Well last week was an extremely busy, fun & relaxing week. On Sunday afternoon we went to Palestine for the JFL football Jamboree. Clayton and Braden played. Both boys did very well and so dis their teams. Clayton's team, 7th & 8th grade, ended up tying the first game and winning the second. Note: they only won 2 games total last year. There are 15 small football players that play their hearts out.
Braden's team, 4th, 5th & 6th grade, won one lost one but they played well for being some of the boys first year.
When the games were over we headed out towards Gatlinburg Tennessee on vacation. We got as far a Vincennes Indiana and saw an Army museum. Of course it was closed but we drove through and got pictures. Plan on taking the grandkids back someday.
We drove as far as Frankfort Kentucky. Joe lived a few years in Frankfort when he was a young boy. The next morning we decided to tour the capital building of Kentucky. It is a beautiful building. Joe said he went to Kindergarten just down the street from the capital building. The building isn't there any longer.
This room is set up for the Governor to entertain guests or sign bills into law. It has a balcony off the front of the capital building. We were lucky enough to get to go out on the balcony (they don't normally open it).
This is the view from the balcony. Our guide was telling us that is we looked to the right there was a hill and you could see a cemetery. You could also see a monument from where we stood. It was Daniel Boone's grave.
After our tour of Frankfort we headed out towards Gatlinburg. The scenery started changing.
Got to our room around dinner time. I had booked our room online so we weren't sure what we were getting, but we couldn't have been more pleased and surprised. Our room was amazing and we only paid $50 per night. Pretty good deal.
Below is a fountain with a waterfall (the waterfall was not on when we got there). This fountain sits above the parking garage.
This is part of the quaint part of Gatlinburg. Lots of older looking village shops set back off the main drag.
Joe had me go into this candy shop to take a picture of this nut cracker. The boys have decided that Grandpa Joe collects nut crackers. In his words "I win". This is the biggest one we've found.
There are shows and exhibits everywhere. This may have been Ripley's Believe It or Not, I'm not sure but this old horse was hilarious. It was moving pretty funny.
This is the breakfast restaurant where we ate a couple mornings.
Unbelievable how they build cabins and houses right on the side of the mountains.
One of the places Joe wanted to go was the knife shop in Sevierville. Supposed to be the "worlds largest".
Second day we took a trip in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park. Drove up to Cades Cove. It was one of the earliest settlements. Bears were supposed to be very active. Well guess what we didn't see any.
Stopped in at this primitive church. Makes you very thankful for our padded pews. These benches were very uncomfortable.
This is one of valley's in the Cove. It was just stunning.
Signs everywhere to not feed the bears and also to be careful because there are lots of snakes and they like to hide under the buildings.
The steams were just beautiful.
Breakfast at "The Old Mill". This was a recommendation from my Aunt Karan.
We stopped at a log carving store. This was really interesting.
Saw one show. The Hatfields and McCoys. Really really good. Just need to remember that if your phone doesn't change time zones that you will be LATE. We missed the first 30 minutes.
When we left Gatlinburg we headed to Nashville.
Toured the Ryman Auditorium. Absolutely amazing. Unbelievable this was actually build as a church after Mr Ryman gave his life to Christ.
Tooties bar in the alley behind the Ryman. Lots of very famous country artists got their start or sang there through the years.
Bridgestone Arena downtown Nashville where the CMT award show is held.
Then it was homeward bound. We had had all the fun we could take.