Dragons and Apples

Since Friday was our last day, we let Carly choose the activity for the morning. For most of the week, we tried to stay away from the main streets of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge because they are sort of tacky....there are literally six go-kart places on the very same road and there are identical bungee-jump towers and these huge swings that go around in a circle...mixed in with video game arcades, $9.99 buffets and those t-shirt shops that sell 5 shirts for $20 and you can get your name airbrushed on the back. It's not really our type of thing, but Carly had been dying to go to this dragon place all week, so that's what she chose to do.

She was excited to hang out with this mermaid and wanted to know if she could climb up the flop and touch her face.
Bree was just hanging out being adorable.

And Paul tried his very best to teach Carly how to play mini-golf. She was really not interested at all.

....preferring to develop her own unique style.

We call it the Sweeper.

After we'd had all we could stand of "Fantasy Golf" we headed down the road just a little bit to the Apple Mill. It's just off the main drag, but it's much more peaceful. There are no carnival rides and I was happy because they served apples, which, unlike the stuff sold on the big roads, are still recognizable as real food.

In case you're wondering, apple donuts TOTALLY count as real food. =) Especially when you serve them with fresh apple cider so thick you can't see through it. It was soooo good.

There are candy factories everywhere, but at the apple place you can actually see them making everything! These are going to be apple-flavored candy sticks! You can't see him, but ther's another guy working in the room, smoothing out the candy to make thin candy sticks. The green on the table back there are a couple hundred rows of sticks. It was really cool to watch!

And finally, a gazebo. One rule of being Carly is that if there is a gazebo/pavilion/pagoda/raised platform of any kind/etc you must dance on it.

We did end up going tubing on the river that afternoon - Carly had a GREAT time going back and forth between our tubes and looking for fish. We didn't get photos, because no one had a waterproof camera, but it was really fun and very relaxing. We had SUCH a great family vacation!!! This was our second ever vacation to somewhere other than a relative's house (we took Carly camping when she was 15 months old) and it was a blast. We were so happy to spend some time with everyone, and now we're glad to be back home again. What a fun adventure!