The Great Smoky Mountains

Over spring break we loaded up the kids in my truck (170,000 miles and still going strong, thank you very much!), hitched up the pop-up camper, and made the 12 hour drive down to Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains.

What a great trip! The weather was awesome and our kids all did great (no throwing up, no fevers - none of the typical vacation bugs). It was very warm the first few days (high 70s to low 80s) but did cool off by the last day (mid 50s). We had a couple of cold nights. In fact, I had so many clothes on the last night that I felt like Ralphie's little brother in "A Christmas Story" getting dressed for school...

This was a very active vacation for us with lots of bike trips and some very nice hikes. We saw some new areas this year and went to a couple of really beautiful waterfalls. The most exciting thing that happened this year was Megan (our oldest, 12) fell into the river fully clothed not once, but twice. (She seems to be having some coordination issues recently - maybe some kind of a growth spurt or something...)

If you've never been to the Smoky Mountains you should really consider it. But if you want to camp in Cades Cove remember one thing - no electricity and no showers. Yep, after 5 or 6 days it can get pretty dicey, which is one reason why we go in April instead of July.