Spring Break - Gatlinburg, TN - Part 2

After the rain had subsided a bit, we all drove up into the mountains to the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. We did a 2+ mile hike to see Laurel Falls which is a cascading waterfall. It was strange driving up to to top of the mountains where there was still snow. The air was definitely cooler too. The hike was uphill all the way there and downhill all the way back. There were a couple spots where Nathan was sure to be on the mountain side of the path since the other side was a very steep drop-off.

We also did a driving tour up in the mountains one night just before dark. We were hoping to see some black bears but didn't have any luck. However, we did see a couple turkeys, a number of small waterfalls, and some really old mountain houses and farms. On one of our last days part of the group went horseback riding in the mountains. It actually turned out to be really nice. Allison and Reygan rode horses all by themselves for the first time and were very proud about that. The trails went up and down in the mountains and across a couple streams. Overall it was just a nice quiet ride with some good scenery. We also took the kids into town to a kids-only portion of the Little Pigeon river where they stock rainbow trout every Thursday. There were some VERY large trout in that stream and I think almost all the kids caught one.
Nathan's big catch at the kids-only section of the river.
On our last night, we went to Gatlinburg so the girls could take a peek at the shops. We took the aerial tram up to Ober Gatlinburg (think 1970's ski resort that hasn't changed since it was built). the tram ride was pretty cool. It goes WAY up in the air and there were a couple parts (after passing a tower) where you'd get the "falling" feeling for a second or two. At the top, the skiing was done for the season but they had a skating rink, tubing, low-budget zoo with black bears, a couple rides, and a few little shops. It took awhile to get back down since it was the end of the night and everyone was trying to ride the tram back down to town.

The last night at the cabin was spent around the fire in the outdoor pavilion at the cabin cooking s'mores. As is the case with most vacations, this one was far too short. But maybe we'll do it again in a few years. It was definitely a nice break from Florida crowds.

Some additional pictures from our trip...

Nathan and Allison on their horses...

A dozen rainbow trout caught right behind the cabin (the only day they really seemed to be biting)...
Scott wading a section of the river a couple miles downstream from the cabin...

Spring Break - Gatlinburg, TN - Part 1

The time is finally here... Spring Break 2009! We haven't taken a big trip in a couple years so this year, after talking to some friends about their trips, we decided to rent a "cabin" in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee for a week. Heidi did the legwork of looking around and found an AMAZING cabin through Jackson Mountain Homes called Skipping Stone which was right on the Little Pigeon River, a nice mountain trout stream. It was a bit expensive so we split the cost with three families (her brothers Scott and Keith and their families). We didn't even have much planned once we got there but I knew I wanted to do some fishing and relaxing, Heidi wanted to do some shopping and relaxing, and the kids just wanted to play (no relaxing).

Our trip had us driving down to Cincinatti (actually Florence, KY right at the Cinci airport). We spent the night there and then continued on to Gatlinburg, TN the next morning. I'd never been down to this area of the country before and it was my first time in the mountains. I must say it was pretty cool to see. When we got to Gatlinburg we did our grocery shopping and picked up our fishing licenses and then checked in and got directions to our cabin. I had some pretty high expectations of the place based on the information online and the price. But when we finally got there I was completely BLOWN AWAY (as was everybody else)! In fact, I think Scott may have been literally jumping up and down out of excitement when he got out of the car...

The place was twice as big as I expected and we could have easily had another family go and still have had extra room. We all spent the first hour or so unloading cars and groceries and touring our home for the next week. It happened to be 72 degrees when we arrived and we knew the next few days were supposed to be very cold so we took advantage of the weather and spent the rest of the day outside fishing and relaxing by the river (pictures below).

Just as expected, the next two days were very cold. We even had snow on the ground one morning. But that didn't hurt anybodys feelings. We spent the time relaxing and playing inside and also made a trip to the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies. It was pretty cool as far as aquariums go. They have a really cool tunnel through some of the aquariums and we got to see all sorts of sea creaturs up close. The highlight for us was the sharks. The lowlight was the crowd of people. Everyone had the same idea of visiting during the cold stretch.

Here are some pictures from our first couple days.... Stay tuned for more on our trip.
Rocky (the dog), Zach, Nathan, and Nick stretching their legs at a gas station just before we got to Gatlinburg...
Skipping Stone - our home for the week in the Smoky Mountains...
Nathan and Allison on the rocks by the river. This is one of my favorite pics from the week...
Nathan and Keith fishing the Little Pigeon River right after we unloaded the cars. Keith would eventually slip on the submerged portion of the rock he's standing on and get a taste of how cold a mountain stream really is...
I got to try out my new Cabela's waders right after we arrived and they didn't leak a bit!

Allison, Nick, and Reygan playing in the river...
Allison, Rocky, and Angie chilling out on the swing by the river...
Keith caught the first trout shortly after we started fishing. We thought we'd be catching them that quick all week. Later, we found out only one day would be a 'good' fishing day...
The swim spa was a big hit with the kids. It doubled as a large hot tub too so we got to use it every day regardless of the temperature outside...
Shot of a shark swimming over us at the aquarium while we were in the tunnel. Look at those teeth!
Heidi and the kids at the aquarium...
Nathan after diving with the sharks.... (just kidding, just posing for a photo-op)
Nathan and Zach getting ready for bed in one of the four "cubby holes" up in the padded play area...

