Staycation Day 1

We sort of started in with a bang Friday night by going to S&S Cafeteria, where two kids ate for 99cents (a meat, two veggies, jello, and a drink!) with each parents meal. We don't eat out much beyond the occasional fast food or pizza, especially with the kids, so it was a BIG DEAL. And very tasty too - who knew that fried almond crusted trout and squash casserole from a cafeteria could be that good?

We started off Saturday with individual cereal boxes - a first. Now that all the flavors of Cheerios have gone wheat free, Ethan actually could choose from six out of the eight. And Bella got frosted Cheerios instead of plain. Life doesn't get much better than that. :^)

Off on a road trip - mission: climb the tallest mountain in the state. Mission accomplished!

We picnicked on top of the mountain. A lot of trails connected the different state parks there.

Next we tried to go to a Cherokee museum, but the National Park Service had there office closed for four hours in the middle of the day - Guess when we got there?? So we headed to the next stop - Whitewater Falls. We took the trail to the top overlook, then 132 steps to the bottom overlook. And if you ever want to know for sure whether or not you're out of shape, just climb back up 132 steps. Uh-huh. I am definitely out of shape.

Heading back down the trail we had this view of the lake.

The kids just had to put their feet in. We had directions to a public access, so with Bella sleeping in the van, we headed down for a quick look...and found a beach! 15 minutes and three wet children later, our supper stop was cancelled, but our kids were begging to come back another day.

Turns out the hot dog shop was closed anyway, but the reuben dog on their menu intrigued us, so we stopped for ingredients to make our own. It was a hit with the three of us brave enough to eat it.