Wilderness of the Smokies

In March I had gotten an email from Wilderness of the Smokies offering a great deal on booking a hotel stay. After giving it some thought I decided that we were going to go as a family over Labor day weekend.

In planning out our trip I really wanted to go to Ober Gatlinburg and do the alpine slides. In thinking about Gatlinburg and Labor day weekend I figured it would be packed, so I thought we should do Ober Gatlinburg first thing Saturday morning to try and beat some traffic, this was a great decision!

We used credit card points and got a free hotel stay right outside of Knoxville and then had a short drive into Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg and got to Ober Gatlinburg right at opening.

We decided to drive up the mountain instead of paying for the tram and I don't do well with twists and turns or steep drops...but we made it and it was beautiful!

For $20 each Thomas and I could get an arm band and the kids would get to play on everything for free! The way their aging works its 6 and older to pay and since the boys are only 5, they play for free! This is a great deal since one alpine slide ride is $7 alone! The only trouble is we were out numbered, with 3 kids one of us stayed back with 2 while the other went with one. Tapanga got to do a majority of the activities also, she wasn't restricted because of her height!

They do have a playground for kids, so this worked out nicely.

Thomas and I took turns riding the ski lift to the alpine slide with one child, so the person on the ground took the pictures!

Along with the playground they have a couple kid rides, which the kids enjoyed playing on while they waited their turn for the slide!

With our arm band we got free putt putt, this is one of the things Thomas loves to do in the Pigeon Forge area!

We had gotten to Ober Gatlinburg right when it had opened and were the first to buy arm bands from the ticket booth outside. Anyway, I guess someone had stolen some arm bands recently and they sold us the wrong ones and so they were on the hunt for people with the wrong bands, when they found us they were like "We need you to come to guest services with us, we need to trade out your wrist bands. We're sorry, so we will upgrade your wrist band and you will get to do everything here today." When we had bought our wrist bands we could have bought a more expensive one that allowed you to ice skate and visit the bear habitat maybe a couple other things, but we didn't want to spend the extra money for things that we didn't really want to do. Plus we weren't planning on spending the whole day here, but since it was now included we decided to give ice skating a try!

Of course Thomas was a natural and took all the kids around the rink! The boys really enjoyed it although they did say it was cold! Tapanga didn't care for it much...she was cold, I do think she liked it when Thomas took her around!

After ice skating we visited the bear habitat where we saw some lounging bears and other critters. Then right as we were leaving we also got to see the zoo keeper feed the otters!

We had a great day at Ober Gatlinburg! We all enjoyed the alpine slides and other activities and just by luck got to experience new activities together!

After leaving we were hungry so we headed to the Old Mill for lunch. The Old Mill is one of our favorite restaurants in Pigeon Forge and has a great corn chowder and fritters! We couldn't leave before visiting the ducks right outside by the water, which we always feed our left over bread.

Finally it was time to go to the hotel and check in and of course we went straight to the water and played!

On Sunday, we played all morning in the water and then got ready to head out early afternoon. Thomas' request for our trip was to eat at Dixie Stampede, which does have great food! On the way there we stopped to speed around a race track. The boys were tall enough to ride along also and they had a blast...poor Tapanga was sad because she didn't get to participate.

Made it to Dixie Stampede and Tapanga saw a princess!We splurged and during the pre-show got iced drinks for everyone!

The kids of course were enthralled with the show...Tanner did manage to dig into his chicken, but Tyler and Tapanga didn't eat much they were to busy watching!

After the show we visited with the stars of the show...the horses!

What a great dinner! The rest of the weekend is set aside for fun in the water!

The hotel had activities for kids and families and we happened to stumble across the sign up for a duck race. Of course, we were going to participate so we chased some ducks around the outdoor pool and Tapanga came in 3rd and Tanner won 1st!!! Finishing 1st and 3rd won the kids resort bucks which they could spend in the gift shop so on the way out we let each of the kids pick out a souvenir.

With 3 different waterparks inside and out, the Wilderness is a great hotel! We had a blast and I would love to make this a ritual trip for our family. The kids keep get taller and the boys are already tall enough to ride many of the slides which just makes it even better! What great fun, close enough to enjoy a great long weekend!

Fall Break Maine...last days

Its our last true day, we definitely needed to spend some time with my grandparents before heading to Manchester and dinner with cousin Marlyn.

One of the purposes of this trip was to see how my grandparents are doing. With Aunt Patsy having moved to Tennessee, there is no support system for them in Maine. Aunt Denise lives 2.5 hours away and with the winters they are accustomed to, we have a lot of concern for the safety and well being.

Mom and Aunt Denise did a lot of serious talking with Grammie and Grandpa about their plans. Grammie has been wanting to move to Tennessee for awhile, where she would be closer to family and the winters wouldn't be so hard. Grandpa on the other hand is a "New Englander" and has been a hold out. He has been thinking long and hard and pulled mom and Grammie aside the other night and said he realized that "one of his jobs was to make his wife happy and she wasn't happy." So, to make a long story short he has decided to move to Tennessee. This of course means we will be able to see a lot more of them and the kids will grow up knowing their great grandparents as long as possible...this is a great thing.

I still feel some sadness with this vacation coming to an end. I don't know when the next time I will be able to come up North, to see the sights of this beautiful part of the US. Its nice having family in a different part of the country allowing you to visit and see other places, but I do know this is the best thing for all of us!

So, its Friday we head to Grammie and Grandpas to spend some more time with them. I make everyone lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup and after lunch we say our "see ya laters" and head back to Manchester.

One thing we don't have in Tennessee is candle pin bowling. When we go north, this is one thing we try to do. In candle pin bowling the balls are smaller, a little bit bigger than the ones used for skee ball but big enough to fit in the palm of your hand. The pins are set up the same but they are skinner.

I lucked out this year, because I had signed up for "Kids Bowl Free" summer program. I found a lane in Manchester, NH that I was able to change my membership to allowing us to bowl free while here! This was actually the same bowling alley that my mother use to go to when she was a kid! The only thing I had to pay for was shoe rental...which they had kid sizes at $3 a pair!

The kids really loved bowling here with the balls being smaller they were easier to handle and lighter so the kids were able to toss them down the lanes easier.

Tanner was super excited, he was leading the whole game and he thought he would win, but then mom came along and got a spare on the 10th frame allowing her to win by 1. Because of timing, we played a 2 person game afterwards, but made it adults versus kids and just shared in the taking of turns....adults won!

After bowling we ventured over to my mothers cousins house about 30 minutes away. She wasn't able to meet up with us any other time because of work so she invited us for dinner this night knowing we would be close to catch our plane the next morning. This is the 2nd time I have eaten at her house, they have a huge garden out in back of there house and grow a lot of their own vegetables. Marlyns house is an interesting experience I feel very out of place and could tell the kids did as well, but family is family and we must do what has to be done!

One of the things we did a lot of was swimming. At our hotel in Biddesford it was a little "chemically" smelling and the kids enjoyed it, but mom and I didn't really get in. Here the water was beautiful, but the hot tub was so inviting that I just had to get in and warm up which we did once we returned to the hotel after dinner. One last swim before heading out tomorrow.

At the airport they have a huge moose statue and this was the closest we came to seeing any moose...as many times as I have been to Maine I have never seen an actual one, one day I might! Our plane ride home was pretty uneventful thankfully! Its always good to be home and in your own bed and I hadn't slept well all week so I was very glad to be home for this reason alone!

I enjoy going north and visiting family and the sights and even if family moves here, hope that we may still go north on occasions to just reminisce.