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| Checking out the bear from a much more comfortable distance. |
Today entailed the one major plan we had for this trip. After seeking out the needed piece for our Burley, and making space for that large piece of equipment, we were bound and determined to bike through Cade's Cove. This is one of the most popular and beautiful areas of the park and it closes to cars on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. Kerry did some research and found out the bike rentals usually sell out by 7:30 am, so we planned to wake and arrive early. We were up by 6am but still had a lot of preparation in order to leave and it's a 35 minute drive to the cove. We were cutting it close for time...and then it hit us...we
still had not changed our clocks...so we arrived at Cade's Cove at 8:30 am. WHOOPS. All of the bikes were long since rented, but people were beginning to get back on the rentals and the shop assured us that as long as we started biking by 9:15, we would be fine. Lo and behold, Maddie and Kerry got bikes (Isaac decided to run the loop) and we were on our way at 9:16. Hooray! Biking was unanimously a high light of our trip. Because we got such a late start, we were mostly on our own through the cove which is a peaceful feeling when you know it's generally a bustling area. A couple of miles in, Kerry caught up to Isaac (Kerry and Maddie stopped to take photos often and depending on the hills, Isaac was at times faster) to find him excitedly waving for us to pull up and see the bear. A small-ish black bear (if you can call a bear small) was happily eating along the side of the road. At this point we were among a small group of other bikers. We made noise and stayed where we were at, but the bear kept coming closer and closer. At one point the bear passed by us, only 10 feet away. Isaac got the kids out of the Burley earlier and when Charlie got the first look at the bear he just squealed and gasped with joy. The early bird doesn't always get the worm, as the early bikers only saw some squirrels. We hit the jack pot on that experience!
Lucy and Charlie yelled "Wheeee" as we sailed down hills and they spent much of the time holding hands. (Moments like these brings clarity to why people have multiple kids). At one point Kerry passed Isaac and Charlie let out a big happy yell of "Dadddyyyyyyyyy". The bike ride was supposed to include Charlie's nap, but he was having way too much fun taking it all in.
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| Just starting out our biking adventure |
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| Look at that hand holding! So adorable. |
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| Mom got to lug these two up the big hills (which meant walking alongside the bike and pushing). Look at that scenery though! |
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| Stopping at another lookout. A good excuse for a rest. |
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| We also brought the selfie stick along to get a picture of the whole crew. |
We had the most delicious soft serve after the loop (the kids got it for free...and they didn't even do any of the work). It was Charlie's nap time and rain was once again moving in, so we drove to Gatlinburg for Kerry and Maddie to do some shopping while Isaac continued driving around for Charlie. Isaac never did quite make it as far as Dollywood as Charlie woke up early.
Back at the campground again Maddie and Kerry packed the kids up into the stroller and back pack in order to take some more pictures at "Daisy's Town" which is the abandoned resort town within the park. This time Lucy napped but not Charlie!
We made our final campfire of the trip for cooking grilled cheese and cheddarwursts. We capped the night off with an attempt at photographing the fireflies at our campsite. Although they are on a smaller scale, there were synchronous fireflies in the woods right behind our tent. Also, the kids went down to bed like a charm (it only took them most of the trip to figure it out!).
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| The "Kerry" pose for the trip |
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| One of Maddie's shots at the ghost town. She's prepping for her senior photos. |
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