the GREAT Smoky Mountains really were that great! 1 of 3

 I LOVE Tennessee.  I was there less than three hours and I was already speaking like a Southerner.  I love the accent.  I couldn't help but pick it up.

Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and the Great Smoky Mountains were AMAZING! so much fun.   I'm so glad we made the trip.  Definitely worth the drive!  We really want to head back in the fall!

The Southern hospitality sure paid off when it came to military discounts!  We saved a bucketload of money on everything we did thanks to Kent being active duty :)

First stop- our hotel.  It was in the perfect location and was the perfect hotel.  Right in the heart of the Smokies- at the head of downtown Gatlinburg.

Check out the views from the pool and our room!!  the mountains were so green and lush.  

Waterslide, pool, free breakfast, and freshly baked cookies at the front desk ALL of the time.  Our kids ate their own weight in Otis Spunkmeyer cookies.

We spent A LOT of time at the waterslide and the pool.  Zeb and Ike would have been happy to spend our entire vacation there.  Pool time is the most exciting thing about vacations to them.

 and a waterslide?!  PURE HEAVEN.

  Metta was a NUTcase about the water.   and the slide.  Here she is checking out the steps up the slide.  we couldn't keep her off them.

She was so much fun in TN.  I thought she'd be a bit of a hassle with missing naps and staying up late- but she was the best of us all.  Everything just made her so happy.

She's definitely more of a water baby than zeb and ike were at this age.

 Zeb and Ike are so much like little monkeys.  Constantly climbing over each other- water wrestling- and laughing hysterically.

Our first night there we walked downtown and checked out the shops and entertainment.  And we had dinner at mellow mushroom pizza.  It was really tasty and not too ridiculously expensive :)

 Metta climbing mr. mushroom.

 I think she had the most fun of us all.  She LOVED everything. especially the music.  There are people playing bluegrass music in EVERY nook and crannie of gatlinburg.  She'd clap, dance, and sing a long.

 this was the 'great smoky mt moonshine' store.  They had dozens of wooden rocking chairs to sit in and enjoy the music.  The only bad part was the moonshine making going on next to the chairs.  It reeked.

Can you see Kent and the kiddos in this pic?  I loved downtown gatlinburg.  The weather in the evenings was quite lovely.

 

Neither Zeb nor Ike would get close to this lady for a picture.

We didn't get back to the hotel until ten-thirty!  the kids were troopers- but already complaining of tired legs.    That complaint never ended.