At Christmas breakfast, the family asked us about our recent trip to Gatlinburg. They got to talking about how we should go again sometime and take the whole family. (We've done that a couple of times with Dad's family and we always have a great time.) Well, we kept talking about it and the other aunts and uncles were getting excited about it, so we planned another trip to Gatlinburg for Jan 14-17.
Unfortunately, Annah, Jefforey, Uncle Bruce, and Aunt Dee were unable to attend. There were 13 of us that did make it. So Friday morning we loaded up and drove to the mountains. It was a unique drive because for the whole 4 1/2 hours on the road, there was SNOW! For us southerners, it's very unusual to drive that far with snow on the ground! (However, Albertvillians....I think we had more snow than they did in Gatlinburg!)We made it to the cabin first, shortly followed by Chris and his gang. We spent the afternoon hanging at the cabin, waiting on the rest of the gang to get there. Instead of me taking a TON of pictures of the cabin, I thought I'd just send you to the link. Go HERE to check out the Starr Quest Lodge. It was a very nice cabin with an excellent view!
Sunset view from front porch.
They boys were more than happy to have the game room downstairs. There were tons of foosball, pool, and air hockey games going on! Even the big kids enjoyed playing! The Barclift boys also enjoyed the hot tub. Sam's favorite was doing cannon balls!
That night, when everyone had arrived, we went to Mama's Farmhouse to enjoy some delicious grub. If you ever go to Pigeon Forge, TN, you MUST eat there. Their peach butter and molasses butter are superb!
The next day (after sleeping in) we went with the Barclifts to ride go carts while Raegan went to the aquarium. Andrew loves go carts, so he was excited. We had 5 cars in this race. Andrew and I are beating Chris and Sam.
There goes Caden!
Andrea and Will waving to the camera.
After the go carts, we went over to MagiQuest for some glow in the dark mini-golf, a mirror maze, and laser course. It was so much fun! Andrew only wanted to play golf, so I stuck around to do the other activities with the boys. Ask Andrea how she liked the mirror maze! LOL
While we were finishing up at MagiQuest, Granna and Paw-Paw took Andrew to lunch followed by MORE go carts! They went to the Nascar track this time. Apparently, Mom made friends with the guy running the place and he let them ride as long as they wanted. They rode for 25 minutes before they both got a little chilly!
We must have had too much fun today because there was lots of napping to be had that afternoon. Paw-Paw didn't make it through the Duke boys.
Chris and Caden also had a nice little snooze on the couch!
Andrew and Raegan had such a good time playing this trip. They got along so well. Here's a shot of Andrew walking puppy Rae Rae. They're so silly!
The next night, they cuddled up on the couch to watch cartoons while the adults played some board games. Oh, what fun that was! I learned a LOT about some of you!
Our last night in town we went to the Dixie Stampede. Mom and Dad didn't want to go back since we were just there, so they had a nice, romantic dinner at The Partridge & Pear. She said it was the best food she had ever had. I guess I'll have to give it a try someday. Meanwhile, at the Dixie Stampede, the kids had a blast. Raegan was super excited to see the "horsies." We had a great time.
Monday morning came way too fast and it was time to go home, but not without a Griswold, I mean Barclift family photo on the front steps of the cabin. Here's our gang:
We had such a good time that it was hard to see the weekend end. It would have been perfect if everyone else could have made it. I love it when we all get together like that! I especially liked this trip because I felt like we had a lot of R&R time just to hang out at the cabin. We had lots of time to sit around talking, laughing, and drinking a million pots of coffee! We've already picked out a few potential cabins for our next family vacation! (which we jokingly said would be next month) LOL
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