Today was a slower-paced day in Knoxville thanks to everything being closed on Mondays. Therefore, we spent our morning hiking and exploring the Ijams Nature Center. Following our hike, we headed to Knoxville's largest mall for some air conditioning shopping.
Today we spent much of our day in Gatlinburg, TN. We hit up the fun strip filled with statues and shops. We then drove an hour to Knoxville where we explored downtown and went to Graffiti Alley.
Today we spent some of our day driving but most of it was spent exploring. We hit up Sliding Rock in Pisgah National Forest. Sliding Rock is a God-made 60-foot waterslide that ends with an 8 ft drop into 55-degree water. The forest also was filled with beautiful waterfalls and rocks to explore. We even got a little geocaching in.
Great Smokey Mountains involved less hiking and more beautiful scenic driving thanks to a few rain showers. We were able to capture live elk and clear up for the perfect scenic outlook.
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So out of all the places we have visited or will visit, this has to be one of the top highlights. We visited the Biltmore Estates in Asheville and it was incredible! The beauty can not be described in words. The kids did amazing too. Each room had an abundant amount of history that was shared on these handheld telephones that kept even the littles entertained. Absolutely loved it!
We started our morning at the North Carolina Nature Center. Such a fun morning of exploring animals that the kids love to see and some they never have seen before like the Red Panda.
