Here is our 11 day or 10 night itinerary to Kauai.  We packed plenty of stuff in but it still managed to feel relaxing.  Kauai has a way of making people feel that way.  This island holds a special place in my heart.  It’s my favorite of all the Hawaiian islands though I haven’t been to the big island yet.  I feel I have no need to see the big island if it means missing any days on Kauai.  Some say Disney is the most magical place on Earth, but I definitely think they meant Kauai.  

Day One (Saturday): We arrived in Kauai at around 2PM. The first thing we did was pick up our Avis Rental car. We got a minivan of course for convenience sake.

The first thing we noticed is that chickens and roosters were everywhere. We thought that was curious. I was thinking – why are they in the Avis parking lot – what could they possibly be eating for food? Then I realized the amount of food that flies out of our minivan every time we open the doors – ah! they are eating goldfish! Makes sense. Not the healthiest diet, but to each their own.

We saw some baby chicks that the kids fell in love with. From here on out they decided they would count the baby chicks they found. Turns out there were ALOT. And we soon found out that they were testing out their Cock-a-doodle-doos all day long. I thought roosters only did that in the morning as like an alarm clock, but not these roosters. I guess they wanted to make sure they still had it. They screamed so much that their voices were hoarse. They were like – cock-a-doodle-cough-cough. Definitely need ear buds!

We realized we were really hungry. There’s a 5 hour time difference. So, while we arrived at 2pm it was really 7pm back home. We decided to go out to eat in Lihue at Kalapaki Joe’s. The burgers and fries were really good. It’s American bar food, but very good and good service.

Next, we went to Wal-mart to buy groceries. The place we rented is a 2 bedroom/2 bath condo – woohoo! Usually we all stay in one room on vacation which is definitely less fun.. :-p The kids would end up keeping us up all night and at some point I’d end up throwing a pillow at one of their heads to shut it.  But now we had the roosters to keep us up and I couldn’t exactly throw a pillow at their heads. Though, the ear plugs definitely helped. :-p

Day Two (Sunday): Lydgate Beach Park, then Ho-opi Falls.

We felt jet lagged so luckily I didn’t plan anything for this day and we got to sleep in a bit. I actually had planned something for this day, but turns out I got the days wrong luckily on the Excel spreadsheet, so we had an extra spare day – that worked out very well! Eventually, we got around to going snorkeling at Lydgate Beach Park. Our condo is right next to this place so it was within walking distance.

This is a great place to snorkel especially for kids who are just learning. It’s protected by boulders so the kids aren’t exposed to the open ocean. There isn’t a reef there, but there’s fish and some rocks for the fish to hide behind. We did see schools of fish (some yellow and black striped and some big bright blue ones that the kids called Dori fish), but it takes some time to find them – you have to be patient. I was hoping to see a turtle, but didn’t find one. We ate our packed lunch at the beach.

Next, we went to Ho’opi falls. This was a beautiful hike! I highly recommend it. Though we got off to a late start – 4pm. I wish we would’ve started sooner because we would’ve had more time to explore. There are some obstacles that you will have to maneuver around depending on which paths you take but this is what makes it fun – nature’s jungle gym. The paths sometimes branch off and then converge so there’s different ways to get to the falls. But I would say it’s a moderate hike – not too strenuous.

We passed the first waterfall and went to the second waterfall which is what people recommended. However, the path (remember how I mentioned multiple paths) we took landed us at the top of the waterfall and we wanted to be at the bottom so we could swim. We saw these 2 ladies go up this cliff wall – up and over to get to another section of the path but I thought it would be too dangerous coming down that wall with the kids and we decided against it. Turns out, we could’ve gone up and that would’ve converged with a different path and taken us down to the bottom of the falls for swimming. So, we could’ve done it, but we were also low on daylight and the mosquitoes were eating us alive!

