We're Back!

Kevin and I just got back from Tennessee last night!  It was sooooo much fun!  We had a great time in the Smokey Mountain National Park!  It was truly amazing!  We saw baby cubs, a coyote, wild turkey, and lots of deer!  It was so much fun driving through the mountains on the scenic tours!  Driving through Cade's Cove was definitely a highlight of our trip!  We even went horseback riding, which was fun but also terrifying because I thought my horse was going to fall off the side of the mountain!  Click here to see pictures of the cabin from an earlier post. In all we took almost 400 pictures and nearly 1 hour of video!  I have tried to choose the best pictures to sum up the trip for you.  

Here is our cabin!  Talk about secluded.  We had to drive up a road that was at least a mile long that was literally carved out of the mountain just to get to our cabin.  We could not believe it!

If it were to ice or snow there is no way you could get down or up.  The hills were so steep I thought we weren't going to make it!

We could not believe that it was literally built on the side of this mountain! WOW!

We just missed the beautiful fall colors...we will have to go back again!  By the end of our trip most of these leaves were all gone.  It was still very pretty though!

The sunrises were breathtaking!  

We really enjoyed our rental car!  We were so happy that they gave us a Nissan Rogue.  We have been wanting an SUV and after driving that for 5 days in the mountains now we really have the itch for a bigger car!  It was awesome!  We loved just driving through the mountain roads in the National Park.  There is NOTHING like that in Texas!

One of my favorite memories is drinking yummy hot chocolate and making s'mores in our cabin!  What a delicious treat!

We really enjoyed driving into Gatlinburg and visiting the little village they have built.  It is full of unique gift shops and quaint little restaurants!  This is also where we found a breakfast spot that is a favorite of all the locals and tourists!  It is the Pancake Pantry!  We had the BEST breakfast there!  We met so many people who literally drive 3 hours just to eat breakfast there and then drive 3 hours back!

The last morning of our trip we decided to go to Cade's Cove to drive the 11 mile scenic route!  Boy am I glad that we did!  It was truly the highlight of our trip!  We had such a blast!  It is sooooooo beautiful up there.  We loved using our new digital SLR!  Check out the pics we got of the wildlife!  I LOVE the zoom lens!  It was awesome!

Along the way there were several churches that have been there since the 1800's.  It was so neat to learn about some of the history of the area.  

All in all, it was everything we hoped it would be.  

Beautiful.  Relaxing. Fun. It was just what we needed.  Who knows where the road will take us in the future, but we would love for it to take us back to Gatlinburg, Tennessee again!

We are so thankful for this trip and the time that it gave us to relax and spend time together!

And I was SO proud that we did not have to check any of our luggage!  We managed to fit everything into our carry on bags! It was awesome and made flying so much easier!  Here I am at the airport with ALL of our luggage!  :)

  We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!  Enjoy this time with your family and friends.  There is so much to be thankful for!