Today the Nascar Speedway and a nice surprise!!!!

Last night while on Facebook I noticed some pictures that my cousin who lives in West Virginia posted.  The pictures looked very much like the Smoky Mountains so I asked him where he was.  He was here too!!!  Okay at a different resort but still in the Smokies :)  We told him that we were going to be at the Nascar Speedway go cart track and he stopped by to visit with us before they left today.  It was so nice to see him and is wife Sue.  She and I had a nice chat while the boys rode the go carts.   If it weren't for Facebook I wouldn't have known they were here and gotten to see them!! 

We spent 5 hours at the Speedway.  The boys rode go carts, climbed rock walls and played mini golf.  I think it was the best deal in the area!!  We are all a little sunburned but tired and happy.  We skipped lunch and went to Huck Finns for dinner.  We ordered 3 meals and all shared......Fried chicken (for me), chicken livers (for David and Jake) and catfish for all the boys.  They give you all you can eat hushpuppies and they are sooo good! 

We stopped by a woodcutting place because I saw a really cool carved tree that goes on front doors.  I had to stop and check them out.  David says he and Anthony can make one....we will see.

Going to pack up our stuff because we have to be out of the cabin by 10 am!

Go cart hair!!!!

Ron letting Jacob win :)

Rock climbing....Anthony got to the top several times!

 

Another day in the park....

We slept in this morning....I think we all needed it!!  David decided that I should drive again :)  We drove back to Cades Cove to hit the other "off" road trail.  I didn't get a picture of that sign but I think its called Parson Branch Road.  On the way there we stopped by the Cades Cove visitor center.  Didn't stay there long because it was very crowded.  I really prefer traveling in the fall or winter when we pretty much have everything to ourselves.  I know...I am spoiled.  One of the greatest perks of homeschooling!   

We also stopped by a very interesting cabin on the way to the trail.  There were actually two cabins, one right in front of the other.  A young wife became a widow and her brothers quickly built her a small cabin for her and her young daughter.  Later she remarried and that husband built a larger cabin directly in front of the other.  You walk out the back door onto a small porch and at the end of the porch is the door to the older cabin.  We went inside the small cabin and I tried to take a picture.  For some reason my camera was being difficult, to flash was flashing really fast but the picture wouldn't take. The boys who were posing for me got a strange look on theirs faces.  Apparently there was a bat flying around me when I was trying to get the flash to work.  That sounds really odd to me but I looked up in the loft area and sure enough the bat was looking down at us!!!!  Was really weird that I didn't see it flying around me!!!  The boys said it flew right under my camera.

The Parson was a tad more "rustic"  but no trouble for the Jeep...even with me driving!  There were places that were kind of steep and a few ruts but nothing very bad.  At the very end of the trail we stopped to look at a small waterfall and take pictures.  While there tons of motorcycles were driving by on the main road, we could see it from where we had stopped.  David decided it was probably best if he drove on that road and he was right!!  It was very windy, a huge driving places for motorcycles.  There we even companies parked on the sides of the roads taking picture of the motorcycles has they drove by.  David says they set up on the more popular motorcycling road and sell the pictures online to the drivers.  I think I heard someone call the road "the dragons back" but I am not totally sure, I do know it was hwy 129.

From that road we took the Foothills Parkway back towards the cabin.  There were a few good pullovers with beautiful views so we stopped and took a few pictures.  We had noticed a store on called Jeepism and stopped to check it out on the back to our cabin.  Jacob and Michael each bought a cool t-shirt with their gift money from Papaw.  Michael's says.....where we are going we don't need roads and has a picture of a Jeep.  Jacobs has a picture of a Jeep with a German Shepherd in it, his says "mans two best friends."  Then is says Jeepism # K9 :)  

 The Rattlesnake we saw on Parsons Branch Road.

 

Off Roading in the National Park!!!

So we got up and David still felt pretty bad.  He managed to eat and we headed to a guitar store so Anthony and Jacob could buy some picks.  We also stopped by a Kroger and got some more drinks and some medicine for David.  Then we were on our way to the National Park.  We wanted to go up to Cades Cove because there is a primitive unpaved road off of that loop, Rich Mountain Road.   We took a cooler with us and stopped at a picnic area in Cades Cove.  I talked David into letting me drive.  I was a little nervous because I really freaked out on the trail at Slade and I wasn't the one driving.  I was pretty sure this was going to be nothing like that one so I got behind the wheel and drove.  They say you should have a 4 wheel drive to go on this road but we saw a car parked by a trail head.  Really I think the mini van would have been able to do most of the road.  We had one really nice view of the mountain with a little white church in the valley.  I really had a nice time driving and was a little bummed when we came to the end of it.  It was 12 miles and look an hour to get through it.  We did stop twice for pictures though :) 

We grilled again for dinner...hot dogs and corn on the cob.  The boys shot BB guns again.  I read a little while David taught Michael how to hit a ball on the pool table.  Everyone is in bed and I am getting ready to head there myself. 

 The warning sign before you get on the road!

The winding road....it was worse than this in places!

 We had the top down :)

 

The view looking straight up from the drivers seat!

Tennessee Day 1

We have been planning a small get away for a month or so.  We decided on renting a cabin in the Smoky Mountains.  Anthony's last performance of Sing Down the Moon (I will blog that later) was on Sunday and I booked our cabin for Monday!  In hindsight that wasn't such a good idea.  On Saturday Jacob woke up not feeling well.  Kept telling me his stomach hurt.  Later that evening he had a fever.  He woke up Sunday feeling much better but then David started feeling bad.  It hit him harder than Jacob but we trudged on and got up Monday Morning and drove to Tennessee.  We stopped at Smoky Mountain Knife Works but after a short time there David started feeling pretty bad and we left.  He got what he wanted so it was good.  Anthony bought a small Swiss Army knife with money that Papaw Larry sent all the boys.  Thank you Papaw!!!!! 

We headed to the cabin to relax a little.  I sat out on the porch swing and read a little.  Then I got the grill going while the boys shot BB guns.  Sunday before the play I made up some hamburgers with a recipe from Fresh 20.  It had bread crumbs and feta cheese.  They grilled up nicely!  Then we made smores.  I love the way marshmallows roast on charcoal.  Use to roast them like that when I was a child, but as an adult we have always had a gas grill.  I had forgotten how good they taste with charcoal until our first cabin experience a few years ago.   We turned in early so Jacob and David could get some rest.  Neither one of them ate very much. 

 

Thought the fire looked cool!!

Yumm Smores!!

Perfectly roasted marshmallow!!!