Smoky Mountain Trip

Our summer trip for 2015 we decided to go to the Smoky Mountains with Grandma & Grandpa Denton and Uncle Tim. We towed our camper and they drove their RV and we drove to Tunica, Mississippi on the first day. We stayed at Sam's Town Casino RV park next to the casino the first 2 nights. There are several casinos in Tunica but they are spread apart. Sams Town, Hollywood, and the Resorts were all next to us. When we went into Sam's Town we were shocked at how small the casino portion was and in talking with one of the dealers he said the other floor(s) were shut down due to the economy. They no longer had a poker room either. We visited all 3 of these casinos as well as the Horseshoe Casino down the road, this one seems to get all of the business and it was busy the whole time. At the Hollywood casino the boys were able to be within 10ft of a few of the slots and we let them "play" with $10 each as we pushed the buttons for them while they told us what to do. Josh lost all of his and Jake turned his into $30.

On Saturday we headed on to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

Saturday we arrived at Creekside RV and setup and just settled in getting our bearings with the surroundings. On Sunday morning we took the boys to the Alpine ride just down the road that went down the mountain.

 

Sunday afternoon and Monday we took the boys to Dollywood. We had a blast riding all the rides including: Wild Eagle, Thunderhead, Rampage, Tennessee Tornado, Fire Station, and Barnstormer. Their favorite ride was the Wild Eagle and it looped upside down several times.

On Tuesday, Grandpa, Jake, Josh and I set out to hike Grotto falls early in the morning. We arrived around 6:15am and before we could even park at the front of the trail we saw a bear. The bear walked beside the truck and kept on moving up the road. So we began our 1.4 mile hike toward the waterfall. We made it roundtrip in about 1.5 hrs and pulled in to camp just before a massive downpour. Later that morning we had our white water rafting trip scheduled for 11am. We arrived in the rainstorm and got geared up for a wet run. The guides were overly excited due to the high waters and better rapids. Jill even made a comment that she was a little nervous at how excited the guides were. Well, we began the rapids on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee on the Pigeon River. About half way down the river one of the Class 4 rapids "taco'd" the boat. Jill and Josh were thrown out of the boat and I took a beating from my paddle. Just as the boat folded up, I was pulling up to paddle and when it collapsed the paddle was slammed across my nose. Once Jill & Josh were pulled into the boat, we pulled over to land to look at my injuries. I was bleeding like crazy. The guides patched me up but said I needed to go to the ER once the trip was done. So we made it down the rest of the way and Jill & I spent 4hrs in the ER to determine that I broke my nose in 2 spots and got 3 stitches across the bridge of my nose.

Wednesday we went to Gatlinburg to visit the Aquarium and the Guiness World Records. We also putt-putt golfed.

Thursday we packed up and headed back home, we stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas at a KOA and spent the night. On Friday, we made the final leg of our trip back home! The Smoky Mountains were great and completely different than the Rockies. There was a lot more trees and everything was very green. The weather was also warmer as well as much more humidity. It rained every day we were there but most days it was only a short shower.