Road Trip 2010 {Great Smoky Mountains continued...}

Road Trip 2010 {Great Smoky Mountains continued...}

I was having issues with blogger and I didn't get a chance to include all of the photos from our visit to the Smokies.

Here's our second day in the National Park.  We drove through the park on Highway 441 from Gatlinburg to Cherokee, NC.  We made stops at Newfound Gap and Clingmans Dome.  We were lucky to have a beautiful, clear day and the views were incredible.


This was a short stop we made to take a photo of Chimney Tops.  You can see it in the distance behind Mark and the boys.

Jerry and Carol with Chimney Tops in the background.

The following photos are from our stop at Newfound Gap.
Elevation 5046 feet
Tennessee and North Carolina state line

Beautiful views from Newfound Gap

Mamaw Carol, Will, Ben and Papaw Jerry

I love markers for the Appalachian Trail.  They are all over the park.  Notice the distance to Maine. 

Mark and Will going on a little hike or as Will would say "adventure".

Clingmans Dome
Elevation 6643 feet
Highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The boys posed for a quick photo as we hiked (the longest, steepest 1/2 mile of my life) to the top of Clingmans Dome.

Spectacular views from Clingmans Dome observation tower.

Do you ever do the picture-taking-trade-off on vacation?  You take a photo of a family or couple and then they take a photo of you and your family in return.  That's how Mark and I got this photo.  His parents had the boys and we took a photo of another couple and then they snapped this one of us.  I like it :)

Another scenic view on the way down

I carried Ben on the hike down from the observation tower and Will rode on Papaw Jerry's shoulders on the way down.  They were faster than us so they waited for us on a bench.  Here's Will chatting with a park ranger.

We finally made it.  Here's Ben sleeping.

All in all, we loved the Smokies and I hope when the boys are older we can go back and spend more time in the National Park.

I'll share photos from our visit to Georgia next week.