You need good bug spray for this hike. The girls got no less than 30 bites each even though we sprayed them with bug spray. The spray we used was family spray though with not so many chemicals and it just didn’t cut it. Me and my husband didn’t get bit as much because I think they wanted young blood. I had a ton of them land on me but they didn’t end up biting – I think they took a sample and then spread the word that my blood was rotten. :-p

We decided to start our trek back to the car when we all heard a man scream and then a thud. To my horror, I realized it was my husband. He was trying to climb over a fallen tree and all we saw was him do a drop and roll onto his shoulder and then his back and he was grimacing in pain and holding his hand. Turns out, as he was climbing over the tree, his camera bag got stuck and caused him to roll over awkwardly. He tried to catch himself with his hand and all 4 of his fingers bent backward all the way to touch the back of his arm. Youch!!

The only thing you can expect when you’re out in nature is the unexpected. That’s the fun of it but also the danger of it. Luckily, he could still move all of his fingers so we didn’t think they were broken. We kept on trekking.

Day Three (Monday): Napali coast boat tour with Capt. Andy, swam in the pool at the condo, then we went to a Luaua at the Smith’s family farm.

The boat tour was amazing. It was a sailing catamaran that felt very luxurious. We did the 7AM tour. We arrived at Port Allen around 6:45AM. They provided muffins and coffee which were REALLY good – almond poppy seed (my favorite). Then, we boarded the vessel and they had more snacks – fresh fruit and some homemade oatmeal cereal bar type treat and a quiche type of treat.

They also provided wine and beer on the trip though we did not partake – just way too early for that plus I battle sea sickness and that’s not a good mix. I did take some dramamine before boarding the vessel, but I didn’t give any to my kids because I wasn’t sure if they got sea sick or not. Turns out 2 of them do. I gave them some dramamine a bit after I saw they were getting seasick and it helped but of course they were already somewhat sick so they ended up missing some of the views.

The views of the Napali coast were AMAZING! And Captain Andy’s narration was amazing. We saw several pods of dolphins up close (even an albino dolphin) and some sea turtles. Then, we got in to snorkel on the way back which was nice – there was plenty of fish – even a yellow one which we called the Pokemon fish because my girls are really into Pokemon right now. I told my youngest if she could find that fish while snorkeling I’d get her a special Pokemon treat just to encourage her b/c the snorkeling was a bit of a challenge for my two youngest.

To be honest it was a bit of a challenge for me this time as well because I had to use one of the snorkels they provided instead of my own and one of their life jackets which wasn’t quite what I’m used to – has the buckle that goes between the legs. I felt like it was either riding up my bottom or it was choking me so I spent most of my snorkel time wrestling with that vest and also trying to coax my daughter to put her head in the water. :-p But I still had a blast – any chance I get to snorkel is a good time because you never know what you are going to find and it’s such a neat sensory experience. My oldest daughter was swimming around like a fish which was neat to see.

They called us in for lunch after a while – that’s how they got us out of the water and lunch was GOOD! Gourmet deli sandwiches which I sometimes don’t like deli sandwiches because of ligaments, but these were amazing! They also had some yummy homemade rice with it and white chocolate macadamian nut cookies and drinks. YUM! We didn’t not go hungry.

On our way back home, we stopped for coffee and shaved ice at Fresh Shave.  Both soooo good.  Both located in the same area.  The coffee was right inside the building.

Day was not over yet – we still had a Luau planned.  We went to the Smith Luau and it was great!  They had lots of animals to play with for the kids.  My oldest daughter finally got to play with a chickie – she’d been waiting to get her hands on one.

Day Four (Tuesday): Swimming at the hotel pool to cool off our burnt selves, then Waimea Canyon. We had originally wanted to do Pihea trail which is 8 miles and takes all day, but we got off to a late start and decided to do Canyon Trail instead. We arrived at our destination about 4pm.

It was really overcast and drizzling on our way up the drive so I was thinking we weren’t going to be able to do the hike. I had read that if it’s been raining it can be really dangerous because the trails will be slick. But it started to clear up once we got there. We stopped at the overlook where the Canyon trail started and we saw some helicopters which was really neat. The helicopter landed on a trail. We found out from some people that a lady slipped while at the end of the Canyon trail and broke her ankle – 90 degree break or something. They got her out by helicopter. :-/

We decided to do the hike anyway with lots of trepidation. I kept wanting to turn back multiple times. But other hikers kept encouraging us on. We found out not to go all the way to the falls but just to go to the lookout and we would be fine. The trail has lots of ups and downs and I would say strenuous at times but we made it through without falling. Everyone just had to listen to me freaking out the whole time. :-p My youngest was really tired and I was scared she wasn’t going to make it all the way to the end or she was going to get hurt because she was dragging her feet and there were so many tree roots everywhere. Me and my husband alternated holding her hand at times.

