A week in Smoky Mountains TN

I admit that I am a bit of a travel snob… I love traveling to cool and exotic places (the more exotic the better!) and so if I am being honest the Smoky Mountains TN trip we had planned for this summer was not something I thought would be all that interesting.  I was really looking forward to spending a week with the family – my parents, my sister and her family and the four of us but had no high expectations of that area.  Boy was I wrong!  Smoky Mountains are absolutely stunning – no wonder it is the most visiting national park in the US and there was so much to see and do!

We rented a huge cabin right outside of Pigeon Forge and spent a week relaxing and taking in  natural scenery from our many decks (the image below was taking from the deck right outside my bedroom!),

hiked to Clingsmans Dome (from where you could see several states) and did some shopping at an Indian reservation in Cherokee North Carolina,

hiked around Cades’ Cove and even saw a baby bear (who was too quick for me to take a picture of)

went to Dollywood – so much fun and highly recommend

did some fishing and survived a 3 mile horse ride through the mountains and hung out at the cabin as a family

It was wonderful to spend time with my big and laud family!