Smoky Mountain Trip

We took a short vacation to the Smoky Mountains this past weekend.  It was Miriam's first family vacation.  We enjoyed the beautiful fall colors of the mountains and we took a train ride on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad.  Our train ride took us to a pumpkin patch where they had games, a hayride, treats and pumpkins for us to take.  We went for a hike to Laurel Falls.  It was not a long hike, but it felt long pushing the double stroller up a roughly paved trail to the top of a mountain.  Overall, we had a fun time.  Here are a few pictures from our trip.

 Daddy & Miriam waiting for the train ride to start.

 Daddy, Josiah, & Miriam having fun on the train.

 Josiah & Miriam checking out the train exhibit in the museum.

 Josiah looking out the window on the train.

 Josiah in the bouncy house at the pumpkin patch.

 Picking out a pumpkin is a serious job.  :)

 Miriam thought she could sneak another pumpkin along.

 They found their pumpkin!

 Jumping the tracks.

 Miriam checking out the view from the train.

 Daddy & Josiah on the hay ride.  Josiah was super excited about the tractor. (Even though it wasn't a green tractor.)  :)

 Josiah trick-or-treating at the pumpkin patch.

 Daddy helping get the pumpkin they picked out.

 The theme was the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown at the pumpkin patch.  Josiah is hanging out with Chuck & Linus.  :)

 Miriam joined the group.  They did have people dressed up as Charlie Brown, Lucy, & Snoopy characters for people to take pictures with, but we didn't think Josiah & Miriam would like that.  Neal & I wish we could have gotten our pictures with them. :)

 Roasting a marshmallow at the pumpkin patch.

 We saw several elk out as we drove home from the train ride. 

 Josiah looking at the trains at the train store.

 Our attempt at a family photo with the timer. 

 Beautiful view from the trail we hiked.

 Daddy & Miriam resting after we reached the falls.

 Mommy & Josiah checking out the water pooling under the falls.  It was cold!

 Taking a rest break on the way back down the trail.

 Josiah's telling us a wild story.