Camping, Day One
After we left Nashville, we drove about 4 hours to our campsite in Great Smoky National Park. We were excited to meet up with our friends from MBA school, the Mordocks. They live in North Carolina and joined us for the camping section of our trip.
When we first got to the campground it was pouring rain for a few hours, and I started getting a little nervous. We had known there was a rainy forecast for the whole week, and we'd just thought somehow we'd make it through, but once we were actually there, in the rain, staring at our campsite, I started to wonder how we were going to pull this off. I was not looking forward to setting up our tent in the rain and the mud, and didn't know what we were going to do with all the kids. We stayed in the car and waited it out for awhile, and after the Mordocks arrived the rain miraculously stopped for the rest of the afternoon, and we hurried to get everything all set up.
The kids were excited to finally get out of the car and start exploring.
Tristan and Oliver loved hanging out with Jacob, who is about Ollie's age.
Rachel and Elizabeth loved playing with Audrey, who is about Lizza's age.
And Henry loved playing with sticks. Seriously, he was in stick heaven.
After we got the tents and everything set up, Daniel and Jeremy got to work rigging a massive tarp to four trees so we would have a dry place to sit if (when) the rain started up again. All of their hard work was much appreciated later that evening.
We went on a short drive to explore the park a little and find wildlife (lots of wild turkey and deer; no bear yet). While we drove I peeled and cut mounds of carrots and potatoes for our tinfoil dinners later that evening.
After our drive everyone got to work getting a fire started. I loved watching the fire crew at work.
I decided to break out the s'mores while we waited for our tinfoil dinners to cook, just in case the good weather didn't last. Nobody complained about a little dessert before dinner.
Playing a fun game that the Mordocks brought. We had two campsites next to each other, and there was a perfect area in between for the kids to play.
The rain came back pretty strong right after we put our tinfoils on the fire, so we gathered up all the camp chairs and kids and made a dash for the tarp. It was so nice to have a place to sit and relax and talk while the rain came down around us. Jeremy kept watch on the tarp, and every few minutes pushed up the middle so all the water would run off the sides - the resulting waterfalls were very entertaining to the kids. We thought there was no way our dinner would survive the storm, so we were pleasantly surprised when we checked on them after an hour or so and found that they were almost ready. Somehow they managed to cook, despite the pouring rain and burned out fire. It was a delicious dinner. Here's Ollie and Jake taking refuge under the tarp:
I attempted to put Henry to bed in the tent while everyone else was still up and talking. He loved the idea of his sleeping bag, but was not thrilled as soon as I left the tent. I quickly abandoned that idea, and put him in his carseat in the van (which was right by where we were sitting). He fell right asleep, and made the transfer to the tent easily later that night.
After the rain stopped and we had eaten dinner, the kids worked to revive the fire. It was pretty soaked, but they had fun anyway. It ended up being a great evening. After we all got to bed it started raining again, and didn't stop all through the night, but everyone slept really well and we didn't have any problems. It wasn't cold at all.
Camping, Day Two
The kids enjoying their cold cereal for breakfast:
After breakfast Jeremy and Daniel took the three older boys on a 5-mile hike (round-trip) to a waterfall.
The weather was gorgeous the whole day. While the boys were gone it started sprinkling a little, but only for a few minutes. The younger kids had a great time playing around. We went on lots of walks and played Uno.
When they got back we ate lunch and then got ready to go to some nearby caves. The boys managed to build a quick fire before we left.
Our campground was only about 10 miles away from the Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend (a little town just outside the park). We took the guided tour through the caverns. I was amazed at how big they were. There was a little river running through the caves, and a waterfall at the end.
We decided to keep Henry in his stroller, even though there were several stairs throughout the caverns. I guess being carried up and down all over the place in his stroller wore him out. I heard him singing the Star Wars theme song softly to himself, and then this is the next thing I saw:
Our next stop was a hike to Laurel Falls. The hike up to the waterfall was all uphill, and Tristan volunteered to push Henry the whole way up. It was quite the workout, but he never complained.
The falls were beautiful. Oliver saw an otter, the boys caught salamanders, and Daniel and the kids all dunked their heads under the water to cool off.
When we got back to camp, the boys built a big fire and we started getting dinner ready. Jennifer had brought some mini marshmallows and toothpicks for the kids to do a project, and it was the perfect activity for them whie they waited for dinner.
I don't know if Ollie ever left the fire, though. This is definitely his favorite part about camping.
After dinner our family went on a drive to see if we could spot some wildlife. We had really been hoping to see a black bear while in the Smokies, and we were not disappointed!
It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is a mother black bear with three cubs. While we were watching, they put on a bit of a show for us - another black bear approached them, and the mother chased him away while the cubs climbed up a big tree.
Can you see one of the little cubs up in the tree?
Here's another one:
Watching all the action:
I didn't have time to grab the video camera out of the car, but I did manage to capture one of the cubs climbing the tree on my regular camera:
We saw one more black bear grazing in a meadow on the drive back to camp:
When we got back to camp the Mordocks still had the fire blazing, so I put Henry to bed, and then we all sat around the fire and talked until late. And cooked s'mores. Perfect evening.
Camping, Day Three
Henry woke up a little too early the next morning, so I took him out to the car and we hung out and ate licorice until the other campers woke up.
After breakfast we started packing up camp, but there was still plenty of time for playing around.
A little football:
Audrey and Lizza enjoying each other's company and the dirt:
Rachel lassoing some trees:
The girls hanging out:
When Henry started getting in the way of our packing, I gave him the task of hanging all of the balls over the diferent colored bars. When he was finished I had him take them all off and put them on the other rack. He took this job very seriously.
After we left Nashville, we drove about 4 hours to our campsite in Great Smoky National Park. We were excited to meet up with our friends from MBA school, the Mordocks. They live in North Carolina and joined us for the camping section of our trip.
