The Appalachian Mountains are Beautiful

We got up extra early this morning, partly because there was an 8AM mass at St. Paul's in Seneca SC that we wanted to get to. But also because we could not wait to get out of our ultra crappy hotel room. It was what you would call a "dive" and it was abysmal...we now have both a good and a bad experience from using Priceline.com.

Our plan for today was to get from Seneca, SC to Gatlinburg, TN which google maps said should be about a 2.5 hour drive...it took us 

10 hours.  

We stopped at practically every spot to pull over and with the GPS set to "shorte

st" instead of "fastest" route we also found some beautiful back roads through the mountains, including some dirt roads with steep drops and no barriers. 

We found breath-taking untouched land, an

d stumbled upon some of the most gorgeous building sites 

with waterfalls in their ba

ck yard and mountain v

iews. And some of the scenic communities that we passed through lead me to feel

 that I was in Switzerland 

(except that everyone talked with a souther

n drawl instead of French). 

The Smokey 

Mountain National Park Road was the last park of our journey today. I cannot imagine taking the trip on a foggy or snowy day because mountain motoring 

is so challenging on its own. Someday I would like to do this drive again in a Mini Cooper or Porsche with a stick 5 speed stick!! 

Anna was a

 real trooper through the whole trip

 as she was not feeling good yet hardly complained that I was taking sooooooo long.

We are now safe at a comfy hotel in Gatlinburg. The kids went straight for the pool when we got here. 

Maria has been pushing the limits of a 4 year old trying summer-salts under water, trying to touch the bottom

 of the pool (5 feet down) and swimming with great strength across the pool and back many times with no assistance. 

Samuel has no fear leaping into the pool, wanting to go completely underwate

r without plugging his nose, and only then can I lift him up. He is also very close to swimming on his own. 

Joshua has a desire to swim, and he is overcoming his fears bit by bit. He was venturing out on his own where the water came up over his mouth.