Friday 30th June

6,000 feet in the air, two small children, what could go wrong? Well, the first thing you can’t control is the weather! As we awoke it was monsoon season and we got absolutely drenched on the way to the car. We waved goodbye to the Pisgah Inn and Tree Tops.

And started our drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mummy had a spreadsheet tab with each OL (overlook) that Daddy needed to stop at to get the most out of the day.

As we started to check through the first overlooks we noticed something quite quickly. We were the only ones here! For the majority of the OL we didn’t see any other cars/people.

The weather started to improve and we started our climb above 4,000 feet. No cell phone reception, if you break down you are on your own. Brown bear country!

Starting to get very Mac OS background/screen saver territory. Each OL is getting better than the last one.

We took a quick stop to admire a bug on the side of an overlook. Mummy school in full force even before September.

Getting higher!

We did it! The highest point 6,053 feet.

We celebrated with a selection of funny photos poses!

Next OL included a giant rock that was “great for kids to climb”…this was going very well, until we got very lucky with Elliott.

Size of the rock for scale

Elliott climbed so high! We were impressed, but due to the bad weather, things were a bit slippery. Mummy climbed up to support Elliott as he descended from the climb. Daddy captured an action shot.

The problems started as Mummy supported a big step down for Elliott. He slipped and so did she. Mummy half fell, half jumped down, holding onto Elliott’s coat. Throwing his phone aside, Daddy grabbed Elliott after a couple of bumps off the rock. Unhurt but very shaken.

We stopped at the Information Station and the restroom there (as it was at 5,000 feet elevation, this was just a giant hole!) and the boys (obviously!) loved it. Daddy held onto Nate so he didn’t fall into a world of pain and poo!

We spoke to a man in the Station who recommended we do the hike to Waterrock Knob) as the mist and clouds were nearly all burnt away.

The hike was 0.5 miles, but completely uphill and all of us were sweating at the top. The boys did so well, and spoke to random Americans on the way up!

We got to the top of the hike and admired the view. As Mummy noted “We have earned our dinners tonight” we looked around for about 2mins before a lovely family (Mum was carrying a 4 week old baby in a sling) who took this picture for us.

Exactly two minutes later we are back in panic mode. Daddy sprayed Elliott & Nate with Jungle Spray as the mosquitoes were out in full force. Nate got some in his eyes and mouth. Panic and screaming at 6,000 feet! We pour our remaining water into Nate’s eyes, he refuses to walk down, so Daddy has to risk his life carrying Nate down a vertical hike!

During this time we decide to create a new page on the blog called USA Injury List and keep that updated! Currently we have five entries.

We decided to press on and tackle another short hike to Cataract Falls. We could see a lot of people on the trail and knew this would be a popular one.

It was a nice short walk to the falls, with clear signposts and things for the kids to see. Impressive views!

To say we were tired was an understatement, but we pushed on and went to Bennett’s BBQ for dinner. We asked at reception for a recommendation and everyone mentioned Bennett’s – sold!

Saturday 1st July

We saw a bear. On our first ever trail we saw a black bear.

Before we did that, breakfast consisted of

And

After a bunch of Mummy research we knew we needed to get to the Grotto Falls car park before 8am to get a decent space and not have to walk a great distance. The boys moved quickly and we got to car park just after 8am.

Video

The trail is 1.2 miles (decent size) and at the end there is an amazing waterfall that you can walk behind. Sounds cool, right?!

Well…after walking 20 steps and taking this photo

We were approached by a husband and wife from Ohio. They were slightly panicked and said they saw a big black bear. They started the trail and the bear had followed them down the trail. They also mentioned they saw another bear in the parking lot we were just standing in! They were rushing back to their car and were ‘done for the day’ this was at 8.14am.

We waved goodbye to our Ohio friends and stood and stared at each other for about 5mins, unsure whether to carry on or head back to the car. We kept on thinking about the guy in REI who said, “You don’t need bear spray, it’s sometimes more dangerous to have.” What did he know? He couldn’t have us done bells or something. 🙄

We started to walk up the trail and immediately saw a large group of men and women who had hiking sticks and bear bells. They were making a lot of noise and walking back down the trail. We stopped and they told us they had already done the waterfall and had just seen a large bear. He was following them back down the trail, so they headed down a little quicker.

We continued chatting for a couple of minutes, and learnt they were about to go and wake up their teenage children for their second hike of the day! Suddenly, “He’s still coming down, let’s go, now!” Then “Hey bear! Hey bear! HEY BEAR!” shouts to let him know we were there just doing our own thing and not screaming like prey! Kate was ready to clamp out any of Nate’s screams! Then we were speed walking down the hill at full pace, with the boys hands held tight in ours…as there is a bear heading down the trail towards us!0

We make it to the bottom of the trail and back near the car park. Now we have no idea what to do. Everyone is stressed and we did think about heading home for the day.

As we waited, larger groups started to gather and we agreed that our best bet was to tag on to a larger group and make our way up together.

The idea worked out well and together with a few other groups, we headed back up the trail. It seemed like the start of a horror film. Who would be first to be picked off? The couple from Pennsylvania and their cousin, the mum, dad and sons from Chicago, the Indian guy from Germany with his parents or the pasty English family in the middle!

The Indian guy said that black bears are docile and more active in the mornings! Elliott took great joy in telling everyone who passed that he had seen a bear and his bear stories.

Daddy told one family that we saw a bear and came down the trail. The Dad from the US family said “We’re here to find Bears, so that’s great! We’re going up!”

