We headed out around 9:30 and made decent time, especially for us (we tend to be slow travelers), stopping at the Tennessee Welcome Center a little before noon:
(Elyse isn't checking Twitter or Facebook, she's looking at a picture she just took.)
The girls were fascinated by the decorative lettuce--or is that cabbage?--in the planters outside the Welcome Center:
By 1:00 we were finishing up our lunch in the Big Rock Grill inside Rock City:
And then we went on the trail:
(Elyse is pretending to be asleep, possibly at Jessica's request.)
This is the gift shop at the end of the trail. I've always loved gift shops, so I'm including a picture of it for future posterity:
This is me inside Woodland Wonders:
Here's all of us in the car, heading to our hotel to check in before returning for the evening lights:
These are from a couple hours later:
Elyse decorating her gingerbread man in the Lodge:
As you can see, she took full advantage of all that frosting:
Some of that frosting made it's way onto the front of her jacket:
While Anna and Elyse were going back through the trail and having the above encounter, Jessica and I were waiting for them outside the grill and freezing:
(We eventually did move inside the grill; even though it was closed, the doors were unlocked and we sat on one of the benches just inside the entrance and waited.)