But we all made it unscathed and then we headed up to the Pu u lookout which is the head of the Pihea trail. This was amazing. You get a view of the Kalalau valley. The clouds roll in and over at times but when they part and you see the view it is pure heaven. We couldn’t see the sunset there because of all the clouds, but that’s ok the view was more than enough.

Next we headed down the mountain about 7:15PM and it was dark and now rainy which was kind of dangerous. We were happy to be down and found a place to eat called Chicken in a Barrel BBQ – it was sooooo good! I highly recommend it.

Day Five (Wednesday): Wailua River Kayak and Hike to the Secret Falls tour. We took this tour with Duke’s Kayak Adventures. It started at 7AM, but we met up at 6:45AM in Lihue – only 5 min from our condo. We had no idea what we were in for. I did not realize how rigorous this tour would be beforehand – thank goodness! We really enjoyed it, but we probably wouldn’t have done it if we’d known. :-p Or at least I wouldn’t have. :-p With my husband’s sprained hand, I was definitely nervous, but he said he’d be ok so we went ahead. The tour was over at around 12:30PM.

The kayaking was intense. Maybe because I was saddled with a 55 lb bag of potatoes – my daughter. :-p She was doing her best to paddle, but most of the time she was too tired to paddle. So, I never once stopped paddling and we were always pulling up the rear, but it was good exercise. The thought of kayaking back the way we came though was a little daunting. It seemed like both ways we were going against the wind.

Once we arrived at the hiking destination, we started the hike. There wasn’t a whole lot of resting on this tour – it was pretty go, go go. The hike was a bit strenuous because you were basically hiking along the river most of the way to get to the waterfall. You need river hiking shoes. We wore our tennis shoes and that worked out fine but our feet got all pruned by the end and the kids didn’t like that feeling.

The rocks were wet and the trail was muddy so plenty of chances to slip and hurt yourself but we all made it out ok this time. I was definitely gun shy after the first hike and kept lecturing the kids to stay positive and practice good team work. That’s hard for kids even in Kauai. :-p

The waterfall was really nice and you can swim in the pool beneath. Highly recommend. We brought our own lunch and ate it there at the waterfall. We got about 45 minutes to eat and play, which I felt was a little rushed, but most of the tour I felt rushed – that’s the only thing I would change if I could. Otherwise, I loved the tour.

Back to the hotel for swimming. Bubba’s for dinner. Several places we sat down and left before we landed on Bubba’s. It was just eh ok. It filled us up and didn’t break the bank was the main point.  We didn’t want to spend over $100 on a meal and eat fancy stuff that we don’t like anyway.

Day 6 (Thursday): Snorkeling at Poipu beach, then Allerton Botanical Garden.

Poipu beach was my favorite place to snorkel. We saw a bunch of fish and the water was really clear. We went to Lawai beach first, but it was too advanced for the kids and us probably – the rocky shore made it hard to enter without scraping yourself up. I saw an adult man with a bleeding hand and asked him what he thought of the place. :-p That was enough to convince me to go somewhere else.

We had our lunch of turkey sandwiches and chips and did some snorkeling. We saw some needle fish and a bunch of other kinds of fish. I was hoping to see a turtle but we didn’t see any in the water, however at night a giant sea turtle came up on land to rest and we got take some pictures.

