Where in the world is Bertha? : Smoky Mountains

We had a wonderful time in the Smoky Mountains! The scenery was beautiful in the park and the town of Gatlinburg is pretty adorable! We first arrived and met some friends, the Burgin's, for dinner that live in the area. It was great to see them. Afterwards the adults went down the block to do a moonshine tasting while the kids shopped. The moonshine is in all varieties of flavors from "white lightening" to peach, to blackberry, etc. It was interesting to say the least! The next day we woke up to go on a 4 mile hike to "chimney tops". It was beautiful but straight uphill and we are all still very sore! I made it almost to the very top but my fear of heights stopped me from the last few meters because it was a climb up a pretty shear cliff to see the top. David and the 3 kids made it the rest of the way while I sat and tried to stop shaking! Apparently, the view from the top was gorgeous!

Day 3 had us on a driving tour of Cades Cove. It was an interesting historical drive with a guide book you bought for $1 and read at various points along the way. Had it been a normal drive it would have been great... however, 5 hours later due to a one-way road that moved at about 1 mile an hour because anytime a bear, a white-tailed deer, or who knows what else was seen traffic came to a complete stop. We did get pictures of a couple of black bears which was cool but we were all so hungry we really couldn't enjoy the trip. We assumed the drive would be 30 minutes and we would go into town and have lunch or we would have packed a lunch! I thought the kids were about to start walking to the front of the line of cars and begin killing people! Lol!

All in all we had a really great time in the Smoky Mountains!