Day 4

I climbed to the top of the car this morning to dig through the cold weather bag for sweatshirts for everyone as it was quite chilly!  The girls watched over my fire as I cooked breakfast and Brayden slept in.

Since we had time before the first program of the day, I cooked us some grits and toast as people packed up all around us.  We made our plan for the day jam packed with programs, a museum, and a little hiking. A little play would have to be squeezed in there with Brayden's new purchase.

On the way to the visitor's center we were treated to an up close view of a couple of elk.  You can always tell there is some kind of wildlife on the road when traffic slows down and bunches of cars are pulled over to the side.  Laney has gotten really good at spotting wildlife in the field as we drive by. Of course, these guys are pretty easy to spot!  She took this picture out her window.

The first batch of post cards have been mailed!! We walked out of the vistor's center to a beautiful view of the mountains.

The first program of the day was about the most adorable river otters. Our ranger gave a super interesting talk on their history in the park as well as their special talents and traits.  Did you know river otters have about 300,000 hairs on each square inch of their body? Or that river otter moms can extend the gestation period if there isn't enough food when their babies are to be born?  Fascinating!  The kids also did a quick experiment about what happens to the water when chemicals people might use camping are dumped or used in the river like dish soap or laundry detergent. Yuck!

                 

The kids were excited to get back to the campsite and play capture.  Ryan was the "white man" while Brayden and Laney were the "indians". Brayden was captured several times and even shot in the foot with an arrow once!






Then all 3 of them got out the journals Wreck-It journals they'd had since the beginning of the trip and worked on them for at least an hour. I'm not sure why now and why here, but they were having a blast smearing, ripping, and just otherwise being wild.  They couldn't believe they were allowed to do some of the things in the book!

                         

After some lunch they went back down to the river while I started getting things ready for us to leave in the morning.  So much of my time is spent unpacking, packing, and prepping! Once I was finished they were still playing, so I headed down to the nature trail to check it out.  It was a neat little area I knew the kids would really enjoy so I put it on my mental to do list before we left.

Next up was another program about the Oconaluftee River.  Our ranger was an obvious history buff so the kids learned so much about the history of the river and the park's relationship with the neighboring Cherokee reservation.


The rain started and stopped so once we reached the beach to turn around, the kids opted to stay while the rest of the group went back. The water had to be around 60 degrees so I could only manage to put my feet in.  Brayden ended up going completely in for about 1/3 of a second but kept dunking his head claiming it made him warm. The girls and I were not convinced.

Once we were back on the trail the rain started coming down pretty hard so we hurried back to the visitors center and headed into Cherokee to the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. The kids learned a lot about the traditions and culture of the Cherokee as well as the affect European settlers had on their lives. There was a brief section on the Trail of Tears, way too brief in my opinion, and more about how the Cherokee managed to keep large portions of their land through proclamations and treaties with many people.

                                                       

The weather was dry once we were finished so we headed back to the shops to get Laney a doll she had her eye on as well as a bow for Ryan.  I guess she has now become a native american in their capture game. We'd driven by a small dance show the day before so the kids wanted to stop this time at another one to check it out. The kids dancing hadn't been doing it very long, but were exceptionally good.

We made it back to our site just in time for the ranger program in our campground entitled "Charismatic Megafauna".  The program was about the history and changes of the mammals in the park so we piled on the blanket to listen. The ranger had obviously been working in this park for quite some time as he was very knowledgeable about the animals as well as the park's role in their lives.











We all learned a lot about bears, coyotes, fox, elk, and wolves.  He even had some skins for the kids to feel and check out the size of these antlers!  I can't imagine how they can make it through the woods without becoming tangled in everything!

                

We ended the night by going down to the nature trail and skipping rocks. I have always taught the kids to find the flattest rock they can possibly find for the best skipping, but Ryan surprised us all. She found a rock about the size of a baseball and threw it.  Our mouths all dropped as it skipped, and skipped, and skipped.  Seven times!  I think that might possibly be a Clarke record. Brayden's rocks were almost skiing across the river.  It must have looked fun because several families joined us as they were finishing up the nature trail.  We stayed until we couldn't see the rocks anymore and everyone was yawning.  We all hopped in the tent to read, then unzipped our windows hoping for another quiet, dry night.