After a quick breakfast of pancakes we headed back to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center that we were at last night.  This morning they had a blacksmith demonstration and a toy demonstration.

The ranger told us the metal gets to 500 degrees when he is working with it. He helped the kids make dinner bells or triangles.  We need to put beeswax on them when we get home to keep them from rusting.  This presentation was very organized, informative, and we all left smiling.

When the ranger pumped the bellows Cody’s eyes widened and he said in a mesmerized awe, “Fire.”

After making our triangles at the blacksmith we headed to a toy demonstration. Brooke’s favorite toy was the stilts while Cody was loving the feathered corn cob throwing.  The kids made a buzz button at this station. The took thread and pulled it through the holes of a button.  Then the kids put the thread on their two index fingers and spun the thread until they created a buzzing  sound.  Scott’s favorite toy was the Jacob’s ladder.

Scott and I earned our first Not-So-Junior Ranger badges!  This was too funny.  The ranger was the same ranger from the Farm Animal Feeding last night.  He had a dry sense of humor, but I think we made him smile too. Well, he was laughing anyway, maybe at us, but regardless, he smiled and so did we.

This moment right here is where our day changed.  Brooke was looking at a display on the Appalachian Trail.  Scott and I had thrown around the idea of hiking on the Appalachian Trail with the kids.  Ever since I met Scott nineteen years ago he has been talking about the Appalachian Trail. We were on the hunt for the AT a few days ago, but let the idea go since we forgot to bring two backpacks to carry our things in.  Then Brooke came across this little piece of information that we could catch the AT at Newfound Gap.  Scott and I looked at each other and we decided to stay in the Smokys one more night.

The kids were no where near as excited about hiking on the Appalachian Trail as we were.  They didn’t get what the big deal was.  They were a little unhappy about the hike so the potty talk began.  “Your head is a…” Then usually sewer, compost bin, dirty shoe and more are added until the kids are giggling so hard they can hardly put one foot in front of the other.  Cody decided every story is more fun with TNT in it now.

1 minute and 6 seconds into the hike Cody wanted to mobile feed.  Chocolate Teddy Grahams have helped on many a hike this trip. Cody wanted a seat mid-hike so he sat on Scott’s shoe.  Brooke didn’t want to miss out on being in the photo so she hopped in too.

Our halfway point was a little anti-climatic.  There were signs in the middle of the woods.  Scott would have liked to have gone further, but another day.

Brooke found a salamander on the trail.  I’m not sure if that’s what Cody’s shocked expression is all about.  It could also be because the kids were getting really cranky about the hike towards our turn-around point.  So we let them go ahead of us once we did turn around. Then Scott and I snuck and went north instead of south.  Brooke didn’t skip a beat, she turned, saw us and asked what was up.  Scott said we were going on further. Brooke responded with extreme confidence, “That’s fine.  We’ll get the car and meet you up in Maine.”

We learned from the Smoky’s visitor center video that there are more salamanders by weight in the Smokys than bears.

We hiked an hour and five minutes each way on the AT.

We stayed at Smokemont, the same campground we were at the night before.  We were just a few sites over as our site was reserved by another family for today.  While Brooke served a timeout in the van she started giggling at a poor momma whose tent kept falling on her.  I whispered to Scott that the momma might need some help.  Scott went over and  helped her get the tent up in less than ten minutes.  I started to do the dishes from lunch, but I asked the kids how Scott does his process.  Brooke said she would show me. Cody wanted to help too. Woohoo!  Ever wish you had the magic to make these moments of happy helpfulness happen again and again? Me too. The kids rode their bikes for a bit after this.

My stomach was a bit angry at me so I tried to rest for a bit.  Cody joined me and then Brooke did too. Resting?  Not so much.  Then the kids climbed our lantern pole in between riding their bikes.

Scott read his book for a bit.  Cody had found a nice hiking stick and asked Scott for help to carve the end into a marshmallow stick.

After a dinner of potatoes and burgers we headed to Cherokee to hear some campfire stories. We heard the story of the strawberry and how it brought the first man and woman together and that is why it is in the shape of a heart.  The storyteller asked riddles like, “Could my brother be an only child?” He told a short version of how Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act and in 1838 Federal Troops came to remove the Native Americans to west of the Mississippi River. He shared how 1/4 or four thousand of those who traveled, perished.  He told a short story just for the men, “Two women were sitting quietly.” Pause. “That’s the end of the story.”  Funny.  He wrapped the evening up with a friendship dance as the sun faded into the night sky.