The girls made a Pokemon sand castle that was cute:

We had an appointment at 3pm for a tour at Allerton Botanical Garden.  This was sooo neat!  We had such an amazing tour guide who really catered to the kids and made them excited.  We got to taste some of the fruits that were on the trees which was an interesting experience and he always made sure the kids were entertained.  It was also a great opportunity for some really cool pictures.  Here are a few:

Then, we went to see the Spouting Horn since it was right outside Allerton Garden:

For dinner, we got some huge burritos from Da Crack and brought them back to Poipu beach to eat while the sunset. Then, we went to Uncle’s shave ice – it was our favorite. We tended to like the Hawaiian shave ice flavor wherever we went. This was pineapple, coconut flavors mixed together with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Day 8 (Friday): We went tubing with the Kauai Backcountry Adventures down the irrigation canals in the center of the island and afterwards went to Hanalei Bay in the North Shore. In between, we ate Wailua Shave ice on the way to North Shore.

The tubing adventure was amazing.  We had a couple of guides that were hilarious – they kept us laughing.  We took a bus ride to the spot where we were going to tube.  One of our guides played the ukelele while we tubed which made it feel surreal like we were in a movie.  I loved all the songs.  

The tubing was relaxing  – nothing too crazy – though you do have to watch your head and feet when you go through the tunnels to make sure you don’t get smacked around.  They fed us a nice lunch with gourmet sandwiches.

Next, we had some shave ice at Wailua Shave Ice.  It was good.  Not our favorite but good.  We didn’t get ice cream in it this time, maybe that’s why it wasn’t our favorite. :-p

Heading up to North Shore now.  I have a special place in my heart for the North Shore because that’s where I stayed last time I was in Kauai although this time much of the North Shore had been blocked off because of flooding so that was kind of sad.  But the North Shore is still so beautiful as I remembered.  The farthest we could go was Hanalei Bay.  Hanalei Bay is such a beautiful town.  The bay is surrounded by cliffs in the distance so it’s a unique setting to swim.

We didn’t snorkel here because the water was definitely rougher and it was a sand bottom so not much to see but fine for swimming and boogie boarding though we didn’t have boogie boards.  The girls just went swimming.  And there was a life guard on duty so that was nice.  I always have my girls wear life jackets in the water though so I can relax – otherwise I think I’d be too stressed.  I once almost drowned in a wave pool when I was about 8 so that fear still lives with me.

Ate dinner at Calypso.  We loved the live music and atmosphere.

Day 9 (Saturday): North Shore again – woohoo!  We went to Anini beach because we had heard that this would be a good place to snorkel as it was supposed to be calmer in the North at this time due to a South swell.  However, I found it to be the same calmness as the South Shore – it was calm everywhere for us – nice Mother Nature.  Then, we went to the light house.

Anini Beach really struck me.  It was such a huge beach with the potential for being so crowded on a Saturday.  I thought it was going to be crazy, but it wasn’t.  The beach is so huge with so many nooks and crannies due to the fact that there are monkey pod trees everywhere providing lots and lots of shade that it felt like it didn’t matter how crowded it was, you could find a place that would make it feel like your own personal spot on the beach.

I really loved this beach also because there was just so much shade.  Me and Bryon went snorkeling – the girls were kind of done with snorkeling at this point.  Bryon decided he would explore the area on his own by snorkel and let me know where the good spots are and what he finds.  So, I was left to snorkel on my own but that kind of freaked me out.

I love snorkeling but I’m used to doing it with a partner.  I kept trying to explore, but would end up looking behind me wondering what was exploring me feeling like I was being watched by something underwater.  :-p  I was essentially snorkeling backward like watching my back at all times.  It wasn’t fun.  I waited for my husband to come back and tell me.

Once he came back, I convinced him to stay with me and we decided to go together out to this fallen tree in the ocean.  And we found a turtle!!!  It was what I’d been waiting for the entire trip.  We got to swim with the turtle.  Then, we explored some more and found another turtle eating moss off the reef and we decided to remember where this turtle is and go back and get the girls so they could see the turtle.

That was a bit exhausting but the kids were excited to see it to.  We found our way back to the turtle and showed them and then we were done.  Time to go eat.  It started to drizzle a bit, but that’s how it is in the North Shore.  It drizzles then clears up quite often throughout the day.  That’s what makes it so lush and maybe what keeps it cooler.  The temps stay in the 70’s and 80’s but thankfully the water is still warm so that’s nice.  Kauai is the perfect place – maybe it’s spoiled us forever – I’m not sure anything else could ever live up to it.

