Our Trip To Atlanta, GA & Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN

After taking a trip to South Carolina earlier this year (with my sister and mom) to go to my brother's Army Basic Training Graduation, I kind of figured out what my kids limits were for riding in the car.  So since it's 8 hours from Bloomington, IN to Atlanta, GA we decided that really we would try to stick to a 4 or 5 hour limit in the car each day for long periods of driving, which was plenty long for a 4.5 year old and a 15 month old. So this is how our trip started.  We left early on Thursday morning to drive down to Nashville, TN.  We made it there by lunch time.  (Note to self and any body reading this....half of TN is in the central time zone.  I didn't even think of that when planning this vacation, but we found out when we stopped for lunch).  I'm so glad we had our GPS with us on this trip because it made it a LOT easier to find places to eat.  Though the GPS does not take into account if a restaurant is being torn down to be rebuilt...as was the case with our first choice in Nashville, McDonald's.  So then we had to quickly find another spot to eat which turned out to be Arby's.  I'm just going to say this....I wasn't happy with that place.  It was so NOT kid friendly.  I understand being right downtown you probably get mostly business people there, but to come across a restaurant, particularly a fast food chain, that didn't have a diaper changing station (good thing I had the diaper pad so I could at least put that on the floor to change L's diaper) and no high chairs?!  I was just shocked.  It was a good thing we packed the portable booster seat, the hubby had to go out and get it from the car.  So anyways, that's my rant about the Arby's in Nashville, TN.

After lunch we went to Adventure Science Center.  This is a GREAT stop to let the kids get out and run around, especially A.  The hubby and I really liked this stop though because it was FREE!  Since we have a membership to WonderLab here in Bloomington we were able to use that to get in free to this science center.  I highly suggest getting memberships to any local science center near you because if it's on the ASTC Travel Passport Program then you can get into any other museum on the list for absolutely free. 

So at the Adventure Science Center we were also able to find a place for L to play on some huge foam building blocks. 



 A. really had fun playing with this train.  But he was the one running all over the place.  He really liked the central climbing thing they have there.  In the center of the center they have this...I think it's about 4 stories tall....climbing structure that has all sorts of interactive things to do.  Hubby went on it with him and fun too.


So both the kids had fun.  Or should I say all 3 of the kids had fun.  I'm pretty sure the hubby had lots of fun at this water table.  You are supposed to build veins (like blood veins, it was in the health and body section) and then see how the water flows through them, like your blood.


After the Adventure Science Center we had dinner and went to the hotel for swimming.  The next day, Friday, we left our hotel and headed to the Parthenon, also in Nashville, TN.  I'm so glad we did this because it's really amazing to see.  It's the only life size replica of the real Parthenon in Greece.


You can see how big it is because the kids and I look like ants in this photo.  It truly is amazing to walk around those columns and see how big they are and to think that the real Parthenon over in Greece was completed in 438 B.C. and is still mostly standing today.  With this being a complete replica you can see all the detail in the statues and the huge doors.  If you ever go to Nashville it really is a must see on anyone's list.

This is a replica of the gargoyle that is on all 4 corners of the roof.

 As you can see in the photo above A. is holding a stick figure.  We like to call it "Flat Uncle Eric". He is a soldier who got deployed to South Korea and A. really wanted to bring him along on our vacation.  It's one of the only ways we were able to take pictures of A., if was 'taking a picture' with Uncle E.




After our lunch we headed down to Atlanata, GA.  (Here's a BIG note, Atlanta traffic pretty much sucks. Worse than Chicago traffic. So be patient).  We got there just in time to hit rush hour traffic.  Good thing I was driving and I wasn't in any hurry.  But it took us about 1 hour to go about 5 miles.  I then learned that really only the 2 right lanes were that bad and while the left lanes were still bad, they weren't that bad and since I still had several miles to go, I switched lanes.  Any who, once settled in our hotel and dinner was eaten we met some of hubby's relatives at Stone Mountain for the laser light show.  All I have to say about that is....it was pretty spectacular!!

 
Our next day was the family reunion and we had lots of fun getting to know the hubby's side of the family.  There were LOTS and LOTS of water balloons and even some Indiana "snowballs", crocheted by me. :)

On Sunday while everyone was heading home we decided to explore Atlanta some more.  First stop, Legoland, then to Ikea.  Check out the slide show below for photos from Legoland.  I think A. had a lot of fun there.  And even L had fun playing with the big foam legos.  As for me, I had fun at Ikea.  It was my first time going and...well...let's just say I was a little overwhelmed by it all.  I didn't know what to really expect but it was more than I did expect.  And since the hubby was nice enough to drive around with sleeping kids while I had some kid free time in the store....we will have to plan a kid free trip to Cincinnati, OH to go to the Ikea there so he can see it too.

