Monday morning we woke up in the Great Smoky Mountains. So beautiful! It was supposed to rain today but the Lord saw fit to give us a beautiful day! We were in the park by 8:30am and drove the 11 mile Cades Cove loop. We realized we hadn't asked the Lord to "show us His glory" yet so Krissy prayed and literally within a few minutes we saw a turnoff for a primitive baptist church and there on this little dirt road we spotted a black bear in the woods! So cool! Evidently God decided to show off a little as the cutest little baby bear came into view followin' his Mama. It was so sweet. We were the only ones on this road, and the only ones to catch this amazing sight! (see picture below). THEN, to top it off, as we pulled out onto the main road another bear darted right in front of us!
We came early enough and did our driving loop that we still had time before the crowds came to rent bikes and peddle the loop! It was awesome! It was a bit overcast by then so the heat was held off... another GOD thing! As we're pedalling we came across a pack of cars all jammed in the road. We (of course) buzzed through the vehicles to find that everyone was watching THREE more bear! One of which was a baby bear that we watched go up and down a few trees like a little monkey. It was sooo cute! SO, SIX Black bear in all... three adults, three babies! Again... I believe God was just showin' off... and we enjoyed every bit of it. So the bike ride was a GREAT workout... I loved every minute of it, though we returned a bit sweaty. Here's the sweet rest of the day... we had lunch back at the trailer, mike took a nap and the girls and I went to town, rented tubes and floated four sets of rapids... we had so much fun we did it THREE times! The river went right by the campground so we stopped at every passing for a snack and to report to "Dad". We had a GREAT time! The water was FREEZING but the rapids ROCKED! Kristin tipped over a few times but KW and I stayed afloat for the entire time! We got a little beat up... on a few dozen rocks but it was a great way to spend an afternoon after our bike ride! Mike took the below picture as we passed the campsite. After dinner the girls went swimming in the pool while I cleaned up a bit. We're making so sweet memories, that's for sure. 
We left on Saturday morning for our 2011 Summer Epic Adventure. It was a dreary morning but we were flush with anticipation at the onset of our trip. It took 5 hours to get to Gettysburg where we toured the battlefields where the Union held their ground against the Rebels. We had all just watched Jeff Daniels movie a few days prior so the details were fresh in our head. So cool. Amazing that NY was represented in every battle. GO New York!
After saying goodbye we headed to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee... we chose to stay in the Townsend area (the quieter side of the Smokies!) which was evidently a good thing. Had another GREAT campground, our site was right on a river that people tubed on... clearly we had to try that... and it was awesome! Had a rope swing right off our site... Krissy was the first to take a ride as we all did! Great time!