The Lyons Den: Smokies Getaway...

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Smokies Getaway...

Our Smokey Mountain Getaway was over a month ago and finally I am getting around to posting pictures of it! This is by far one of our FAVORITE places to visit while we live here in the Midwest- being only 5 hours away- we love it! We got a Groupon deal for a little Resort- 2 night stay in Gatlinburg!

It did have a nice view out our back window of a stream- we probably prefer a cabin-

but this was nice!

This was our first time away for nearly 3 nights from the kids and we so enjoyed the time spent together! I think our favorite thing to do is hike! Michael bought a book of Hiking in the Smokies and faithfully researched all the hikes! It was amazing!

The first day we did an afternoon hike and while it rained when we got to Clingman's Dome- we decided to try our hike- to Andrews Bald and the view did not dissappoint! Amazing from elevations of 6,000 feet.

The second day we did the Alum Cave Hike- almost half way up to Mount Le Conte! Our next goal will be to do Mount Le Conte- it is nearly and 11 mile roundtrip hike which I think next time we could do in a day! The views on this hike were amazing! And the cave was cool! Apparently there is a lodge at the top of the mountain that you can make reservations to stay there but it takes awhile to get in! It sounds neat though!

The day we left- we did a morning hike- by far the greatest hike we did! We hiked the Appalachian Trail from Newfound Gap and off the trail at one point to the "Jump Off"- it was an opening on a cliff with a magnificent view- literally you could jump off the side! Wanting to hike still more- we decided to keep going to Charlies Bunion- which was a mile farther after going 4 miles already! It was amazing as well- the views from the top- so the last day was our longest 9 miles about round trip. We were realizing how grueling hiking can be as we drove home the 5 hours in the car and could barely pull ourselves out- our bodies were so sore! It was great!