Tennessee

For the week of the 4th of July we went to the Hayden family reunion in Gatlinburg, TN. It was a lot of fun. I love seeing other parts of the country. So much of the country is sooo different from Idaho. I can't believe how many trees there are once you start going east. I will refrain from writing a lot and spend my time posting all of the pictures I took.

We flew from SLC to Vegas and then to Nashville. We got in late at night so we caught a shuttle to the hotel that Hayden's grandparents were staying at and we spent the night there.

We drove the 4 hours from Nashville to Gatlinburg with Grandma and Grandpa Hayden. This is the view from our condos. It was so beautiful there.

There was an extra condo so Hayden and I got our very own. 

Grandpa Hayden grew up in Oak Ridge, TN. This town was called "The Secret City" during WWII. They built the atomic bomb here. The whole family took a trip to see the museum and learn more about where Grandpa Hayden lived for a few years while his dad helped in building the bomb.

This is one of the houses that the people lived in while they were in The Secret City.  They basically built the city overnight and so they had these simple homes there.

Gatlinburg was packed! I had no idea there would be so many tourists. We braved the crowds and went downtown to look around. This is the famous aquarium. I wanted to go but it was pretty spendy so we didn't. 

While we were downtown, we found a great place to play mini golf. Hayden has become obsessed with mini golf lately. During our week vacation we played like 7 rounds of golf. This is the view from the course. It was going up the mountain.

Before our flight left from Utah, Hayden talked me into a quick round of golf.

We had a lot of fun playing with Lisa, Ashley, and Matthew

There were a lot of fun things to see in Gatlinburg. We spent a lot of time looking through the window watching this guy make taffy. 

More mini golf. This time it was in the dark! I beat Hayden on this course. That is a rare occasion.

On the 4th of July at 12:01 AM Gatlinburg has the countries first 4th of July parade. I didn't think I would be able to stay awake for it but it was fun and entertaining so it was no problem staying awake.

Before we all headed out for the parade. Grandpa Hayden put together a great program where some of the family members spoke about famous people from Tennessee. I did a little presentation about Minnie Pearl. 

And guess who came to our family party?? Dolly Parton! This is a photo of her singing. :)

On the evening of the 4th, before the fireworks we went to the river and had a boat race. We all made our own boats and this one is mine. Its an eagle. Can you tell?

Starting the race

My boat got 3rd place! 

We went whitewater rafting. I don't have any pictures just yet, but I will post them when I get them. It was a blast! We went through some wild rapids and we were soaking wet at the end. My favorite part of the rafting trip was when the river was calm for a bit we all got to jump our of our boat and swim in the river. (Getting back in the boat was rough) After rafting we went to a BBQ place in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road. The food was good, but I am not sure how clean it was.

The shack where we got southern BBQ

The picnic area. It was nasty in there! But it was all part of the experience.

Anyway, that's that. Tennessee was fun. I love travelling and that is all I ever want to do. If only I could get paid to travel!! :)