Great Smoky Mountains: Birthdays, Bears, and Waterfalls

I had long wanted to see Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It's the most-visited National Park in the nation and contains some of the oldest ecosystems on the planet.  The Appalachian Trail passes through it, and the park is chock-full of waterfalls.  What's not to love?

Gatlinburg TN bumps right up to the park border and is composed mostly of hotels, so I decided that would be the most convenient place to stay.  After two days of driving the Blue Ridge Parkway nearly all by our lonesome we entered the park in the dark of night.  (The Parkway ends at the North Carolina entrance to the park.) Peaceful Parkway gave way to dark Park, and it took us about and hour to drive through to the other side.  The MOMENT we left the park and entered Gatlinburg, our senses were assaulted by flashing lights, traffic, multiple Ripley's attractions of dubious interest, hotels and motels, fudge shops (?), and a ridiculous number of pancake houses.  It was horrifying.  Greg called it Hillbilly Holiday Heaven.  I didn't even have the desire to buy a postcard there, and I LOVE postcards!

Our motel, Carr's Northside Cottages, was a good deal, spacious and clean.  It was a two-bedroom apartment and was decorated in a style I can only describe as Early BYU Dorm, but it worked.  Natalie turned four years old while we were there:

(Note the lovely curtains.)  We found My Little Pony cupcakes at a supermarket in Asheville NC, and she was VERY excited about them:

We spent a couple days in the Park, hiking to every waterfall within a reasonable distance:

We bought Natalie her very own walking stick in hopes that it would make her a more enthusiastic hiker. (Nice try.)  It rained quite a bit while we were there, which is apparently par for the course in the Smokies, but we still managed to do and see quite a bit.  Greg took a nice run that covered part of the AT, and one morning I got up really early and rode the Cades Cove Loop:

It was stunningly beautiful, and chock-full of wildlife.  I saw deer and wild turkeys, and yes, a black bear!  I turned a corner and met a group of riders standing stock-still on the trail, staring off across a meadow.  There at the edge was a black bear, trundling towards the trees.  It was one of the highlights of my trip.

All the rain caused the waterfalls to swell considerably, and the last one we hiked to, Laurel Falls, was so full that it was surging right over the bridge.  Of COURSE we had to go stand IN the waterfall:

The water was freezing cold and really powerful.  Natalie loved it, but it made Ella cry.  (We made her stand there for a picture anyway.  Such good parenting!)  I've got to say, it was really cool.

We did not visit any Ripley's "attractions" (although I hear the aquarium is actually pretty amazing), nor did we indulge ourselves in any of the abundant dinner theater options (the Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Feud, for example, or the Lumberjack Feud, and no, I am not kidding), nor the 10+ go-cart establishments lining the highway through Pigeon Forge (proud home of Dollywood).  We didn't even eat any pancakes, or fudge!  So, it can probably be said that we did not have the quintessential Gatlinburg experience, more's the pity.  The park, though, was a great time.