Monday, April 15, 2013

Cozy cabin in the Smokeys

For our Great SMokey Mountains Vacation, we decided to rent a "cozy camping cabin" perched on the edge of a hill overlooking pigeon forge.  It came with double bed, bunk beds, a mini-fridge, and a microwave.  This was jus tabout perfect for our "camping" aspirations.  Jed was utterly captivated by the "little treehouse" in the trees.  Even though we were right there along the highway in town, you couldn't see anything but leafy trees and mountains peeking in the distance.  Any sort of practically-in-the-city camping where you cna still run around naked on the deck is pretty much fantastic to me.

The morning view was epseiclalyl fantastic.  Look at those happy rumpled faces.
Here are the kids ready to move in. Going on vacation while everyone else is still in school is AWESOME.  We were at this huge RV/Cabin park and there were several hundred empty camping spots and cabins surrounding us in every direction.  We didn't see anyone at all in the bathroom until the last day, and when I walked in we both jumped and screeched a little bit -- under the illusion that we were the only people in town!  Everything was quiet, empty, and the weather couldn't have been more cool and lovely.

A cool, beautiful mountain morning complete with hot pancakes, hot cocoa, card games, and a darling competitors. One thing I am especially proud of: I prepared all our meals in advance.  It worked out perfectly, I had all our meals ready to be either tossed on the griddle, cooked over the fire, or dumped in the crockpot.  Pancakes, homemade granola, sweet potato quesadillas, lentil sausage soup, hobo dinners, chocolate volcano cake... We ate like kings and I figure we saved several hundred dollars that way.
She's a card shark, as is family tradition.
Live bluegrass musicians wandering around downtown Gatlinburg.  The darling little girl in front got up to dance, making all who watched swoon with her cuteness.  Well, all who watched except my children, who scowled, deeply disapproving of all such "cute" antics.
My darling husband, toting all three kids in an incredibly masculine manner.
The RV park we stayed in had both a perfectly-sized pool and a playground, which the kids enjoyed thoroughly.  In this photo, I imagine you can guess who just got booted off the teeter-totter.  But baby bro's havin' a blast!
One thing to be most grateful for: Zane slept like a little angel.  Or maybe a dead dog.  Either way, an unconscious toddler is a beautiful thing.





No comments: