Random Smoky Mounts Vacation Pics, Part 3 (The Last One, I promise!)

This was probably one of my favorite views. It's called something like Deep Creek Valley Gorge. Anyway, the picture does not do it justice.

I have this weird thing for visiting old mills, so we stopped by the Mingus Mill, which is in the North Carolina part of the park. We also usually like to buy some cornmeal, flour, or whatever is being ground at the mills, too--but not at this one. Now, most mills are dusty and probably not the cleanest places; it's just the nature of a grist mill. But this one was down right foul. It looked like there had been no attempt to sweep or clean in months. There were spiderwebs everywhere, even around the grinding part. Does the board of health not visit national parks?

Considering that of the three of us one is pregnant and the other is a two-year old, we had to be rather selective in what trails we chose to hike. In other words, they could not be too adventurous. The trek up to see Laurel Falls was a workout, but it was paved. Mostly.

The other hike we took was a "Nature Trail," which generally translates to "hiking for wussies." This one was up to a point. But it actually turned into a rather fun little adventure that was not too stroller friendly.

For a good part of the hike, there were no big drop-offs or dangerous places (and it wasn't a "high bear activity area") so Jack was able to run free. He had a great time being the little explorer.
Jack was hamming it up quite a bit on this tree stump.

Jack called this a "tree bridge" and was excited to walk under it. As you can see, he made sure to duck under it so he did not bonk his head. When I walked under it, he came back (ducking his head, of course) to walk with me back under it.

This tree freaked him out, though. Look how mean we are, trying to get him to stand in the "mouth" of this tree. As you can see, he did not want any part of it.A little waterfall on the trail. No matter how small the falls in the park, they generally have impressive names. This one is named Cataract Falls, which implies that it should be a very large waterfall. It was pretty, don't get me wrong, but a cataract?

These are from our last night there after dinner. (I think Jack was tired of having his picture taken.)