Monday, April 22, 2019

2019 vacation pt.1

This year our family decided to take a vacation south again! We left on 03/15/19 to head to Kentucky to visit some family friends who moved down there last august! It was nice to visit with them and get a chance to see more of Kentucky. We left Saturday afternoon (16th) and drove a few hours to hotel in Tennessee where we rested for the night and got on the road again. We drove most of Sunday (17th) until we finally reached out hotel in Florida and took a short swim at the pool in the evening.
Florida welcomes green grass
Gone swimming

 On monday we stayed at the hotel and swam, went for a walk, and just kinda had a break from traveling. Tuesday we decided to go to the Gulf of Mexico as it was raining on the Atlantic side. We stopped at Plant City and got amazing strawberry shortcake that we got the last time we went to Florida! I was able to make a successful sandcastle and make some shell designs.
Best place on the planet
This turned out so cool!!!
On Wednesday we went to the Atlantic coast to Indiatlantic Beach (south of Cocoa Beach) and spent another day the beach and sight seeing. The waves were a lot bigger here than at the Gulf. 
It was cold at first!!!
wow, such beautiful ladies.... I wonder who they are...
Thursday and Friday we did something amazing... we went surfing! I always thought it would be really cool to learn how to surf, so we went to a surf school called Ron Jon Surf Shop. We took a lesson and it didn't go too bad! I was able to get up a few times even!! Mom and Emmett stayed back and chased birds and played in the water. And by the way... I did NOT get attacked by a shark. 
Getting the wet suits
I'm up!!
He loved the beach!!!
His favorite thing to do was chase birds!!!!
We sadly left Florida Friday afternoon to make our way up to our hotel in Georgia where we were staying the night. We drove most of Saturday to get to Gatlinburg Tennessee, where we would be staying for the next 3 days. We spent time at the pool and exploring the resort. Did I mention that we were practically staying in the mountains! 
Smokey Mountains
So beautiful...

Life size checkers!
On Sunday we took a hike up rainbow trail to go see the falls. It took us SIX hours to hike up and back down. We walked almost seven miles up with switchbacks. I died after that... but it was very pretty!!
Emmett walked almost the whole way up... he finally took a nap after we got up to the end. I carried him back singing moana to appease his restless soul.
 
This was the main fall. It was a 70 feet tall!
On monday we had a laid back day and went for a drive in the Great Smokey Mountain Nat'l Park. We drove to Cades Cove 11mi scenic loop. It was gorgeous and had lots of old cabins and churches that we explored. The view was breath-taking.

On one of the days that we were in Gatlinburg we went to a candy store to browse and get some treats!

That's the end of part one. Part two will be on here very shortly! Hope you enjoyed the pics!! 
                       Always,