Rummel Family: Tennessee

We normally dont do much for our anniversary. But since this was our 10th, we thought we'd splerge and go on a trip to get away. We'd always wanted to go to the Gatlinburg area, so we rented a cabin for 3 nights and sent the kids to Mimi's. We drove down in about 6 1/2 hours and spend the first evening shopping at the outlet mall in Pigeon Forge. The nest morning we went to the Smoky Mountain National Park for some hiking. We had heard of a nice waterfall in the park, but that it was a 8 mile hike round trip (Ramsey Cascade). So we set out early, found the road to the trailhead, and started off! The trail takes you up 2000ft to the waterfall, so it's not an easy stroll through the woods. :) But it was a beautiful trek -- rhodadendrons blooming all around and the constant sound of the river nearby. There were a couple "bridges" I wasn't overly thrilled about crossing ----just a log with the top shaved off to make a more level walking surface. But after about 2 1/2 hours we made it to the waterfall. We were the first ones that day, so we ate our lunch in solitude on the large rock right in front of the waterfall. I have to admit I was slightly disappointed, only because the waterfalls I've ever hiked to were in Yosemite. Those waterfalls (and mountains) are much bigger than those in the Smokies. But it was still a beautiful waterfall and I mostly enjoyed the hike in the woods with no one around. :) The hike down was much easier and only took 2 hours. I hadn't planned anything else for that day (in case it really took 7 hours to hike the trail!) so we went miniture golfing after dinner.
The next day we decided to stretch our tight muscles and hike to another waterfall. This one was not so far or so hard of a trail, but the trail continued behind/under the waterfall and went to the sumit of the mountain. We both thought this waterfall was pretty cool. That afternoon, we went ziplining. We could see the Smoky Mountains the whole 3 hours we were up in the trees. It was quite awesome! We dont have any pictures of it, since we didn't really know what we were getting into, but next time we will for sure. :)

The kids didn't seem to miss us at all. They were at Mimi's and they got to go to her county fair all but one of the days! And Alex lost his first tooth. It came loose at lunch and fell out at snack time---a matter of hours! He is so proud of himself. I mean, he's lost a tooth and he's going to first grade. He knows everything, right? Well he sure thinks so!