I can't remember the last time I had a true family vacation. Now that all of us are vaccinated, we were finally ready to reunite over Memorial Day weekend. We made the short drive over to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to meet up with my aunt and uncle and cousins. I had been to Gatlinburg once as a kid, but honestly I don't recall much about it. I'm so glad I got to go back and experience it as an adult with my fam.
We saw a bear as soon as we arrived at our room! Thankfully, it was a brief, uneventful (but cool!) encounter.
While it was somewhat rainy throughout our visit, the weather cleared up enough for us to experience Anakeesta. This is not your typical theme park. We took a chairlift to the top of the mountain, where we got to take in 360-degree views. It was absolutely stunning! There's lots of wildlife, including more bears (I didn't get any snaps of our bear encounters, but I promise we saw them!).
I had been ziplining before but never through such a beautiful, nature-filled park.
We didn't spend much time on the tourist strip that Gatlinburg is famous for, but we did make a stop at Ole Smokey and Sugarlands Distilling. You gotta come home with some moonshine if you visit the Smoky Mountains!