Great Wolf Lodge - Traverse City

After all the New Year celebrating (aka eating) it was time to head up to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City with Scott & Val and the boys for some fun in the waterpark. We only stayed one night but that's just about the right amount of time to enjoy the park without it getting too repetitive. Surprisingly, the crowds were rather small so there really wasn't ever much of a wait for anything. We did the big tube slides, the body slides, the kiddie slides... pretty much everything. I think Scott and I had the most fun finding a good spot on the giant treehouse and soaking unsuspecting people walking through. How old are we again? Here are some shots of our trip along with a classic video of Scott trying to cross the lilypads without touching the ropes. Unfortunately, I couldn't rotate the video. But it had to be posted nonetheless.

Allison on the lilypads. She had an unique technique... pull on the rope to get close and then do a belly-flop to the next one. Stand up and repeat.
Heidi and Allison splashing at the bottom of the green tube slide (the best of the big slides!)
Nathan going down the kiddie slides with Nick.
Scott, Zach, Val, and Nick after the green tube slide.
Scott trying to stay light on his feet... Sorry, you'll have to tilt your head to enjoy it

Ludington Vacation - Part II

Our next adventure while in Ludington was our annual bike trip up to the Big Sable Point Lighthouse. It was storming earlier in the day but cleared up nicely so we could make the trip. We've made this trip every year and now that Allison has a mountain bike with gears the ride was MUCH more pleasant for everyone. The ride is a little more than 2 miles each way from our campground. Part of it is bike path but the majority is an old two-track gravel road that goes from the campgrounds straight north along the Lake Michigan beach to the point. It was a special night so they had old fashioned games, tours up in the tower, educational information about the lighthouse, and s'mores around the firepit. During the educational portion, the host used Nathan and Allison as helpers while explaining how the lighthouse lense focused all the light into a narrow band to make it visible for a greater distance. Take a look at what that does to someone's face while they're in the thing!

Afterwards, the kids played around by the beach before eating s'mores...

The next day was spent mainly doing laundry, relaxing at the beach for kayaking and swimming, visiting the skate park (more later), and, of course, going to House of Flavors for ice cream in a waffle cone.

Nathan also got hooked on skimboarding while at the beach. We ended up staying until sunset and were the only ones on the beach...very relaxing. Here's a video of one of his wipeouts... but he ended up getting the hang of it and mastered the 180.

Kodak moment...

Sunset skimming...

Ludington Vacation - Part I

Sorry for the delay in posting, but we just returned from our annual week-long camping trip to Ludington State Park. If you like camping and have never been there, you MUST go. The state park is huge with three campgrounds in the park sandwiched between Hamlin Lake and Lake Michigan. We always stay at the Beechwood campground which is next to a boardwalk on Lost Lake which connects to Hamlin Lake. This was our 9th year going and it's still as fun as the first time. We spent the first day on the boat fishing with Papa Weiss. He continued fishing on day two and ended up with enough for us to have a fish fry and fill a one gallon zip lock as well. We caught bass, bluegill, rock bass, and walleye. On day two, we floated down the river from Hamlin Lake Dam to Lake Michigan to play at the beach and ride the Lake Michigan waves in the kayak. Of course, we made the trip to town to get ice cream in waffle cones at House of Flavors (Heidi's favorite) and Nathan noticed they built a new skate park at Stearns Park in downtown Ludington... but more on that in a future post.

Here are a few pics from our first couple days...

Papa Weiss with some large bluegills. Don't be fooled. Papa has VERY large hands...
Nathan and Allison riding the waves on Lake Michigan...
Nathan and Heidi doing the same...
Ally "The Fish" McDaid swiming in the waves...

Happy Birthday Gordie...

I finally got to use one of my Christmas presents... Brian W. gave me four tickets to the Redwings game vs. the Nashville Predators on March 30th so we all made the trek down to "The Joe". Turned out it was also Gordie Howe's birthday so they had a number of things going on that night remembering the days when he played. We asked Ally what she remembers most about the game and of course her reply: "it was someone's birthday". We got there a little early so we got to go down against the glass to watch warm-ups. Nathan was right against the glass and took a number of shots from his point of view (funny). Too bad our seats weren't that close! Anyway, the Wings won 1-0 in overtime (Franzen). Here are some shots:


Arriving at "The Joe":
Red Wings warmup through the eyes of an 8 year old hockey fan (he seemed to be focused on McCarty... probably because he got to see him in the dressing room at Van Andel Arena):Dad and the kids from our seats:

Swimming in the snow...

Well, not really in the snow...

No vacation on the planner for this year so we decided to take a trip up to Traverse City from Feb. 24-26 to Great Wolf Lodge during the kids' winter break. It was cold and snowing outside but a balmy 80 degrees in the water park. We had a lot of fun and the kids saw many of their friends from school there. Seems we weren't the only ones from Bauerwood Elementary with the idea of getting away and pretending like we're not enduring another cold Michigan winter.

The kids' Wolf Den in the room (even had their own TV..)