Vacation Day 10 Farewell

Our last day of vacation was Friday August 12.  We had an early check out time 9:00 am and my parents had to drive back down to Georgia to catch a flight home.  Before we left the beautiful Smoky Mountains, Bruce and I wanted to hike just one more trail.  We got up at 5:00 hoping to finish the trail and pack up before check out time.  It was so nice that my parents shared the suite with us so we could leave our sleeping children under their watch care while Bruce and I hiked the Laurel Falls trail.

The trail was only a mile long, so we knew we could do it with no problem.  It was a lot darker than I expected it to be, and the only light we had were from our cell phones.  We decided early on in the trail to ditch the "flashlight" and enjoy the trail.  It didn't take long for the sun to come up and light the way.  It was so great to hike with just Bruce.  We had a chance to just talk without any interruptions or distractions.  I can't say that we get that opportunity very often. It was nice to talk about what a frustrating, difficult, and disappointing year we had, and out thoughts and opinions about our life and our goals for the future.  We were literally the only people on the trail.  We didn't see a single person or animal the entire way up or down.  We counted this as our anniversary date since our anniversary was coming up in a week.  When we got to the top, the sun was just coming up, shedding enough light to give us a great view of the waterfall.

Selfies is all we could take with no other hikers on the trail.  

It was really neat.  This is a view standing on a ledge from above the waterfall.  I'm not sure if I was supposed to climb up there, but it wasn't difficult so I did it.

A view from the side

And the best view I could get from below the waterfall.  

There were actually two separate waterfalls at this hike.  We spotted this second one on our way down the trail.

                                This view of the mountains just after sunrise was amazing.

We made it down the trail and back to the resort by 7:00 am.  I'm so glad we decided to squeeze in one more hike, even though we were so tired having stayed up too late watching Olympics the night before.   By the time we arrived back, no one else had even cracked an eye lid yet.  We busied ourselves in packing up - it always takes a long time to pack up the leftover food from the kitchen.  We got the kids up and finally made it all packed up and out the door.  We met my parents for breakfast at the Waffle House.  After breakfast, my parents hit the road to catch their flight, and we headed over to the Boot Factory Outlet.  I really wanted to find myself a pair of cowboy boots.  The boot factory had a sale going on buy one get two pairs free.  Yes, cowboy boots are pretty expensive but with a sale like that, you have to take advantage of it.  I tried on lots of different boots.  I came to the conclusion that I really like the look of cowboy boots but I don't really like the feel.  I couldn't find a pair that fit well and didn't feel funny on my feet.  I must not have been made to wear them.  Instead, we settled on buying 2 pairs of boots for Bruce and a pair of boots for Eliza.  

We spent more time at the boot store than we realized, but we still hit the road at a decent time that morning.  We had originally planned to drive halfway again and stop for the night.  However we ended up making good time.  Everyone, except Bruce, was so exhausted from our week of fun that the kids and I slept for nearly 4 hours in the car.  By the time we woke up, we had already passed the half way point we thought about stopping at.  We pressed forward and made it all the way back home around 11:00 pm.  We arrived home a day earlier than originally planned.
This vacation was such a blast.  The Smoky Mountains in Tennessee have been on my bucket list as a place to visit for years. It was so worth it.  I think we will probably go back in a few years.  I'm glad my parents got to attend with us as well - Tennessee is so beautiful, I'll miss you Smoky Mountains - till next time.