Trip to Smoky Mtns (1) - Charlie's Bunion and Baskins Creek Falls

I'm baaack! I wanted to give you a good long break from looking at pictures of my family, so that I could gear you up for the next five posts that are, yet again, filled with our faces. :) We spent all last week on vacation with Papa and Nana in the Smoky Mountains. In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're a hiking family and most of our vacations revolve around outdoor activities. The picture below the national park sign was the view from the deck of our cabin (nice shot, Nana!).

Nattie had been on quite a few hikes prior to our vacation, so we thought she'd be a good little hiker on this trip....just like Ben. On our first day we decided to go on a decent hike to Charlie's Bunion (8-9 miles long) and just a few miles in the crying began and it barely stopped the rest of the time! She was tired and could not get comfortable in the carrier...poor girl and poor Papa! He had her yelling in his ear for the better part of the hike! The last two miles or so we all took turns carrying her outside the carrier just to keep her happy! Needless to say we stuck to MUCH shorter hikes the rest of the week. Maybe hiking will grow on her over time...??? :)

I did catch some happy hiker moments from Natalie below...but I assure you she was not digging this hike. :) The views from the top are really cool and luckily the clouds moved out of the way for a short amount of time so we could take it all in!

On day two we went on a shorter hike to Baskins Creek Falls. We've been to the Smoky Mountains many times, but had never tried this hike. It was all down hill on the way there and ALL up hill on the way back. My calves hurt...but the falls were really pretty. Benny decided it would be cool to run through them and completely soak himself from head to toe. He had a blast, but was FREEZING afterwards. He hiked this one himself, so the uphill trek back warmed him up quick! He impressed us so much with what a good hiker he was...no carrier for many of our hikes.