We sucked it up and walked to the waterfall. Elliott talked to everyone and anyone on the way up, Nate held tightly to Daddy’s hand. The end result, no more bears and a spectacular waterfall that we walked behind.

We headed for the way down, unfortunately after all the stress and walking, Nate now decides he can’t walk any further as his legs hurt. Daddy decides to carry Nate down at least half the trail. People passed saying “I want to be carried” and “You are doing a workout there” and “Good job”

We used the worlds worst smelling toilet. Daddy was unsure if the toilet had ever been cleaned, but it made the Information Station hole in the floor feel like a luxury spa.

We eat our bagels in the car and headed off back to the hotel for a spot of swimming and relaxation after the crazy morning. The boys loved the curly slide!

Elliott started to direct swimming lessons for Nate in the pool noting “Cut the water and scoop the ice cream” to keep Nate’s stroke technique on point.

Mummy even got in!

We saw a man with with a giant tattoo on his back that read “Dead men tell no tales”

We finished up in the pool and had an hour before we needed to hit the road again, to get over to Pigeon Forge, for the Lumberjack Show. Driving into Pigeon Forge was like a mix of International Drive, Americana and a tacky over the top colourful party. We were told that Gatlinburg (where we are staying) is Pigeon Forge’s posh cousin!

We were not here for the Southern Pancake House or the Hillbilly Golf, we were here to see Paula Deen’s Lumberjack Show!

We started off on a good foot when the lady on the desk couldn’t understand Mummy’s email address. We grabbed our tickets and meal tickets (which we weren’t supposed to have) and headed through.

So those meal tickets, entitled each of us to a mystery white box and drinks. Inside a pulled pork sandwich with BBQ sauce, beans, coleslaw and a chocolate chip cookie. Yummy!

The lady on the gate asked if we were from Australia and we headed in. We were told to sit in the middle.

As we walked in some of the stars of the show were welcoming people in. Daddy sprung into action and said “These boys came all the way from England for this” Mummy followed up with “We have been waiting six months to watch this show, we’re so excited!”

Cue this amazing lady

She came over and said the show is about two family’s (McGraw vs Dawson) if we sit either side of the middle line we can come up on stage. Excited!

The boys had to do the biggest YO-HO for the crowd. Nate wasn’t called a girl and nobody booed us for being from London. Very proud Mummy and Daddy.

The boys got novelty foam axe gifts for such such great YO-HO’s on stage! Very happy!

As this was classed as a “sporting event” we were told to stand for the national anthem. Trying not to get Elliott into technicalities about the anthem not being ours, but still needing to stand.

When the family won, the crowd were presented with a “cookie” which was the end of the log. The crowd were encouraged to go crazy to win the cookie. The first guy held up his new born baby and shook the baby!

During the intermission, the crowd were asked who was the oldest veteran? A few elders stood up and 60 was the winner. The winning veteran was presented with a carved owl.

In the end the Dawson family (Daddy and Elliott) won. The comedy was campy, lots of bear puns but the athleticism of the lumberjacks were amazing.

Elliott and Nate got to go up on stage at the end and have a photo with the families. Elliott was so excited and Daddy got this photo while it was raining and trying to balance four empty white mystery food boxes plus a backpack.

Kroger with Katy Manning

Sunday 2nd July

Our final day in the Smokey’s and our final adventure day on the East coast. We bought a junior ranger book in the shop, but as we are only here for a few days we quickly filled out the book and took the pledge!

Elliott asked the Ranger how he could get the golden Ranger badge. Brad noted he needed to compete 425 trips to the Smokey’s!

Spider in the toilet

We left the Ranger station and checked off the remaining overlooks from Mummy’s list. Our destination for the next epic waterfall Mingo Falls.

Three waterfalls down, this one was definitely the most spectacular.

Beautiful scenery, but this was the boys favourite pose for photos.

The falls weren’t too crowded, Elliott wanted to get down into the rocks and start climbing across. It was wet and slippery so we needed to supervise, but Nate was upset as he couldn’t join in too!

Daddy took Nate off and got an amazing shot next to the waterfall.

Butterfly that landed on Daddy’s shoe

We made a stop in possibly the worlds worst smelling toilet. This wasn’t a 5,000 feet hole like before, this one was a portable that was about 10 inches from being full. Yuck!

We waved goodbye to the Smokey’s, our ears popped on the way down. We drove through Cherokee and wished we had stayed there. Even the road signs were in Cherokee writing.

Next stop on the non-stop road trip Tallulah Gorge State Park.

Not a national park, but a State park. Equally as impressive and amazing views.

We walked down 190 steps to the bridge, where we got some great shots and views out towards the dam.

Mummy wanted a classic jumping Mummy photo

Mummy tried to coordinate a group jump photo that didn’t happen as planned.

Once you have crossed the bridge you are confronted with a choice of 300+ stairs or 190 stairs back the same way. We choose 300 stairs and started sweating.

After we scaled the 300+ stairs (Nate won with an amazing amount of speed) we sweated and sweated, then rested at the 33 degree overlook.

As we rested and drunk some water, Daddy leaning down to put something in his backpack. When about 2/3 inches away was a huge black snake. We asked Ranger Larry who said it was a black racer snake, Mummy was not convinced.

Kate Video

As we headed down, Nate managed to meet another one of his animal friends.

We made a very speedy exit (if you are reading along ask us why in person) from the car park and headed to our final hotel in Gainesville, Georgia. We missed an epic thunderstorm, rain shower and started packing our bags.

Super Mummy has washed all the clothes and is having a cup of tea in bed. We have a super long day tomorrow as we fly to Jackson!