The Great Smoky Mountains

(I know, I know, I have not been a great blogger lately. Apologies all around.)

Over fall break, Deg and I took a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. (According to Wikipedia, "The name "Smoky" comes from the natural fog that often hangs over the range and presents as large smoke plumes from a distance.")  We got an amazing deal on Living Social and decided that it was time to take a vacation, just the two of us, so off we went to the furthermost reaches of Tennessee.

Deg getting ready for the 6 hour drive. He's such a cute boy.

I really was about this excited to be going on vacation. Yay vacation!

"On the road again, I just can't wait to get on the road again!"

We got there just in time to check in and head to our cabin for the night. We stayed in our own cabin in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. It took forever to find and was on the teensiest road (part of which was a dirt road), but it was really nice. Let me show you what it looked like:

It was beautiful and lovely and secluded and everything we could have asked for. That is, until the night a mouse sneaked in and woke me up by nibbling on a plastic bag. Guess who didn't get any sleep that night. Sigh! Other than our little house guest, the cabin was beautiful.

Part of the package deal included a gourmet breakfast prepared by a trained chef each morning. And I took pictures of the food because, well, I'm that person. Enjoy the visual feast:

Day 1: fresh squeezed apple cider, raspberry cream cheese stuffed french toast, sauteed peppers and onions, and fresh sausage from the farm where the main office cabin was located.

Day 2: Fresh squeezed orange juice with strawberries,  scrambled eggs with smoked gouda, wilted beet greens,  and a sausage roll (fresh sausage again) with cream cheese, puff pastry, paprika, and other yummies. Oh, and the decorative flower was edible, apparently. Deg tried it, but I passed.

Day 3: fresh squeezed orange juice pureed with raspberries. And what you see before you is technically called "huevos rancheros," even if I want to call it "huevos del cielo." Picture this: A base of black beans, corn, and fresh sausage. Next: two over easy eggs. This is topped with sour cream, fresh roasted peppers and onions, cilantro, and tortilla chips. Holy mother of deliciousness, Batman!

 
Day 1: After we got done eating, we pretty much put activities around eating some more. I mean, come on. Look at the food I just posted. Seriously! The first day, we went to a pie making class and made from scratch (including the crust, which was new to me) a beautiful apple pie with apples picked a mile down the road the day before. Wanna see the finished product? I knew you would!

It was fantastic. The recipe goes back 4 generations. Let me know if you want me to email it to you.

Then, we went on a hike to Mouse Creek Falls in the middle of the Smoky Mountains. We technically drove into West Virginia for this part of our visit, so we were all over the place. Then we went to the apple orchard nearby (since it's apple season) and bought apples, dried apples, apple fritters, apple cider, and apple juice. I love apples and was in love. I took pictures of this, but cannot seem to find them. Therefore, you are spared. You're welcome.

Day 2, we went to Gatlinburg, which is the cutest little tourist town in the whole world. It kind of feels like a German ski village (since I actually know what that looks like). We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium, which was fantastic. We saw all sorts of creatures, from the small and deadly, to the huge and adorable, and everything in between. Deg took a video of the moving underground walkway, where sharks and sawfish and turtles and all sorts of other creatures swim around and over you. Behold:

We then grabbed some lunch, and ran around Gatlinburg for awhile. One of the coolest things we did was to take a ski lift up to the top of one of the mountains and then back down again. The leaves were all changing and it was beautiful. See?

The view from the top of the mountain.

Deg in front of a beautiful windmill at the bottom of the lift.

He insisted I join in the posing. This was as good as it was gonna get.

The next day, we got that beautiful breakfast, gassed up the car, and made our way back to Indiana. I saved you the trouble of browsing pics and didn't take any. We had so much fun and would definitely go back again and would definitely recommend agritourism (any agriculturally-based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch) and the Smoky Mountains to anyone.