Thanksgiving in the Smokies!

We just finished another Yatzeck Family Road Trip - this one was kind of a spontaneous Thanksgiving trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The kids had off of school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We pulled them out on Tuesday as well, and headed out of town for an extended weekend trip. Here's the down-low on our latest adventure!

Why the Smokies?
We wanted to visit another National Park or two, and we wanted it to be warmer than Wisconsin so we could camp in the van without freezing to death. The other reason was that I had a real estate event to attend the following week in Ohio, and we wanted to plan a trip somewhere in that general direction so I could be dropped off on the way home and save on buying a plane ticket to get there. Great Smoky Mountains National Park ticked all the boxes!

Lodging Plans
We made the decision to go less than two weeks before Thanksgiving, and initially I was worried we'd have trouble finding a campsite as this is a very popular weekend to visit the Smokies. However, when I was calling around, I found that while almost all of the RV sites were booked, almost all of the tent sites were available - hooray for roughing it! Since we planned to explore the National Park from the Gatlinburg entrance, I focused my efforts there. After calling all around, we decided to book a campsite at Imagination Mountain. It was not the cheapest, but since the weather had a chance of being on the cooler side, I wanted the following amenities:

• Flushing toilets, showers, and laundry facilities
• Indoor area to hang out and play games in with decent hours (their clubhouse was open until 10pm each night - some other campground lounges were closed at 5pm or earlier)
• Electric power at the tent site (to run electric heaters - our van battery is not powerful enough to do this overnight)
• Fun things for the family to do (this place had an arcade, playground, basketball, outdoor chess, cornhole, mini golf, plus scheduled activities for Thanksgiving, including a Thanksgiving Potluck Feast!)

If it was just Joe and I, we probably would have been okay with a rustic camp site in the park with vault toilets, but I knew the kids would have a much better time with all the added features, so it was worth the extra expense. Total cost for 3 nights of this luxury lodging: $172.28 ($57.43/night).

Day 1 - Tuesday, November 25

We spent the morning packing and making preparations, and ultimately left our house at about 12:15pm CST. Starting trip mileage on the van: 152,922. We stopped at Kwik Trip, filled up with gas ($57.85), and hit the road. Our goal was to make it to Kentucky and spend the night at a rest area somewhere. We crossed into EST and stopped at a McDonald's at about 6pm to get some fast food dinner - the kids ran around a bit in the playland. We drove a few more hours and stopped at a Walmart at about 9pm - we needed to purchase one more cold-weather sleeping bag and we also stocked up on groceries for the trip. We save a lot of money by not eating out at restaurants while we travel. We crossed into Kentucky and pulled over at a rest area near Shelbyville around 10:30pm - we made it! We set up the van for sleeping and everyone was tucked in by 11pm. Ending mileage on the van: 153,362. Total miles traveled today: 440.

I don't have any pictures from this day, but overall it was a good travel day. The weather was rainy and windy, but thankfully no snow or ice or severe storms. To make road trips more fun for the kids, we "splurge" on things that we don't usually do while driving. First, we managed to find a free Wifi Hotspot to check out from our local library system, so the kids enjoyed the luxury of being able to use internet on their tablets while we were driving. We also let them get whatever they wanted at McDonald's (like Happy Meals and sodas) instead of our usual plan of sticking to the value menu and having everyone drink water. At Walmart we also got a bunch of fun snacks for camping that we don't usually get on our grocery trips. You don't have to spend a lot of money to have fun while traveling!

Day 2 - Wednesday, November 26

The night was rainy, but temperature was in the 50s, so we were plenty warm in the van all night. We didn't set any alarms, figuring the bright sun would wake us up, but surprisingly I woke up at about 8am and everyone was sound asleep, even though it was very bright and sunny! We rolled out of the van and the kids stretched their legs outside for awhile at the rest area.

We filled up the van with gas ($62.72) and headed for the Cumberland Gap! We arrived a little after noon and headed for the National Park Visitor Center, which had a nice museum and the kids got their Junior Ranger activity booklets to work on. We watched a video in the theater about the history of the area and Daniel Boone.

We had planned to hike to the Tri-State Marker and walk on the pioneer trail through the gap. There are a few different options of where to start and which route to take, and in the end we decided to park at the Thomas Walker lot and start our hike on the Object Lesson Road. It's named because it was originally built in the early 1900s as a short section of government-sponsored gravel roadway. This was done in several high traffic areas to convince voters of the convenience and value of building better roads - an "object lesson", so we were actually hiking on what used to be the public "highway" through Cumberland Gap. Today, there is a nearby modern tunnel that goes THROUGH the mountains instead of up and over, and this path is slowly being returned to a trail more similar to what the early pioneers traveled on. Round trip up and back is a total of 2.4 miles, and the weather was perfect.

