Day 7 - Friday, July 21
We all slept in and didn't get up until 7:45 a.m. We decided that though our days in the park were now down to two, we were going to take it a bit easier today. We had a hearty breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage. It was so good to eat home cooked food again! We cleaned up from breakfast and left camp at 10:15 a.m. I talked with someone who told me that it had rained for 3 hours straight the day before, which explained why our campsite was so soaked! The picnic table never dried out while we were there.
We had some goals for the day, but we weren't quite thinking all the way through yet. We needed to get cell service to rebook our train trip. We had been told that if we rebooked within 5 days, we wouldn't loose the tickets we had already purchased. Since we had decided to continue so late the day before, we didn't have a chance to call them. We stopped at the Sugarlands visitor center for passport stamps, maps, and junior ranger booklet. The visitor center was really busy! Then headed to Gatlinburg and it was a mess! People and cars everywhere. We should have headed to Townsend, but we weren't sure if we would have cell service.
After that, we initially thought we'd drive around the west side of the park, so we started heading that way. Marcus stopped at the Laurel Falls Trailhead at 11:26 a.m. We hiked to Laurel Falls. It was a pretty hike, but very busy. The hike was 3 miles from the Ram to the falls and back. It took us an hour and a half.
We Started making our way west again. We stopped briefly at the Sinks. Then we stopped at the Townsend Wye to let the kids play in the water. We realize that it wouldn't be wise to keep going around the park. With our late breakfast, we still hadn't had lunch yet. So we decide to let the kids play in the water for a bit, then head to Cades Cove for lunch, and kill time before driving the loop closer to dusk.
We arrived in Cades Cove picnic area around 3:26. Unfortunately, we realized that our sandwich meat had gone bad. Leaving the coolers in the van while it was being worked on wasn't best, but we didn't have ways to bring it with us. We had fired rice for lunch. It was premade, and had been frozen. It was so good. We had just finished eating and were getting ready to clean up when we heard the thunder. So we packed up quicker. It did rain a bit, off and on for a while.
We started to drive around Cades Cove at 4:11 p.m., so we were early for dusk. We stopped at Cades Cove Missionary Baptist Church and checked out that area for a while. Then we continued on through the loop. We stopped for a while at Wet Bottom trailhead. It was still raining off and on. Plus at this point, it was getting later so we decided to not do any of the hikes we had planned.
We continued on, then we hit a traffic jam. P and I got out and started to walk down the road to see if we could see what was going on. We walked a while down the road and saw the bears just before the Carter Shields Cabin. The mama was way down the road on the left side with two cubs.
Then there was a cub in a tree. We watch the bears for a while, until the mama crossed the road. Once the mama left my sight, I told P we had to go back to the Ram. So we started walking back. We got back to the Ram, traffic was still really slow. We made it up to the point that we saw the bears. The cub was still in the tree, and when we drove by the cabins, we saw the mama back in the tree line on the right side with her other two cubs. I was surprised how much people were crowding her, especially now that she was further away from her other cub. Then we continued through the loop.
We needed ice, so we had to detour to Townsend to get ice, and we got firewood as well. This got us back to camp at 8:00 p.m. We quickly ate barley beef stew which was premade and had been frozen. It really hit the spot! We then had a campfire and went to bed around 10:00 p.m.
Day 8 - Saturday, July 22
T and I got up around 7:30 a.m. and everyone else woke up shortly thereafter. We had pancakes and eggs for breakfast. We cleaned up camp and headed out at 9:30 a.m. We still felt like we were recovering from the stress of the first few days, and it was hard to just get up and go like we had planned for some of our days in GSMNP. We could have pushed it, but we decided it would be best for the family if we just took our time.
We left camp at 9:30 a.m. to start making our way to Bryson City, NC for the train. We were suppose to stay in Smokemont campground a couple of nights, including the day of our train ride; but those were some of the nights we were stuck in Kentucky. It would have been nice to have a shorter drive to Bryson City.
We had originally purchased tickets for the Nantahala Gorge Excursion but when we rebooked, they didn't have any availability so we did the Tuckasegee River Excursion instead. Honesty, we've ridden trains before, and this didn't seam that different. Our kids got board. I think if our other days had gone as planned, they would have enjoyed it more. We brought beef jerky, crackers, popcorn, and dried mangos for lunch. Dillsboro was a cute small town and we had fun walking around, but it was hot. We ended up stopping in the Quirky Birds Treehouse & Bistro for some cool beverages and ice cream.
We had 5 full days in the park on our original itinerary, so the train made since when we first booked the trip. We ended up rescheduling the train because we didn't want to loose thre money we had already spent, especially because all of the expenses with the dead van/new Ram. I almost wish we just said forget it so we could spend more time exploring the park.
After the train ride we stopped to get gas before heading back. I really wanted to stop at Clingsman Dome so we didn't make any other stops. We got there by 7:00 p.m. hiked to the top and took in the views. It was so beautiful! The kids were having a fun time getting out and hiking. It was almost sunset, and I wish we could have stayed longer, but we still needed to drive back to camp and eat dinner. After we hiked back down, we paused to take in the views before getting back in the Ram around 8:00 p.m. We drove back to camp and ate leftover tacos, sloppy joes, and taco soup by lanterns. Then we quickly packed up as much as we could because we wanted to get an early start the next day.
