Gatlinburg

Sunday we got up early to explore. After lunch, Chris, Shelly and Karlie (age 9) drove down and met us at the Ripley's Aquarium in town. It was SO great to see them there. The kids had a great time together, setting the tone for the rest of the week. The aquarium is pretty amazing, especially the underwater tunnel. The only disappointment was that we didn't quite manage to touch a ray; Chris & Shelly had swam with them on their cruise and told us all interesting factoids about them.

The three cousins were about as close as this for the entire visit:

Dinner that night was at Hard Rock. I haven't been in one since London, in 1988. Chris and Shelly have been in them all over the place, which is pretty impressive!

After dinner, we all felt like this:

That night we took a tractor-pulled hayride to see the Gatlinburg Winter Magic Winterfest. That's three million lights, which are all LED and the displays go on for miles. http://www.smokymountainwinterfest.com/gatlinburg.html

Nowhere on the trip did I find the "Famous Garlic Rolls" that were touted by several restaurants in the travel guide. Still waiting for that to turn up on the Blog of Unnecessary Quotation Marks.

Tuesday we went horseback riding in the Smokies. We were so thrilled to find a place that would let kids under nine ride. Then when we got there, they told Gillian she was big enough for her own horse. She rode right up front with the guide. Naturally, she was over the moon! Holly doubled with Ward and I brought up the rear. It was a gorgeous 70-degree day. The trail was three miles up, up, up into the mountains. They didn't allow photographs, unfortunately, but I think we'll all remember it for a long time.

Wednesday we went to Wonder Works http://www.wonderworkstn.com/ in Pigeon Forge. It's kind of a cross between a children's science museum and amusement park. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to convince ourselves that it was, indeed, educational (as we had pulled both girls out of school for the week). Gillian really loved the climbing wall; we'll have to hook her up with the Rikermans.