Monday we left Atlanta to drive to cabin (for the week) in Pigeon Forge, TN.  We stopped for lunch in Cherokee, NC. We would have stopped to do some of the things there but we were a little excited to get to our cabin.  To get there we had to drive through the Smoky Mountains.  So we got our first real taste of what the mountains were like.  And boy, are those roads curvy!  I don't think there is a straight road anywhere in the Smokies.  And it takes you awhile to get through them because you can't go fast and they are just too curvy.  But man the sites are beautiful!!  After arriving at our cabin and getting settled we headed out for dinner and to hit up the Walmart for some groceries for the week.

So here is the line up of the rest of our week:
Tuesday - Did the 11 mile loop of Cades Cove in the national park. FYI, it will take you at the very least  1/2 a day to do this.  It's only 11 miles but like I said before, it takes some time to get places in the Smokies.  Plus throw in some time if you see animals from the road to take photos and then time to stop at the visitor center.  Not to mention if you wanted to do any of the hiking trails on the loop, you could easily spend a whole day just in Cades Cove.  But it's worth it.  The scenic views to surrounded by the mountains is worth it.  After eating our lunch in the car we headed to Ober Gatlinburg.  To be honest, hubby and I had higher hopes for this.  We were a little disappointed.  I guess we just thought there would be more.  It is a ski resort so I'm sure they get most of their money from the winter season but they do have an indoor ice skating rink that is open year round and outside they have lots of rides for kids.  I think the best thing though was the alpine slide.  Though I'm sure A. enjoyed everything he did there.  Here is a little heads up for anyone planning on going to Ober Galinburg.  If you have small kids, like we do, and say only 1 is going to ride rides....just get 1 adult pass.  You only need a pass if you are going to ride the rides, other than that you can walk wherever you want.  Since I was going to be staying with L...we just got one pass for the hubby, and since A. was free with an adult pass...well it saved us money doing it that way.  Anyways, if you need a place for kids to have fun, then this would be a good stop, other wise, the hubby and I didn't think that much of it. After Ober Gatlinburg we went down the mountain to Gatlinburg to go up the Space Needle.  This had some great views!  After that we walked the town a little bit trying to figure out where to eat, because there are a LOT of choices.  After eating some very yummy pizza we went to the Hollywood Stars Car Museum and some some of our favorite cars from different movies and TV shows.  I really enjoyed seeing the truck from the Avengers movie as well as the main car, Eleanor, from the movie Gone in 60 Seconds.  This was the most packed day in TN and we were tired after that.

Wednesday - This day was a little easier than the day before.  We started out at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies, which was awesome.  They have this huge tunnel to walk through and there are sharks all around swimming in the big tank.  There were also some HUGE stingrays and and HUGE sea turtle.  Hubby and I also got to pet some horseshoe crabs.  A. and L. really enjoyed looking at all the fish.  L. kept on saying "Ooooo.....OOOOOOO!!"  It was really cute how he was into looking at everything.  A. enjoyed everything and just wanted to go from one tank to the next.  After that we walked more of downtown Gatlinburg.  Then, while the kids took a nap, we drove up and down the main road in Pigeon Forge. And later that day we walked around the Old Mill area, where I got my souvenir of the trip, a new "hot chocolate" mug from a local pottery store.

Thursday - This day started out a little on the rainy side.  So we had to find indoor things to do.  We started out at the Rainforest Adventure Zoo, where we saw some great animals.  Some were even new to myself and the hubby.  Then we headed to Wonder Works (aka-the upside down house) for some indoor science fun.  I love that after we bought our tickets there you can go and come and you please for the whole day!  After that we went to eat lunch at the Alamo Steakhouse, which was very yummy.  Then, since the kids fell asleep again in the car we decided to drive up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point of the Smokies.  And since it was rainy and overcast we had to drive through the 'smoke' of the Smokies.  Let's just say we really learned why they are called the Smokies.  Up at Clingmans Dome you are in a cloud one minute and next it's drifted by you.  Hubby push A. in the stroller up the 1/2 mile trail to the observation tower, which he said he will never push a stroller up that again.  I stayed with L at the welcome center there.  But I still had some really great sites waiting from them to come back.  And last we ended the day with some ice cream.

Friday - We packed everything up and loaded the car, said goodbye to our little camping cabin and headed home.  I have to say that the cabin was VERY nice.  We stayed at the Bear Cove Village which is an RV park but I'm pretty sure these cabins were built recently.  It wasn't more than main room with bunks (full on bottom, twin on top) and a basic kitchen, a second room with a full bed, and then a bathroom, but it was all the space we needed....and for what we got for the price, we couldn't beat it.  I think we will stay there again.

So that's the wrap up of our 2013 summer vacation.  Now you can enjoy some photos from the Smokies.