Will make a brief entry but we haven't been in long and I feel shattered! This morning we all got packed up and then went into Gatlingburg for breakfast. Then back to the hotel to finish off the packing and then leave all the luggage there for a while and took the trolley down to the town again to visit the Aquarium. We had about an hour there and saw some great sharks and rays, and sea dragons which I particularly liked. We were fascinated by the African penguins, living in a warm climate, it showed them clambering over sand castles and between the holiday makers on the beach. One of them seemed to have two babies as well, I am sure they usually only lay one egg as if is difficult enough to bring them up in the ice and snow. We then walked back up into the town and caught a trolley for the last time back to the hotel. We had been told that bears are active in the area and hungry, so not to leave food in the cars or lying about. Patty and I really hoped we would at least see one, but sadly we didn't. The rest of the family were not so keen. The nearest we came was seeing a pile of bear poop on the way to Grotto Falls!
We drove to Pigeon Fort to find a place to have lunch, we passed so many that it was difficult to make a choice, we ended up at an Outback Steakhouse. I really don't learn, I ordered a salad as the servings are so big here and it was enormous! I obviously should have ordered the side salad which would probably be about the size of a salad serving in England. We then had a fun 'off road' experience with Mark directing us to a petrol station before we got to the airport. When we found it there were just tow pumps and it was self service (unusual over here) and they were like 70's pumps! Lee even had to leave his credit card inside while he filled up. that was a fun experience to end the trip.
The plane was on time and the journey good, we got this end on time and the traffic wasn't too bad which rounded things off nicely. It has been a brilliant trip despite itchy rashes, dodgy knees and ankles, breathlessness, and now I think I have a swollen gland in my neck which is pretty painful! But as I say, it was absolutely great, once in a lifetime for me I should think, and my decrepit state didn't spoil things too much for the family.