When we first got to the campground it was pouring rain for a few hours, and I started getting a little nervous. We had known there was a rainy forecast for the whole week, and we'd just thought somehow we'd make it through, but once we were actually there, in the rain, staring at our campsite, I started to wonder how we were going to pull this off. I was not looking forward to setting up our tent in the rain and the mud, and didn't know what we were going to do with all the kids. We stayed in the car and waited it out for awhile, and after the Mordocks arrived the rain miraculously stopped for the rest of the afternoon, and we hurried to get everything all set up.
The kids were excited to finally get out of the car and start exploring.
Rachel and Elizabeth loved playing with Audrey, who is about Lizza's age.
And Henry loved playing with sticks. Seriously, he was in stick heaven.
After we got the tents and everything set up, Daniel and Jeremy got to work rigging a massive tarp to four trees so we would have a dry place to sit if (when) the rain started up again. All of their hard work was much appreciated later that evening.
We went on a short drive to explore the park a little and find wildlife (lots of wild turkey and deer; no bear yet). While we drove I peeled and cut mounds of carrots and potatoes for our tinfoil dinners later that evening.
After our drive everyone got to work getting a fire started. I loved watching the fire crew at work.
I decided to break out the s'mores while we waited for our tinfoil dinners to cook, just in case the good weather didn't last. Nobody complained about a little dessert before dinner.
Playing a fun game that the Mordocks brought. We had two campsites next to each other, and there was a perfect area in between for the kids to play.
The rain came back pretty strong right after we put our tinfoils on the fire, so we gathered up all the camp chairs and kids and made a dash for the tarp. It was so nice to have a place to sit and relax and talk while the rain came down around us. Jeremy kept watch on the tarp, and every few minutes pushed up the middle so all the water would run off the sides - the resulting waterfalls were very entertaining to the kids. We thought there was no way our dinner would survive the storm, so we were pleasantly surprised when we checked on them after an hour or so and found that they were almost ready. Somehow they managed to cook, despite the pouring rain and burned out fire. It was a delicious dinner. Here's Ollie and Jake taking refuge under the tarp:
I attempted to put Henry to bed in the tent while everyone else was still up and talking. He loved the idea of his sleeping bag, but was not thrilled as soon as I left the tent. I quickly abandoned that idea, and put him in his carseat in the van (which was right by where we were sitting). He fell right asleep, and made the transfer to the tent easily later that night.
After the rain stopped and we had eaten dinner, the kids worked to revive the fire. It was pretty soaked, but they had fun anyway. It ended up being a great evening. After we all got to bed it started raining again, and didn't stop all through the night, but everyone slept really well and we didn't have any problems. It wasn't cold at all.
Camping, Day Two
The kids enjoying their cold cereal for breakfast:
After breakfast Jeremy and Daniel took the three older boys on a 5-mile hike (round-trip) to a waterfall.
The weather was gorgeous the whole day. While the boys were gone it started sprinkling a little, but only for a few minutes. The younger kids had a great time playing around. We went on lots of walks and played Uno.
When they got back we ate lunch and then got ready to go to some nearby caves. The boys managed to build a quick fire before we left.
Our campground was only about 10 miles away from the Tuckaleechee Caverns in Townsend (a little town just outside the park). We took the guided tour through the caverns. I was amazed at how big they were. There was a little river running through the caves, and a waterfall at the end.
We decided to keep Henry in his stroller, even though there were several stairs throughout the caverns. I guess being carried up and down all over the place in his stroller wore him out. I heard him singing the Star Wars theme song softly to himself, and then this is the next thing I saw:
Our next stop was a hike to Laurel Falls. The hike up to the waterfall was all uphill, and Tristan volunteered to push Henry the whole way up. It was quite the workout, but he never complained.
The falls were beautiful. Oliver saw an otter, the boys caught salamanders, and Daniel and the kids all dunked their heads under the water to cool off.
When we got back to camp, the boys built a big fire and we started getting dinner ready. Jennifer had brought some mini marshmallows and toothpicks for the kids to do a project, and it was the perfect activity for them whie they waited for dinner.
I don't know if Ollie ever left the fire, though. This is definitely his favorite part about camping.
After dinner our family went on a drive to see if we could spot some wildlife. We had really been hoping to see a black bear while in the Smokies, and we were not disappointed!
It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is a mother black bear with three cubs. While we were watching, they put on a bit of a show for us - another black bear approached them, and the mother chased him away while the cubs climbed up a big tree.
Can you see one of the little cubs up in the tree?
Here's another one:
Watching all the action:
I didn't have time to grab the video camera out of the car, but I did manage to capture one of the cubs climbing the tree on my regular camera:
We saw one more black bear grazing in a meadow on the drive back to camp:
When we got back to camp the Mordocks still had the fire blazing, so I put Henry to bed, and then we all sat around the fire and talked until late. And cooked s'mores. Perfect evening.
Camping, Day Three
Henry woke up a little too early the next morning, so I took him out to the car and we hung out and ate licorice until the other campers woke up.
After breakfast we started packing up camp, but there was still plenty of time for playing around.
A little football:
Audrey and Lizza enjoying each other's company and the dirt:
Rachel lassoing some trees:
The girls hanging out:
When Henry started getting in the way of our packing, I gave him the task of hanging all of the balls over the diferent colored bars. When he was finished I had him take them all off and put them on the other rack. He took this job very seriously.
After we got all packed up, we drove up to Gatlinburg with the Mordocks and then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways (them to go back home, us to move on to the next part of our road trip).
We had such a good time camping with them. The few days we spent in the Great Smokies were a good reminder to me that despite all the hassle that can go along with camping, things usually work out one way or another, and it ends up being worth it.