I was super excited about all the history on this trail. We came to this old highway marker along the way - it used to be a rest stop on the road for cars to pull off, but now it's in the middle of the woods!

We also came to a crater and signpost stating it was the former site of a Union warehouse that exploded during the Civil War.

And of course, the Historic Cumberland Gap! If you look on Google Maps with Terrain enabled, you can see the natural break in the mountain ridge here that made this an ideal spot for pioneers moving west.

We also carried an "O.C. Rock" from a friend in Waukesha and left it here for a future hiker to find.

A little further up, and we reached the top - the point where Tenessee, Kentucky, and Virginia meet so you can be in three states at once! There's a pavilion there and you can see some great views of surrounding area.

We had some grumbling and some fun hiking along the trail, but we plied the kids with snacks and found some cool stuff along the way. In all it was about an hour and a half on the hike - although hiking with kids is super slow, and we've read that other people can do the whole thing round trip in much less time.

Next stop was the visitor center so the kids could get their Junior Ranger Badges. It was a very nice place with a museum and shop.

They had a dress up area where you could become a pioneer girl!

I would have loved to stay longer, but we wanted to make it to the campground before dark so we could get the tent set up, so we started driving again a little after 3pm.

Modern way to pass through the Cumberland Gap

We stopped at Walmart to stock up on groceries at about 5pm, spent $73.22 on food, which will last us most of the next few days so we don't have to eat out, and got to the campground about 5:30. Daylight was fading fast, so we scrambled to set up the tent and I don't have any photos, but we got it done and then built a fire and roasted hot dogs and sausages on it for dinner. We "splurged" on a campground with amenities, and so even though it was dark, we could hang out together outside of the tent and camper van. They had a lighted mini golf course we tried out, and a "club house" with these fun blocks inside.

You are never too old to build a fort!

We all went to bed between 10 and 11pm - excited to spend the next few days in the Smoky Mountains! Ending mileage on the van: 153,646. Total miles traveled today: 284. Total miles traveled this trip: 724.

Day 3 - Thursday, November 28 - HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It was very early and still dark when I heard noises outside that woke me up, and then someone trying to open the van door. I peeked out and saw Mary and Katy, but then, Mary led Katy away. I asked if everything was all right, and it was. Turns out Katy had to pee, and at first Mary was going to wake us up, but then just decided to take her to the bathroom herself - so grateful I didn't have to get up, and also that Katy didn't pee in the sleeping bag!

It was forecasted to be a little chilly overnight during our stay, most nights in the 40s. We all had nice warm sleeping bags rated for those temperatures, and we took advantage of the electric power to the camp site and plugged in a couple of electric heaters inside the tent for the kids. It worked really well, and was nice and warm in there for them. Plus we packed a much larger tent this time, and there was room for each of them to have an inflatable twin size air mattress, plus a small table and chairs set, and plenty of clearance around the electric heaters. It was luxury compared to our cramped sleeping arrangements over the summer road trip! I had set my alarm for 7am thinking we'd be eager to explore the mountains, but when it started blaring in the morning it was still very dark and very cold, so I shut it off. We all ended up waking up closer to 8am and had a leisurely breakfast in the tent and left at about 9:30am.

We drove through the very touristy town of Gatlinburg - it reminded me a lot of Wisconsin Dells. We planned to avoid the whole town during our trip and spend all of our time at the campground or in the National Park. For one, we had such limited time to enjoy the park, and for another, all those things in town are pretty pricey, especially for a family of six. So we passed on through and stopped at the Sugarlands Visitor Center just inside the park. We purchased Junior Ranger booklets for the kids and decided to go on the short and easy Cataract Falls hike right behind the visitor center. It's fairly flat and less than a mile long, with creek crossings and a waterfall at the end. The weather was absolutely gorgeous on this Thanksgiving Day. The visitor center and parking lot were busy, but not terribly so.

There was a bridge crossing nearby, but the kids couldn't resist this log across the creek.

Katy was a little nervous, but she made it with some help

My favorite picture from the whole trip!!!

Joey borrowed my phone to take pictures and was so proud of this one

Lots of trees and rocks and water to explore

Creekside rest stop. We weren't really in a rush today.

Hanging around near the falls

Made it to the falls! I was really excited to find salamanders on this trip, as Great Smoky Mountains National Park is famous for having so many of them. I knelt down and started turning over logs and things in a nearby puddle and found one right away! Unfortunately didn't get a picture of it. We didn't spend a lot of time looking and I figured we would have lots more opportunities, but it turns out that this time of year a lot of them are hibernating, so we didn't actually see very many at all.