Then, we went to see a lighthouse from afar and got some nice pictures:

For dinner, we ate at Street Burger back on the East side.  We loved it – such unique burgers.  I got the Greek burger and it was amazing.  Next time, I would try the Southern.

Day 10 (Sunday): We decided to hike the Heritage trail, then we went back to Poipu beach on the right hand side this time and saw a monk seal. 

The Heritage trail was nice.  It had great views, but we weren’t prepared for how long it was.  As we were heading to the trail head (which is kind of hidden by the way – you meander through the beach and up to the trail), an older lady walks by and says, “if I can do it, you guys can do it!”.  So, we were feeling pretty confident that ya of course we can do it then – look at her. 

But this trail is looong or we were just tired at this point.  :-p  I am convinced there’s no way this lady did the whole trail – she probably just walked along the beach and turned around – or so that’s what I like to think so I don’t feel bad.  If I did it again, I think I’d turn around right before the Golf course.  

Though right after the Golf course, it turns into Mars looking terrain with red dirt so that’s kind of cool and you can see turtles swimming in the ocean at places.  The views are amazing.  At the end, there was a cave, but we couldn’t figure out for the life of us how to get in.  We just kept hiking around and we were so tired so we decided to head back.

We headed straight for Waikomo Shave Ice, desperately in need of something to cool us down.  Amazing Shave Ice there – they even had a blackberry flavor which was refreshing and our favorite – Hawaiian.  

Next, off to Poipu Beach again.  We were planning to boogie board, but we didn’t make it in time to rent boogie boards so we just played in the water to cool off.  This time we headed to the right side of the beach where the waves were a little rougher.  

We got to see a double rainbow and a monk seal was sleeping on the beach.  So neat!  That’s why I think Kauai is so magical.  It’s like it knew what we wanted and provided like clockwork.  On our last day, it’s like – boom!  Double Rainbow!  boom! Monk Seal!  boom! Sunset!  Cue – unicorn on the beach take 1.  j/k no unicorns there but might as well be.  Almost like fireworks at the end of the trip.  You can’t help but appreciate it.  Kauai – stay magical.

Then, dinner at Thai Food Bowl.  It was nice – they had live music.  And made us our favorite dish – Pad See Ew.  

Day 11 (Monday): Packed. Shopped. Looked for Chipwrecked food truck couldn’t find it. Ate at Paco’s Taco’s instead. Had Jojo’s shave ice. Walked to Kalamani playground. It was raining.  Not the most fun day but it was our last day and we were tired and didn’t want to get wet before flying so basically wondered around the East side.

We decided to go off the grid for our last vacation. With our kids constantly on their devices – sometimes multiple at the same time – we’ve decided the best place to go is anyplace where there is no wifi. :-p As adults, we are guilty of the same. I am constantly listening to Audible books and my husband listens to podcasts. Then, I get ansy just listening to books so I will also surf the web at the same time which means I’m not actually paying attention to anything. And this is how I get my downtime. :-p

But, at least I don’t do social media anymore – whew! That was a bit of a time suck. I mean, I do still have an account on Facebook and I’m always on, but the only things that show up in my feed are the news, home decor, diy articles, and other useful things b/c I unfollowed anyone who is an actual person. This is not because I don’t like any one person in particular but because I don’t like people in general. :-p Kidding! Kind of. I just don’t really want all that unnecessary information filling my head – like what kind of sausage someone ate for dinner – for fear that it is replacing the important stuff already in my head. Only so much can fit right? That’s my theory anyway. Let’s make what fits count. I may visit my friend’s pages periodically to see what is going on in their lives, but I do it on my time and not have it forced in front of me. I feel happier this way. To each their own, right?

So, back to the vacation. Another idea we had was to get all our old videos of the kids onto the computer. We haven’t been able to watch any of their home movies from when they were little because they have been trapped on these mini DV tapes and we didn’t know how to convert them since our old computer had died and they no longer sell firewire cable. Well, it took us a while but my husband revived our old computer but it was like a digital Frankenstein. We were able to copy one video at a time which took an hour each and then it would crash so we’d have to reboot. Eventually, we got 20 tapes done which we figured is enough for now.

