Southern Vaca Day 6a: Junior Park Ranger

 

Our 6th day of vacation marked the end of our time in Gatlinburg and our farewell to Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  All week long we had been hoping that the kids would sleep in so that everyone could get the rest that they needed, but every single day they woke even earlier than they would if we were at home.  On this morning though, when we had to be packed up and out of our cabin by 10am, they slept until 9:00!!  Eric and I both woke up early however, so we utilized the kid-free time by enjoying a few minutes hot-tubing without the kiddos and packing up our stuff without our (cute) little monsters trailing behind and unpacking everything again.

When the boys did wake up, they had a little more fun out on their favorite porches and then happily watched Disney junior while eating breakfast, so that Eric and I could continue gathering our belongings.

Once we were all packed up and ready to go, we took a few pictures of the cabin to remember our stay and then we headed on to other adventures.

From our cabin (Ever After), we detoured at Maddog's Creamery & Donuts, a place we had been driving past every day during our stay in Gatlinburg.  It was a small restaurant that sold only ice cream and donuts (two of my favorite things), and since the boys and I love those foods, and they had some cute statues of black bears eating donuts and ice cream, I thought it was suiting to make that a fun stop at the start of our day.

Video: Avery Feeding the Bears

Our attempt to recreate this statue.

Enjoying our treats indoors.

That's a BIG ice cream cone!

Me and my little donut lovers.

From Maddog's we continued on to the Sugarlands Visitors Center one last time to let the boys pick out a souvenir and for Asher to get the Junior Ranger Badge he'd been working toward all week.  

Asher was super excited to become a Junior Ranger and we had fun during our trip to GSMNP helping him find the things he needed to get his badge.  The park was so clean that we had a very hard time finding trash to pick up, but we did find a piece or two and also made sure to properly throw away our own trash.  Eric also taught Asher about the importance of staying on the trails at a national park to not disturb the plant and wild life of the park.  During our stay there, whenever Asher would veer off a trail Eric would remind him what he'd been taught and ask if he wanted to be a Junior Ranger.  It didn't take long for our little type A rule-follower to learn what was required of him and take it upon himself to let us know when someone else was breaking the rule.  He frequently would say to us, "Mommy/Daddy, they are not staying on the trail, they must not want to be a Junior Ranger."

Asher finishing up the last few activities in his Junior Ranger Book.

The park ranger reviewing his workbook...

...and signing her approval of his completion.

Asher receiving his Junior Ranger badge after repeating his ranger pledge.

Signing his name to his ranger certificate.

Asher in the gift shop sporting a Junior Ranger hat and his badge to send Gramps a picture.

For souvenirs the boys both picked small cuddly black bears, which I found to be suitable for all the time at the park that we tried to find bears (real or not).  Asher also wanted a hat, so we let him get a second souvenir.

Eric and I also got a few souvenirs of our own, Eric got a T-Shirt, I got a cute children's book about bears to read with the boys, and we both picked out our 2016 vacation Christmas ornament.

Crazy Kid!

When we were done at the visitor's center we continued East to leave the park, with one final stop along the way: Newfound Gap (located in the park right on the Tennessee/North Carolina border).  There, we captured a few more mountainous family moments, enjoyed a small climb up with the boys and then continued on our way.

I love this picture of me and my silly little guy.

The view from Newfound Gap

Asher needed a not-so-quick potty break before we left, so Avery and I walked around enjoying the view for a while before we left.  This little stinker was exercising his up-coming Terrible Twos and wanted to do everything completely on his own.  He would not let me carry him or even walk close to him, making this momma a bit nervous near the steep mountainous edges.

He found a rock to climb on.

It had a hole in the top, that he could fit his hand through....He thought that was pretty awesome.

I tried to sit on his rock with him and get a picture of us together.  He tried to push me off, and when he couldn't do that he refused to take a picture with me (little stinker!)!

Eventually, Asher and Eric found us and after a couple (okay more than a couple) more pictures, we were on our way...

Family photo.  Asher refused to give us a smile.

Avery insisted he wasn't tired, but as were were walking back to the car, I caught this snuggly moment of him and Daddy.

"Wait, Wait, I wasn't sleeping!"

...and now playing the drums on Daddy's head!

We got into the car and drove on saying farewell to the gorgeous National Park as we drove out of the park and then along the Blue Ridge Parkway (also part of the National Park Service), heading to our next destination: The Biltmore Estate.