We weren't sure which hike to attempt next, as we still had the whole afternoon ahead of us. I asked one of the rangers at the visitor center, and he pointed to the trail cam up at Clingman's Dome and suggested we drive up there today because the sky was clear and the views were magnificent. I was originally planning on doing that one tomorrow, but he convinced us, and warned that the next few days were most likely going to be cloudy and we should take advantage of the clear day. We did, and I'm so glad we asked - those park rangers are great.

Joe (the dad) really wanted to do some more serious adult-paced hiking, and Clingman's Dome presented the perfect opportunity. It's the highest point in the park and there are lots of trails up there to explore. We definitely wanted to do the short paved trail up to the tower - it's only a half-mile (1 mile round trip), but very very steep. The kids and I planned to hike up that one, while dad took the longer 3.6 mile round trip hike to Andrews Bald along the Forney Ridge Trail. Believe it or not, the we all finished the hikes at about the same time!!!

Here's some photos from Joe's hike:

View from Andrew's Bald

And here's some photos from our hike up to Clingman's Dome:

The Appalachian Trail crosses the path up to Clingman's Dome, and Joey wanted a picture of him on the trail...

...so of course Katy had to have one as well.

Joe wanted to climb up to the tower and see the view from up there as well. There happened to be a fabulous boulder area right at the parking lot and trail head and the kids were thrilled to be able to climb around on that for awhile while he went up to the tower. It only took him 30 minutes to go up and down - a much faster pace than the kids and I, who took more like 1 hr 30 minutes, haha!

"Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find that going to the mountains is going home." -Naturalist John Muir, 1898

It was getting close to 3pm at this point, and we wanted to make it back to the campground for the 4pm Thanksgiving Potluck Feast, so we drove back down. The campground provided turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, rolls, and coffee and everyone was asked to bring side dishes and desserts to share. It was GREAT! 

We spent the rest of the day having fun at the campground - mini golf, giant outdoor chess, playground, bag toss, and playing around in the clubhouse. We were also thrilled to find out that the campground offered KARAOKE NIGHT!!! I thought Mary was brilliant and talented but I promised I wouldn't put my video of her singing on the blog. Lily and I went up and sang "Walking on Sunshine" together and had a blast. We had a long a full day and everyone was in bed by 9:30pm. Ending mileage on the van: 153,725. Total mile traveled today: 79. Total miles traveled this trip: 803.

Day 4 - Friday, November 29

We woke up a little before 8am and left the campground at about 8:30am - we were eager to get back into the National Park. This was our last full day in the Smokies - the trip was going by so quickly! There were so many great hikes to choose from, but we ended up going with the Alum Cave Bluffs Trail. We made a quick stop at a Dollar General store along the way to pick up a few more pairs of gloves and hats since we were going to be hiking up at higher elevations and expected it to be in the 40s and 50s. We stopped at the visitor center to fill up all of our water bottles and packed everyone's backpacks with lunch and snacks - this would be our longest hike of the trip - a total roundtrip length of 4.6 miles. We drove back up inside the national park and after everyone used the restroom at the trailhead, we were finally off hiking just after 10am. 

The trail follows Alum Cave Creek and there were lots of bridges and river crossings

There were lots of little streams crossing the trail you had to step over, water makes everything more fun. If the weather had been warmer I'm sure all of the kids would have been playing in the water the whole time.

This tree "swallowed" a boulder

The kids are all amassing quite a collection of junior ranger badges!

We take plenty of snack breaks!

We passed another family who asked us to take their photo on this bridge, and then they offered to take ours

There were also lots of narrow crossings like this one!

Finally we reached Arch Rock at about 11:20 - it's just over 1.4 miles from the trail head so you can tell we are hiking at a very relaxed pace with the kids. The trail actually goes under the arch which was pretty cool.

We continued on until we reached Inspiration Point, where we decided to stop for a snack. Even though it was cloudy, the views were pretty good of the surrounding ridges. I was so glad we had done the Clingman's Dome hike yesterday though! This trail had enough interesting geological features that we really didn't need the clear skies to enjoy it.

In which nobody is interested in smiling for mom's photo.

Finally we reached Alum Cave, which isn't really a cave, but is an overhanging bluff. It's about 80 feet high and 500 feet long, and there were quite a lot of other people who thought it was a cool spot to hang out in. It was nearly 12:30pm. 

