ryan was born so I was excited for the ride.  My horse, Juliet, liked lagging behind a little so that she could then trot quickly back into place.  It was fun but boy did my butt get sore quick.  Yikes, I’m no cowgirl.

I think splashing through the stream was everyone’s favorite part!  Oops, no picture of Grandpa!