Tennessee Trip

Our family vacation this year was to Tennessee over Thanksgiving break.  We had such a great time with the 6 of us, enjoying the beautiful setting.  We are counting our blessings!

So, the biggest adventure of our trip happened at the beginning!  We stopped for gas in Sevierville, just before heading up the mountain to our cabin.  Then our van wouldn't start.  Yikes!  Bad timing!  Not only were we far from home, but we had a VERY heavily loaded vehicle.  If you've seen how we travel, you may have an idea of this... and this was probably the fullest we've ever had a vehicle.  But God worked it all out!  The people in the gas station were super helpful and friendly (many, many strangers came up to see if they could help).  The workers helped us contact a friend who works for a transportation service.  He was heading our direction!  Arrived with a mini van within a half hour or so.  It was an extremely tight fit to get into his van (see below... poor Micah!), but we did it.  And my super-packer husband packed all our things for the 2nd time that day. Also, because of our AAA service, we were able to get the van towed, and it was fixed in short order. 

See that lovely cabin in the gorgeous setting?  That was ours for the week!

Definitely a bear decorating theme going on...

Katie finishing a college paper on the air mattress in front of the fireplace

We had some great walks around the cabin

The girls were having a wand duel, I think 

Playing a rousing game of America (like Monopoly).  This is a game I don't care to join in, but, as long as everyone is staying relatively friendly, I enjoy listening!

Had a great time with the hot tub on the deck

More bear decor hanging from the rafters in our bedroom

Chad caught salamanders and crayfish in the stream right outside the cabin.  The water in the stream was not much more than a trickle because of the drought

Yummy breakfast at the Pancake Cabin in Gatlinburg

Honey-dipped chicken and waffles

Look at this!  From the back, you can hardly tell their ages, can you? 

We enjoyed a pretty drive in Great Smoky Mountain NP, especially around Cades Cove

We knew there were wildfires in the area.  Smelled a bit of smoke.  Realized the stuff we thought was haze was probably smoke.  4-5 days after we got back home, we heard about the evacuation of Gatlinburg and how wildfires had destroyed many things in the area where we just enjoyed our trip

Took a walk up to Laurel Falls

Chad and the kids ended the outing with a ride on the ferris wheel in Pigeon Forge, while I got groceries at the Publix. I was pretty happy with that arrangement, and so were they.

Thanksgiving Day... 

We rode a tram at Ober Gatlinburg, up the mountain.  SO PRETTY!  Usually the fall color is finished by mid-November, but we still were enjoying lots of color up there.  

On top of the mountain, we all rode the mountain coaster.  

Below are Katie's pictures heading down the mountain.  We got spots right by the window and had an unobstructed view

Thanksgiving meal.  Barber frozen chicken cordon bleu, Bob Evans mashed potatoes, ready-made apple pie and giant cookie from Publix, frozen corn, and alfredo noodles from a package.  Kids thought it was one of the best Thanksgiving meals ever!  :)  And I think it was the 2nd easiest one to cook (the meal we did with Jer and Dani and Middlesex Diner a few years ago tops this for ease!). 

We also started our Gratitude Journals.

We have so much to be thankful for!  Thank you, Lord, for blessing us.