Washington, DC & The Great Smoky Mountains–Day 6-Laurel Falls Hike

On Friday, we got up, ate some breakfast, and got ready for our day. Getting ready was certainly more interesting on this camping trip than on others that we’ve taken. One of my requirements for camping is that where we are staying must have flush toilets and hot showers. Elkmont has flush toilets. No showers. So…to make this work, I was able to shower in the Roadtrek. It was an exciting experience, and I ended up clean every morning.

So, after getting ready, we made our way to Laurel Falls to hike.

Charlotte was my hiking buddy. She made it up the entire trail on her own two little legs.

A view of the Smokies from the trail.

We made it to Laurel Falls!

Ian and Charlotte walked part of the way down like this. It started raining near the end of the trail. I don’t think we can go camping where it at least doesn’t rain a few drops.

Enjoying the campfire.

Washington, DC & The Great Smoky Mountains–Day 5-Great Smoky Mountains & Jonathan’s Birthday

We were up and out early from Jason’s and heading to Tennessee for a few days of camping at Elkmont in the Great Smoky Mountains with Jonathan’s parents and his sister’s family.

We were the last to arrive (it took awhile to drive across Virginia), but the kids wasted no time joining their cousins in the stream just down from Richard and Janice’s campground.

This spot afforded many-a-hour of adventure and fun.

Our set=up around the campfire at Janice and Richard’s site. We did all the cooking and hanging out over here. Our campsite and the Harris’ site was across the street, away from the stream.

Janice made dinner for us our first night.

Rosemary was so excited to hold babies. Charlotte was, too.

It was Jonathan’s birthday, so we celebrated with cake. We’d had cake with Jason and Nikki the night before, too.

Ben & Ian

Opening presents.

Middle Georgia Camping

Over Labor Day weekend, we packed up our camping gear and headed to High Falls State Park in middle Georgia to spend long weekend with some of Jonathan’s family. This year we joined with Richard, Janice, and Tim’s family to camp and met up with Elizabeth’s family for a day as well.

Jonathan came home from work a little early on Friday, then we headed north. We arrived at the campsite around 8:30pm. Richard had our tent ready for us so Jonathan just had to fill up our air mattresses and unroll our sleeping bags. This was the first time we camped that we didn’t have a pack-n-play for Charlotte. We weren’t sure how that would go, but it worked out great. The first night we found out that our air mattress had a hole in it when we woke up and it was almost flat, but thankfully we had an extra twin one along so we were able to rearrange things with the kids and we all had mattresses again.

On Saturday, we ate the crockpot egg casserole and skillet biscuits and gravy that Janice made for breakfast then got ready and headed to Juliette, Georgia to meet Elizabeth and family for lunch at the Whistle Stop Café.

Ben, Joshua, Sarah, and Rosemary

We got to meet the newest members of Elizabeth and Joe'l’s family, Nathaniel and Gabriel.

We took up the front half the the restaurant. There was a kids table and a (mostly) adult table.

Ben ordered a BLT (he even was the one who took this picture). He loved this sandwich. I’m pretty sure it ate almost all of it.

Jonathan held Nathaniel. And Nathaniel promptly fell asleep in his arms.

Charlotte chowed down on her grilled cheese. Jonathan and I had barbeque sandwiches and they had a quite a kick.

The exterior of the Whistle Stop Café, made famous in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.

Jonathan and I ate there on our first camping trip after we were married.

March 2004

We even saw a few trains pass by while we were there.

From lunch, we headed to Jarrell Plantation. With thirteen kids between us, it was like going on a field trip.

He really wanted to pose with the insect repellant.

Charlotte really liked hanging out with Uncle Tim.

And Rosemary was beyond thrilled to get to hold Gabriel.

Our time at Jarrell was eventful. In addition to touring the grounds and buildings, at least one person in our group either was stung by hornets, poured red Fanta all over the front steps, or threw up. It was a memorable visit. :-) And I think most everyone had a good time.

From there, we headed back to the campground for a hot dog dinner. The next morning, Janice made Bananas Foster French Toast for Michelle’s birthday then we headed out to hike at High Falls.

Sweet sisters.

The two little ones were excellent hikers too.

After the hike, we grabbed a bite to eat at Subway then Jonathan dropped Charlotte and me off at the campsite so she could nap. He took Rosemary and Ben to Indian Springs State Park to swim with Tim and Michelle’s family. While Charlotte and I were at the campsite, a thunderstorm rolled through and Charlotte never actually fell asleep. A few hours later, Jonathan came back and picked us up to go to Dauset Trails Nature Center.

When we got back to the campground that night, Michelle, Tim, and Matthew made barbeque chicken for dinner.

The next morning we loaded up and all headed out. We didn’t leave until around lunchtime, so we stopped with Janice and Richard for some delicious Mexican food to celebrate Jonathan’s birthday a few days early. We stopped again for dinner together at Cracker Barrel before getting home later that night.