Waterfalls, slides, flyers, pools, escapes, and bears…oh my! (aka…Day 12)

When we started planning this trip, four weeks seemed like such a long time.  At this point, we’re realizing how we’re only really scratching the surface at many of the places we’ve visited.  What that means is that some days become crazy.  Like, “how did we do all that?” crazy.  Today was that day.

We started today at the crack of dawn by getting to Smoky Mountain National Park by 7:30am.  Did you know this is the busiest National Park in the country by a factor of two?!?!  They have over 11 million visitors per year and everything we read suggested to get there early.  We did, which meant we were able to take our first scenic loop before the Visitor Center even opened.  We were treated to a peaceful journey through some incredible forests with very few other people.

After a short trip to the Visitor Center to pick up the girls’ Junior Ranger books, we were off on the main loop of the park.  We saw some gorgeous scenery, attended a fascinating ranger talk inside a church that was built in the 1800s, and saw BEARS.  We spotted TEN black bears along our journey.  You could pull right off the side of the road and just see them so close (but the Rangers told us to be ready to get back in our cars as they can run faster than 30MPH).  The biggest thing I learned today…all 10 bears were up in the trees the whole time.  I had no idea they spent that much time up there!

We were planning on heading up to Clingmans Dome for a scenic view of the park but we had already sat in a lot of traffic in on the scenic loop, it started to get really hot, and the view from up there was a bit hazy on the webcam.  Instead, we headed back down through Gatlinburg and I dropped my sneak attack.  Remember yesterday I said Bronwyn limited me to one theme park in each direction?  Well, a one off attraction isn’t a theme park, right?  I had researched Rowdy Mountain which had two attractions.  The first is an Alpine Coaster.  We rode our first Alpine Coaster this past winter in Park City and we were looking forward to riding another one without ski boots on!  Secondly, they recently installed an Alpine Flyer…the first of its kind in the world.  Imagine a roller coaster that you ride in a personal swing.  Both were great fun!

After that it was back to the hotel for a quick dip in the pool to cool off before dinner.  The girls got a kick out of their “backside of water” picture (that’s for all you Jungle Cruise fans).

Lastly, if you know the Brestles you know we LOVE Escape Rooms.  We’ve done more than ten of them and they always prove to be a highlight of any day/trip.  Well, The Escape Game in Pigeon Forge blew us away tonight.  It took over the mantle of our new favorite room which had previously been held by Escape Whistler.  We found the gold and escaped with three minutes and twenty seconds remaining.  Woo hoo!  Off to Virginia tomorrow and only 48 hours away from The Shore…we’re coming Mimi!