Easter in East Tennessee

Well now that I've shared the big news about my move home, it's time to move on to other matters, such as my Easter recap!!  My brother and his family decided to spend their Easter/spring break in the Gatlinburg, TN area so I was thrilled when I discovered it was less than 4 hours away from me.  I drove up after my presentation on Friday in Charleston and arrived just minutes after my brother and his family arrived. 

Friday night was a low key night - we got take out and everyone except me played in the pool (lame I know but I wasn't feeling like getting all chlorinated that night).  I collapsed into bed that night after a long, exhausting week and was woken the next morning by my nephew Kolin crawling into bed to wake me - best way to wake up ever! 

Anna loved walking around in my shoes, which she called slippers!

Saturday morning selfie with Kolin

After eating breakfast in our room, we set out to explore the area.  My sister-in-law said the one way I could contribute to the weekend was by finding something fun for us to do on Saturday.  Thanks to my trusty friend, tripadvisor.com, I found out about the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail.  It's a 6-mile winding road through a part of the Smoky Mountain National Park which was not too far from the condo where we were staying.  If you are ever in the Gatlinburg area, I highly recommend it!

Kolin was a bit tentative about this mountain road as it was pretty steep and curvy and there was a steep drop off on the edge.  He looks scared in this photo but how beautiful is the view?

He eventually warmed up to the mountains and had fun walking along some of the trails you could take from the road!

This road is perfect for a family with small children because the views from the car are very pretty, but there are points where you can stop along the away and take short walks to get closer to the waterfalls.  It's great for adults, too, as there are several hikes to different waterfalls that are 3-6 miles round trip.

Anna & I by one of the waterfall areas.

Another Saturday selfie with my little explorer.

The sights were so gorgeous.  Of course pictures don't do it justice.

 After we completed the motor trail, we headed into downtown Gatlinburg for some lunch. 

Anna was all smiles and sat really well during lunch.

After lunch, Kolin, my brother Chad and I decided to take the chair lifts up to the top of the mountain.  I did not think Kolin would be game for this but he was super brave and was not at all scared!

Skylift selfie on the way to the top.

The views at the top were gorgeous.  I heart the mountains.

After that, we headed back to the condo to do some swimming at the pool and this time, I donned my suit and joined in on the fun.  Unfortunately I don't have any pool pictures, but suffice it to say that we had a great time.  Both kids are such fishes so it was fun to play in the water with them.  We made dinner in the room on Saturday night (and by we, I mean my brother) and called it an early night.

On Sunday, we got up bright an early because my brother and I decided to do one of the hikes off the trail we'd drive the day before.  So we went to 8 am mass and hiked up to Grotto Falls after Easter mass.  We got there early so did not see many hikers on our way up, but we did on our way down so I am glad we started when we did as we were moving faster than most of the other hikers.

Grotto Falls was so beautiful and peaceful

After our hike, we headed back to our room, had Easter dinner, and then I hit the road for my return to Charlotte.  All in all it was a wonderful weekend and it was so great to spend time with family in such a beautiful setting.  I just love the mountains so much and never tire of hiking!  I would definitely return to this area again.  Gatlinburg itself is extremely touristy and not an area I am crazy about, but the Smoky Mountains are gorgeous and there is so much hiking to do in the area!

And - I checked another state off my list, bringing the total # of states visited to 31!

If you celebrate Easter, what did you do? If you don't celebrate Easter, how did you spend this past weekend?