Next, we’re going on a bear hunt. Well, kind of. We are headed to the Smoky Mountains National Park. A friend of mine goes to the Smokies often, so she recommended a cabin to stay in that is on the quiet side in Townsend. We’d never been before. We watch alot of Impractical Jokers with the kids and so this vacation we decided we were going to play the Impractical Jokers game since nobody knows us in the Smokies. We’d dare each other to do embarrassing stuff and if we didn’t do it then we get on the loser board and get a more elaborate dare. Just to make the trip more fun.

10/12/2019 Saturday: Arriving in Townsend
Our goal was to leave the house at the crack of dawn so we’d be able to go to Wal-mart to get groceries and bear spray then get to our cabin before dark. In reality, we got off to a late start and left the house around 1pm, did not make it to Wal-mart and arrived in Townsend at 1am (because we lost an hour). I was freaked out about bears because I had this image of them prowling at night and shaking us down for food because I’m sure the kids smelled like pop tarts. But in reality there aren’t that many bears and the cabin was so beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised. It was in the mountains so it was a bit hard to tell which cabin was ours at night but we managed – luckily we had good directions.

10/13/2019 Sunday: Roaring Fork Motor Trail
We woke up late at noon because sleeping is our favorite. We scavenged through some of the supplies and realized we had nothing to eat except pringles, popcorn, and black coffee so we headed out. We ended up getting stuck in traffic for about an hour while our kids had to pee. Finally we made it to the visitor center and got Fred (stuffed black bear) and Awesome Possum (stuffed possum), a waterfall puzzle, fridge magnets that will hopefully not be used on my fridge and Daddy completed his first dare.

He was dared to ask the cashier, “What did you say?” (out of nowhere). The cashier just looked at him funny and gave him the receipt. He also got dared to walk silly outside and he completed that one as well. I hadn’t gotten dared anything yet, but I happened to ask a lady working at the visitor center if I should buy bear spray because we still didn’t have any at this point. She stopped what she was doing and looked at me like I was absolutely crazy. She said, “What’s that?” and I said it’s like mace to the bears – to spray them if they get too close. And she said, “Ma’am, just stay away from the bears.”. I guess she thought I was going to run around macing every bear that I saw. See – I didn’t get dared to do anything on this trip but my whole life is like living a dare so that’s why my kids probably didn’t feel the need to dare me. :-p

Now, we are on the hunt for food – we stopped at Bennet’s in Gatlinburg which had mediocre BBQ and slow service but it filled the stomach. The girls had a dare while ordering. They were supposed to study the menu for a minute while making a really goofy face. Sydney was the only one to do this dare and the server thought she was really special. It was pretty funny. I gave Cara a dare to trip while walking down the aisle with several full tables of people on each side. Then she had to recover and smooth her hair down like it was all cool. She did it exuberantly and we had a good laugh. I wish I had gotten video. At this point, it was about 4pm so we headed straight for the Roaring Fork Motor Trail. At the very entrance to the trail, we saw a black bear digging for berries in the woods.

We stopped to watch it for a bit – it was so cute. It didn’t care about us at all. Then we drove through the rest of the trail. It took about 2 hours but it had really beautiful views and was totally worth it. Still needing food for the cabin, we headed over to Food City in Gatlinburg.

One funny anecdote was that my husband had found a purple wind breaker jacket in the back of his closet right before this trip that he hadn’t worn since high school and it looked brand new. He had no idea why he hadn’t worn it. And I told him – we shall soon find out. :-p Every time I’ve pulled out some clothing from the back of my closet that I hadn’t worn in a while and tried it out, it hasn’t gone well – there’s usually a hole where I least expect it or it’s see-through in certain lighting or something.

