Vacation Idea: Trip to Gaitlinburg and the Smokey Mountains

I never did post about the second half of our Moonbow vacation.  We had visited Kentucky and saw one of the only 2 naturally occurring moonbows in the world, ate some chicken liver at the first KFC, and went horseback riding for the first time.  Then, we hopped back in the minivan and drove to Gaitlinburg.

Our first stop was the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies.  I stumbled upon an amazing SAVINGS before our trip.  By showing our homeschool group membership card, our family paid LESS THAN HALF of the regular price for tickets!  This is an amazing deal and a great museum to offer such a substantial discount.

We stayed at a cabin in the woods but a short trip from town. We also saw a very tame black bear while staying there.  No, we didn't try to pet it!

Here we are hiking in the Smokey Mountains after a morning of ziplining with the older daughter.  No photos here either...didn't want to drop a camera from 50 feet in the air!

On our last day we visited Dollywood and rode this ride that reminds me of another park I'm seriously going to have to blog about someday.  Maybe many days as much as we visit it!

 This was my favorite attraction at Dollywood: high ropes course.  I could've stayed on this all day!

The hands-on attractions for the kids were great, too.  I would definitely recommend Gaitlinburg!