Family vacation June 2017

We took our family on a road trip to Bryson City, NC.  We have 4 kids, ages 9,5,4, and 2.  So when we plan trips we consider our youngest ones, what is safe? what is fun?
We have rented cabins or houses in various locations before and that route always works best for longer stays. Fitting our family of 6 in a hotel room for more than one night becomes tiresome and stressful for everyone. And staying only one night over many locations results in many sleepless nights.
So, we chose a cabin on a shallow creek within an hour's drive to multiple activities.  On previous family trips to the Smoky Mountains, we have visited Bryson City for shopping (when we had only 1 kid and I could go by myself or with my mom).  However, this time, the shopping would be limited.  Little Kids and crafts and antiques don't mix.  I don't need anymore stuff anyway.
Turns out that this is a perfect place for families with little kids.

Our first full day in the area we traveled about 30 miles to Cherokee, NC. A place I had never been before.  This town is on the 'other' side of the Smoky Mountain National Park - the NC side.  Most people enter from the Gatlinburg, Tennessee gate.   Cherokee, NC is home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Reservation.  The town is quaint, full of touristy stuff but also has some genuine character and good educational stuff.  We chose the Indian Village, an outdoor living museum of  18th century Cherokee life.  This was good for the kids, teaching them to listen and watch.  Nathan loved the cabins and the blow dartgun.  Anna loved the dancing and music. Sam loved the cabins and the wheelchair ramp.  Jonah loved the little streams running under the bridges along the trail.
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The village was staffed with youngish individuals who were knowledgeable and good with kids.  When Nathan was told that the dance show would start soon, he let off an excited war whoop (i let them watch peter pan that morning, mistake). A  nearby man with feathers in his hair (cherokee guy) explained gently how the war whoop was Hollywood's version and it was not a real call.
We spent 3 hours there at the village, had refreshments from their snack bar and walked the nice nature trail around the village with some water features and big beautiful woodland plants.
After 3 hours in the village, we went into town searching for a light lunch. We found a nice locally owned deli, had some expensive but tasty sandwiches.  We drove around the town, saw the big casino, found a great riverside park for swimming. But we decided to go ahead and drive into the National Park up to Clingman's dome.  Funny thing about the Smoky Mountains.... it rains a lot and it is colder and windy up on the mountain top.  Well, we made do with towels and umbrellas and strollers.  And we made it to the top! (long story, short).

Day 2 we spent close to home.  Did u know there is an entrance to the park there at Bryson City? I didn't.  It is considered a recreational area. It has a huge campground, trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding.  But the big fun is....  Tubing down Deep Creek!  This day we hiked up to 2 of the 3 waterfalls there. Then we rented 3 tubes and took turns hiking up the hill and riding down.  We were wore out!  But that was so much fun!  Even Sam loved it!

Day 3 we took it easy.  Jay and Nathan wanted to rest and go fishing.  I took the little kids to town, to the county playground which was great, then to the store for supplies and to the salon for haircuts for sam and anna.  That afternoon we spent at the train museum and doing laundry at the nicest laundrymat i have ever seen.  See, there is an actual train ride that departs from Bryson City, lasts about 4 hours round trip.  We chose to save the money and do other things, considering our kids will probably get bored after about 20 minutes. The train museum is a model train museum, but it was still pretty cool and the kids begged to go back.  They have interactive stations (buttons to push) and a scavenger hunt on the Big Display.

After dinner, I also got to briefly visit the one shop in town that I didn't want to miss - the Native American Craft Store.  Yay me! We also went to a Gem mining place.  The kind of place for tourists that don't have time or energy to go dig in a mine for actual jewels...  well we thought it would be fun for the kids.  Well, Anna and Jonah were more interested in playing in the water flowing out of the end of the slide, then actually playing in the dirt. But Nathan, me and Jay had fun. We 'found' an emerald rock and some other colorful and promising rocks.

waiting on mom to reappear.

Gem Mining

Day 4 Nathan and Jay spent the morning fishing in the creek behind the cabin. They didn't catch anything just a few nibbles.  We had originally planned to spend a day in Asheville but we decided to forego the hour long drive and save that money. After lunch, we went back to the National park in town and went tubing all together twice! It was great!  On the way out of the park, in the valley, we saw some elk grazing.
We stopped for dinner and then drove to see the Road to Nowhere....
We saw signs for this 'place' and decided to drive around and let the kids sleep. Well, let's go to nowhere...  this is an actual road in the National Park, a road that dead ends above Fontana Lake with a long tunnel through the mountain.  The drive down Lakeshore drive is several miles and there are a few trailhead stops and one overlook. The road stops just on the other side of the tunnel and Nathan and I walked through the tunnel to the end of the road.  It was a little adventure, easy walk.

Day 5 we started the drive home and stopped for the night in Huntsville, Alabama.

Day 6 we spent in Huntsville, Alabama. Nathan did a report on Neil Armstrong during the school year and now he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. So we surprised him with a trip to the Rocket and Space Museum in Huntsville, Alabama.  Overall, we enjoyed it.  The museum is made of 2 main indoor spaces and then multiple outdoor spaces with large rockets, space shuttle displays. There is an outdoor small kids play area and other big kid carnival type rides (gravity spinner and free fall ).  Nathan and Jay were able to go through a few tours and learn something.  Jonah found  the 'rocket test' exhibit fun (with big sound and full body vibrations).  I think Jonah was apprehensive at first about the museum because he thought we were actually going into outer space, but I think once he figured out it was a play museum and not a real rocket ship, he relaxed and started enjoying it.  We spent about 5 hours there, all the kids were very tired and slept for over an hour in the car during the ride home.