Day 6: Forbidden Caverns... (last day!)

 Our last full day in Gatlinburg was a wash out.  It rained with no signs of letting up, so we had to find somewhere 'inside' to have our adventure.  We had read about a cavern and I seemed to recall visiting one from my childhood where I learned about the stalactites and stalagmites! I still remembered which was which and the fact that I remembered it at all meant that it must have left an impression. When we left my mom mentioned that she thought it was the same cavern (though it had obviously changed in the last 30 years...).

It took us a while to get there (over an hour in TRAFFIC!!!!) and when we finally DID get there, EVERYONE else had the same idea as us.  The parking lot was PACKED and I think we drove around in the same circle 20 times (and I am not exaggerating) before someone left and we found a place. Here we thought we were escaping all the other indoor packed places of Pigeon Forge but we were wrong.  Still with all that driving, there was no way we were leaving. By the time we got up in line they stopped doing private tours (there were many behind us too) and decided to let everyone in to walk through them on their own.  There were guides stationed at different places but we couldn't hear many of them since we were near the back.  Still we had a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it (and us big kids did too).    My mom took some pictures but none of them really do the place justice.  It's just one of those places you need to experience.

There were little baby bats all along the cavern.  It was fun spotting them.  I love bats (especially the kind that eat mosquitoes!!)! 

On our way home, we hit a drive-through for the kids (it was after 2 before we finally had lunch) and Jeff, my mom and I went out for some Mexican where Jeff and I went for an anniversary dinner 2 years ago.  It wasn't as good as I remembered but the drink was yummy and having no kids with us (since my dad stayed back with them) was WONDERFUL!  My mom felt bad about coming with us but we insisted she come.  It's not actually our anniversary yet and she and I split some nachos (we've split other meals out which has been perfect).  She took a picture of Jeff and I looking 'lovingly' into each others' eyes... this is what that looks like after a dozen years... (tee hee).

 Jeff dropped us off at the restaurant and just happened to find a spot to park next to an English-Style Pub that he'd been wanting to grab a beer in all week.  Since we were so close, we went in there to have some drinks and get out of the cold rain (while my mom did some shopping).

I was so excited when I saw a sign on the door saying they had HOT TEA!  I was so cold and had missed my yummy tea all week (I should have brought some with me!)!!  The tea wasn't the tastiest, but it warmed me up.  Jeff had a couple beers and took in some soccer on the TV. I chatted with the bartender who was nice and was new to the area with her husband and kids.  They hadn't found a place to live yet and were living in a hotel.  I thought about living in a hotel with my kids and how hard that would be... we left her a good tip.

When I was at the bar, I was also texting with our wonderful dog/tort sitter and checking in on the weather back home.  It was actually sunny and warmer than it was in Tennessee!!  It's been a cold week and of course the weather stations are all talking about the great warm-up this weekend and next week.  Oh well... we still had fun (and I did wear my flip-flops a few times!

When we got home, the kids were dying to go swimming (they watched a movie with Papa and had some hot-dogs for dinner).  Jeff opted to stay home and clean up and do laundry with my mom, so my dad and I packed up the kids and drove to the pool (since it was still raining).  The pool was packed!!  I was still cold (even after the tea) and had no desire to swim and then go out into the cold, so we found a place to sit and watch them as they did their toe-touch jumps and cannonballs (I bet you can guess who did what).  I'm glad despite the cold, wet weather we still had a memory-making day.  It's hard to believe we'll be saying goodbye to the mountains for another couple years!