Well, we found out what was wrong with this jacket at Food City. My husband came out of the bathroom and I noticed that he had white styrofoam looking balls all over his shirt. I was thinking did you go crazy with the toilet paper in there or something? Then, I started to scrape some of it off but they kept reappearing. He looked like a snow globe had busted on him. THIS is why he hadn’t worn that jacket in for-ever. It was somehow shedding styrofoam balls all over the place. Isn’t that funny how we hold on to stuff even when we shouldn’t? I made sure he threw that jacket away. No one likes vacuuming up styrofoam balls, amirite? Just like an angry mom snow globe.

We had a surprise for the girls that night. We played some of those old home movies for them and they really loved seeing themselves when they were little. Finally we got to bed around midnight.

10/14/2019 Monday: Cades Cove and hike to Abrams Falls
We woke up late again. That’s the beauty of the Smoky Mountains is you are in nature so you can sleep and still catch up on nature at some point. It’s so relaxing. We filled ourselves up on breakfast and lunch all at once and headed out with lots of coffee on hand – forget the water – with kids, it’s coffee you need. Cades Cove is another loop that you can drive through and catch the views. Our middle child held the camera and she did a great job taking pictures. We gave her a dare to say loudly that she was going to snap some pictures of all the wild people. She took us up on the dare and we had a good laugh. Our oldest also did this dare. Who knows how many people we offended.

At the trailhead to Abrams falls, there was a ranger who told us that there were yellow jackets so beware, schooled us on bear etiquette, and told us that there had been 6 deaths at the falls over the years, etc. Talk about a breath of fresh air. I should have asked him if he had an extra can of bear spray. :-p The trail took us about 4 hours – it was pretty rigorous. But we made it fun by playing some games like, “Would you ever?”. I found out that my girls would never bunji jump (I wouldn’t either – have this visual of my eyes bugging out of their sockets), but they might sky dive (I really enjoyed sky diving but feel like it’s a once in a lifetime thing – not sure I’d do it again). They would rather ski than surf (eh, I might rather surf). They would rather snorkel than hike (me too). :-p

Cara asked us if we would ever do a musical – because she loves musicals and she’s excited for the 5th grade musical. We found out that Daddy was in a musical in the eighth grade where he played Mama in, “Mama, Mama, I’ve been shot!” and had to dress as a woman – I had no doubt he must’ve looked like Mrs. Doubtfire. The kids got an absolute kick out of this. He even reenacted it for us. I had to remind him to beware of the cliffs. Crazy how you learn interesting things about people when you get them out in nature – it’s a beautiful thing. Need to get out in nature more.

We didn’t see any bears on the trail, but we did see some deer on the drive out of the loop. Actually, three of them walked right in front of our car and one turned around and stared us straight in the eye.

We were so hungry after hiking that long and it was about 7pm at this point, so my oldest was craving a buffet. We decided to eat in Townsend because that’s where we were staying. We happeneed upon the Carriage restaurant which ended up being a buffet – perfect! They had fried chicken and all the fixins. It was really good or we were just really hungry. When we got home, we broke out some more of the home movies for a while then watched Old Dog and played Rummikub. So tired after that, we headed to bed about 12:30am.

10/15/2019 Tuesday: Gatlinburg Skylift and Skybridge, then Dixie Stampede

We went to Gatlinburg to do the Skylift and Skybridge. It was fun. We had the best cheesesteak of our lives at a hole in the wall place and the best coffee of our lives at another hole in the wall place. Then, that night we went to Dixie Stampede which ended up being a horrible experience because my eldest had an allergic reaction to the horses so her and my husband missed most of the show and food. But I paid so much that I couldn’t miss myself – I felt obligated to enjoy it.

10/16/2019 Wednesday: Dollywood
We woke up early this morning because we wanted to spend all day at Dollywood, but then it was raining so we had to wait until the rain stopped before we left. Turned out, we could’ve gone even in the rain because there were lots of shows that were inside. But we kept with our theme of not leaving the house until 1pm or later. :-p We arrived at Dollywood around 2pm. We had no idea how big this park would be. This was hands down our favorite day in the Smokies. We LOVE Dollywood.

