Great Smoky Mountains Vacation, Part 2

 After a busy day at Dollywood, we spent Tuesday enjoying the nature and beauty of the Smoky Mountains National Park.

Katherine cozied up on the porch swing early Monday morning.

I had scheduled a guided tour of the park for Monday, and it was a great experience. Our guide was wonderful, and we learned and saw much more than if we attempted to tour the park on our own

We stopped at this Chimney Tops lookout for a few pictures. 

We also stopped at Newfound Gap. The kids and I had read some books about the Smoky Mountains before our trip (stereotypical homeschoolers, ha!) so they knew all about the place and the history. Cool to see it in person. 

They also got to see a small part of the Appalachian Trail. 

And then they walked the trail, ha!

So beautiful!

And then magically, these kids were able to be in two places at once. 

We continued our tour and stopped to sightsee at a river. 

The kids would have been all in, if we had stayed any longer. I'm sure of it. They can't stay on land when there's water around. 

We also explored a part of the park that used to be vacation homes in the 1930s. 

One of them even had a playhouse. 

And then on the way back from the tour, we spotted our first bear! I was nervous the kids wouldn't get to see one, and they had been looking forward to bear sightings. I was relieved when we saw it. 

We asked our guide for ideas for how to spend our afternoon, and he recommended a Cade's Cove tour, so we headed there after lunch.

The kids were counting tree rings at one of the stops. 

There were several old cabins that had been restored on the loop. We stopped at a couple of them, and then the kids were over them, ha!

There were also a few churches with cemeteries. 

Just beautiful! The valley with the mountains behind it. 

One of the highlights of the tour is a stop at an original mill and a few other barns and structures. 

Near the end of the loop, we saw more bears!

We saw a couple dart across the road but managed to get a good look at one just off the road. 

We drove back to Gatlinburg and decided to have ice cream for dinner at this cute milkshake shop we had seen earlier in the day. 

It was such a fun vacation treat after a long and busy day!

On the drive back to our cabin at the end of the day, we spotted some deer frolicking in the grass. It felt like the perfect exclamation point after a pretty great day!