If you're not familiar with Elkmont, it's a beautiful region nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains with a campground in the center. I think if Howard and Linda Payne from RV Dreams were to visit this place, they would probably agree that it has the "it" factor.
We brought our 3-year-old grandson. He gets super excited whenever we go to the RV.
It doesn't even matter if it's moving or parked.
On the first day, I took him for a short walk. He was so excited, he couldn't stay on the path. He was darting here and dashing there, attempting to climb everything in site. We found a little stream and stopped there for a few minutes. I took his shoes off and let him stick his toe in. He giggled. The water was ice cold. So he couldn't stand it for longer than just a minute. We eventually made it down to the river. He was fascinated by the fast moving water. Then we started to head back for dinner, again making sure to scale every single rock along the way.
He loved jumping on and off the rocks. While I loved watching him have fun, I was also a little nervous that he would miss and end up with a smashed lip. He would stand on top of a rock and shout, "To minfinity and beyond!"
On the 2nd day, we went out to see if we could get a few photographs, which can be tricky with a toddler. So I packed a few gummy bears for bribes, put them in a resealable bag, and stuffed them in my pocket. We spotted a rock in the middle of the stream and decided that if we could get to it, it would make a great photo. Emory and I started to make our way out to the rock. We teetered and tottered. I held Emory's hand while we carefully stepped from one rock to the next, out over the water, while trying not to fall in.
Ok, one of us was trying not to fall in. At his age, and with all the excitement he was harboring, he was practically swinging from my hand. Every once in a while I would tell him to put both feet on this rock or that one. A couple of times I felt the rock wiggle beneath my feet. I was trying to stay dry, but Emory was on an adventure. We got to the rock and sat down. We started saying silly nonsense things to Grandpa, like banana glasses. He thought it was hysterical, which made for some great images where he was laughing. Of course, he earned a few gummies for his cooperation.
As we started to head back across the rocks, I tried again to balance myself and a wiggly 3-year-old on each rock. That's when I dropped the bag of gummies in the water. I couldn't pick them up because I was holding on to a little wild boy. Eventually I got him to a sturdy rock and grabbed the bag. They seemed fine.
Shhh, don't tell anybody that we ate gummies that were dropped in the river.
We hopped and jumped down to the next rock and the next.
The bigger the rock, the more excited he was to attempt to conquer it.
We did several walks while we were there. A three-year-old never seems to run out of energy. When he finally did get tired, I put him on my shoulders and he hummed a happy tune all the way back to our site.
In the evenings after dinner, he 'helped' pa outside.
Pa built a fire and we sat and relaxed a bit.
One day we went to a local restaurant to grab a bite to eat. Three Jimmys has great food, if you are ever in the area. At this point, it was past nap time and our toddler grandson was getting a little bit grumpy. So he complained when Pa broke a piece of his chicken tender. To get his mind off fussing I said, "Well, when the lady comes back you can ask her for a piece of tape or some glue and you can put it back together." We continued to eat and eventually the waitress came to our table. Sure enough, Emory says to her, "I need some tape." So then I had to explain to the waitress why he was asking her for tape.
Life with a three-year-old...
I love that little guy.
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