First thing we did was go to a show by the 3 Heath Brothers and it was a beautiful testimony – almost felt like a church service with great music. This helped set our minds for the day ahead. We made it our goal to ride all of the roller coasters. Colette couldn’t ride everything because she wasn’t at the 48 inch height yet. But she could ride a few. Bryon, Sydney, and Cara were able to ride all of them. The last one, they made it on the last ride of the day – just in time. The girls liked the Wild Eagle the best, then the Fire Chaser.

They had a wonderful bird show near the Eagle enclosure. The birds actually fly directly over your head at times. We got to see different kinds of hawks, vultures, and eagles. They help repopulate the American Eagle population with their eagles that they have in captivity (due to disability). We got hungry but found out that most of the dining places close at 8pm even though the park doesn’t close until 9pm.

We arrived at the one place we wanted to eat at 8:01pm and the lady basically told us we were one minute late so she couldn’t seat us. After which we recounted all that we could’ve cut out so that we could’ve made that one minute mark. We could’ve taken one less picture on the way, we could’ve not ran past the place on the way and had to turn around. This was not the standard attitude at Dollywood. I would have to say, most of the people working there were amazing and would have let us eat even though we were one minute late. So, we left and found another place.

10/17/2019 Thursday: Hike to Clingman’s Dome and Andrew’s Bald
We ate breakfast and lunch at the cabin and headed out around 2pm. Arrived to the Clingman’s Dome trailhead about 3:20PM. There was a lot of traffic to get to parking but we waited in line and eventually found a spot right next to the bathrooms, which was perfect because we all had to use them. The hike is about 3.5 miles which is about 3 hours and we needed to get a move on to take advantage of daylight. This trail had been recently reconstructed to be more hiker friendly. They made stairs out of logs and stones so it was perfect for the family. Once we got to Andrew’s Bald the views were amazing. The Bald is just a sort of clearing which allows for great views.

We saw a chipmunk on the way and some birds but that’s about all as far as wildlife. And I was glad to not see a bear b/c I had gotten talked out of my mace. :-p We got to the parking lot just before sunset and since it’s probably one of the best places to watch the sunset we stayed for another 15 minutes to watch the sun go down. It was really cold though with a biting wind so the kids weren’t happy about it. They kept saying that the sun wasn’t moving! And it’s true it did take a while. I felt like we were ruining other people’s sunsets with all the whining, but nothing we could do.

We drove back down the mountain in an hour and we were starving at this point. We went straight to Pigeon Forge because we knew there would be more food options available with less traffic. We found our favorite restaurant of the trip! It’s called Mama’s Farmhouse. It’s a family style buffet. They had meatloaf, turkey and dressing, and fried chicken with mashed potatoes, fried okra, broccoli casserole, chicken and dumplings, mac n cheese, and corn on the cob as the sides. Everything tasted amazing! And they were willing to keep bringing us more but we couldn’t handle anymore. Then, dessert was equally delicious. We had peach cobbler, chocolate chip cookie with ice cream, and banana pudding. All were equally amazing. I couldn’t believe how great the quality was for a buffet. And our waitress was so super nice. I will attempt to go here anytime I am in the area.

The girls acted like they’d never been to a restaurant before. The waitress asked them what they wanted to drink and they said, “Fountain drinks!”. I said, “What kind of fountain drink?”. And they said, “Fountain drinks!”. I said, “What kind of fountain drink?” and I had to explain to them that they had to pick one. Then, Cara loud whispers, “Do they have Pibb?” – I’m thinking why aren’t you talking in your normal voice, which happens to be super loud, so the waitress can hear you? What a hot mess. The lady was very nice about it. We had arrived at 8:20 and they close at 9pm so there were several reasons why she could’ve been annoyed but she didn’t show it.

10/18/2019 Friday: Cherokee then Bryson City for the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad

We had a train ride planned at 2PM but first we went to a museum in Cherokee. I wish we had more time in Cherokee but we, of course, got off to a late start again. The train ride was really nice though. We got to see the Fall colors and some nice views. We made one stop where the kids got more souvenirs. Cara got a chipmunk puppet which was super cute. We got to use the hot tub at the cabin that was on the deck this night. It was so nice.