Then it was time to head back down. We hid another "O.C. Rock" from Waukesha for someone else on the trail to find.

We navigated back down the way we came, and got back to the trail head a little after 2pm.

We tried hunting for more salamanders, but there weren't too many about. We did find one in this area though!

We went back to the visitor center so the kids could turn in their booklets and get their junior ranger badges, and they also did some souvenir shopping.

We headed back to the campground and built up a fire so we could have s'mores. It took a bit of effort as it was kind of wet and misty, but we succeeded eventually.

We were also super excited for another night of KARAOKE fun at the campground! Katy wanted to go up on stage this time, but was scared to go alone, so Lily went up with her and they sang "Rocky Top" together. I made a road trip playlist for this trip and have been declaring this song the official theme song of the vacation and playing it regularly! Needless to say it was a huge hit with the locals.

Katy surprised us all when the song ended. Lily handed off her mike and headed off stage, but Katy said in her sweet little voice, "Am I allowed to sing a second song?" The man running said absolutely she could, and when he asked her what song she wanted to sing, she said, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and boy if she didn't stay up there and sing it all by herself!

All three girls also did Trisha Yearwood's "XXXs and OOOs" (American Girl) all together. It was so much fun seeing everyone sing, would love to come back here again with more friends to sing together! It was our last night at the campground so we stayed up playing together until the clubhouse and everything closed down.

They built this fabulous car

And Katy built this castle

And there was a coffin and several funerals

Ending mileage on the van: 153,781. Total mile traveled today: 56. Total miles traveled this trip: 859.

Day 5 - Saturday, November 30

Our last day in the Smokies! We woke up about 8:30 and unfortunately it was dreary and misting. Thankfully it hadn't really rained much overnight, but everything still somehow felt damp. We packed up everything into the van and left a little after 9:30. Some of the family wanted to do more hiking, and some of the family did NOT, haha. We decided that whoever didn't want to hike could wait in the van, because the weather was pleasant and we had walkie talkies to communicate.

We drove along the Roaring Fork Motor nature trail, which is famous for its scenic views, until we got to the Trillium Gap Trailhead. Scenic drives are definitely not enough for me - I just have to get out of the van to really see things. We decided to hike to Grotto Falls for our last hike. Several friends had recommended the trail to us and we had high hopes of finding lots of salamanders. Joey and mom and dad set off on the hike at about 11am. This hike was 2.6 miles roundtrip - uphill all the way there, and downhill all the way back. There were lots of stream crossings and at the end you could actually walk behind the waterfall. The downside was that it was lightly raining for most of the hike.

Joey going behind the falls. It only took 35 minutes for us to reach the falls.

Hunting for salamanders. Despite our best efforts, we didn't find a single one anywhere. Joey is still disappointed - we'll have to go back in summer one day!

He did find this snail though

Plus this crazy big centipede.

We were back at the van with the girls by about 12:30pm, and that included lots of time looking for salamanders, so the hike was really pretty short, although my legs were protesting all the hill climbing - apparently I'm out of shape.

We said goodbye to the Smokies and goodbye to Tennessee, and started the long drive back. Our destination was Dayton, OH. We kept searching along the route for churches to attend, and ended up finding a Saturday evening mass in Cinncinnati and ended up attending at St. Rose right on the banks of the Ohio River. We also realized one of the van headlights was burnt out, so we stopped and got a new bulb and Joe put that in. There was a Little Caesars nearby so we also decided to get a couple of pizzas for the road. We made it to Dayton and stayed at a hotel for the night - I had a real estate mastermind event to attend, and the plan was to drop me off there and Joe would drive the kids home on Sunday morning. Which is what happened.

Ending mileage on the van: 154,608. Total miles traveled on this trip: 1686.

Total Trip Expenses:

• Fuel: $324.13 (130.896 gallons, $2.48 average price per gallon - although we still had quite a bit of gas in the tank when we got home)
• Lodging: 3 nights at the campground: $172.28 ($57.43/night) (night at the Kentucky rest stop = free; hotel in Dayton = business expense)
• Restaurants: $62.34 (three meals)


• Groceries: $122.60 (all the rest of the meals on the 5 day trip - we had brought a few things from home, but still, it's way cheaper to eat if you don't eat out!)
• Entertainment: $9 for junior ranger books (and THAT'S IT! we didn't do any expensive touristy things in Gatlinburg or anyplace along the way)

All in all, a pretty affordable trip. We really didn't spend any more money on food than we normally would have at home, so the only real added expenses for enjoying Thanksgiving in the mountains was all the fuel for the van and the campground and junior ranger books, which totaled about $500 - not bad!