Joey caught a crayfish/crawdaddy an hour after we arrived and setup camp!
Shopped in town and Josh and Ellie went on the Earthquake ride. It was pretty lame.
Andrea and girls, Kevin and Maria and the Thomas's hiked to the top of Clingman's Dome and a little bit of the Appalachian Trail. We also stoped at Newfound Gap and the visitor center.
The Thomas's then went to town and visited the Ripley's Aquqrium. Joey and Ellie loved it. Joey more.
The Lewton's, Sicken's and Thomas's all played Hillbilly Golf in town. We had to take a tram ride up a hill to get to the start of the course!
Everyone went up on a tram ride in Ober Gatlinburg to the top of the mountain and then Joey, Ellie, Kelly, Jason, Meg and Lauren all rode the Alpine Coaster, Ellie did the Human Maze and the Rock Wall.
The Thomas's rose the ski lift to the top of the mountain and saw the rain storm hit Gatlinburg, where the Sickens and Lewton's were! It was a massive cloudburst and localized downpour! We even saw a huge rainbow. Josh called out a glum kid on his way up the ski lift. (Why so sad, Panda Bear?) to which the kid looked up and smiled while Josh and Joey burst out laughing!!
Jeani bought Texas rolls for dinner in town!
The Thomas's went horseback riding at Jayell (JL?) Ranch. Joey rode Blackjack, Jeani rode Charlotte, Ellie rode Smokey, and Josh rode Hitler! Seriously! They gave Josh the meanest old horse since he knew how to ride. Josh handled Hitler so well, Jeani got jealous! Then they went back
to Gatlinburg and went in the Guiness Records building which turned out to be a big arcade to try and beat the world records. Then the Thomas's and
VanSickle's all went to Dolly Parton's Stampede (formerly Dixie Stampede but name changed for Political correctness in 2018).
Last day was spent at camp swimming and sliding. Ellie played in the creek with the VanSickle girls for a couple of hours on Friday.
Jake had to go to the hospital due to coming in contact with Poison Sumac when his family went on the same horseback riding adventure. Andrea was adamant that it was from the ivy wrapped around every tree in the campground. The Sicken's also
went White Water Rafting on Thursday.
The last night (07/07) Josh had to login to work at midnight for an application upgrade. He had to go up to the arcade and sit on the covered porch, in the dark, with a blanket and flashlight. He had to work until ~3am then went back to bed so he could get some sleep before having to drive home.
Thomas's site is very grassy and cool. It was near a service road up into the mountain and they could feel a nice cool breeze flowing down into their site! Josh and Sophie sat outside many early mornings missing Brandy and playing MegaMan Battle Network 1&2 on the Nintendo Wii-U.(222)
Sicken's site is very muddy and moldy due to the shade and proximity to the creek. (215)
VanSickles (211) and Lewton's (212) Sites are all gravel and no place to park the vehicles. Also very close to the creek for the kids to play in.
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