Visiting NC + Gatlinburg

Oh, were to begin? This last week has been crazy, and relaxing at the same time. We've just packed so much into 7 days. The trip went bye in the blink of an eye. We left Saturday morning, and drove down to North Carolina, which took about 7ish hours. I spent most of the time dreaming up new gluten free creations to try, movie watching, and looking out at the beautiful view. We stayed at a little lake called Nantahala Lake. For two days we boated, tubed, canoed, and kayaked. It was my first time trying both kayaking and canoeing  It was pretty exciting, except for the whole time I was paranoid it was going to flip over!

The other day in North Carolina, we went white water rafting. And let me tell you...it was quite the adventure! The whole trip was 2 1/2 hours, and by the end we were soaked, but overall it was a blast!

After 4 days in North Carolina, we packed up and headed up north to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We arrived at about 2:00, unpacked at the hotel, and started out adventure. Gatlinburg is very different from anything I've ever experienced. We started off taking a sky lift to the top of the Smokey Mountains! The view was great, I was just a little nervous since I have a fear of heights...and we were pretty high up! At the top we rode on Alpine Slides! It was the first time I had ever done so and it was really neat especially because we were going down a mountain! 

After the sky lift, we went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner. I have to say Mellow Mushroom is one of the best pizza restaurants ever! My mom, dad and I all split a large pizza and my brother was able to get a gluten free pizza! 

After dinner, we explored downtown. It was so unique! We went to Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium. It was really interesting.

Attention ladies: This picture is made out of nail polish!

 After that, we walked around and eventually my mom and I split up from the boys so we could go shopping. Our first stop was a candy shop where I got a haystack, and fresh made chocolate taffy. After that, went to a sock store. That's right...a store that only sells socks! I, of course, got a baking pair. After that, we had decided to go back to the hotel and go to the hot tub, which is never a bad idea! 

The next morning we went to the Ripley's Aquarium. This was probably my highlight of the entire trip! The aquarium had so many different beautiful creatures, and some was even hands on! After the aquarium, we headed home.

Doesn't it look like he's smiling?

Well, that concludes our trip! Also, remember Clara, the Danish exchange student I interviewed a while back? Well, she's leaving to go back home to Denmark on Monday! :( Good luck, and we'll miss you Clara!  

"Farvel" :)

This means "goodbye" in Danish