Cades Cove

We carted four bikes on the Taylor family vacation, so we could ride through Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We stopped once we got into Cades Cove, so the bike riders could suit up. Mom and I drove in the car with Hamilton while the others rode their bikes.
The winding road through Cades Cove has many stops along the way. We took this short, dirt path up to an old cabin.Several times we stopped to tour some old churches, and Hamilton got to ride in the backpack.

Along the way we spotted a deer. It was obviously used to lots of attention and traffic. Claire was obsessed the whole trip with seeing a bear--at the cabin, on the road, and at Cades Cove. Pops had assured Claire that we'd see a bear during the Cades Cove bike ride, or he promised to pay her a nickel. During the last two miles of our 14-mile trip through Cades Cove, we saw some bears! We saw a momma bear with three cubs in the woods. Claire was ecstatic--and Pops too!