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Vacationers at the Cabin!
L-R: Billy, Ross, Travis, Justin, Matt, Steph, Bryce, Ryan, Jonathan, Mason, Abby, Sami, Parker, Jesse, and Gage
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"Mountains, Music, and Memories" was our vacation theme this year! We once again headed out on vacation with my family, Uncle Tony & Aunt Peggy's family, and Uncle Bruce and Aunt Penny's family at the end of July. It made for a total of twenty-one people!
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| The van ride got a little more fun once the cousins could ride together! |
Our Iowa group left Friday after work and made it to Indianapolis, where we met the Minnesotans + Billy and stayed in a hotel overnight. Saturday morning, we headed to the Smoky Mountains, where we found our cabin outside of Pigeon Forge. The house had four small stories and slept all of us, and we had an amazing mountain view out the back!
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| View out the back of our cabin...God's beautiful creation! |
Upon our arrival, the parents and I drove to Walmart (traffic was quite slow and it took about thirty minutes to drive five miles) to do our grocery shopping for the week. While we were shopping, Uncle Tony got some tires replaced at Walmart's tire shop. Several delays led to an 8:00 dinner back at the house, where the rest of the group had gotten settled in and found several forms of entertainment for the week.
The next day, we drove through Cade's Cove and hiked Abram Falls. The hike was tiring, but a good workout after all the traveling we had done.
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| Hiking Abram Falls |
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| It took us awhile...but we finally made it! |
We saw some wildlife along the road, but no bears until we were almost back to our cabin and we founds a few digging through someone's trash! From last year's experience, we all knew you don't pass up any opportunity to see a bear, so we stopped right there on the street and took lots of pictures. Nevermind that the pictures weren't very picturesque considering they involved trash scattered all over the street and bears in the middle of it all.
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| BEARS!!! A mother and three cubs. |
When we got back to the house, we had "church" and sang on the porch for awhile. Afterward, people swam, played games, and did their own things at the house to end the evening. Abby, Sami, and I went into town and visited The Island, where we walked through its various shops and rode the Ferris wheel for a great view of the city and mountains.
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| The girls at The Island - at the top of the Ferris wheel! |
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| Sami even got to try her hand at cooking with Paula Deen at the kitchen store! :) |
Monday was our first day at Dollywood's theme park. On account of my pregnant condition, Matt and I went on the less-thrilling rides with Gage and Jesse in the morning. After a picnic lunch in the parking lot, Matt went with the older boys to ride the roller coasters during the afternoon. There were also several shows at the park that I watched in the afternoon in lieu of coasters.
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We got there and found Gage inside a casket!
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| Jesse and Gage came along with us on the Dollywood Express. It was a neat ride, taking us outside of the park and through the mountains. |
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When people started getting tired and hungry, we left the park and went to eat at Mellow Mushroom, a pizza place at The Island. Since everyone was so exhausted, we headed back to the house immediately following our pizza and ice cream.
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| The six parents at The Island after supper |
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| ...and all the rest! |
Tuesday was supposed to be Gatlinburg day, and the boys wanted to go mini golfing, so we compromised. The girls and Matt walked through the shops in Gatlinburg while the boys and uncles did mini golf and the mothers stayed back at the house. That evening, we attended the Smith Family Dinner Show in Pigeon Forge. The highlight for Matt was when I (along with three others in our group and four not with us) had to go up on stage and hula-hoop. Fortunately, there were only about fifty people watching the show, and the average age of the other viewers was about sixty-five. We did enjoy the show following the hula-hoop episode.
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| Matt chilling out in a rocker in Gatlinburg, smiling because he just finished eating ice cream. |
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| The kids outside the Smith Family theater. |
Wednesday was Dollywood's waterpark day. We went on a few slides and enjoyed the lazy river and wave pool in the morning, ate a picnic lunch, and then Matt went with the boys again while I took a nap on my chair in the shade. I did get to meet the nice older gentleman sitting next to me and we had a nice chat while his grandchildren were out swimming. When everyone else was ready to go, we headed out and had supper back at the cabin.
Thursday we went back to the Dollywood theme park, and the day looked much the same as Monday, except I spent more time watching shows than walking around. Bruce and Penny left for home after lunch, so we said our goodbyes to them. When we left Dollywood for the day, we stopped at Burger King for supper and had ice cream from the creamery next door to complete the meal.
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| Jesse, Parker, and Travis on the Firechaser Express! |
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| Gage and Jesse getting their shoes shined. |
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| The Massner clan at Dollywood |
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| The Schulz clan at Dollywood :) |
Matt and I woke up early Friday morning for a little date. We first drove up to the cabin we stayed at on our honeymoon, just for old memories' sake. Then we went for breakfast at Flapjack's Pancake Cabin before going back to the cabin to find that nobody else was even awake yet.
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| Our honeymoon cabin brought back memories! |
Once people were up and moving, the Massner clan minus Mom went hiking up Chimney Tops, which was more strenuous than our previous hike, but very worth it at the top! The boys weren't very excited about the hike until they got to the end and realized they had to climb a rock wall to get to the top. That was pretty thrilling for them! Jonathan took the extra challenge and walked out across a narrow ridge to get to a better view. Dad decided it was probably a good thing Mom didn't come, because she would have been too worried about the boys. We made it back to the house just in time for the boys to make it to their free indoor mini golf session (they had gotten coupons at Burger King). The parents spent the evening in Gatlinburg and we ordered in pizza.
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| Jonathan made it a little farther than the rest of us. |
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| Dad was a trooper! |
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| This is the same place we took our picture on our honeymoon and used for a Christmas picture two years ago! It was a bit colder last time, but the view was still magnificent. |
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| The rest of our hot and sweaty hiking team |
The remaining Minnesotans + Billy left around 4am Saturday morning for home, and the Iowans left at a more reasonable time after getting all packed up. We drove to Champaign, IL and stopped at a hotel for the night. The plan was to go to church in Champaign on Sunday, but when Aunt Nancy heard we were so close, she told us we had to come to Bloomington, so we ended up there! After church, we went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy's house to swim in their pool and eat supper. It was good to spend some time with them, as well as Brant & Kyli's family and Chris! We drove the last three hours home after supper, and thus ended the family vacation.
We had a very nice week with the family - making memories in the mountains once again!
