Murray and I had a great week in Gatlinburg. We had some beautiful weather where we got to hike and enjoy the mountains, and we had some rainy weather where we were forced to relax, watch movies in our cute cabin, and be lazy. Pretty much perfect! We took tons of pictures so hopefully you feel like looking!
When we first got there, we headed for the park and went on a 2 1/2 mile hike. We saw pretty streams and stuff along the way and ended up by some awesome waterfalls. Murray ventured off the trail a little bit and climbed out on the waterfall. Baby and I played it a little safer and just took his picture.
The next day was kinda overcast so we decided to spend most of the day at the aquarium. It is said to be the best aquarium in the nation. We don't know if it is the best, but it is definitely cool. Our favorite part was the underwater tunnel that you can go through to see sharks, stingrays, fish, and a giant sea turtle, but we definitely had fun in the rest of the aquarium too! Who says aquariums are just for kids? Haha.
Murray said I looked like this seahorse now. So supportive of my weight gain! Actually he is just really excited because it does seem more like I am pregnant now. No denying it! I thought this was the coolest/freakiest picture of the octopus. I couldn't believe how well it turned out. Murray caught the jellyfish at just the perfect time too! We almost missed this turtle. We finally saw him just as we were getting ready to leave.
The next day was our taking it easy during the rainstorm day. Thursday we had clear skies again so we decided to ride the skylift up the mountain to get a pretty view of the city and the surrounding mountains. After that we headed pack to the national park to visit a section called Cade's Cove. It takes about 40-45 minutes to drive there, but, if you are going to Gatlinburg, we would HIGHLY recommend it! We saw so many deer and apparently when they aren't hibernating, you can see a lot of black bear also! Also there are a bunch of old cabins and churches built in the 1800s that you can tour. It is really crazy to see how people lived back then!
We saw so many deer! I think I may have seen like one buck in my lifetime (other than the ones hanging in Murray's room) so I was really excited to get so close to some. Also Murray and I snuck up to the group of doe in this picture. I couldn't believe how close we got. They never did run away! The center picture above is the old mill that they used to cut lumber and make flour and cornmill. This whole community was so neat! The cabin to the left was one of the earliest houses built in this area. It's amazing what they could do back then and what they lived without!
Murray getting ready to plow some fields... minus the horses/mules! This church was so pretty up on this hill. We definitely were not ready to head back to Chicago when our time was up, but we couldn't have asked for a better trip!
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