Today was our day for exploring Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. There is a ton to see and do in both town - you could spend days and days in town. We decided on just one day so we went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg & Gem Mining in Pigeon Forge. Who doesn't love some crazy fish & sparkly jewels!
This aquarium is really cool! It is just downtown and kind of in the middle of everything. We started winding our way through and realized it was penguin feeding time so we raced over to see the penguins. There is an inside and outside portion of the exhibit with tunnels so the kids (and small adults) can crawl through the water are and pop up next to the penguins. There were so many kids I did not get a chance, but I really wanted to! Who doesn't love the penguins - I think Maxwell and this penguin are twins! :)
Our next stop was the touch area and the kids play area - our kids loved the costumes! Then we headed to the shark tunnel - that was really neat! They had these huge rays, sharks, and a beautiful turtle - I think we could have all stayed there for a long time! It was time for the mermaid show - yes, you heard it right a MERMAID show! We had to get some seats for this!
We got ourselves some good seats for the mermaid show and everyone loved it! Yes, it was just two girls swimming underwater but it was really fun - I was amazed at how long they could hold their breathe! The kids loved it as well! After the mermaids, we went through the shark tunnel again and headed up to the ray touching pool. We didn't have much luck but it was fun leaning over the edge and praying no one fell in!
We were all starting to get hungry so we went out to find a spot to eat and head into Pigeon Forge for some gem mining. Our kids (and the adults) really enjoyed this too. We bought a big bucket and shared it between the kids - wish we could have bought a bigger bucket - they could have been there all day with this! It really was a lot of fun for everyone! We had our gems identified by the prospector (super nice older guy) who was really smart about the gems and really nice!
I loved this picture of my mom with the girls! So cute!
July 10, 2014
We were taking another in Cades Cove because it was going to be nice - no hiding inside today! Yeah! It turned out to be a great day all around! As we were making our way into the park we saw a bear climbing the tree - Grandpa and Dad got good looks at it - the rest of us mostly saw little leg scurrying up the tree :)
We stopped to do a small hike and came upon a stream - the kids were dying to play in the stream and we promised them later we would stop at the playing stream we had seen the other day for lunch (we made it the stream but way later than lunch time :) This stream was pretty small but we saw some crayfish - the kids were so excited to look for lizards, snakes, and crayfish. Grandma Laura was not that excited about it!
We twisted around Cades Cove, saw a bear climbing up a tree, made some picture stops, and ended up halfway through by lunchtime.
After filling up on a yummy lunch (and lemon & lime golden oreos - so good). We wandered around some sites and listened to a park ranger about bears, it was actually pretty good! He had a large bear form with bear fur over it - the kids were able to help him do a "check up" on the bear. When we were looking at the sites we came across a water snake and a lizard - the kids really loved all the "nature" they saw!
We finally made it to the much anticipated stream - it was pretty fun! The temperature was perfect for wading and everyone enjoy the rest! We found some lizards and a crayfish bit my toe - I guess he thought it was a little worm or something!
Our last adventure of the day was a hike to the waterfall - I was quite proud of all of us because it was close to dinner time and it had been a long day but we charged up! It was a pretty decent hike and we all managed to make it to the top :)
After our big hike we decided tonight was the night to take our scummy, dirty, and stinky selves out to dinner - I wanted a local pancake house (they are really popular there) but the only one we could find open was Denny's? Not that local but yummy just the same! We were hungry and tired so the food was great!
July 11, 2014
Here we are back to the first picture - it was a great trip! We were so glad that Grandma & Grandpa could come out to visit and enjoy the Smoky Mountains with us!
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