Y'all Come Back Now

So I was suppose to make updates during my vacation since I actually had internet there and I brought my laptop with me, but then I got lazy =P

So to continue from my previous post, the rain finally let up mid week and then we were able to head into the Great Smokey Mountains to hike. Before that though we went to the outlet mall, which unfortunately there were no good sales :l But in the end I was able to get a good deal on non-slip shoes for work! :O

The first day we were there we drove around a place called Cades Cove. it was kind of boring... I guess the Smokey Mountains main attraction are the historical buildings that were built before the US Government kicked the people out and then claimed the land to be a National Park. It was a one way road too and people were driving slowly. Not much to see except open meadows. In the beginning, however, I did take a nice picture of some horses =]

 

I really wanted to go horseback riding but my family are a bunch of party poopers... It was around $25 for an hour which is really good compared to other prices I've seen where it costs around $75 an hour!

In the end we did about 2 hikes in total, I say 'about' because we did a really short walk to a waterfall and then the time before we started to hike to another waterfall (about 1.6 miles) but then we had to turn around because a bear suddenly showed up on the trail. In total we saw 3 bears, two mid-sized ones and then a baby one which the mother was probably somewhere close by. The two hikes we did weren't too bad, one followed the Appalachian Trail which begins in Georgia and goes to Maine, we hiked about 1.7 miles one way.
The second hike we went on was 4 miles in total and was rated as a "strenuous" hike, which I guess it was since it did get steeper as we went up. Overall it wasn't too bad. At the end of the trail though there was a lookout which you had to climb up a sheet of rocks. That was definitely the highlight of the hike. My parents decided to opt out of it because it was steep and you know when people get old their knees give way... :l Should start doing some squats to prevent that haha... =P

This kind of gives you an idea of what it was like... it was really high too... plus I have a fear of heights haha :l But I've realized that after I get there I'm okay with it.

On our way back down we ran into a bear! :O which Mr. Bear decided to take his time eating on the trail so we had to wait till he got off.

In the end we waited about 15 minutes until it was somewhat satisfied. Pretty much these were the highlights of the trip. Pretty much all we did was shop, hike and eat =P