Day 9 - Sunday, July 23
Marcus and I got up early and made coffee, we let the kids sleep in since we had such a late night. They were up by 8:00 a.m. and we packed up camp and left at 9:50 a.m.
We drove to the Townsend Visitors Center to get the kids their junior ranger badges, then we stopped to get more ice and some food for breakfast. We had used up our quick breakfast food while we were stuck in the hotels. We stopped in Pleasant View for lunch and gas and got right back on the road.
It was neat to see the Gateway Arch as we crossed the Mississippi River. We made it to the Drury Inn at 7:00 p.m. Man that parking garage was tight! A note for anyone with larger vehicles.
We got into our room and Marcus and I showered really quick. We had a recommendation for dinner, but they were already closed. We went to Brewhouse Historical Sports Bar. We got some appetizers for us to share. The food was good and filled us up.
We headed back to the hotel, gave the kids showers, then we all went to bed. One last action packed day before heading home.
Day 10 - Monday, July 24
We set our alarm this day. I was worried with all of our late nights, we'd oversleep. We ate breakfast in the hotel, then I ran out to get coffee really quick while Marcus and the kids finished up eating. We left to head to the Gateway Arch NP at 8:40 a.m. I wanted to walk around a little beforehand. We could have gotten out there even earlier. There was a line to enter and we had 9:30 a.m. tram tickets, so we hopped in line. We had seen the NP sign on the city side, but we didn't go on the river side of the arch until after we got back, so we missed that NP sign.
We got into the museum section and toured around while working on the kids junior ranger booklet. We had to pause checking out the museum to go catch our tram ride. The tram was really interesting and it was really neat to be at the top. After our tram ride, we finished going through the museum. The museum was also really interesting. I wish we had a bit more time, but we had big plans for the day.
V didn't like the museum. I don't know if it was the lack of windows, or knowing that we were underground, but she kept saying she didn't like it under there and wanted to get out and go outside.
The kids were sworn in as junior rangers and we stopped in the gift shop. Then we headed out. There was a wonderful Park Ranger outside with a wealth of information about the arch. We stayed longer then we intended to talking with him because he had so much great information to share. Then we rushed back to the hotel room at 11:45 a.m. to quickly grab an daypack, use the restroom, and got into the Ram. We were headed to the Zoo!
P loves elephants (like I do!) and she hadn't seen one in person before. So I was excited to take them to the free St. Louis Zoo! We got lucky and found free street parking, we made it into the Zoo at 12:30 p.m. We started making our way to the elephants right a way. It was already getting really hot out, so were trying to make sure everyone was drinking water. We also stopped along the way to eat some snacks we brought. The kids loved the hippos. Then we found the elephants! P was so happy. Really, everyone was. It's so neat to see elephants. We watched the elephants for quite a while.
After the elephants we knew we didn't have time to see much more if we wanted to continue with our plans. T was getting tired and we were all getting hungry. We decided to head to the north entrance and eat. Boy did that make a difference! Sitting in the AC, and food really helped. We then stopped in the gift shop before heading towards the South entrance via the Herpetarium. V loves alligators and she freaked out when she saw them. She was so happy! I'm glad we swung through there on our way out.
We got back to the Ram. It was really hot our by now, almost 100 degrees. We had gotten a lot of water while we had lunch, and made sure the kids drank of water too. The kids had perked up quite a bit after our lunch break. We had talked about heading back to the hotel to let them rest, but we didn't think that they would, so we decided to keep on going and head to the City Museum.
I didn't tell the kids what the City Museum was and they were a bit unsure about going to a museum. We arrived at 4:30 p.m., and I told Marcus I'd stay with V if he'd stay with the other two. We headed to the rooftop first. V loved the Ferris wheel and a lot of the activities. Man did the kids go crazy running everywhere. I purchased more water for V and I. We took a break in the shade and had water before playing again. Then we decided to head inside. Marcus did the same with the older two. The inside was so much fun too! After a while, we made our way back outside again, then just kept going back and forth. This place was wild! The kids had so much fun, and we did too. We could have stayed for hours. We could have stayed all day! But it was getting later, and we needed to eat dinner and pack up before our long drive home the next day.
We left at 6:30 p.m. and drove to Stacked STL for dinner. The food was so good and were we hungry! We got back to the hotel at 8:30 p.m. The kids really wanted to swim, so we quickly changed and headed to the pool. I took V up to the room after a bit and we showered, and I got her ready for bed and packed up. While Marcus stayed behind with P and T for a little bit longer.
We could have done without the swim, but the kids really wanted to, and we had told them we might be able to the night before, but didn't get a chance. We had a fun day in St. Louis, and diffidently could have used another. I highly recommend spending two days there.
Day 11 - Tuesday, July 25
Finally, the time has come to really head home. We had a fun, stressful, exhausting, beautiful, and expensive trip and we were all ready to head home.
We ate breakfast, gathered everything from the room, and loaded up the Ram for the last time. We headed out at 8:50 a.m. and started making our way home. We stopped in Iowa City for lunch. We made it home at 6:40 p.m. very ready to be back in our house.
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