With the COVID virus beginning to spread throughout the world, we had to make some adjustments to our spring break plans. Fortunately, we were able to go on spring break. While we originally planned on doing activities like a Pirates dinner theater, mini golf, a mountain coaster, and other typical Gatlinburg activities, those didn't seem like a great idea.
So, instead, we hiked - a lot. Our cabin backed up to the Great Smoky National Park and a trail, so we did some trail runs. Jacob, joined Jared and Dani on a run down to the visitor's center and back up the hill - the up hill was quite an effort! On one run Jared took, when he rounded a corner, there was a bobcat on the trail about 75 feet in front of him!
One day, we drove a long ways into the park into Cade's Cove to hike to Abram's Falls. It was a beautiful drive near mountain creeks. The hike was a beautiful 5+ mile hike through woods and near a stream down to Abram's Falls. The kids were good hikers.
The waterfall at the end was worth the hike!
The house was perfect for our family. The cabin was quite new - it opened to guests only a few months earlier. We had a lot of fun just being in the cabin. Downstairs, there was a video game in a barrel console that got lots of use, especially by the boys.
We sat on the wrap-around porch to eat sometimes, to sit and read, and to just enjoy the woods.
There was a hot tub downstairs that we enjoyed a few times.
We also watched some movies as a family. The kids discovered "Secondhand Lions," which they thought was especially funny as they compared one of the characters to Grandpa John. We also watched the Narnia trilogy. Liam was really into it and couldn't sit still.
The downstairs became our puzzle table - we made a couple puzzles as a family, led, of course, by Claire!
The driveway getting to the cabin was super steep. One day, we decided to run hills, going down to the bottom and running back up. Everyone joined in the challenge. It was seriously a big, steep hill!!!
The one activity we decided to do was a horseback ride. We went after some rain, so it was pretty muddy, but it was a fun ride. A lot of the ride was through areas of the forest that had been burned recently in some of the large wildfires in 2016.
One day, we drove up to the Appalachian Trail (since Jared has been listening to the book "North" about the Appalachian Trail). Unfortunately, the view wasn't very good because the clouds were very low that day.
After the drive, we took another 5-mile hike up to Alum Cave. The trail had some fun features, including a little area like a tunnel through some rock. There was a great vista of the valley below where we stopped on the way down for our lunch. The cave itself was not so much of a cave as a large rock under-cropping, but it was neat to see.
On the way down, Liam came up with the idea of a video game he wants to create called "Forks and Knives, Battle Royale." He spent the last 2 hours of the hike constantly talking about the different characters, the cheese grater, the can opener, etc, and the different levels and bosses. After getting back to the cabin, he started drawing out his characters as well.
One day, we went to a park in Gatlinburg to play disc golf and to play at the park. The course was nice, and the park was a great place to get away from the crowds.
We even got to see some bears! We drove up to Ober Gatlinburg to see the view, and on the way down, Dani noticed a mama bear and her 2 cubs walking right next to some condos on a hillside.
Gatlinburg was still bustling, but as the COVID outbreak worsened, more activities began to shut down. While on our spring break, Great American officially closed their offices and transitioned to everyone working from home. Jared needed to be on some calls to arrange this. Additionally, Sycamore schools closed down and will begin learn from home as well. It was a little bit unsettling not knowing what the environment would be when we returned. We were grateful, in any event, to have chosen a destination that allowed us to be outside and with our own family.
